Lady

I started this drawing months ago but never completed it. I worked on it a little more but it hasn't turned out as I wanted it to do. The background isn't quite right, the horse isn't quite right. But its a learning experience.

The image is about 16 x 20 in colored pencil on Stonehenge paper.

Art supplies

Today I treated myself to a little online shopping spree for some art supplies in the USA.

Its a little frustrating that I cannot access the supplies that I want locally, or often even within Canada, making me spend extra dollars to mail order things to this remote little rock in the Atlantic. I had a few unexpected dollars land in my lap, so I had to ensure they went to a good cause - art creation.

I browsed Dick Blick - an American chain of art supply stores that I wish I had been able to access when I was in California in February. Stores were in Los Angeles or San Diego, both of which were within striking distance of me, but I was rather in the middle and trying to find my way on my own to either store was challenging to say the least knowing my navigational skills. So I settle for mail order, which is very acceptable, except for exchange rates and potential duty payments. So much for free trade between Canada and the USA. However the exchange rate is quite good now, closer to 90 cents to the US dollar than the miserable 60-odd cents it was a year or two ago.

A post in Katherine Tyrrell's blog made me wish for more Derwent Drawing pencils in the full range of colours. Nowhere in Canada sold them. I could get the earth colours, which I already have, but not the extended range. So a full set of 24 was my first choice.

My second choice was a full sampler pack of Colourfix paper. This is a rough textured surface used predominantly for pastels, but works well with colored pencil as well, provided you don't mind it eating up a good deal of pencil in the process it seems. I did find Colourfix when I was in the US but not the smaller sheets of 9 x 12 which I wanted. I could only find the large 22 x 30 sheets and with travelling it would not have been worth my while to either have them cut or to roll them and hope they wouldn't get squashed in the travels.

I have found some Sabretooth paper here in Canada, by La Papeterie Saint Armand that creates lovely handmade paper in Montreal. Its not easy to find a supplier in my region for it and its fairly expensive at around $8 or $9 a sheet depending on where you buy it. I have a few sheets that I ordered awhile back still sitting waiting for my inspiration to hit.

So now I will have to wait impatiently for the post to arrive so another pile of 'loot' can be added to my growing stash of materials, part of which is shown above.

Birthday portrait

This is a sketch for a drawing that I will be creating for a friend's 50th birthday. I've toyed with images previously and finally decided on a composition (except for the guitar - it won't be in that position and I'm trying to sneak a photo of one of his).

The drawing will be a retrospective with him as a teenager and as he is now. He's still a teenager at heart, he just has more spending money now.

Running out of steam

I have been neglecting my blog lately. Yes I still post, but my posts seem uninspired and don't contain much of interest. Most of the rest of my life seems charging ahead at breakneck speed, so by the time evening comes, my energy levels are flagging and my mind's ability to even think of words, let alone type them is limited.

I spent an hour and a half wasting time waiting for someone after work today. I was to pick up something and there were delays, so I wandered around, wasting time til I could return and retrieve what I set out for originally.

I drove through newish subdivisions of very large houses set on handkerchiefs of lawns that looked out of place with perhaps 6 or 7 feet between houses. Ostentatiousness abounds in these estates and I find it amusing to see For Sale signs on a number of these large houses perhaps a year or so after people move in. Obviously, living as opposed to existing overcomes eventually and putting every last dime into housing doesn't get you anywhere.

Where has this craving for bigger come from? Do you remember living in houses where only one bathroom existed? And four people or more needed that one bathroom? Then basements. Why do people need basements? They say 'Oh, the kids will go down there and play.' No they won't. They want to be where you are and that isn't in the basement! So it sits finished, almost lined with dollar bills with no one venturing there unless its to rediscover what you put in boxes there originally or to avoid the rest of the family or relatives. Basements are horrible places, no matter what people do to make them more attractive. You're underground virtually! What use on earth does a basement have unless you want to store vegetables, as the original purpose likely was?

Flatrock 2007
Why Flatrock gets its name. The rocks are layered and stretch out into the sea from the land.

Even after not getting home til 7pm I guess there may be a couple of brain cells left to rant. Or not. The tree in the photo was a tuckamoor, the image taken this past weekend overlooking Middle Cove. A tuckamoor is a weatherbeaten conifer, black spruce here usually. They grow near the sea often, battered by wind and weather which rearrange their growth patterns and leave them clinging perilously to the edge of rocks, making you wonder how they manage to pull any sustenance out of the sparse soil and rock they are perched on. I wanted an image of such a tree for a drawing that I'm doing. I'm not sure if this will be the image. I need a few more and I couldn't get close enough to this tree without risking seeing the ocean really close up, so I'll keep looking for more easily accessible tuckamoors.

Supported

Supported
11 x 14, graphite
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Babies are so full of trust and life and curiosity about the world. Everyday is a brand new day full of brand new experiences. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to experience that again with the logic and reasoning that we now have as adults?

This is a drawing of my grand daughter at her finest, exploring her own world with her parents. Dress style unique and somewhat optional.

A long weekend

Its been a long weekend for me, as I took a day on Friday and today was a holiday, but it still doesn't seem long enough as I have so much to fit into my time away from work. In bits and pieces I worked on my drawing which is very slowly coming together. I still haven't finalized all the elements of it, but that will come as I progress.

These are samples of what I will be producing and price ranges.

Pendant
Trinity
$30.00

The weather was warm for a change so I got out to the beach to collect more stones and have spent time drilling them (and my finger) then started putting them together. Their organic shapes and natural colours lend themselves to fairly simple designs. I love the fact that each piece is so unique and can never be replicated. Even the earrings are not completely alike. The shapes and colours are similar, but not identical.

Pendant
High Tide
$30.00

Earrings (for pierced ears)
Logy Bay
$15.00