Yup, I've been delinquent again! It's now 2025, and I'm just schlepping through life, I guess. 
Yes, I still make art: lots of elf-head ornaments, quite a few portrait sketches (from movies, usually) and the past year and a half, +/-, I've been playing around with making journals and other book forms.  Not much sells at the local sales venues, though the elf heads seem to be slowly catching on. 
I found a link to Faeriations in an old Facebook post, and figured I'd check it out -- wasn't sure how to initiate a new post, it's been so long! Here I am, though... and I hope to double-back soon with photos of more recent art endeavors.  Still doing 29 Faces (just finished one this past week) and was able to combine two of the above art outlets: portraits, bookmaking, and toss in a bit of calligraphy for good measure. I was never at a high skill level with calligraphy, and a long hiatus is tattling on me -- I'm fairly terrible at it now! Still, what's the point of having pride, amongst a group of friends, huh? Ayala Art is still hosting 29 Faces, and I'm very grateful for that. 
OK, see you next time! (Just kidding. I won't be able to see you!)
~Janet 

2019 is over and in the books, as they say.

Hmmmmmm…..
Been less than a year, this time, LOL!
I spent a good deal of last year making elf head ornaments, to sell at a local art sale, and sold only one.  There was an unusually low amount of traffic this year (did I jinx us?).   I'll take some photos and try to upload pics of some of the better ones.  New computer, new cell phone, so not sure I'll be able to, but I'll try.  Light is better in the daytime, and it's dark now.  So, not today.  Until then, ta-ta!

Well, it's been awhile -- again! 
I've been doing artwork, both two- and three-dimensional.  My old way of processing digital photos has gone the way of the dinosaurs, I guess.  When I figure out how to upload pics, I'll do that soon. 
Long story short, I'm OK.  It's been three and a half years since the accident, and I'm walking just fine.  Still having issues with my hands, so that might be permanent.  Most importantly, it's not interfering (much) with my making art.  My low energy interferes with that.  But -- no excuses.  Basically, I'm fine, and grateful to be doing as well as I am. 
Pictures of some of my latest artwork will follow, eventually.

Oh my... where to begin?

I haven't posted for awhile, and for the most part, the reason was good, though more recently, it's just been lack of energy. 

About thirteen months ago, I was in a freak accident, and broke, among other things, my neck.  I had always thought that a broken neck was a death sentence, or at best, guaranteed wheelchair subsistence for life.  Yes, that can still be the case, and believe me, I know how lucky I am!  Kudos to my local EMT's for doing everything right and nothing wrong, and to my neurosurgeon and his team for being simply brilliant!  Also, if my son hadn't been there, I would have died on the spot.  He was first in a long line of those saving my life.

I'm walking just fine, except for some mild balance issues.  Apparently, there are nerves/muscles in the neck that inform the brain about balance.  But for the most part, that is still good.  I'm in a walking program at a local school, and there's no doubt about my progress.  I started a year ago with my Aspen cervical collar and a walker, and did one lap.  When summer hiatus was over a couple of weeks ago, I returned to do 18 laps the first night! (Six laps = one mile) 

My hands and arms are still problematic.  Nerves don't heal all that quickly, so I was given a 12-18 month time frame to expect healing if it's going to happen at all.  Left hand lost much strength and dexterity, though the arm is pretty good.  I can reach for stuff, but often drop it, because my grasp isn't what I have come to take for granted over these many decades of life. Still, there is slight improvement there, after 13 months.  My right hand is nearly 100%, though just short of it, and thank goodness, I'm right handed.  My right shoulder is a bit of a mess, probably from the original trauma, where two ribs on the upper right side were also broken.  Can't reach upwards easily, or far.  Working on that with PT.  Big issue with my right arm and hand are the constant pins and needles sensation.  Meds help, but don't fix it entirely.  Gets a bit tiresome, really.  But I'm glad to have basic functioning in that hand.  Hey, I'm touch-typing right now!
Fortunately, as important as the brain-to-hand connection is to making art, the eye-to-brain connection is far more important, and that's unaffected by the accident.  I did join in the 29 Faces In February Challenge this year, and created my usual sketches from movie stills.  My choice of movie(s)  was the X-Men series.  I had to take photos with my cell phone, and upload to Facebook from that.  My son cleaned out several rooms of the house, thinking it would need to be renovated for wheelchair access, and in doing so, packed away my good camera, which loads directly into the computer.  Much stuff is still packed away, in the barn, including the camera.  If I knew where it was, I'd go straight for it.  Hence, there are no new photos in the computer since the accident.  So, I don't know if I can upload the X-Men pieces to the blog.  There must be some way of getting them from the iPhone to here.... will have to look into it.

