I did it – I managed to start a new drawing before the Thanksgiving break came. Now it will be easier for me to continue working through the holidays. About a month ago I made a list of some ideas for drawings and/or paintings that I’ve had kicking around in my head, some are newer ideas and some have been in there for quite some time. Well, this one wasn’t on the list! Funny how that works. I have an small inventory of dead birds, etc. in our basement freezer – all are wrapped individually and stored in door shelves (not near any food, for those of you who find this disturbing! Many do.) My mom brought me a dead hawk she found on her patio in Rhode Island, and it’s so beautiful that I decided to draw it. I’ve only gotten a little bit done, but I like the head so far and decided to share it. I’ve placed the hawk on top of some autumn leaves, mostly for scale, as this hawk (the smallest hawk in North America) is quite small and dainty. I’m also using the Canson Mi-tientes paper again. I think this blue paper will compliment the colors of the hawk and leaves nicely.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I finished the skull study today and am posting a photograph. I don’t know what I’m going to do next, but I need to start something quickly, before my son comes home from college for Thanksgiving. Otherwise, the break will spread into December and then I’ll have a real hard time getting going!
I’m posting a photo of the new progress on my drawing. I wasn’t going to share it this soon, but I decided I like the ghostly quality of the skunk skull. It’s a little tricky combining these two skulls, as I only have the animal skull in my possession and had to work from a photograph for the owl skull. I took that photo while on vacation in Arizona last February. While signing up for a trail ride, I noticed several wonderful skulls in the ranch office. The wrangler told me he had found this particular skull in a wash, and it had probably been there quite some time, as it was quite weather-beaten.
Here is the great horned owl skull I’ve been working on, nearly complete, or complete. It’s hard to tell until the other skull is in place and I can see how the two “bounce off each other”. I’m starting to work on the placement of the second skull.
I currently have artwork up in three shows in the Northeast:
- H2O – Artistic Interpretation of Water, Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, Rhode Island, through December 3rd
- Wellesley Society of Artists, Annual Juried Exhibition, Wellesley Free Library, Wellesley, MA, up through November 31st, and
-
Allied Artists of America 95th Annual Juried Exhibition, the National Arts Club Galleries, Gramercy Park South, New York City, New York, November 14th through December 2nd.
My piece at the WSA’s exhibition, “Last Year’s Remnants” was awarded Third Place in the show. Below is a photograph taken of the opening reception at the Spring Bull Gallery showing some of the work on the wall. One of my pieces is in the middle of the photograph: “Still-life with Broken Wings”.
I am very excited to have a new pencil caddy for organizing my colored pencils. At our last colored pencil meeting, I asked several people how they organized their colored pencils for working at their drawing tables, and Gary Ruuska had a great concept that he shared with me. He had taken a lazy susan as a base, and cut 2″ PVC piping into sections, and glued it onto the base to color coordinate his pencils. I passed this information on to my husband, who often helps me out with technical stuff in my studio (putting together furniture from IKEA, installing things, building tables, etc.) and he made me the pencil caddy as pictured below. It is definitely making my life easier at the drafting table. Thank you Gary!
I’ve been working on a new study of a Great Horned Owl Skull (when not busy watching election returns and results!). There will also be another skull in the drawing, most likely that of a shunk, which happens to be one of the favorite foods of a Great Horned Owl. I’m doing this drawing on Canson Mi-tientes paper. It’s nice to already have a color in the background and work up the whites and work back the darks.
