The Harry Potter swap, most recent

OK! Took me long enough, didn't it?!  

Here are the only decent photos I have of the latest Harry Potter item.  It's just one frame, with small sculpts of Ron on the chess piece (HPSS) and Hermione with a book.  There are two sketches I did of movie stills, one from the first movie (Harry's delight at the results of his first unintentional magical experiences) and one from the last movie (the Elder wand chooses the wizard).  The color is horribly blue-shifted, and I cannot get edits to save to the computer, since a new editing program was installed in November.  That's why a pic of the whole thing isn't worth showing, since it's too tiny.  I thought I could crop it, but cannot.

Catching up!

Have done so very little with art this whole year!   But I have just finished a Harry Potter Crafts Group swap item.  I'll post a photo or two once I get word that it has been received by my swap partner.  I sure hope it gets there safely, and that she likes it!

On another note, I have been sketching a fair bit, in the past couple of days.  In preparation for the release of the new Peter Jackson movie, "The Hobbit" (part one) I'm re-watching "Lord of the Rings" on dvds.  It occurred to me the other night to make some sketches of the characters, and I've already done a few from the second movie, "The Two Towers".  If I feel they are good enough, I'll take photos soon, and post.  I'm no Alan Lee, by a LONG shot, but I'm feeling fairly good about these.

That's all I have for now! 

Delinquent -- mea culpa!

I haven't been blogging,  because I haven't been making art this summer.  Finished a couple of projects in late June, and then nothing until starting a couple a week or two ago.  Those are not done yet, so there are still no art pix to post.  However, what I have done with my summer is to attend to my badly neglected gardens.  Since I started sculpting, they have gotten less and less attention, and 2010 and '11 were just bad, emotionally.  Best leave that alone.  

But I do have good news!  The plants I cared most about were the daylilies (hybrids, mostly).  I had a sizable collection of them, would have had well over 300 different types of known, named daylilies, if they'd all lived, from the start.  The start was in 2002, and I'd simply lost a few from whatever reasons.   In 2005, I began sculpting, and that was the year I last added daylilies to the collection, moving/dividing several clumps in 2008 because of the new dogs.  

Daylilies do NOT "thrive on neglect," as some folks would say.  But they are surprisingly hardy, and I was indeed surprised at their tenacity.   Yes, I lost several plants outright, mostly due to hostile takeovers by pernicious other plants: namely, blackberry, vinca, and forsythia.  Many more were alive, but did not have the strength to send up a scape and bloom, so remained unidentified.  Yes, I had to identify each plant, to know for sure what was there, and that was no easy task, in many cases.  Most labels had been lost, but I had some dated notes to go by, and a few photos.  Those which could be identified, were "cataloged" so to speak, and at least temporarily labeled.  Many have been divided, and/or moved.  And yes, I bought several more new ones, this year.  (BAD Janet!  But if you're going to have an addiction, this one isn't too bad!)

I'll put up just a few pics of the daylilies that were identified and newly photo'd.  

"IMOBILUS!"

OK then!  I can now show you the piece I've been working on (besides the dark-haired fairy in black and burgundy garb) for the past couple of months.  It's Hermione Granger, in the Harry Potter series, this one "The Chamber of Secrets".  The inept teacher has unleashed a cageful of Cornish pixies ("Devilish tricky little blighters!") and cannot manage them.  Only Hermione has the presence of mind and the talent to get them to uhh... hold still.  She points her wand, and shouts, "IMOBILUS!" the spell needed to freeze them in mid-air.  The kids can then "nip them back into their cage".  YEAH!  GIRL POWER!  It's one of my favorite Hermione moments, and there are quite a few good ones!  

Most recently...

My, my, my... I haven't been very attentive to the blog lately, have I?   Sculpting a bit more, and here are a couple of hints, drawing-wise.  Also, I'm almost finished with this doll -- have only wings left to make for her.  The fabric of the underskirt is delish, but doesn't show much here.

A recent drawing

I'm still drawing more than sculpting, but have begun a couple of sculpts.  Here's a recent drawing, of Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge, from one of the earlier Harry Potter movies, "Chamber of Secrets", I believe.

Fred and George Weasley

I have a sort of 'assignment' for something to do with The Deathly Hallows (book or movies) for the HPC group. The recipient is a fan of the Weasley twins, so I sketched up something of them back to back. I used the DH2 movie as a reference, though the back-to-back stance is from my own mind. They always had each others' backs!

In preparing for the color sketch, I did a plain pencil sketch of Fred's face, as he and George ready themselves for the Battle of Hogwarts. There's a bit of foreshadowing there, in his expression.

I'm currently waiting for the address of the person I'm sending it to, but she's not likely to see this blog, anyway.

In the Draw This! Yahoo Group I've recently joined, there are daily assignments. For Valentine's day, they asked for "something heart shaped." What could be more heart shaped than this? (Yeah, I know, "Nobody likes a smart-ass, Janet!")

Severus Snape... see entry below this post

Severus Snape, at ages eleven, sixteen, and as an adult (late 30's). The card for the adult stage is the moment he has just said, "Always."

Please see the post below, for all other information pertaining to this one.

My first ATC's.

I've been making ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) for a swap in the HPC Group. First time I've ever made ATC's, and I'm pleased enough with them. My swap partner considers herself a Hufflepuff, but adores Severus Snape. I made her four ATC's of Hufflepuffers, and three bonus ones of the three ages of Snape that we're shown in the movies. On the back of each card is a brief bio of the character; that gives me a place to sign and date them, too. All I made were the portraits, but there were some very clever ATC's made for this swap. My swap partner seemed very pleased with what she got, though. :)

At upper left is Professor Pomona Sprout, Head of House at the time Harry was attending school. I sketched from a still photo I'd found online, in HB pencil, then in colored pencils, in a sketchbook. This was taken before I cut it out for gluing onto cardstock. All ATCs were executed the same way.

At top right (where I did NOT put the pic!!!) is a montage of four ATC's, fronts.
It shows the four Hufflepuffs, Susan Bones (age 11) Hannah Abbott (age 15) and Cedric Diggory (age 17), and includes the above pic of Sprout, finished up, and on the cardstock. The paper on the reverse side is calligraphy "parchment".

I'm having a terrible time getting photos WHERE I want them; they're not going where I put them. Will try again, in a separate post, but it will read out of order... sorry.

More sketches

Just a couple more sketches... To the right is Remus Lupin, after having changed into a werewolf, in HP, Prisoner of Azkaban. The image on the screen ended on the left side, so I shrugged my shoulders and gave up. I should have simply "invented" the necessary missing bits to make it look right. I may yet do that, but won't likely take a photo of the fix.
*
Above left (because that's how it loaded) is an older sketch of a dragon I did, maybe a couple of years or so ago. I've recently revised the "hand," since it looked too human-esque, and not draconic enough. Not completely satisfied, but less dissatisfied with it, now.

All I've done lately is sketches, and those have all been from the Harry Potter movie series. The two I did yesterday are of Ron and Draco, having just entered Hogwarts and listening to Prof. McGonagal's speech about the sorting into houses. She was interrupted by Neville's discovery of his missing toad, and Ron found that a bit amusing. Then, she named off the four houses, and when she mentioned, "Slytherin House," Draco smiled, knowing he was most likely going there. His whole family had been Slytherins for centuries!

These two sketches are done in pencil, the others (not shown) in ballpoint pen. At least I can erase mistakes with the pencil work, but it's all out there, flaws and all, with the ink, so I'm not quite as happy with them... plus they're a bit older. I want to sketch Hermione soon, too!