Sadly, in July, my brother passed away, my last surviving brother.  He was de facto keeper of the family photographs, just because they were there when he moved in to the old homestead.  His son didn't want them, but I jumped at the offer to take them.  I expected about a dozen, but instead received a windfall of treasures dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century.  Those were courtesy of my grandmother's scrapbooking.  I feel so blessed to have them!  Want to archive them in some way for the rest of the family to access freely and enjoy.  Meanwhile, this week, I've started a drawing-a-day personal program, not just for drawing, but to do any artwork.  For the most part, I want to work off of these marvelous photos!  Again, can't post pics here yet.  But this is where I am at the moment, anyway. 

I have much hope for the future, even though the original trauma, my return to work, and a couple of my meds all contribute to a pervasive energy lag.  I'm still alive (that prospect was in a certain degree of doubt prior to my first surgery) and I can get around just fine (my neurosurgeon said, during my first office visit about six weeks after my discharge, that he had gone into the first surgery hoping I would have enough use of my hands to operate the controls of an electric wheelchair!) and I can still make art.  I count my blessings all the time, believe me.   I'll try not to wait another year and a half to post more, LOL!  Oh, and I'll try to avoid freak accidents, too.... heh heh.

29 Faces, and counting. Or not.

I seem to have lost the entire first part of what I had just written, all from clicking on one wrong thing, or pushing a wrong button -- I don't know.  

Summarizing:  I didn't finish the 29 Faces Challenge, as a severe and lingering winter has really sapped my creative energies.  I do have some faces I did in the computer's Paint program, to show.  Those are intended to be relatively fast (about 10-15 minutes) and sometimes I don't like them, so I don't keep them.  There have been a few more sketches from The Hobbit movies, and now that the last movie has been released to dvd/br, I can select scenes from that too.  

I was not satisfied with two sketches of the dwarf, Kili, and will have to do a third.  I drew him smiling, and though the actor has a gorgeous smile, the character doesn't smile much.  A non-smiling drawing of him might carry more of a likeness.  His brother Fili, however, was acceptable the first go.  

I started one of Bolg, the Orc, but he was so disgusting to look at closely, that I have to do that one in short stages.  I haven't had this much trouble since drawing the Mouth of Sauron!  Both are utterly gross to view with the analytical intensity needed to draw them.  

Ready for the pictures?  

   ORI, the Dwarf, portrayed by Adam Brown

GLOIN, the Dwarf, portrayed by  Peter Hambleton, who also did the voice-over for one of the trolls in the first movie.  Yes, this is the Gloin that is the father of LOTR's Gimli!  

TAURIEL, the Elf, played by Evangeline Lilly
Her character was entirely fabricated for the movies; she was not in any of the books by Tolkein, much less The Hobbit. 
Still, Lilly did an acceptable job with the part, I think. There was a huge, romantic story line in the movies that included her, but was never touched by Tolkein. 

DORI, the Dwarf, portrayed by Mark Hadlow.  He is offering Gandalf the Wizard a cup of chamomile tea at the "Unexpected Party."

William Kircher as BIFUR, the Dwarf.  Yes, that's an axe embedded in his noggin.  He goes through the whole series like that!  Kircher also did one of the troll voice-overs.  I think he likely had more lines in that scene than he did in the whole rest of the series of three movies, where he was restricted to fairly unintelligible grunts --due to the presence of the axe in his head, no doubt!

