Hey guys, remember this?

 For those of us that were here last March, this is of the photo Brenda had done of Tommy and later gave to me. This is my 4th time drawing from this photo, 3rd time in color pencil, 1st time nearly half this big and on watercolor paper with lots of "tooth".  This is just one example of my bad sense of size judgement, the paper I did it on was as big as the whole scanner, my drawing has an ear, some hair and a signature.

At first, all that tooth was a pain in the butt, this drawing took so many layers, I sharpened my white pencil 3 time, just in the waiting room of the dentist office on Sat. (yes, I did bring that big drawing board, pencils, the drawing and another sheet of the watercolor paper to my dentist appointment). The extra paper really came in handy. As much as I try to keep my hands off the drawing, pencil transfer does get on the paper from the side of my hand, so, I used it as a cover sheet. I used a 1/2" to a 3/4" graph, which was a tight fit. You remember how big that picture was?  This is definetly the biggest one I've done and all my pencils are getting small. Thinking of going back to Ebay to see if those pencils that were there are still there, I hate bidding, and they want more for the shipping than the starting bid itself, I dont know... Oh and by the way, the "candy store" doesnt carry colorless blenders, at least thats what their web site says. I know Derwent makes many different sets of pencils, but you know me, "If its not broke, dont fix it!" why spend money on something I dont know, and there be a chance I'm not crazy about it, and they just kind of sit around. I might just buy a few blister packs and check the "clearance bins" for any loose ones of this type.

There is a slight shadow on this scan, which is where the edge of the lid of the scanner is. I think I used every color in the tin to do this, plus two that didnt come with the set (venitian red and terracotta). I thought I was nearly done, I think sometime last night, I put it on the other side of the room to get a better look ... hmm....no way, way too pale, definetly needs color, more layers! I think there are more layers on this drawing than there are layers of leather dye on my "leathergraphs", and the burnishing! this is where all that tooth came in handy, for the background I let a little of the tooth show, just a little, I got the face to where I really like it, although I look at the tooth (his) on his right, my left, there could be a little more shadow, they look a little flat, mabey a little blue, I dont know, just to create a little shadow... if it makes that much difference, I'll rescan.

Now, where to put him, I really like this one and its not in a pad like the rest of them, and for those of you who have seen my room know, I have no room on any of my walls, anywhere, for anything! besides, I dont want to staple him to the wall, I really should spray him with something but I keep remembering the girl in Mr Larsens class that sprayed the sample pointalism plate with some kind of spray and all the colors ran right off ! It was very smart of him to tell her to try it on a sample first, you have any idea how long it takes to do something in pointalism??!!

Well, its getting late, you know, I dont even know if I'm taking jojo...think I'd better get to bed, this night owl, draw-all-night, get no sleep thing is very easy to fall into but very hard to escape!

Have a good night!

lionseyes

I'm not quite done with it, but, I started another experement of burnishing with color pencils, I love drawing eyes and figure this would be good subject matter, should have stuck with one eye. The owner of these eyes, I think, is quite handsome, I was up til 1:00AM last night trying to get them just right. I'm really enjoying this burnishing thing, I can understand why the guy in the book recomended buying multiples of pencils used most often, white is definetly one of those colors. Plus, he also says to keep your pencils sharp, making them smaller and smaller. I dont have a whole lot of colors, not do I really want. I know people who draw a lot of ducks, so, they need many more colors than I do, I like the "life drawing" colors because 9 times out of 10, I'm drawing someones face. "Aunt Barbara" bought me a set of 12 and they are great. Not to mention the fact that when I have too many choices, I get totally confused. This set is also nice and soft&thick. My next visit to the "candy store" I'm going to check out paper, looking at "tooth". I tend to work small so I cant have it too toothy but slick and smooth was never a favorite, that type of paper is good for cutting stencils but my daughter has my airbrush (I hope!) and  theres no desire for stencil cutting right now, plus I have plenty that someone already gave me. Watercolor paper is very toothy and I have a bunch, somewhere. This morning while getting dressed, I was thinking that huge picture of Tommy that was hanging in the funeral home would be a nice burnish experement. I've already drawn it 3 times, twice with those same colored pencils, but now I know a little more about tech. of blending and burnishing and tooth and the order of things, plus its a nice pic, if I'm happy with the results and feel it is "scanner worthy"it will be here.

This rain, and the fact I went to bed late last night, is making me want to take a nap. Tommorow is Sat. YAY!

Have a good day,

lionseyes