Art awards

There are thousands of art awards produced, artists nominated and presentations given in public amid fanfare and publicity. Awards are coveted for excellence in handling a medium, exploring a subject or being controversial. All have merit and some come with more glory and prestige than others.

The ones that mean the most are the ones given by friends, some of who we know more than others. The visual art community is a body of caring individuals who, through sharing information and keeping contact, provide a much more tangible connection. I have been given this award by several people, and have been slow in putting it on my site. That is not because I am ungrateful for the award, but usually because I am very busy with other parts of life.

Thank you to those who thought of me, who visited my blog and who took time to consider, comment and acknowledge my work. Painting, in itself, is a learned skill and still puts me outside my comfort zone very often. So with my own belief (or disbelief, as many artists have) in my ability, thank you for the boost in confidence.

I am supposed to name seven people and list seven things that I love. I have done this previously and as so many people who I visit have been given this award already, I won't do so again. The things I love number much more than seven.

So please visit the artists who have awarded and been awarded. You will be glad that you did.

Pat Reese
Chris Beck
Tracy Hall

Shell complete

I spent some time early this morning finishing the shell and am calling it complete now. The image above is scanned but the colour still looks off, making it look candy pink which it isn't in reality. The second image is a photo that shows the truer colours of the piece, even if the background then greys out. I'll have to find a happy medium between the two to get a final image worthy of printing.

I've been using the range of watercolour papers that were in the sample box I bought from Legion Paper awhile ago. This one is Lanaquarelle 140lb and is lovely and smooth. With the addition of pen to the piece, a rougher paper would risk having fibres clog the nib or not enable the pointillism technique to be used to its best.

I have to head to Toronto tomorrow on business for the weekend. Weekend meetings are the scourge of non profit business, but have to be done. So I'll likely be absent for a few days but back in business on Monday. I hope I'll be able to find some time for sketching people, even if the scenery may not be too inspiring where I'll be.

Forever the technofiend, I've invested in a little mini netbook that will make travel with technology easier and a lot lighter. Unfortunately, it hasn't been delivered in time for this trip. Travelling with laptops is a pain with the level of security in airports. I seem to be forever hauling one out of the case, having it scanned, stuffing it back in, only to have to haul it out a little later to use it in the airport. The mini netbook fits easily in my handbag and will make basic work, checking emails, etc. so much easier than lugging a large one around. I have an older smaller laptop that I may take with me, or I may simply rely on good old pen and paper to take notes.

Sea shells

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I’ve always had a fascination for objects on the beach and my house has boxes and bowls overflowing with some of my finds. Beach rocks, abandoned shells, bits of seaweed, coral and driftwood all find their way home.

This shell, however, isn’t a beach find but from an image by Lisilk who takes some beautiful photos from her life in Bermuda and generously shares them in the reference library of WetCanvas.

I had recently finished a watercolour/ink piece of a speckled trout and wanted another piece to accompany it. A shrimp was suggested, but as I have an allergy to shellfish, shrimp aren’t something I usually buy. I hunted around for an alternative and came up with a beautiful image of a shrimp shell. I’m not sure what kind of shrimp this is/was, but I’ve not seen one quite like it before.

So here is my version of the shrimp in its current form. I’ve put down loose watercolour washes and am now adding detail in ink with a .25 tip Rapidograph pen. I’ll continue to build detail and add layers of colour where needed to bring realism to the piece.

There is something satisfying about the slow build of a drawing or painting that so appeals to me. I love the stages it goes through and the anticipation of seeing it develop from a blank page to a piece that can almost be lifted off the page.

Inspiration Tuesday

Tripod
Creative Commons - Attribution license
Click the image to see full size

I have cds and an external hard drive with lots and lots of photos, some of which are catalogued, some not. I browse through them, sometimes looking for inspiration, sometimes looking for a specific photo and often going down many side roads in the process.

I thought it may be useful to offer a few of these images under Creative Commons for others to use as they wish. I am a firm believer in sharing and giving back to others who give in many other ways.

Beginning today I will provide an image on Tuesdays which will fall under the Creative Commons Attribution license. Under Attribution you may copy, distribute, display and perform the image - and dirivative works based on it - but only if you give me credit for the original work, linking back to this blog. This license link and reminder will be posted along with the image that may be shared. All other images which do not have this link should be presumed to be copyrighted.

You may or may not like the images that I choose to share and that's fine. This is not a challenge for drawing or painting, you don't have to do anything. They are simply here to help provide inspiration on those days when you need it. If you do use them, I would love to see what you do with them.

