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8/1/06 ~
Rushing Water
Today was a scorcher!
I drew this refreshing landscape to cool myself
down after taking care of my horses this afternoon. This sketch
was
done with lines in pencil and gray markers to define the values.
The grid
was put in after the drawing was completed to give me a guide
to aid in
transferring it to my watercolor paper.
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8/2/06 ~
Dragonfly Dreams
It seems the only
living beings that are really active on these hot afternoons
are the
bugs! Dragonflies and butterflies are my hands down favorites
among them. Many are
visible from my air conditioned studio. I love watching the flight
patterns of the
dragonflies and decided to do some sketches of them today.
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8/3/06 ~
Bunny Gestures
Our one and only resident
Cottontail posed for me today under the bird feeders.
We rarely see any because the coyotes, fox, owls and hawks take
their toll on
them around here. Mr. rabbit likes sunflower seeds! I had to
work quick (like a
bunny) with binoculars from my kitchen window. These gesture
poses were
only held for a few seconds each before he switched positions.
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8/4/06 ~ Pillow
Talk
I was going through
some old photos from the late seventies
this afternoon when I found some cute poses of my friend's son.
They made me smile, so I decided to do a couple of sketches
of him for you today. Maybe you'll enjoy them too.
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8/5/06 ~
Angel
I was going to draw
our fat six toed barn cat, Ginger, but she
was still hiding because we had company today. Angel, one
of our other outside cats, let me photograph her, so she's my
subject tonight instead. ium.
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8/6/06 ~
Life's A Beach
We had a show down
at the shore today. We made a few sales
but like all our shows this year, it was nothing to write home
about.
At least the weather was cooler than our last event on the island
and
we enjoyed a pleasant breeze. Jerry minded the booth while I
took
an hour break and went down to the beach to sketch. Here is one
of
the quickies I did today.
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8/7/06 ~
Skimboarding
At our art show yesterday
I took an hour break and went
down to the beach to sketch. I also took some reference photos.
Here is a drawing from one of them of a young skimboarder. I
found it really intriguing to watch the little athletes perform.
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8/8/06 ~
Beach Patrol
I love watching the
seagulls on the beach as much as I do the people.
I took elements from several of my reference photos to compose
this sketch today.
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8/9/06 ~
Everybody Boogie!
Even grandparents
can boogie! This fact was proven by this
older couple with their boogie boards on the beach. I watched
them as they happily made their way down to the ocean and
disappeared into the crowd with their toys in tow.
Wishing You Daily
Joy ~
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8/10/06 ~
Portrait
I can't remember the
last time I did a self portrait,
so I thought I'd do one today. This shows one of
my favorite moments! My hummers sometimes
get so close to me that I can feel the wind from
their wings on my face. :-)
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8/11/06 ~
Spirit Horse
Today's drawing is
of my mare, Rita. I put some bug repellent cream on
her face and it looked really cool. She seemed mystical with
my hand print
on her cheek! It inspired me to do this sketch. This is drawing
[d_e] # 54.
The year of my birth in Chinese Astrology, 1954 is also the year
of the horse.
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8/12/06 ~
Opie
A While back, we adopted
several feral barn cats that some scoundrel
dumped off at our house. This one is Opie II. He was named after
a
favorite cat I had for 17 years. This one is cute but untouchable.
I just
realized while doing this drawing and really looking, that he
has six
toes on his front feet, like Ginger. I could never get close
enough to
tell before. This weird perspective and curled paw is the kind
of pose
that drove me crazy in my old animal portrait days!
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8/13/06 ~
Cardinal
We've got lots of
Cardinals, but we don't see much
of them in the summer. What do they eat besides
sunflower seeds? Anybody out there got a clue?
I've been working on some Cardinal paintings, so
I thought I'd send you all out a drawing of this
one today.
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8/14/06 ~
Sophie
Today I tried to get
a photo of Ginger, our fat polydactyl cat.
I had no luck, so instead I took one of Sophie. She's another
one of the three young feral felines we adopted. The smartest
and most friendly of the bunch, Sophie's just a tiny little cat,
but she's as brave and independent as they come.
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8/15/06 ~
Blind Crab
Today I did another
blind contour (done without looking
at the paper while drawing ). It's of a little metal crab
Jerry picked up. I thought it was cute. The top part of
the shell lifts up to expose a tiny brass ashtray. The
arms move and the eyes are rusty screws. It's pretty
anatomically correct, I think. I wonder, does anybody
out there know what circa. it might be?
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8/16/06 ~
Jersey Devil
Today I worked on
the cover of the 2006 Cranberry Festival program.
I've been doing it for years in exchange for a double spot at
the show
and a half page ad in their program book. I always feature the
Jersey
Devil in my illustration. This year I made him a little more
whimsical
than usual, drinking cranberry juice from the jug.
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8/17/06 ~
Sunflowers
Jerry brought me some
flowers from a little stand up the road today.
The bouquet had several sunflowers in it, so I decided to do
a blind
contour of them. I must say, with all this practice, my drawings
are
getting easier and going much faster these days.
