Portrait step by step

Recently a friend of mine saw a picture of my daughter that I had drawn. He asked me to do some drawings of his grandchildren in the same style for a family history book he is working on. I've mentioned before that I'm not exactly a portrait artist (though thats what everyone always wants) but I decided to oblige my friend, since he asked so nicely.

He sent me a photo of two of these grandkids and told me to pick one and draw it, so he could see how they were going to turn out. (I'm not posting the photo because, well, they aren't my kids to post!)

For this project I'm using scrapbooking cardstock paper (I've decided most art papers have too much tooth for this technique, and this is just as archival), Prismacolor pencils, and one or two regular Crayola colored pencils to do the basic drawing (because they sharpen better and are easier to erase!) Colored paper is great for portraits or other colored pencil pieces, because the paper that shows through the drawing compliments the picture rather than glaring white and begging to be covered up.

First, I did a sketch of this guy (it scanned in lighter than it is) :



As I've told you, babies are hard for me to draw, and I didn't like the way this looked. So I took a stab at drawing his sister instead, on the back of the same page:



But I didn't like that one either. SO I went back to the first drawing, moved the eye on the right, and got to work! First, I always finish the eyes. I probably shouldn't because they usually have something that needs fixed, but oh well. Then I put in a few values in the hair and main facial shapes:




Hey, its starting to take shape! Next, I put in most of the hair, and started putting in colors around the edges of the face. I also add more blue. I find that using non-skin colors (blue, green, purple, etc) makes the picture more fun for me and more interesting to look at. The trick is not to use too much:



I decided the top of his head was shaped weird, so I fixed that, then added a background color. This helps so the pink paper color looks like part of the face, rather than just the paper. It adds nice contrast too. (I darkened this scan so you could see the colors better, its not really this pink!) I also started drawing in his blue vest:




At this point I felt the colors in the face were getting too 'cool' with the pinks and blues so I added some yellows and browns. You can see it mostly in the forehead. I also put some warmer colors in the blue of his clothes, so that it looked more natural with the other colors of the portrait:


By now, it looked very similar to the photograph, but portraits aren't very dependable for color accuracy. While it was a nice professional picture, the middle of his face was washed out by the photographer's lights. At this point, one has to rely on intuition and prior knowledge to fill in the blanks. For instance, foreheads usually have more yellows and greens, the middle of the face has more reds, and the jaw has more blues. For a baby, I would use more reds than usual in the bottom of the face, and not so much blue, because it looks like beard stubble!

I added blue to the hair because it was looking too yellowish compared to the face. I also added more color to the background to create a nicer contrast. There is a little more blue everywhere, just because I like it! It adds a nice transparent look to the skin.
And...voila!:



Of course this scan doesn't capture all of the exact colors, but it doesn't look too bad! Much better than the first colored pencil portrait I did in high school. But I only had a 12 color set back then:

Dad's stuff

While I was visiting my family, I took some pictures of my dad's favorite coins and other collectibles, so he could share them with his friends on email. Most of the pictures turned out pretty good, so I thought I'd share them with you. I didn't really ask about them, so I can only tell you what I already know, but here they are!




These are some of his oldest coins from Greece, Rome and other ancient civilizations. They've always been my favorite, because of their unique textures and images. Coin making wasn't such an exact process back then, as you can see.
Oh yeah, remember the 2,000-year-old Zeus coin I mentioned before? Its the red coin featured below. I used to think his flowing hair looked more like a big brain:



Here is another valuable group of coins that aren't quite so ancient:

See those oddly shaped pieces in the center, with crosses on them? Those are "pieces of eight" from sunken Spanish treasure ships, just like you hear about in pirate movies. My dad loves pirate movies. I think a bunch of the others in this group are also Spanish dollars. Except the small rectangle...it might be Chinese, I think.


Here is one more group of my dad's favorite coins:


This collection contains several Seated Liberty dollars and other coins from the United States. Sorry, I'm not sure what the gold ones are. Maybe I'll get back to you on that.

Tired of coins? How about silver rings? My dad found all of these himself:



They're strung on two chains for easier transport and viewing, I guess. Since my parents live in Utah, this whole second chain is composed of the ubiquitous CTR (choose the right) ring ...minus the dozen or so he's given away to friends and family. See?


Oh yeah, there are also these:



As I mentioned in my last post, bottles and marbles are also quite valuable. We used to go camping in ghost towns when I was a kid so my dad could go treasure hunting. The best place to find coins and bottles was, strangely enough, where the outhouses were. One finds these by plunging a long t-shaped metal pole into the ground, searching for the softest dirt. Then you shovel the dirt out onto a screen, where the dirt sifts through and the archaological finds rest on the top.

