Monkey Business - Lesson 7

Welcome to another Lesson in Carla Sonheim's Drawing Lab.

This time, she asks us to do some monkeying around using a limited palette of just 4 different supplies.  And then, as you probably already guessed, draw a monkey.

I thought that I would really challenge myself by not even choosing the colors used.  I asked Maggie to choose them for me.

I had her pick one Prismacolor pencil, one chalk pastel and one fine tipped colored Sharpie to pair with my trusty black Sharpie pen.  Here are her first choices.

Here's my little monkey in red colored pencil, hot pink ink, mustard brown pastel and black Sharpie.

I really had no idea I would enjoy drawing monkeys so much.  I've never really been partial to them.  But, I decided I wanted to do another one just because....and Maggie was excited to pick out a new combination of colors!

This time she chose orange prismacolor, tan ink, and periwinkle blue pastel.

I was shocked at how cool this looks!  Totally something I would never choose to do on my own....monkeys just are not blue....haha! 

Carla suggests making envelopes with 4 random art implements inside....and when you want a challenge or need some new inspiration....you pick one, open it up and use just those 4 supplies on your next project.  A neat idea, for sure :)

We have one more Lesson to complete before moving from animals to people....should be interesting!

Thanks for joining me....and feel free to link up your monkey business here, too!

Anyone else have a craving for a banana? :)
Hugs,
Cameron

Golden Eye

Thanks to everyone for your sympathies regarding the hacking of my email!  I'm glad to say everything has been reset and secured. So, I hope to never have that issue again.  It's troubling to hear how many of us have dealt with this very thing :(

But, on to brighter subjects....very bright as a matter of fact :D

I have tried my hand at gold-leafing for the first time.
I love the way it looks!
...and perfect for Butterfly Effect's Theme of EYES this week.

Though, technically, I have just eye, not eye(s)...haha!
But, here is the whole piece.

"Make Magic"

7 x 9 inches on Chipboard

See the gold leaf in her hair and on the hat band...

Goldilicious :)

Eyes really are the heart of a painting, to me....and my favorite part of a face.

I've been told that I do them well, so I thought I'd share a few things I always do when I paint them.

Studies have shown that people perceive photos of women with large dilated pupils as being friendlier and more attractive....weird, huh?  Makes sense then, I guess, that I prefer to make mine big. 

This was taken before I filled in that missing part of gold leaf on the lash line. 

Whatever side of the face that is towards the light will have the white dot of reflected light on it. I, then, make sure that the iris is lighter in hue in the opposite corner. I choose a darker color....a deep purple here, and use it to darken the rim and the lines within the iris.  I make a thicker line just under the lid for the cast shadow.  I tried putting smaller dots on the light side this time, too. 

 I've also tried on other paintings, a faint white, smudged line to imply moisture....both vertically...

...and horizontally....

...and have used this method for animal eyes, as well...

I think a believable eye really draws your viewer in.

....and that's a kind of magic we all want from our art :)

Please stop by the Butterfly Effect to get an eyeful of the other entries this week....and maybe submit your own!

Okay, gotta run...

You guys are the best,

Abracadabra!

*poof*

Hack JOb!

I just wanted to slip in and apologize to everyone who may have received an email from me saying that I needed money.....  I just want to reassure you all that I am fine....and this wasn't really from me!

My email was HACKED....all my contacts stolen!  I'm so sorry to have your Inbox be filled with this trickery!  It makes me so mad and sad at the same time!
I just wanted to make you aware that I was contacted by what I thought was Yahoo earlier today asking me to login again....turns out this was not Yahoo and how the sneaky a**holes got me :(

I am in the process of trying to restore everything that was taken, including old saved emails....so bear with me if I haven't responded to a message you may have sent me...

Here's to brighter tomorrows,
Cameron

A Pack of Corgis - LESSON 6

Hi there!  

Here we are, another week, another Lesson in Drawing Lab!  This time our instructions were to draw a dog on 20 index cards....and not just a dog....but the same dog over and over again.  I have never sat down and drawn the same thing that many times before....

So I grabbed my index cards, my Sharpie (since I don't have a chisel-ended pen per the book) and this photo from the Internet.

(Source)

Here are my first 8.

I'm not sure what I was doing with the background on that first one....haha!

It is really neat how they end up being so different....plus, I found after the initial 4 or so, I started experimenting more with starting points.  I usually started with the ears and forehead....but, I also tried starting with the eyes, the nose, all the right side, then the left, etc....

Here are the 2nd 8.

The book does recommend taking a little break when you start to tire of drawing your subject.  In the middle,  from about 11 to 14 or so, it was getting a bit tedious....but then, you start seeing the big pile of finished drawings....and the smaller pile of blank cards....and it becomes a fun challenge to finish!

I sat and drew these 20 in about an hour.

Here are the last 4....sorry about my shadow across the bottom :)

I numbered them on the back, and I found that useful in keeping track of their progression and how many I had left to do.

So, there you go.  

A pack of Corgis. 

 What will your pack be?

Please link them here and share them with me :)

As usual, your visits are always appreciated!! Thank you!
20 Hugs,
Cameron

A Warm Welcome

Well, Hello there!

I find myself with another new piece of art to share and debating whether to post it now....or save it for a dry spell.......
WHAT?!
Me, delay gratification?!  Me, not go to a party when I have a good reason to attend?! (Paint Party Friday, that is ;P)  Me, wait?!

Heck no! Especially since PPF is celebrating a whole year of creative partying!!
This'll make 3 posts in 1 week....almost unheard of around here!

So here is another reclaimed book cover 8.5 inches square....gessoed and painted over.