The image will be uploaded at full resolution. Just click on it to see the full size.

The first image is Tripod, my cat. Well I say mine loosely, as he shows me disdain mostly as I have the audacity to leave him while I go to work each day. Little does he understand that someone has to earn money for cat food!

So tonight as I did my paparazzi moves on him, he grudgingly posed, while glaring at me sideways. He is obsessed with paper, among other things and flops onto any paper on the table the moment he is picked up as if there's a cat magnet in it.

The second image shows how he decided he'd had enough photos and took out his frustrations on a pen on the table.

The newsletter dating game

While on the beach at the weekend I found a clump of fresh seaweed, still green for the most part. I love these little plump buds of bladderwrack that are so green and fresh before the sun and air turns them to burnt umber. I managed to get this one home and take some photos before its transformation into a brittle mass that will go into the compost.

The photos will be cropped and arranged until I find a composition that appeals to me and will try a drawing of it, likely coloured pencil. I can't resist trying to capture that fresh green of the fronds.

I'm overwhelmed with email. Its become the scourge of my existence at times, especially today. I think its slowly crept up on me, insidiously creeping into the inbox, through filters, to clog my life with drivel.

Now I don't mean the mail from friends and family who I always enjoy receiving mail from, but I find that more and more documents are send via email, from newspapers to local supermarket flyers to newsletters. Which brings me on to my next topic.

I have been asked if I will produce a newsletter from this blog. At this moment, I have to say no. There are a lot of newsletters out there and it seems few are long lived or, to be honest, worthwhile reading. When I consider what would make me stick with a newsletter it would have to provide the following, which almost sounds like the dating game. Aren't these the qualities you look for in a partner?

Consistent. I want a newsletter that will arrive on time, when I expect it, not at the whim of the producer. I want to know what to expect in terms of content and writing. If you let your 4 year old write a column, you'll just confuse me.

Content. This is vital. Content must give me something that I cannot find elsewhere. It can be about you and your art, how you produce it, where you get your inspiration etc. Inspire and entertain me. After a long day, I want that. Don't tell me about your social life, your food, your pets or your children unless they are in your art.

Visual Appeal. You are an artist, so make your newsletter live up to your reputation or the reputation you want to create. No blocks of newspaper text with poor quality images. Make me want to see more through high resolution images and imaginative layout and design.

Make Me Feel Special. I have entrusted you with my personal information - a direct line to me. How are you going to treat me? Are you going to give me special tidbits of information and perhaps a little tutorial tip. Or maybe a discount on the purchase of your art each month?

Don't Dump Me. I have stuck with you, so don't suddenly disappear without warning. I deserve more than that. Provide me with a warning that you won't be producing your newsletter anymore, don't just walk away and leave me hanging, wondering what I did wrong or that you're lying dead in a ditch somewhere.

I won't produce a newsletter just for the sake of doing so. I have seen them come and go, often with good intentions, but often as not simply because its the current trend to do so. I can't produce a newsletter that will please readers on a consistent basis for the long term at this point in my life. In the future, if I have something I need to say on a regular basis, I may consider it, but not now. I'd break every rule in the dating game!

Contemplation

I found an old photo of my daughter taken when she was about 7 or 8 I guess. I thought it may make an interesting portrait in oils so have made a start. There will be some tweaking as I go to get the likeness correct as my line drawing wasn't perfect. I have the first layers down roughly and will continue to add to it. I've already scrubbed it once and redrew it with a brush which seems to have done the trick.

Getting the skin tones right for portraits can be a challenge. I've been watching Dave Darrow's portraits on Ustream TV and enjoy seeing the palettes he uses and his techniques. He always inspires me to paint and always makes it seem so simple.

It was a bright day here but a cold wind off the water. Ice is on the horizon and slob ice has nestled into the bays depending on wind direction. I took some photos today to show you the view out over the ocean that I saw this morning. If you could enlarge the image a lot you would see a tiny dot waaaaaaaaaayyyyy out on the horizon of a large iceberg. It is as variable as the slob ice that is in and dependent on the wind and currents for movement.

Ice in Newfoundland is a sure sign that spring is here.

VSD March

Table for two

watercolour & pen and ink

This is my effort for the Virtual Sketch Date. The reference was supplied by Stacy Rowan. These little house finches are appealing and common here, likely common everywhere.

