ffyrebird

Scary Lady

Eeek!  Maybe I should rethink using vintage photos to draw from.  They look so stern and harsh to begin with and my ink drawings only make these poor souls even scarier loking....

New Year, New Beginning

It seems like it has been forever since the last time I made a drawing or posted on here, I feel so rusty!!!  I have been itching to draw again and learned so much from my attempt to draw everyday, that I decided why not go for it and try for another go at drawing daily for a year.  Time for me right now is very limited as I spend most of every day with R2 at rehab working on his recovery from the wreck.  I decided to keep my drawings very simple for now- just a quick pen sketch from photos.  I grabbed a bunch of royalty free photos from the Library of Congress Flickr stream etc. and put them on my IPad so I wouldn't have to waste time trying to figure out what to draw.  I want to work on drawing people and straight to ink drawings really seam to be (for me) quick, honest and a great learning tool- so for a while that's what I'll be playing with.  Here is the first, a very dapper man in Noodler's Beaver on Stonehenge paper.  the ink sat on the surface a bit and I found I could smear it with my finger for a touch of tone....

Finally! 75 Days Finished!

I made it!  I finished the 75 Day Direct Ink Sketching Challenge, yippee!! If anyone is considering trying this, I highly recommend it.  It's a long challenge but I learned a lot doing it.

 

R3's Cross

For today, the family told me I should draw a cross.  OK.  I chose one of R3's necklaces (I just realized that I mislabeled the pic as R4's not R3's-- I think this is just a tad too girly for R4, LOL!!).  R2 and R3 usually celebrate their birthday together since they are only two days apart.  Today was their combo birthday party and Easter lunch for the extended family to celebrate together.

 

Scissors

Searching for something to draw today and I ended up with my kitchen scissors...

Wonky Monkey

Every now and then a drawing goes wonky---  So for today, a wonky monkey!!  This is a little monkey plush with built in speakers in his headphones for plugging in an MP3 player.  It hangs on R4's bedpost for him to grab and listen to music at night.  It was really weird drawing this hanging by it's headphone strap from the lamp on my desk!!

 

Power Drill

I borrowed DH's power drill for my drawing today...

R4 Lounging on the Couch

I decided to try something different for today and sketch one of the kiddos.  Originally I was going to draw R3 but she didn't like that idea and ran off upstairs.  R4 is such a good sport and a big ham for the camera, so it wasn't a surprise that he volunteered to model for me.  He watched a movie and let me draw away.  He liked the finished sketch but gave me some suggestions on touching up his hair.

Only five more days left of 75 Days of Ink Drawings!!!

Angel

When each of the children were born, an angel in our church in the guise of an elderly gentleman gifted them with a personalized wooden angel like this one.  That was so sweet and they are all special keepsakes for the lucky families in our church.

Fast Foot

The gang was waiting on me to watch a movie, so this was a foot at warp speed, LOL!!

Ink Experiment

Playing around with a different background wash and subject for todays direct ink drawing, only eight more days left!!!  The photo for this was from Laure Ferlita's class, Imaginary Garden Visit.  I planned to use it as a warmup for my class page, but time ran out and dinner with the family came first.....

R4's Bear-Spirit

Once upon a time.we went to a Royal's game.  After the game we bought R4 a tiny Beanie-type blue bear with Sweeney written across his back after the first baseman at that time.  R4 took Sweeney everywhere and he was soon joined by many other tiny bear friends.  It is amazing how many places sell little bears as souevenirs!  Whever he went, R4 took pockets or backpacks full of bears and played with them like other kids played with dolls.  Once, as we were sitting at one of his big brothers ball games he emptied the pockets of his cargo pants and I counted over twenty of his little bear buddies he'd squished in there!!  R4 doesn't carry them around like he used to, but he still plays with them in a giant wooden 'bear' house and carts them downstairs to stage football and baseball games with them.  He stuffs them into Barbie or GI Joe cars and bikes, builds Lego stages and gizmos for them and has all sorts of adventures with his buddies.  All that from one tiny little Sweeney bear souvenir!

PS:  As I was drawing this guy, R4 informed me that HER name was Spirit.

 

Knitter's Mug

I got this little handthrown mug at the first Stitches Convention that I attended. Only 10 more days left in the 75 Day Direct Ink Sketch Challenge!!

Padlock

It's amazing the things that end up sitting on our kitchen counter....

Bamboo Flute

Today's drawing is one of my toys, a Native American Flute made out of bamboo by Faheem Wynn.  This one is flame scorched a bit with a dark bird and he named it Phoenix!  I love it, especially how it bows a bit and angles at the last growth ring.  Somehow, even though it isn't a perfect machine made tube, it still sounds sweet.