I cut out the cup shapes from patterned paper, used lace trim and vintage buttons on the bottom edge and crackled the tabletop.

I just love crackled anything!

Acylics, prismacolor pencils and ink make up the bulk of supplies used here.

I think this would make such a sweet Housewarming gift :)

It is waiting in my shop, if you know a good home for it.

Well, thank you for stopping by!  I hope you know you are always welcome :)

And please check out the other Paint Party Friday entries for this week!

Wonderful weekends to you all!

Cam

Bed Bugs

This is just a quick post to show a commission I just finished for a good friend.  She's having a little girl in April and asked for a painting to hang above the crib.  She let me borrow the valance to match the colors.

It's there under the easel :)

The theme is Ladybugs...as you can see :)

The words stem from this saying....

"With a Butterfly Kiss and a LadyBug Hug,

Sleep tight, Little One,

Like a bug in a rug."

It is 16 x 12 inches on back stapled canvas...

The pink and brown scalloped "canopy" is my favorite part.

I hope it's a decorating dream come true for my friend :)

But, more importantly, I hope the wee Babe slumbers peacefully underneath it!

Wishing sweet dreams to you and you and you, too!

Linking to Butterfly Effect this week....go check out other's dream and/or nightmare related posts!

*yawn* I suddenly feel the need for a nap,

Cam ;p

ZooTube - Lessons 4 and 5

Hello my Drawing Darlings!

Since these 2 Lessons are Part I & II of a Day at the Zoo, I lumped them here as one.  As much as going to a real zoo and leisurely sketching all afternoon sounds like bliss.....it really is an impossible task right now.  Not just for time constraints, but having a kid that expects to go with you, then zooms through it so quickly, you barely have a moment to read the plaques....it really makes taking a sketchbook useless :)

So I decided to use some movies we've taken of our past visits to zoos. Heck, we go to, at least, 3 zoos and 2 Aquariums every Summer during our 7 week camping excursions....should be plenty of videos to be found.

Turns out we have 2 movies.  That's it. Just 2.

So, this is from Petting Farm footage....

I know we are not supposed to erase....but I was really having trouble with the legs and the ears on this little goat.  Videos are harder to work from than I imagined because the camera doesn't necessarily stay where your eye wants to...

We also had a movie we took of 2 bears wrestling...here's my bear ( not a wolf, as my daughter insisted it was...haha!)

So, after exhausting my resources...I was off to the amazing, yet perverted world of YouTube.  It's astonishing to me how many videos of animals mating (and worse) come up when you are looking for zoo or wild animal footage...sheesh!

I did happen on some clean and perfectly suitable ones to use to sketch these...

Parrot

Have you ever seen a skunk run?  It's the cutest thing :)

I must've watched that tiger roar 5 times...this was the best I could do.

Bunny

This little guy is Peabody the Tawny Owl.  I drew this from "Peabody's Bathtime".  I'm not going to include the video here cuz it's long, and frankly, uneventful in getting a good view of him....but, I wasn't going to waste over 2 minutes of watching and not get something...haha!

A video I will include here for your viewing pleasure is this:

What a cutie!  Just look at those eyelashes!

Here's my favorite sketch of the day :)

I chose videos over my pets because I was tired of drawing cats....haha!  Not that tired, afterall!

I can't wait to see what your drawings look like!  Please link up here to share:

Remember to get out some 3 x 5 inch index cards for Lesson 6.

*Puts pencil in mouth to throw arms around you*

Cameron

Wild with an M

Hello All!
Wow, this week seemed to fly by!
Just to let you know, I will be doing lessons 4 and 5 next week for the Drawing Lab Project....just couldn't seem to fit it in this week!

Over at Butterfly Effect this week, the theme was Wild at Heart.
What a great theme to get lost in....to sling paint with abandon and get in touch with the primal soul at the core of my being....
But, alas....I wasn't able to commune with that energy this week....perhaps later...

For now, that soul is harnessed and controlled for now.  Kind of like this.

Yes, my daughter has begun to walk her cat.  Haha! I use the word "walk" very loosely.  You don't decide you are going around the block or anything with cats.  They decide where they want to go and you just have to follow :)

So far, it hasn't been out of our yard...

Hey, did you notice Maggie's shirt?!  It actually says Wild at Heart!  I just noticed it when I was editing the photos to put up here! Funny ;D

Oh, and speaking of yard....an exciting thing occurred here over the weekend.  We got grass!  May not be a big deal to some....but we've been living here over a year with nothing but weeds and dirt to greet us.
Here, let me show you what I mean...
Nov 2010 when we bought the place:

We took out the palm trees and shrubs, ripped out the bouganvillea by the walkway, repainted the shutters and porch railing and tore up the dead grass.

It's looked like this for quite some time.

But now...

Amazing what a difference it makes :D

Okay, so I didn't get to do anything wild for myself.....but I was able to make something for a wild at heart friend.  Would you ever think to put skulls on a coffee cozy?

Yeah, me neither....haha!

But here is one.

And another.

And some keychains for the heck of it!

Does that count?

If you are one of those inclined to add skulls to everything, I have one of these keychains in the shop....and I can always make more cozies for anyone interested....you Wild Things, you ;P

Hope you have a wild and wonderful weekend, My Bloggy Buds!!

Until next week,

Cameron

P.S.  For the next two Lessons of Drawing Lab.....we are supposed to draw at the zoo.  If you have a menagerie at home or are able to actually go to a zoo...fantastic!  Otherwise, other measures are, of course, necessary and just fine. I will be using footage we've taken from various zoo visits for my assignments :)

I'm having so much fun doing these with you!