I struggled with this on a couple of counts. I have drawn very few birds and to do justice I usually use a high resolution image which satisfies the detail freak in me. Perhaps I should have tackled it with oils so I could forget about some of the detail in them.

However, in the spirit of VSD, here they are - table for two in a corner of spring.

A day at the beach

A day at the beach
4 x 6 lino print

I was looking for inspiration and found an image I had sketched previously and thought it may make an interesting lino print. Its sort of a cross between Alfred Hitchcock and someone's Uncle Vinnie. :) I mean doesn't everyone have a rather portly relative with a wonderful profile like this?

I sketched it onto a 4 x 6 lino block and then carved out the shapes and light. I did a quick loose print early this morning using a wash of watercolour just to test it. It didn't pick up all the details of course, so I got my printing ink out tonight and did a few prints.

The background of the piece was meant to be completely bare and the water much less as well, as the purple piece is. However, adding the ink with a brayer reached all those areas that I hadn't carved out deep enough and made them stand out. I may reduce those high points where the ink hit the lino and take out some of the water ripples too. What do you think? Do the background lines add to the piece or detract from the subject?

Sunlit

Creating art takes energy. A lot of it is mental and for me completion of a piece that I've worked on steadily is usually followed by a fallow stage, as if my head is empty of all ideas or desire to draw or paint.

Its pointless to fight it, but simply work with it and find other ways to create. There are some portraits to finish as well as some ideas for prints that I must do some work with too. I also find that when I am drained from one medium, I revert back to my comfort zone of graphite or some other dry media and all is well again.

I did this little watercolour pour to get a feel for the process on a smaller scale. I'm not a flower person, but it seemed the appropriate thing to work on in this medium - at least at the moment. Its early days for me with this technique, but the results can be interesting. It takes some time and some planning for it to come together and look as it should. This doesn't really do what I had intended, mostly because I lost patience with drying times and masking fluid, etc., etc. However, the effect of strong sunlight is coming through, so all is not lost.

Coffee bean?

Coffee bean pendant

I was accidentally 'tagged' when I visited Sheona's blog today. She had a photo of a fat bumblebee on her site and I wanted a closer look, then I was it.

The rules are simple: take the 6th photo from 6th file on your computer/usb stick, whatever and blog about it.

My file turned out to be this little pendant that I made and had quite forgotten about. It looks like a perfect little coffee bean, brown with a little indentation down the middle, but in fact its a rock that I found on the beach here. Its a perfect shade of brown and so beautifully smooth. A man made piece could not replicate this little stone. I wrapped it in sterling silver to make it suitable for putting on a chain and haven't gotten around to posting it on Etsy - because I'd forgotten about it.

I won't name names so as not to cause stress. But if you're interested, consider yourself tagged and join in. Who knows what lurks in your hard drive archives...

More symbolism

I'm taking a little respite from slapping paint all over the studio and did a little bit of sedate drawing. Well, ok, there was one more fish print painting, but that was just to use up the rest of the left over paint so it wouldn't go to waste.

Since my last sketch of a symbolic drawing of myself, I did another and here it is. I also have another couple simmering. They're quite fun to do and they make you pull all kinds of things out of your imagination. Then it becomes a puzzle to fit things in around an initial and make them look somewhat recognizable.

All of the elements here are done without references, but I will go back and recheck some references for proportion and actual shapes as memory always sees somewhat differently than reality.

Once I have these sketches complete, I'll add some detail and colour and see how they evolve from there. If anyone wants an exercise in creativity and imagination, try one of these, I'd love to see your results.

All poured out

Barbs (crop)
22 x 30 watercolour & acrylic ink

I'm calling this done as I think if I play with it anymore it will just turn to mud.

I toyed with a couple of ideas for colouring the wire. One was to do a controlled pour, wetting the wire only and hoping a stream of paint would stick within the wet paper and not travel too far into the dry. The other was to use washes of loose watercolour to paint the wire.

I decided on the latter as my hands are still stained with inks and paints from yesterday's pour and I just couldn't face the mess again. I'll experiment more with smaller pieces where I can control the flow of paint into trays. Large sheets like this one will be reserved for outdoors in the summer.

I masked the area surrounding the wire and started adding washes of colour, leaving the white of the paper for highlights on the wire. In retrospect, I wish I'd left it at that, but of course, my inner brain told me to add more layers of colour. Don't always listen to your inner brain.

I ended up with a darkened version, some of which I like, some I don't. But its set in stone now and overall I like it. I can't get a good image of this. I'll have to take it upstairs for some good light to photograph it tomorrow. The colours are more vivid and the background greener in reality.