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8/18/06 ~
Old Barn
I came across an old
sketchbook today while searching
the house for a couple of my missing reference books
on dogs; which I never did find. Errrr!
This barn is actually
a doodle, done in ball point pen on top
of an old pencil sketch I did over six years ago. I'll call it
a
doodle, because it was just enjoyable, mindless, relaxing
meandering of my pen, as I traced, defined and corrected
the underlying drawing.
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8/19/06 ~
Running With The Pack
Yesterday I was looking
for my missing reference books
on dogs because I have have been working on a Spirit Art
watercolor of running wolves. It has been a bear! Some
subjects are definitely more of a challenge. After several
attempts and many drawings, I think I'm on track to produce
a painting worthy of my image - next time around! I've got
too much time and effort invested to give up now!
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8/20/06 ~
Wolf Gestures
These rough gesture
drawings were done more or less "out of my head"
as suggested by an artist I admire, Elin Pendleton. I get her
daily painting
blog. She wrote this to me in response to my wolf reference problem.
"On your wolves, this is where you shouldn't go to reference
shots, but
instead train your mind with the anatomy. I can draw and paint
horses, people
and dogs without reference. This is called "head copy"
and is a handy skill".
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8/21/06 ~
Some Ideas
Today I did some idea
sketches, partially out of my head
and partially from reference. I may decide to do a sled dog
painting in the near future. I just rented Disney's "Eight
Below"
and it sparked my interest in the subject. I owned a Malamute,
Shamoak, for 17 years. She was as sweet as she was beautiful.
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8/22/06 ~
Head Copy
Today I practiced
drawing with no reference material. I chose horses
because I've probably drawn more of them in my lifetime than
anything else. Owning horses since I was a kid, I'm very familiar
with
their anatomy. The one on the top left looks a lot like my mare,
Santa Margarita.
I think I could do a better job looking at a photo, but for what
it's worth, I'm
satisfied with this exercise. Drawing action figures is more
challenging and I'll
continue to work on improving my "head copy" skills
with them.
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8/23/06 ~
Misty Head
Celebrating our wedding
anniversary today, Jerry and I spent the day together.
We had lunch in New Hope, PA on the Delaware River .We shared
our meal
with a family of Mallards, including eight babies. Later, we
stopped by
Grounds For Sculpture in Trenton, NJ. It is an amazing place
that I find really
stretches one's imagination. I took my journal and came back
with this quick
sketch for today. This is one of my favorite spots there. It's
a misty head in a
Monet style lilly pond right by the Rats Restaurant.
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8/24/06 ~
Old Tractor
We own an old tractor.
Jerry went to get an new front tire today,
so it was parked outside my studio. I decided to sketch it and
did
several pencil and wash renderings. When I was done, I photographed
the ole girl. I printed out a copy and traced it. With my sketches
the
same size, I was able to put the tracing on top and see how close
I came
to the actual outline. It's a great way to check for accuracy.
The drawing
on the bottom is the tracing.
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8/25/06 ~
Van Gogh
I only took a couple
of photos at Grounds For Sculpture on
Wednesday. One of them was an interpretation of Van Gogh's
Stagecoach. I didn't even know this painting existed before!
It
was difficult to draw because the scene was depicted through
Vincent's eyes. With deliberate distortions, it was charmingly
portrayed. For me, it really brought to life this artist's uniqueness.
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8/26/06 ~
Movie?
I just discovered
a really great way to draw and paint! I use
the DVD player and pause it when I want to sketch. It makes
you work fast and loose. Today I used the pencil and wash
technique used on Thursday's tractor drawing. Totally
obsessed with wolves at the moment, I'm hoping
you like them too. Recognize this scene anyone?
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8/27/06 ~ Another
Movie?
My last email got
a few good responses. This time, I'm not
giving you any clues! Anyone recognize this scene & movie?
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8/28/06 ~ Any More
Guesses?
Ok, a couple of you
horse people got the movie right yesterday, but so
far nobody has identified the scene. Today I'm giving you more
of
a close up, which should really give it away! Even if you didn't
see this
movie, it was advertised heavily on TV a couple of years ago.
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8/29/06 ~ Name
This Flick
Today I'm showing
you several clues for another movie.
This film was released in 2004 and although it is not as well
known as the previous one, it is one of my favorites. Any guesses?
I got three correct answers for the previous flick's name and
scene. I won't
tell what it is just yet, in case you still want to guess. (Hint:
It's a Pinto horse.)
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8/30/06 ~
Easy One
Lee Gates is the only
person so far to correctly guess yesterday's
mystery movie! She wrote; "What a clever game you have created.
I like it as I am sure others do." Today's flick is an easy
one. How
many of you can name this scene and movie title?
Some more clues: 8/29
~ wolf / Arctic ~ 8/28 ~ cross country race
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8/31/06 ~
Even Easier!
Today's flick is an
extremely easy one. If I don't get a bunch of replies
on this, I'll know you are not reading my e-mails! How many of
you can
name this scene and movie title? This may be your last chance
to respond.
The summer's over and time is up for this year on "drawing
everyday".
See you next year!
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