I'm not sure why the ink feathered so badly in this drawing, it was my standard Noodlers (although in Beaver this time).  Maybe the brown is a tad thinner, or the nib of this Esterbrook is extra flexy and laid down a wetter line, or I fuzzed up the paper a bit when I painted the background before I began--- or a combination of all three factors.  Who knows...  Anyway, in the spirit of the 75 Days of Ink, I just lived with it.  For me the main part of this challenge has been accepting a drawing as it is and not fussing with it, something I'm still struggling with.  Just twelve more days of Direct Ink Drawings!!

Flipflops

Yay!!! It is finally warm enough to break out the sandals!!!  Plus, there are only 13 more days to go in my little 75 Days of Direct Ink Sketches.  Woohoo!!

Quill Pens and Inkwell

Searching for something to draw tonight I saw this sitting on R2's desk.  He got it a few years ago from Colonial Williamsburg.

Dip Pen

I love the looks of old dip pens, especially ones with an unusual twist like this one with a curvy oak holder.  Unfortunately, I don't care to use dip pens.  I always forget the proper way to pull the nib and end up spattering my page with ink!!  Who knows though, maybe eventually I will learn to love using them.  I didn't like the Tombow pens when I first tried them and here I am making yet another drawing using one!!

 

Treasure Troll

I'm exhausted, but this little troll is just so hilarious with his wild hair that I managed the energy for a quickie sketch before hitting the sack.  (Wow!  What a run on sentence.  I really do need to get some sleep!!!)

Panda

I really need to learn to quit while I am ahead.  I chewed up the paper with my pen nib trying to get the darks darker in this drawing.  I should learn to stop while I can!!

Manny

My faithful model, Manny.......

Carnation

Just a quickie doodle of a carnation for tonight.........

Only nineteen more drawings left to go in the 75 Day Direct ink Challenge!!

The Flash

R1 collects old comic books and The Flash is one of his favorites.  I borrowed this little bust of Flash from him to draw today.

Only 20 more days left in The 75 Days of Direct Ink Drawings!!!

R3's Rose

R3 loves the movie musical,  Phantom of the Opera so when it came to town during her birthday we HAD to go see the stage show.  She had a blast getting all dressed up and we had wonderful seats right at the edge of the balcony.  She had a huge grin on her face all night long! It was so much fun that the next time the show comes around we will be going together again for sure.

Some Drawings are so Bad, They're Funny

Some drawings are so bad, they are funny.  R4 brought me this fluffy stuffed penguin with a huge head and mega eyes to draw.  I knew it would be next to impossible to do all that fluff justice in ink, but I didn't guess that it would end up looking like a chicken wearing an Elvis wig!!!!  Oh well, here it is in all it's pathetic splendor!   Actually, I kinda get a laugh out of how silly it looks!

Marvy Heat Gun

I dried one too many watercolors with my old Marvy heat gun and burnt out the motor.  Time to go shopping for a new one since I'm too impatient to wait for my backgrounds to dry on their own.

Sea Turtle

Another of the plastic Safari toys........

Dinosaur

My family is the best!!  When I get  stumped for a drawing model they all pitch in with ideas.  R2 brought this toy down for me to draw tonight.  They are all super patient with me and put up with my delaying dinner or the DVD for the night because-- 'I'll be finished drawing in a minute' or ' Just let me post this real quick'.  How lucky can you be?

Going Bananas

I love my children, but somedays they drive me bananas!!!

Mini Cooper

I think Mini Coopers are the cutest little cars ever!  I would love to have one, but there is no way a family of six would ever fit in one so I'm stuck with a minivan as my ride.  DH has promised when the kiddos start leaving the nest we can trade our current camping rig of an F250 Supercab and Trailmanor for a big motorcoach and a Mini Cooper as a tow vehicle, cool!!!  In the meantime, I'm trying to convince R1 or R2 that a Mini Cooper woud be a neat first car (so Mom can 'borrow' it).

In case you're counting, this is day 48 in my insane 75 Day Direct Ink Drawing Challenge (all are blogged under the category Inky Fingers).  The idea is from here--Brenda Swenson's 75 Day sketch Challenge.  I'm not really sure if all my drawings count since I got really bored, really fast with plain ink line drawings on white paper and decided to use background watercolor washes.  I also went with a lot of watersoluble pen and ink washes in the drawings themselves.  This way I get double the practice- drawing in ink only then playing with dissolving the ink into tones.  Ah, phooey, who am I kidding!!  The drawings were BORING in line only, putting in some tone by doing ink washes was the only way to keep going with this challenge.  On a positive note, this is a great  experience and a wonderful skill to learn for fast sketching.

Earmuffs

 

There must be some unwritten rule that states that the weather must always be nasty for a graveside service.  It was really windy and chill out, but thankfully most of the snow missed us and what had fallen was melted by today.  It was a good thing that I always have earmuffs and Arctic 180s in my coat pockets and the glove box of every vehicle we own.  I could probably outfit a small army with earmuffs, but at least I always have them around when I need them, LOL!!

I'm going to go veg out with a movie, so this is a realllllly quick ink sketch playing with the brush end of a Tombow pen.