Pouring in progress

Barbs
acrylic ink, watercolour 22 x 30

Today a snowstorm was in progress. I dislike late spring snowstorms as they tend to hold more moisture and have more snow associated with them. This one has hung around all day and is now turning to rain. Nasty, messy.

However, being confined to the house provides me with an opportunity to play around with some new techniques. I had done a study for barbed wire previously and decided it could make a good subject for a watercolour pour.

Don't do this at home kids. At least not the full sized sheet. My studio is now multicoloured and so am I. I have learned that full sized sheets means outdoors in warmer weather or in a bathtub! Water and colour tend to go everywhere despite precautions of plastic and paper towels. (Aren't they pretty now?)

However, despite the drawbacks of mess the process was fun. I used a full size sheet of Arches watercolour paper that I taped to a large drawing board then sprayed it gently. I drew the outline of the string of barbed wire, then blocked it in with masking fluid. I find that stuff very toxic and it made my eyes uncomfortable for about 30 minutes after using it.

I mixed a cup for each of three primary colours and used acrylic ink, diluted with water. Once the paper held just a sheen, I then started pouring going from light to dark. I tipped the drawing board to let the ink flow and run back into its cup (or that was the plan). It simply ran onto the floor and the plastic and me instead with about three drops into the cup.

Of course I was impatient and didn't wait long enough between layers so its a bit muddy in places. I wanted the impression of a soft focus field behind the barbed wire so added more red. I then sprinkled some sea salt over the wet ink for a mottled effect.

Once the layers dried and I brushed off the loose salt, I rubbed off the layer of masking fluid to reveal the wire again. It looks so start against the coloured background now and I have to decide next steps

I could mask off a lot of the background and do another pour on to the barbed wire or I could simply use watercolours to create the wire and not disturb the background. This is where I need some advice from the experts out there. Whch is the best way to go from here?

I will add more layers of colour to the background to brighten it as it got a little too mixed in the first enthusiastic round of colour throwing. I should have started with a smaller piece initially to try this and will do another later to try for a better background. The snow made me do it!

The birth of a fish

I have completed this fish painting and now feel that I can progress onto other waiting projects. The fish started out as an experiment and evolved into something more, as many drawings do.

I wanted to use a full sheet of watercolour paper to stain then add fish prints to. I then wondered if I could just draw the fish on freehand before staining, cover them with masking fluid and then add details to the fish after staining the full sheet. This is where the fish was born. I pulled a sheet of 3 ply bristol drawing paper from a package of samples to sketch out a fish with. Then colour was added and the paper held up well with just a little bend to it which will flatten under weight or a frame.

The addition of ink came after studying the skin of the fish and wanting to replicate the pigmentation of it. A small amount of irridescent acrylic ink was added to the image to give a hint of sheen that is present in the colour of the fish.

And now, I have a completed fish and still now full sheet waiting to go. Its time to make progress.

'J'

Its funny how inspiration strikes and how it moves you into areas you hadn't considered. I have never been an illustrator. My mind needs a physical object in front of me to produce art. My imagination doesn't soar into places of wonder where magical creatures sit easily in familiar settings. But occasionally, just occasionally something lets me put the ordinary into not quite so ordinary settings.

Ages ago I started a symbolic self portrait which is still unfinished. I had finished about two thirds of it, the rest remains empty, due to my inability to think up something clever or creative to put in there.

Recently I revisited some images from Rima at The Hermitage. If you've never seen her work or read about her lifestyle, I'd strongly encourage you to do so. Its a magical journey into another world and one that provided me with the inspiration I needed to sketch out this thumbnail of my initial 'J' and some things that relate to me. Its the beginning of a more detailed piece that will be transferred to a sheet of........not sure what yet, as I haven't decided on the medium or whether it should be graphite or colour. I'm leaning a little towards Graphitint pencils as they can provide a soft muted shade which I think is what I want in this piece.

Elephant art

Hot Stuff
18 x 24 acrylics

An undiscovered Jackson Pollack? A toddler's painting? No, it was one of approximately 50 paintings that Kamala, one of Calgary's Zoo's three female Asian elephants produces as part of their enrichment program for these animals.

Elephants have been observed in the wild using sticks or rocks to scratch patterns in the sand and dust, a behaviour that has been explained by some naturalists as a possible expression of mood. Although all three of the Zoo's female elephants have been given the opportunity to paint as a part of the enrichment program, Kamala is the only one who has shown a continuing interest.