There used to be an old hotel in the empty dirt lot next to my parents' home. I recall my dad and a friend digging a huge hole (deeper than a man's hight) where they found 60-80 bottles and other knick-knacks. Unfortunately, I think my dad has sold most of those since. However, he still has plenty around the house that he has either found elsewhere or purchased from dealers:




And because I know you care so much, here is a close up of some of those marbles:



Marbles have been around since Egyptian and Roman years of power. The plain ones are clay, and that swirl on the left cost $120 at a Vegas bottle show. He says there were some marbles there being sold for at least $2,000!

So there you go, the highlights of dad's treasure trove. I hope you enjoyed it.

The Road Trip Story

As our spring break was a few weeks ago, we took the opportunity to drive south once again to visit my family. Now that they're only six hours away we've been visiting a lot more often than when they were twenty-two (understandably). I was still content from our Christmas visit, but Joseph really wanted to go somewhere, and this was the most viable option.

Sadly, our trip had a lot more low points than I would have hoped. Thus this tale will be told in highlights and low points. (sorry its a little long.)

Highlight: We got to leave our house around 4:00 PM instead of late at night, due to Joseph having a shortened work day on Fridays.

Low Point: About 35-40 miles out, we got a flat tire on the freeway. Joshua was scared to death because he could see all the traffic coming towards him from his rear-facing car seat, and he could hear it all as Joseph opened the back to get the spare out. People were honking at us instead of helping us, and I was rather offended!

Highlight: We found a Big-O tire quickly, and as the blowout happened before six were able to get the tire repaired and to go on our way.

Low Point: About half an hour later, we had another blow out! This time it was getting dark, and we were mad! Remember these are new tires, as we just bought this vehicle two weeks earlier. It was too late for anything to be open now. A highway patrolman came and helped us, and we used his phone to call my Uncle Harvey, who lived within a half hour of the accident. These kind of situations are the only times I wish we still had a cell phone.

Highlight: So we unexpectedly spent the night at my aunt and uncle's home. Only two of their six boys still live at home, so they have plenty of room. My cousin Phil was also visiting with his wife and two kids. I hadn't seen him since they got married about four years ago, so it was nice to get reacquainted and to meet his kids... too bad they had been sick with the flu all week, and were just recovering ( insert sense of foreboding here.) Elora enjoyed playing with my Uncle's dog and cat the next morning while Joseph and Harv went to get a new tire. (It turns out the person who installed our tires 'ripped the bead' whatever that means, and this caused the blowouts. Yeah, we were mad.)

Low Point: Because of this incident, we had to use Saturday to drive the rest of the way to my parent's. This was the day I was hoping to go down to St. George and see red cliffs or something similarly spring break-y and warm, but it didn't happen. Nope, just hanging out at my parents boring house. Joseph didn't mind.. my brother has a game system (and we don't, hallelujah) , and he had a great afternoon playing it.


wait a minute...is that a leprechaun back there you ask? Why yes, yes it is. Lets just say my mom and my dad's ideas of home decor don't exactly mesh, but it makes for an interesting home:





Betcha didn't know that old bottles and marbles were treasure too, did ya? Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the swords on the wall, but I will have a later post showing some nice pics of dad's coins.

Highlight: Elora got to see grandma! And we got to play the traditional card game, plus on Sunday Elora got to see grandma lead the music at church, which is very exciting for her. Because we didn't go south, My mom and I took the kids to the park instead, and I contented myself taking pictures there. Don't let the desert-y background fool you though: we were still at a high elevation and it was still very cold!



Highlight: Monday morning we went and visited my friends Cardine and Julie at their places of work , which I had never seen. We only stopped by for a minute, but it was great to see them in person after such a long time.
Low Point:
I was very excited to go to the University and to visit the art department where I hadn't been for so long. I pictured a warm reunion, but this is the gist of the three conversations I had in the faculty offices:
Me: HI!
Them: Hello. Can I help you?
Me: Um, do you remember me? I graduated in 2000.
Them: Huh. Well, that was quite a while ago. So how have you been?
Me: Um fine. (Thinking, you still don't remember me, do you.)
Them: Well, nice seeing you again! Good luck with everything.

Very disappointing. In my mind I was a star student. Guess not so much.
The photography and the art history teachers for whom I had T.A.'d weren't there, so we couldn't chat, but maybe that was a good thing for my ego?

