Homework, Unfinished Projects, and Monkeys

Here's Esther's drawing homework:

And I have nothing finished to show you. So have a look at some of my unfinished projects currently...

I'm going to try a double necklace design with these owl charms.

Book Dragon asleep on its hoard. Not sure what to do with the background yet.

And now I will talk about monkeys, because I said I would speak of them again and I cannot believe I made so many this past year. Haha!

It was a very Year of the Monkey... Each one took me about 6 hours to make, so I can say I've spent at least 36 hours crocheting monkeys...

I used this pattern from one of my favorite crochet blogs, All About Ami.

Now I just want to finish this African Flower Motif afghan I've been working on now and again over at least two years. I think it is more than halfway done, so if I plug away at it, I should complete it before the end of the year.

Drawing Hands

New Class

Because the illustrations I am working on now - which I can't show you (sorry) - involve expressive hands, I decided to get the Craftsy class on Hands advertised on sale today. It compels practice and gives one person's method of drawing, always a good thing.

Here are the notes I took for the first section.

Have a good day.

Winter

Birthday Greetings

Wouldn't you like your birthday chocolates to come in such a pretty little package? And have Oma's carrot cake too. Another celebration today.

 

 

Snowflakes 

Trying a couple different folds.

 

 

 

 

Blessings on your Sunday.

Hello

A few people said in no uncertain terms that this blog must go on, so let's try again.

Valentines

If you would like a Valentines contest (including a part for boys who don't like girly stuff), leave a reply.

Heart Pocket

Take a piece of paper - it doesn't have to be the advertisement circular in front of you, but that works, too - and cut a piece two squares long.

Fold in half lengthwise.

Fold in half crosswise.

Fold one half down the middle line.

Fold the other half down the middle line to meet the first half.

Turn the whole thing over so you see the "pocket."

Fold the top outside corners inward, leaving some flatness on the top.

Finish with some decorative elements to hold the corners down and the middle together. Put something nice in the pocket and give it to someone special.

Would You Like

.... another Contest?

We have not done one in a while, so let me know. I have some ideas. Valentines Day is coming up.

Working On Now

Besides the illustrations that I can't show, I am trying to work regularly in my art thoughts journal. It is a colouring book journal with a page a week to color, and space to write notes daily. Does anybody else do that? Some of you with ambitious plans might do so.

The journal

The interior uncoloured

This week's page coloured

Stay warm. It is still below freezing here.

Sketch, Painting, and Color Pencil WIP

FROM LEAH

This sketch makes me happy! It worked out so well! I actually really like it! I didn't even have to erase as much as usual! Except for making the brights brighter, and then having to make the darks darker, but that always happens for me. I suppose there could've been more contrast, but I didn't want to ruin anything since it is a fairly smaller sketch. I enjoyed making this, though!

I randomly painted this in honor of my girlfriends who I love and am so thankful for. Basically, I did it because I was mentioning doing something like this for one of my best Christian girlfriends. So, I wanted to post it on Facebook and tag my best girlfriends, but I feel weird doing that right now with all this women's rights stuff going on. I know. I am just weird and don't like people thinking things.

But anyways, I really don't like flowers. Well, maybe I like real flowers if given to me or something, but I don't really like flowers. Especially flower prints. Just never got into that. I am a very different kind of girl hehehe. So, I didn't like painting these flowers that came off the top of my head, but I wanted to make it beautiful for my friend. Sorry, I digress. what do y'all think? :)

SARAH AGAIN -- HI!

The three of us girls who did the Craftsy class for shading thought that Esther would maybe benefit from/enjoy doing the homework parts of it, even though she did not get to see the videos. Anna had a couple extra black-and-white pictures left over that she hadn't picked for the project, so Esther got one. And here is hers! This is the homework from the first lesson in that class:

Remember that red head I drew with color pencil? She is actually part of a group of characters for a story idea I had, and on Saturday, I decided to do the two left as rough sketches on the page. They turned out so much more complete looking than the first two had from August, that I wasn't sure if it was just a freak "good art day" or if I had accidentally gotten better with hardly any color pencil practice in between. Haha!

after completing last two characters...

Anyway, it just looked weird that way, so I went back and jazzed up the first two a little, adding more contrast shading and burnishing to try to level them all off better. XD

after I added shading & stuff to the first two

This piece will also eventually have more of a background, too. Even though these faces look hardly at all like the references I was using, I think it's starting to look kind of cool... :)

Night Light

WHAT?

This evening a young lady had her birthday celebrated early. On our return home this is what she saw. What won't a loving brother do for his sister?

Nice to have an electrician in the family.

Plenty of color choices

Blessed Sunday anyway.

Found One

Seek Long and Finally Find

Creative effort for the past few days, besides designing a house plan for someone, was choosing upholstery fabrics and finding a cabinet for the living room.
When the Grandmama goes to her Eternal Reward, the offspring disperse her effects, so we noticed some interesting pieces being offered in an estate sale, and went to look. The family home was no longer occupied, but it had some fine features, including this carved arch on the stair case landing. The piece was from a castle in Tessin. No one knows what will become of it.

Detail of the arch carvings

This piece was painted by the heirs' old aunt who took up Bauernmalerie in her advanced years. It is for sale if you want it.

And THIS is the piece we selected for our house. It was from Lausanne, we hear. "Pewter wares included." 

Detail of the door carvings

Detail of the middle carvings

Historic cabinets had these Dolphin water reservoirs and shell basins.  Often they disappear over time and transfers. This one happens to have its pair still. 

Fortunately the cabinet comes apart into sections for moving. As soon as the snow is gone on our road.....

The man who showed us the pieces gave me these, too: pieces by the old aunt, of real Bauernmalerie.

up close, to see the brush work....

And another

Have It

It Doesn't Hurt to Ask

For the past two days my Better Half and I have been having adventures. One of them resulted in my acquisition of this frolicking foal. We were looking at furniture at an estate sale and I noticed the piece and wanted to know "how much?" The owner gave it to me. I looked it up - porcelain from the old Bavarian company Hutschenreuther - and they sell for $200 to $285. But even if were worth nothing I still like it.

Pictures from other adventures to follow.

Snow and Flakes

Plans of Mice and Men

.... And artists, sometimes don't get fitted in. And the next couple days I will likely be away, dependent on weather, so posts by anyone are welcome. I hope to have some pictures on my return, if all goes well.

 

But, we do have winter this year, with COLD and snow. So why not some snowflakes for inside where it is warm?

 

 These are for thoughts of spring, though I do like winter, too.

Painting, Sketching, and Planning

From Leah:

Here's the painting I did for Pam's mom! It took me a long time and I had much trouble on the water since I haven't had much experience with acrylic water. But I think even through my own criticism, I think it turned out pretty good. Especially when ya look at it from afar.

I did this sketch like, a month ago after fixing the horse's legs too many times because they looked too short. Hehe. I actually really like this sketch.

Here's a little random design I made with my new drawing pens! So much fun!

Then we have Anna's...

...stippling and hatching homework:

And before we go...

...for those of you who would like to know how my blog/online store planning is going... Yeah. Send help, because I'm overthinking and confusing myself. LOL

Actually, I think I might be getting somewhere. I just have to remind myself to try to start with the basics, and then I can add whatnot in along the way as I get more comfortable. Right? Haha!

And a random picture of the owl charms I would like to do something with soon:

Aren't they cute? :D

OH, I almost forgot to mention that I published another short story on Wattpad. Let me know if the link doesn't work, please!

Have a great week!