Blizzards and glass

Another vehicle on my path back to art was trying new or unfamiliar mediums. By joining art classes and online forums and daily practice, I will get back to the point I was before the 'dry spell' began. I am constantly looking for new inspiration for a drawing and took a number of photos of glass and ceramic objects to see if I could come up with something. I did a series of coloured glass votives that turned out well, considered that the sun never seems to shine here lately! I've started mapping out a drawing of one of the photos. It is complex to capture the pieces of light and colour reflected in the glass, but once the drawing is complete, the colouration should go fairly easily. It is true that to paint, you have to draw well first. The drawing is the skeleton that holds your work together. If that is off, everything is off.

This sketch is done with Derwent Studio pencils. I'm not very impressed with these pencils as they are dry and the colour is a bit weak. I think I was spoiled by the Prismacolor pencils. They are so smooth and rich and the colour glides onto the paper, making the colours blend beautifully.

This image is of a friend's dog Bailey. The next sketch was done in about an hour for a weekly drawing event. I prefer drawing animals and people so it seemed to flow at the time.

The island today is being battered by a heavy duty blizzard with 60cm of snow down so far and another 10 to 15cm overnight. There will be a lot of digging out... Just getting to the barn is a challenge with deep snow drifts and strong winds.

Here is the forecast:

St. John's and vicinity8:04 PM NST Saturday 25 February 2006

Blizzard warning for St. John's and vicinity continued This is a warning that blizzard conditions with reduced visibilities are expected or are occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.A low pressure system east of the Avalon Peninsula this afternoon Newfoundland will continue to intensify as it moves northwest toward the Labrador Sea tonight. Snow and blowing snow with strong northwest winds gusting up to 130 km/h are giving blizzard conditions to northern and eastern regions of Newfoundland. Total snowfall amounts of 40 to 60 centimetres are expected for the northern Avalon Peninsula and sections of the northeast coast by Sunday morning with lesser amounts expected elsewhere. The snow should taper off by early Sunday morning as the intense low moves into the Labrador Sea.High waves along the East Coast will result in higher than normal water levels and should be most noticeable near high tide Sunday morning. Also there is a possibility of ice rafting onshore along the notheast coast particularly near high tide on Sunday morning due to the higher than normal water levels.

This was taken during a lull in the storm this afternoon. Visibility is nil at times when the wind blows the snow horizontally.