Highlight: However I did step into the painting class of a teacher I'd been friends with, and he knew me right away! His hair was longer and he looked more hippyish than before, but it fit him. He mentioned that he'd just shown some slides of my paintings to the class that week, and he said I was 'still famous' in the painting department. Sigh. I guess that made up for it. A little. They had a faculty art show in the local gallery too, and he invited me to go view his paintings, which I did on our way out of town Tuesday. That was nice too.

(Girl With Fantastic Hat I, Brian Hoover)

Highlight: Bowling with my brother and his girlfriend Monday night. It was nice to have a date night and to do something different for a change. My mom watched the kids. Yay!


(we're darn good, aren't' we! I got the 73 and I wasn't last place. Yippee!)

Low Point: (don't worry, I'm almost done) We left around 1:00 on Tuesday, and Joseph wasn't feeling well. He threw up before we left the house, and we stopped a few more times where he threw up in a bathroom and a gas station parking lot. (gee, I wonder where he got sick?)
When we got close to Salt Lake City, Elora started throwing up! We stopped and cleaned her up no less than four or five times, even though I gave her a bag to throw up in, it rarely made it in.


Lowest Point: The McDonalds guy. One of the times we stopped to clean up was in the industrial part of Salt Lake at a McDonalds. The bathrooms had obvious lock systems on them, but I thought I'd try it just in case it was open, as I read the notice on the door. As I was trying to open it, a man sitting nearby and reading a newspaper said, "I think you need a lock to get in there."

I realize he was just trying to be helpful, but I was stressed out and distracted ( and in my frazzled state it seemed he was insulting my intelligence) so I guess my reply came out rude...though I didn't mean it that way! I answered dryly, "Yeah, I can read that right here."
He then said in an offended voice, "Hey, I was just trying to be helpful."
I was still stressed and now felt considerably worse, so I ignored him as I walked with my filthy daughter to the front counter to get a token for the door. I came back and inserted the small coin, and of course it didn't work.
The man was apparently watching me, because in a smug tone he said, "Maybe you could read the directions on the door."
Oh burn!! I was about ready to turn around and strangle him, seriously.
I turned and said, " Look, I wasn't trying to be rude earlier, I was just saying I could read the door, okay?"
He interrupted and said, "Hey, it's just a joke, okay, I'm from the east coast."
What the heck kind of excuse was that!!! I knew a girl in college who used to say that line whenever she offended anyone , and it drove me nuts.
After we were done in the bathroom, I tried to swallow my pride as we walked past his table, and I said in the nicest voice I could muster, "Have a nice day!"
Of course he didn't look up from his paper.

I don't know why that event was such a big deal to me, but I was upset about it all the rest the way home.
Anyway, once we got home, Elora threw up in the toilet about four more times, and more the next day. They were both sick for four days or so, but Joshua and I never got it, thank goodness.

So what was supposed to be a fun relaxing weekend wasn't exactly so. It was an adventure though, that much is certain!

(sunset through tinted car windows...taken between Elora's throwing up spells.)

haircuts and jumping babies

So, I decided to trim my hair again.

It was at that point where you have to choose if you're going to go all the way and grow it out, or just cut it again. I went for the 'feel cute now' choice, as I hate that in-between feeling. It has been over a year, but hey, I think I'm wearing the same shirt as the last time I cut my hair! I'm so stylin'.

My hair seems to be getting straighter with time (or it could be the dryer climate?) but somehow I never loose my little twirly hairs right at the front. I've just become more adept at taking pictures of myself so they aren't so obvious.




Hey, are those signs of spring behind that tell-tale pile of snow? Nah, its probably just my imagination.

Hmm. I guess thats not quite enough to take up a whole post. So now I will turn the time over to Joshua and Elora.

Joshua: "Well hello there folks, and welcome to my crib! I'd like you to meet my lovely assistant, Elora."

Elora: " Um, you're my assistant."



Joshua: "Aaannywhooo.... we're glad to see you here today. You're about to witness my assistant demonstrating one of my most favorite tricks of all time! Are you ready for this great feat?"

Elora: "I am SO excited, can I start now? I mean, do you think they can handle it?!


Joshua: "Go ahead, Sis!"


Boing, boing boing boing boing!



Joshua: Isn't she great folks! Lets give her a hand. And next time she might even do this fantastic act clothed!"

Elora: "HEY! I like my belly button."


PS: no babies were harmed in the photoshopping of fake underwear in places where it was needed.