Winter Sunset

You've probably seen this already, but I did this watercolor a few weeks ago. I have to say it's the first watercolor I've done and actually been happy with in a long time. In fact, there are probably only three or four watercolor paintings of mine ever that I've been happy with...I really need to take a class.

This didn't turn out completely like I was picturing it (especially the sky), but the most important part is the fresh spontaneous look of it. My problem with watercolor is I tend to overwork things, so I tried really hard to avoid that this time! I did most of it one afternoon, then put the small details in the grass the next day.

 

5x8" watercolor of Takini sunset

It really helped that I had a good photo reference to work from, and I was happy that it was my own photo- I hate when I create something but really it's because of someone elses photo/idea. These were taken at the end of January; there were puddles of water and big chunks of ice all over the ground, as the water tower had apparently had some issues while we were gone for Christmas break.

 

For my drawing reference I actually taped these two photos together, so I could look at the ice in the first picture and the sunset in the second. It worked out pretty well! 

 

 

sock gloves

So Elora has these awesome socks. They were bright pink and black checkered, something I would've loved to wear in the early eighties...and since all the kids today think eighties stuff is new and modern, that means they were cool for Elora to wear too.
Unfortunately, they got a big hole in the toe. I was full of remorse at the thought of throwing her socks away, so I kept them around trying to think of something to use them for. Then I had it: fingerless gloves!
I have a pair of knit fingerless gloves that my mom made for me, and Elora is always stealing them, so I knew she'd love a pair of her own. These were super easy too. All I did was cut out the heel and the toe of each sock, then sewed around the edges. The original sock edge worked great as the cuff around her fingers.


As a surprise bonus, when I was pulling the sock edge straight to sew around it, it caused the wrist part of the glove to have a frilly rippled edge. Win!


The only part  I would've done different is the edge around the thumb, which could've been tucked under- but I don't hate it the way it is.
Voila! Too bad Elora can't wear gloves to school.

life as usual



I haven't talked much about our little family in the last few months... so I am going to do so, in no logical order.

 Eli has decided he would like to join the ranks of the "Terrible Twos" before he turns three. He isn't as prolific in his exploits as Joshua was (Joshua made it a priority to empty at least one toothpaste, a shampoo, and some shaving cream at least three times a week) but he has made his mark. I caught some photos of some of his recent exploits:

 

Here he is making lunch after church by cutting up the butter, with the fridge open, while we all got dressed. Great job, buddy!

 

 

 

I wonder what happens to eggs when you throw them on the floor?

 

 

 

Last week we were bringing a cake to District Conference. An hour before we left, Eli thought he'd help out by cutting the cake. With scissors.

 

 

It's funny how he smiled for the pictures. When Joshua was two, whenever I'd catch him at something he'd just start bawling, even if I wasn't acting mad!

See? Toothpaste accident. Could happen to anyone.

 

 

 

Oh yes, in other news, this November Josh finally lost his first tooth, with the second one lost a month later. He was very thrilled with the tooth fairy's contribution to his piggy bank.

 

 

 

We also had a birthday party last month:

 

It was for the biggest boy in the house.

 

 

 

Daddy was happy with his cake, but not as happy as we were with the yummy dinner he made for St. Patrick's Day! Corned Beef and Cabbage with a mustard sauce..nom nom nom. If you 've never had this before, the meet is not pink because it's raw, it's just preserved that way before you cook it. And yes, this plate is laying on the floor mat so I could have enough light to take a good picture.

 

 

 Speaking of events in March, this month Eli and Jonah had a lovely day painting. Usually I can only get Eli to sit for any length of time painting, but this day Jonah enjoyed painting on Eli best of all.








Speaking of crafts, I'm pretty sure I totally skipped November on my blog, in which Jonah, Eli and I all made turkeys. That weekend, Elora decided she needed to make one too, so she copied mine..thus no reason to post mine.

Jonah's turkey

Eli's turkey

 

Elora's turkey that looks almost like mine.

 

 

Speaking of being creative, March afforded us some weather that lent itself to creativity. One day it snowed like crazy, so Eli, Jonah and I decided to start a snowman...it didn't get very big, but they had fun. Josh informed us that it looked like a giant slug.



The next day, it was crazy warm, which made the snow much stickier. The three of us started to build up our snowman more, but the boys got bored. Luckily when Elora came home, she was excited to help finish it. As there are no sticks around, we used some stick-like remnants from our garden to decorate the fellow. Or is it a lady? Josh didn't actually help at all, but he insisted on being in the  picture.




And for our final story...Jonah got a huge goose egg when we came out of District Conference last week. I'm not completely clear on what happened, but he was sitting in the rock border around the church and holding his forehead, so I think he somehow fell right on a rock. Ouch! the picture doesn't do it justice.
























Hmm. We did also go bowling. But that's another post.

Jonah, a dog, and rephotographed stuff

So I did a portrait of Jonah, in a similar style to the last portrait I did of myself, since I was quite enamored with how that one turned out. With this drawing, I felt like I didn't have all the tools I needed, like a wide range of pencils or a kneaded eraser..or graphite dust. I set it aside for a month or two until I was able to get a wider range of pencils to finish it.
As a last minute addition, I decided to go over his eyes with blue marker, just because I love Jonah's eyes- and it was half the reason I chose that type of sky for a background. It turned out pretty good. The hair took the longest, and there are some elements about the face that aren't as perfect as I'd like, but I do like it. Yay Jonah!

11x14: graphite, prismacolor, marker

Another project I've been fiddling with since before Christmas is a portrait of my cousin's dog. I've never done a dog portrait before, but I figured if the pictures were good enough I could figure it out. Unfortunately, the first pictures I had weren't that great; I just didn't realize I couldn't work with them until after I made my first attempt. Oh well, I guess I got a practice drawing in! The photos were just too dark and low resolution; I couldn't really make out the dogs markings or even tell what texture her fur was!

8x10: black and white prismacolor

I then requested some new photos, and I also researched drawings of other black dogs, to see how they were rendered by other animal artists. It was very helpful to see how other people showed the reflective qualities of black fur in pencil and carcoal. This time, it turned out much better! It is still quite amateurish compared to someone who draws animals for a living, but at least it's not as horrible as the first drawing. Yay dogs! Now I feel more confident if anyone else asks me to draw an animal..though it's not my first choice for subject matter.

8x10" graphite and white prismacolor pencil

Finally, since I was photographing artwork, I decided to rephotograph the drawing I mentioned in my last post. It's amazing how much better it can look with a nice photo- I really should go back and rephotograph some other pieces, but that's a lot of work. Here I have the old photo, and the newer, better one.


























It's still got a little too much reflection up in the upper left corner, but the rest looks much more accurate.