Kamala uses specially designed brushes to hold in her trunk as she applies acrylic paints to canvas on an easel.

Go here to learn more about Kamala's art and to purchase one of her paintings.

It seems the elephant world has talent as you'll see in this video clip of one animal who paints her own self portrait!

Tidbits for the muse

Maddy - update
coloured pencil 9 x 12

I haven't made a lot of progress on anything this week and my creativity has taken a nosedive too. I go in spurts of work then it defeats me or my shoulder complains. Last night I was just getting into something when the power went around 10:30 and stayed off til I gave up and went to bed.

I have so many ideas in my head and I jot down notes and thumbnail sketches, but lately its almost as if I have too many ideas and as a result nothing comes to fruition. But I will persevere, I'm sure its just a phase, as its been here before and will be here again. Creativity ebbs and wanes like the tide and we all know there's nothing we can do to change that.

While waiting for the muse to regroup her thoughts, I wander, looking for tidbits to tempt her. And I found some.

Riddle Fence
Riddle Fence is a Newfoundland-based journal of arts and culture, published three times yearly by Riddle Fence Inc., a registered Canadian charity.

Canadian Brushstroke magazine
This is an electronic magazine with Canadian content sent straight to your inbox. And its free!

A Day in the Arts Arts information to your inbox 5 days a week.

Art Calendar - the business magazine for artists.

Art Critical - A forum for criticism and ideas in the visual arts. Based in New York City, it welcomes contributions from around the world.

There are host of magazines and newspapers related to the arts and these are just a few. Sometimes its good to browse through a few and see what inspiration springs out.

Pen & portrait

I've been working on a number of projects that have been curtailed a little due to this problem with my shoulder, so I've worked on little pieces that don't need to be on the easel which limits arm movement.

This little portrait was done in my colourful sketchbook. Its a treat to even choose which page to use for a drawing and anticipating how it will fit and look on the swirl of colours. This piece was done in pen and ink, freehand, just seeing how brave I could be with the finite marks that the pen makes. There are some things I could change but for now its just a simple exercise so no need to return and fiddle.

I used to be very fearful of pen and ink, but now I quite enjoy using it. I like the finished look of an ink drawing as well as the process of doing it. It can be quick and simple or very detailed and time consuming.

I'm working on a fish piece that's posted on Watermarks today. I'm using pointillism to create the effect of pigmentation and shadingon the fish. Its a slow technique but becomes rather hypnotic as you complete dot after dot, almost like sending out Morse code messages for hours. It also becomes rather addictive too.

Ink is also a lot more forgiving than I originally thought it would be, especially in looser pieces. You can easily 'hide' a mistake under layers of shading in ink. I have a variety of pens and different coloured inks but invariable return to my .25 Rapidograph and black or sepia ink. I love the fineness of the nib and will invest in a couple of finer yet nibs to be able to work details with more precision.

Reviews of Rapidograph pens often list them as tempermental and clogging readily but I have to say that I don't follow the rules with them of cleaning and daily use and they've not let me down, except to run out of ink.

And finally a little song that's stuck in my head for days, now for my daughter, who's headed to Las Vegas today. The Weepies - Vegas Baby.

Anatomy of a watercolour portrait

Edited 3.15.09: This is a daylight photo of the portrait which gives a truer representation of the colours at this stage of the piece.





I have been lucky enough to be able to provide Cath Sheard with a portrait of her mother, so I thought I would show the process of the creation of a watercolour portrait to date. I'll apologize up front for the quality of the images as they're taken under artificial light so are darker than they should.

I start out with a simple line drawing, mapping out major areas of values.

From there I put down a base of colour to the face and portions of the hair in shadow. These will be refined in detail later.

I start adding more layers to the shadows of the face and hair, introducing other colours as I go to add interest and give depth. I also start putting in some background colour, keeping it all fairly loose and letting the paint and water flow in a controlled sort of way. :)

I keep adding layers of colour, some of them put down on damp paper, but I usually let one layer dry before I start the next so not to muddy the tones. I keep refining shapes and detail til I get to the point where it lets me know I can't go further. I will then add additional detail with wc pencil to bring out areas that I want to highlight.

This is going into its final stage of development and I hope to finish this piece during the weekend then it can be set free on its way to New Zealand.

