Pet Parade Still On Today

There is a pet parade that is still going on today. If you go here http://planetmfiles.com/2009/04/28/pet-parade/ you can watch the parade and even join in if you want to. Sorry but I don't know how to do the fancy links so I just paste in the location. I guess that's something I need to learn how to do.

Anyways... They want you to post and link pictures of your pets or a story about them.

So I did this quick sketch of one of my cat's (Mako) this morning. And I discovered that a napping cat will change positions 6-10 times in the space of 15 to 20 minutes, which is the length of time I was working on this sketch. I guess they are always on alert for sounds and things and he actually got up before I had a chance to really finish the sketch.
Early Morning Naptime (5x9, pencil sketch)

The nap in the drawing was taking place at 7AM. I only got up at 6. Not sure when he got up but I know he was awake at 5AM because he tried to get me to get up and feed him his breakfast then.

Cats are amazing creatures and mine are very sweet and friendly cats who really like to spend time with us. And are usually hanging pretty close even if they are napping. The exception to the sleep around people rule is that if we stay up too late then Mako will just go to bed alone and pass out for the night until he hears the food bag rattling and then he'll get up to eat and go back to bed.

This is Mako sleeping on his favourite fake leather reclining swivel chair. He is fake sleeping right now though and trying to ignore that I am taking his picture.

This is Bandit in one of his two favourite napping spots. The back of the couch. He is also fake sleeping and pretending to ignore me while I take the picture of him.

Hope you like my contribution to the Pet Parade and hope you decide to join in.

Springtime

I've been wanting to do this drawing for about 2 weeks now. Ever since I saw the first robin that came back this spring actually. Which is more than two weeks ago come to think of it.

Well I finally got to it this evening. Just did a quick sketch with pencil and then added some pencil crayons on top. I need a base drawing of a robin for some other things and I want to do several things with some robins. This will work for practice to see how it goes and then who knows what might happen.


Return of Spring (5x9, pencil with pencil crayon)

Diana's Companion

This is my interpretation for the challenge at Different Strokes From Different Folks...

... to do a drawing based on a photo taken of a statue of a companion of the goddess Diana.

I decided to just go ahead and do it because of Inspire Me Thurdays challenge for this week which was PUSH. I considered lots of other options and then decided to draw this to push myself.

I did mine with a mechanical pencil on sketch paper. In real life it looks much better but... Oh well. I'm actually quite happy with this drawing because I DON'T draw people. I am not good at it. They never come out quuite right. Or at least that's what I've always believed. This drawing has opened my eyes and now I believe that if I work at it I CAN draw people.
Diana's Companion (8x14, penci)

I'm thinking that copies of it would be excellent for use in collage and mixed media pieces.

Opening Soon (12 x 12, watercolour pencil over gesso)

This is my interpretaion of the Virtual Sketch Date inspiration photo for April 2009, a rhodoendron bud.

I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I like the intense colours of the pencils once they are wetted and how the gesso base gives it a sort of chalky feeling when it dries. I completely chickened out on the background though. Or maybe I just reigned myself in a bit... I originally intended to do a wild geometric background and then decided that it would probably distract alot from the drawing I had already done. So I just kept it simple with a light wash.

Inktense Experiment

I got new pencils the other day at Wallack's and wanted to try them out today with my rhododendron sketch from yesterday for the April VSD.

I'm liking them. Really liking them. A successful inktense experiment so far....

A Pair of Rhododendrons

These were done for the Virtual Sketch Date challenge for April. It was a Rhododendron bud image. What a lovely flower and what a striking bud.

I started with this pencil drawing to look at the shading and draw in a way that I'm comfortable and happy with.

The Objet-D'art blog has a challenge this week to use colours and I just got some new pencils so I want to so something more with these sketches.
And that's why I did this line drawing. To use as the basis for something more. Just hope that I can make something work with my new "crayons". Inksential pencils from Derwent - really cool - they do regular drawing as well as washes. I've just played with moving the colours so far but I want to try them in a drawing and this one is going to be one of the ones that I try them out on.

The Old Soldier

The Old Soldier (7x9, pencil sketch)

This is the finished sketch for Inpsire Me Thursdays "green" topic.

It is a drawing of a snapping turtle that is from a photo I took of a very large snapping turtle (14-15 inch carapace) on the road near my home about a year ago. He was crossing the road and was actually pretty quick about it considering what you hear about how fast turtles usually move. A turtle this size is quite old and has probably been through a lot - a real warrior.

The turtles are actually protected around here and there are signs for turtle crossings - you are supposed to help them and not run them down - so in a way this is "green" because helping creatures is a green concept. It is also green because there is a slimy green moss and algae on his carapace that made him look like an old rock from the top.

I'm happy with how this drawing turned out. In real life both sides of the drawing are the same saturation. It is done across the spine of my sketchbook so the light is hitting each side a little differently causing the turtle's right leg to look lighter.

He looked quite alot like a walking rock and I can see how people step on them in shallow water and end up losing a toe from that snapping beak. This guy was the perfect old gentleman though, he never even hissed at me - just laid there and let me take his picture from about 3 feet away from him. I was very fortunate indeed.

Here is the photo I took of him....