Both FILI and KILI -- Dwarves, and heirs to the throne of Erebor, after their uncle Thorin.  
I'd have shown only the Fili sketch, but they're on the same page, and I needed to count Kili as a face of the 29.    The smile here is smaller than the first sketch I did, but still not a good likeness.  He needs to look more intense!  Dean O'Gorman plays Fili (on the left) and Aidan Turner plays Kili (right).





And, on an unrelated note, one of the race of Men (though some claim there is Vulcan in his heritage!).  

When Leonard Nimoy passed away recently, many of us in the 29 Faces Challenge group expressed our sorrow by drawing or painting him.  Many portrayed him as Spock, his iconic role from Star Trek.  I preferred to show him as his still vital, though aging self.  As a photographer of considerable talent, he portrayed women whose physical beauty was contrary to the standards of beauty of our time and culture, yet were sensitively shown as having a great intrinsic beauty of their own.  I'd like to think he would have approved of my showing him at this stage of his life.

A quote he left us all with is included on the page:
" A life is like a garden.  Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.  LLAP."  (Live Long And Prosper)

29 Faces in February, 2015

Not much to say at this time, as it's only a week into the challenge.  I'm alternating serious sketching (like last year) with some fast sketches done in the computer's Paint program.  For now, I'll just show a bit of the serious sketches.  The others are more like exercises to loosen me up.
The movie(s) I've chosen to work from is The Hobbit series by Peter Jackson.  I pause the movie at a chosen point and sketch the face I've selected.  I get to pick facial expressions that no live model would be able to hold for long, expressions that tell a lot about the character him/herself.  I have done several others, mostly from The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey.  Not sure if I ever posted them here, though. They are of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, The Great Goblin, Azog The Defiler, Bert The Troll, Bard The Bowman, Balin (one of the questing dwarves of Erebor) and Beorn the Berserker (skinchanger).   I expect to have all the dwarves represented, at some point!

I have three sketches for you tonight:

  
Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm, aka, "Mirkwood."  In this scene, he was telling Thorin that most might suspect the dwarves were on a quest to reclaim their homeland, but he suspected the quest was for something more practical: the Arkenstone.  Lee Pace plays Thranduil.

A second one of Bard, the Bowman, different from the one I had done before, different scene.  I stopped when interrupted, then decided I like it better "unfinished," which is to say, it is finished, now.  Bard is portrayed by Luke Evans. 

The Master of Laketown, played by Stephen Fry.  Sleazy and self-important, he is here considering whether to accept Thorin's offer of shared wealth in exchange for Laketown's cooperation in the quest -- or throw the lot of them in the town lockup! 

29 Faces in February, 2015

Well, it's February!!!  
Time to start another "29 Faces in February" Challenge -- are you ready?  
Am I?  (Only time will tell......)

First, a shout-out to Ayala Art for hosting this invigorating challenge again!  Yaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy.......
  
Second, I thought I'd preface that I'm going to mix it up a bit this year.  I'd like to continue making the same type of face-art as before, but this time, I want to make a bit more from my computer Paint program.  The idea of those is to do them quickly, maybe 20 minutes or less.  It may not make great art, but should loosen me up considerably, and also make me less reliant upon pausing movies and sketching from the stills.  I think I need that, but want to finish a project or two of movie stills portraits.  If I can, I'll alternate days of each.  (It won't be 'Photoshop,' only 'Paint.')  Who knows, maybe I'll throw in a new clay face or two, as well.

And with that, I shall say.......
"Let the Games BEGIN!"

29 Faces For February

I would like to state once more that I do NOT sell these sketches I've been doing.  They have been marvelous practice, and I've learned a lot over the past year and a quarter or so that I've been doing them. 

I'd also like to thank Ayala Art for sponsoring the 29 Faces For February challenge!  It is a blast to participate in this.  Not only have I gotten to see the work of some incredible artists of varying skill levels, but I know I have made new friends along the way.  What could be more important than that?!  
Thanks again -- and see you again next year!