Make-up Art

Did it ever occur to you just how much art is involved in putting on make-up?  We use brushes and powders, pencil eye and lip liners or mini felt tip liquid eye liners.  We take tiny paintbrushes and paint our nails.  Sounds a lot like the tools and talents used in making 'real' art. 

Wood Car

The kiddos had tons of wooden toys- blocks, cars, trains, even play swords.  Eventually we caved into the plastic commercial stuff, but I think the simple, classic toys fed their imaginations the most.

Daisy Joy

I just got back from visiting my mother on her first day in the hospice and decided that tonight's drawing should be one to lift the spirits.  Daisies are such simple flowers, but no other blossom is so cheery or joyful, IMHO.

Penguin Plushie

I'm discovering that drawing directly in ink is great for fast, fun work.  It's hard to get uptight and fussy with this-  once a line is down, it's down.  No redoing or fiddling just accept the good and bad and move on.  That is really freeing and fun, great for silly subjects!!!

Forsythia

The forsythia in our yard have just now started to blossom, just in time for the snow we have predicted for the weekend!!??!!

Ouch!!

Both R3 and I have really long hair, but it couldn't be more different.  Mine is straight to wavy and feels pretty soft.  Hers is soooo thick and curly and coarse.  She wants straight hair. I would love curly hair.  I wish my red hair wasn't getting darker, she hates her red highlights.  I can't stand using a brush, she just rips through her hair with hers, OWWW!!!

First Day of Spring

Finally, Spring is here!! It's hard to believe we had snow on the ground last week, it's so nice out today.  Nothing reminds me of Spring more than tulips so that had to be today's drawing.  I corrected the name of the pen I've used for the last three , it is a Pelikan 120 not a Pilot 120 as I had written previously.

Drawing Lamp

I don't know what I'd do without this lamp on my desk.  The older I get , the more light I need to see.

Ice Cream Scoop

If Ithought I was exhausted yesterday, eeshhh!!  We are all recovering from being sick but the oldest two had said they would go to the youth lock-in and DH was to be a chaperone, so they all left last night to have an all-nighter with their friends.  I stayed home with the two youngest and we had a movie marathon and junk food fest.  When the rest of the gang got home at 7 am, we hit the sack and didn't wake up till 5pm.  Talk about messing up your schedule!!

Hake Brush

Keeping it simple since I am still exhausted..........

India Ink

Ink sketch of----a bottle of ink, LOL!

Baby Spoon

Today is just a sketchy sketch, half the family is sick and I'm running around feeding them and doing the 'Mom' thing...  This was my spoon as a baby.  Compared to the spoons with plastic handles covered in bright cartoon characters that my kiddos had, it seems pretty plain.  It really looks like someone bent a regular silver spoon into a loop for a baby to hold.  I like the simplicity of it.

Desktop Staple

Sorry, I can't resist a bad pun, LOL!!

Tulip Buds

I couldn't resist buying a pot of bright orange tulips with buds nearly ready to burst open!!

Sandpaper Pad and a Monkey

Another day, another ink drawing.......

I was scribbling around with a fat 4- 4.5 mm sketch lead and testing out a new Stonehenge journal when R4 saw my monkey drawing.  He said it wasn't scribbling and should be todays drawing.  How sweet!

Ocarina

I cleaned  and polished the stinky Swan pen from yesterday to see if I could get rid of the burnt rubber smell.  It smells better now and is OK to use, cool since it is a nifty vintage fountain pen.  I drug this little dolphin-shaped, ceramic ocarina off the shelf for today's drawing.  R3 screeched when I tried playing it, LOL!!

 

A Month of Direct Ink Drawings

Wow, thirty days of direct ink drawing with only forty-five days left.  Seventy-five days is looking like a loooong time!!  Today was a quickie with a vintage Swan self filler and Noodler's Ink.  This is a REALLY sketchy sketch because the pen literally stunk.  When resacing an old hard rubber pen sometimes there is this nasty burnt rubber smell that occurs while filing the old sac bits off the neck.  This pen smells like that but I've never refurbished it or replaced the sac as I bought it in working order with a nice pliable sac.  I'll have to figure out some way to get rid of the smell, maybe polish down the whole pen.  If I don't this pen won't see anymore use, it's just way too smelly!  It would be a shame to shelve it since it has a nice nib and this really cool metal sleeve that it fits into to clip into a pocket- obviously a pre-integrated clip era model.

We were waiting for DH to finish up on the phone to watching a DVD so I did this little guy to kill time...

Scribbles

Scribbles, with his little quiver and pencil, is the last of my merry band of Pocket Dragon plushies.  The guys were from the cartoon series, Pocket Dragon Adventures, that was based on the figurines by Real and Muff Musgrave.  The plushies were just so cute that I had to add them to the stuffed animal zoo in my computer room.

Cuddles

Cuddles looks like I felt yesterday- all droopy and sleepy, LOL!  Thankfully I am feeling much better now!