Past and Future

It's been over a month since my last post, I'm sorry for ignoring you, my dear blog . . .

I love blogging, but it's much quicker and more immediate to share on Facebook, and that's exactly what I've been doing. I realize and understand that many people are averse to Facebook, and I was too, at first, but now I really enjoy it. I have two pages there, one's my personal page (where I'll admit, I spend more time than I should), and the other is my professional art page. Even if you're not on Facebook, you can still see and browse my art page. So if you'd like to see what I'm doing on a more regular basis than what you will find on my blog, please check it out.

To flesh out this blog post, I'll share the condensed version of what's coming up and what I've been doing lately:

It's time for fall open studios tours and I'm participating in two of them. The first features a group of Newcastle-area artists. The second features a much larger group of artists in the western portion of Placer County. For details about both, see the invitation I just sent out to my subscribers via e-mail.

I entered two scratchboard drawings in the annual Art at the Classic juried art show at the Draft Horse Classic. One of the two, "Beginning Line Dancing" (a pair of foals) was awarded a First Place in its division (Miniature). They don't have a category where scratchboard fits, so I entered Miniature, which is based on size, not media. I also entered my drawing of Rocky the donkey, and although it was accepted but didn't place, it ended up on the web site and in the event program (click here to see the art section from the program).

I did two "tiger eggs" for the Sacramento Zoo's Wild Affair and one for the tigers' keeper. They all feature CJ the adorable tiger cub. And I had great reference photos, courtesy of the keeper. I'm making a run to the Zoo tomorrow to deliver those.

 

Completed pet portraits include these scratchboard drawings of two golden retrievers. Sampson is drawn on a white board. I used ink and ink washes (leaving the upper background white), and when that phase was complete, I tinted the dog with a light wash of watercolor. You can see the progress stages of this drawing in one of my Facebook albums.

Bear is on a black board. After completing the scratching, I tinted the drawing with ink pencils.

And then there's this - something very different for me. It was challenging and fun and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. "Glory and Power" is the Harley-Davidson "gun sight" logo on a 5" x 7" scratchboard. The only color on this is the flag, the rest is black & white. I created this piece for the The Pink Llama Gallery in Cedarburg WI, where I have some of my work. Tammie Strause, the PLG owner, put out a call for motorcycle art for an HD Anniversary Celebration that was held in nearby Milwaukee. I figured, what the heck, and gave it a shot. Thanks to Sandy O'Bleness for providing the reference photo and to her husband Mike for suggesting that the drawing should have a flag and/or eagle in it. I opted for the flag.

Well, that's a snapshot of what's been happening, check back here in a few weeks or visit Facebook for the next update!