Winter and injuries

Tripod in the snow

Hot little paws and three legs make tracking Tripod in some dry snow an easy task. I loved this little set of footprints and how crisp they were. It could be an interesting drawing or painting in the future.

It must be the season or something in the water, as I've done some kind of injury to my shoulder, I don't even quite know how, and its beyond painful, making even sleeping uncomfortable. As a lot of my job involves computer work, being in that position doesn't help it a lot either. It feels like a trapped nerve so I'm taking it easy for awhile and hope that it resolves itself soon.

Still no laptop back, but I should have the other scanner hooked up and ready to add some images in the next day or two. My posts may be short and sweet for a few days due to incapacity and technical difficulties.

Also shadows on snow, taken a few weeks ago were amazingly blue and long in the afternoon. The snow is pretty much all gone now and with it the light that it brings too.

My final thing to amuse you all with tonight, a big red fox that paid a visit around suppertime the other week. The image isn't clear as the light was fading and I was rushing to grab a shot before he took off. You never know who'll turn up at the farm. Foxes have been a problem in the past and they are quite opportunistic, grabbing chickens, ducks and even killing geese.

Barbed

Barbed wire study
graphite

I'm still awaiting the fate of my laptop so I'm rather in limbo when it comes to reproducing images unless I could lug everything to work, scan it there then put it on a usb stick and bring it home again. Desperation may take over if the laptop's not back soon!

As usual, I have several things happening at once. I played a little with one of the koi in the greenhouse when I got home from work today. It was still fairly frozen so I didn't get good prints and will let the fish thaw completely before trying again. The one decent print I got is quite promising as the scale pattern is prominent, almost reminiscent of a pinecone. I also discovered that koi have very sharp spines in their dorsal fin...

I spent tonight fighting with the initial drawing of Cath Sheard's mother whose portrait I am doing. Cath, if you remember, won my birthday portrait. I've decided to complete it in watercolour and have laid down the first washes. Watercolour always leaves me holding my breath til it does what I want it to do. Cross your fingers, so far, so good.

Not having new work to show you, I've dug out a barbed wire study that was the start of a piece still to come into being. I don't often share rough studies as I figure not many want to see the dirty side of work. I want this drawing to be a large piece, a full sheet perhaps to provide impact and perhaps in charcoal. Drawing something fairly mundane in a close view turns it into something entirely different. The curves and shadows around the sharp edged wire create art, not barriers. It always amazes me.

Ocean life

Untitled
oils 16 x 20

I've been meandering for the last couple of days, caught between portraits and prints, oils and watercolours, without anything very concrete to show for it. Especially with my laptop down and my favourite programs not available.

I've started this oil painting using mostly sea for interest. I want a wide expanse of water with just some movement on the surface. I've put down some base colour and added lighter sections that I will blend in to reflect light on the water. I'm not quite sure where exactly this one is going yet, but it will get there.

Its funny how word spreads about 'the artist' and her gyotaku interests. Some friends locally have a pond stocked with a variety of koi carp. Recent cold weather and deep ice killed a number of these fish and tonight I was presented with a bag full of bodies. They may not all be suitable and they may be a bit 'ripe' even if half frozen, but I'll try a few prints with some of the smaller fish. They have great definition in larger scales, so it should provide some good prints.

I still have more based prints to enhance and am delighted that they are being well received so far. I have plans for some of them to be printed as notecards. Adding colour turns them into something so different and the scans or photos don't do them justice in terms of shading and colour. This is one of the original fish print cards that's for sale on Etsy.

Portrait announcement

My laptop is at the shop because of a disturbing graphics problem which randomly posterizes images which I hope they can fix, so I'm using my old laptop which has none of the bells and whistles and speed that I became accustomed to with the new model. It also means that I haven't got the regular programs on it either such as camera or scanner, so unless I go dig out the installation cds and put them on this laptop, I will be suffering a little. However, hopefully the problem will be shortlived.

Now for the news that everyone has been waiting for............drum roll.........the name of the person who will receive a portrait. I gathered all the names of those who had commented (even the late ones) and wished me happy birthday and put them all in a bag. I asked Tripod to draw a name, but he's been terribly cranky lately and refused because there wasn't tuna in the deal, so I had to ask an alternate - T.O.O (the other one) - to draw a name. And its Cath Sheard! Once I've received Cath's portrait request, I'll get to work on it.

The image here is a pen and ink sketch of a couple that I did on the exotic sketchbook I bought awhile back. The pages are stained with acrylic inks and its interesting to add to them as they become almost backgrounds for the drawings.