29 Faces For February

"Les Miserables," continued (see earlier post for beginning)

The barricades have gone up all around Paris, and our story concerns one of them.  Marius and Enjolras, Eponine, Gavroche, and their friends have put up their barricade, and are making a stand for the Republique.  Many, many officers have been dispatched to quell the uprisings, and the battle is joined.  In order to spy on the rebels, Javert goes undercover, but is caught.  Valjean has joined them to find Marius, whom he realizes is destined to take care of Cosette when he himself must take his leave.  Valjean is given the chance to kill Javert, and be rid of his nemesis forever, but spares him.  He is a compassionate man, having changed completely when the bishop trusted him.  Meanwhile, the battle continues between the insurgents and the military.  

Enjolras and a Republique sympathizer, Grantaire.  Enjolras holds high one of the red banners that has been a hallmark of the rebellion. They knew what they were getting into, and there is no hint of apology nor fear in this act of defiance. 
Their cause is just.

Javert is undergoing a crisis the night that the battle is over. Can he endure being in the debt of an ex-con who broke parole? Can he continue to uphold the letter of the law? The Law, which has been his steadfast identity all his life, as steadfast as the stars in their season. He addresses the stars quite often. But will they answer him this time? 

Fantine sings softly to the dying Jean Valjean. He interjects his replies:
 
"M'sieur, I bless your name"
                         "I am ready, Fantine."
"M'sieur, lay down your burden."
                         "At the end of my days"
"You raised my child in love"
                         "She's the best of my life."
"And you will be with God."
*
*
*
"Come with me
Where chains will never bind you,
All your grief
At last, at last behind you.
Lord in Heaven
Look down on him in mercy."
                       "Forgive me all my trespasses
                         And take me to your glory."
"Take my hand
And lead me to salvation --
Take my love,
For love is everlasting.
And remember
The truth that once was spoken:
To love another person
Is to see the face of God!" 

(Credits to Boublil and Schonberg)

And ultimate credit to the master of it all: Victor Hugo, author of the original Les Miserables.

This quick sketch is from a painting that Hugo obviously sat for.  If I can find out who the artist was, I'll come back to give proper credits .  
(Still having problems getting a name for the painter.  Seems like it was done in 1899, though.  I'll keep on trying!)

29 Faces For February

"Les Miserables," continued  (For first installment, see entry of February 14, 2014)

Marius is involved with a group of young men who want to see an end to the returned monarchy and restoration of the Republic.  They meet over a wine shop and plan their moment to protest.  A popular public figure, General Lamarque, supports their cause but is near death.  It is decided to strike their demonstration during his funeral procession.  

The people line the streets, and during the procession, begin to sing, softly at first, then more vigorously.  The scene ends with Marius and the group's leader, Enjolras, waving a red flag, symbolic of the rebellious uprising.  

"Do you hear the people sing, singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people who will NOT be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums,
There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

(These are just quick, rough sketches, done in one afternoon.  I left stray lines in, on purpose.)

The firebrand of the group, Enjolras, after the spirited song and flag waving.  The crowd is psyched for the uprising, and he is slightly out of breath. He wears a tricolor floret made with the bleu, blanche et rouge (blue, white and red) that were the colors of the French Revolution.

  
                                          Enjolras, played by Aaron Tveit.

29 Faces For February

Nine years have elapsed since Cosette escaped from the wicked people who were keeping her, and she has grown to the flower of young womanhood in the safety of the convent where Valjean has been working.  Recently, they have moved on to regular Parisian life, funded by money Valjean had hidden before their seclusion.  On a charitable excursion one day in early June of 1832, Valjean and Cosette are in the vicinity of a crowd of citizens listening to some young men talking of bringing down the monarchy.   The French Revolution had done that decades earlier, but a couple of years before this part of the story, the monarchy had returned. Many people were upset.  These young men, students, were agitating for support in their quest for a return of the Republic.  One of them notices Cosette and falls in love at first sight.  He catches her eye, and she feels the same.  
(Seriously, if I had been in the Parisian mob at that time, I would have killed her for the bonnet she was wearing.  I LOVED it... but since it's the 29 FACES challenge, not 29 Hats, I minimized the bonnet and concentrated on her pretty face.  Trust me, the bonnet was gorgeous.)

                                               
                                            Cosette, played by Amanda Seyfried.

                  Marius Pontmercy, seeing Cosette for the first time, played by Eddie Redmayne.


Marius has a friend who is sympathetic to the Republicans' cause, and she is none other than the child of the horrid Thenardiers.   Her name is Eponine,  and she has sunk pretty low under their tutelage.   But all she does in their con games is keep a watch out for the police.   She recognizes Cosette, who used to live with her, so when Marius asks Eponine to find out where the pretty girl lives, she agrees to do it for him.  He is clueless that Eponine is in love with him! 

      Here, Eponine realizes that Marius will never love her.  Played by Samantha Barks.


In Paris there is a street urchin named Gavroche.  He knows all the ins and outs of street life, hangs out with the young men plotting the rebellion, fervently sympathizes with their cause, and heads up a band of his own street urchins.  

The plucky Gavroche, who frequently proves "what little people can do."  
He sports the tricolor floret used as a badge by Republique supporters.  Portrayed by Daniel Huttlestone. 

29 Faces For February

As you will recall (from the previous two posts, see below)  Fantine has a child being boarded with an innkeeper and his wife, the Thenardiers.  Two horrid, reprehensible people, they will cheat, thieve, and connive anyone out of their last sou, if possible.  Even their inn guests are fodder for their greed.  They have written to Fantine to send more money, because her child is ill and needs a doctor.  The child, Cosette, is not ill at all, but is being abused and neglected by those adults into whose care she was entrusted.  They have a little girl of their own, whom they pet and spoil, and basically teach to be as dishonest as they are.  Cosette is expected to do all the housework and fetch water for scraps of food, rags to wear, and no play.

Monsieur Thenardier, who is not above watering the beer with his own urine.  Yet, he is celebrated locally as "The Master of the House."  Played by Sacha Baron Cohen.

Slatternly Madame Thenardier, every bit as crooked as her husband and even more mean to Cosette.  Portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.

Once Jean Valjean shows up to take Cosette away, willing to settle any debts for her keep,  the Thenardiers jump at the chance to get more and more money from him.  He is smart and knows their type, but treats them civilly.  Cosette knows this is her chance to escape her oppressors, and goes with him willingly.  "Will you be like a Papa to me?"

Cosette clutches a dirty rag, knotted into a rough figure.  She pretends it is a doll, and it's her only plaything.  Played by Isabelle Allen.

Valjean and Cosette escape into the night, finding refuge at a convent, where he can work for their keep, and raise the child in secluded safety.  Though he has secreted some cash away, he needs to stay hidden from the prying eyes of Inspector Javert.  His fear of being caught determines so many of his life's decisions.

29 Faces For February

OK, then -- MORE of "Les Mis" sketches!  
(If you haven't been following, the "first installment" is the entry just below this one.)


After Jean Valjean's epiphany to become a better man, he broke parole and worked for awhile without the papers he'd had to present to warn people he was an ex-convict.   When a factory went up for sale, he purchased it.  He was no longer known as Jean Valjean, since he had left that identity behind.  He employed many people who needed honest wages, did good works, and was respected enough to be elected the mayor.  One day, a new police officer presented himself for duty, to the mayor -- it was none other than the same guard Javert, who had warned Valjean to remember him-- and he did!  Terrified that he'd be recognized by Javert,  distracted, he ignored a scuffle on the factory floor, involving some women.  He turned the matter over to the foreman, a petty, vindictive man, and a young woman who desperately needed her job was dismissed and tossed out onto the street.  She needed those wages to support her small child, whom she boarded elsewhere with an innkeeper and his wife.

Inspector Javert.   His passion for upholding the law is an obsession.  It's his sense of structure, and is as fixed as the stars are in their seasonal movements in the sky.  He is portrayed by Russell Crowe.  

                                           

 

"Monsieur Le Mayor" is distracted, trying not to panic, when he sees Javert in his factory office.  Played by Hugh Jackman.

The young woman, Fantine, was driven by need to send money for her child's upkeep. She sold a treasured locket, her lovely long hair, then a tooth -- and eventually her body to the randy sailors and rakes that frequent the waterfront for such business.   She recounts her fall into shame, tells us of how she fell in love years ago, and, pregnant, was abandoned.   Her naive dreams were killed -- by Life.
Portrayed by Anne Hathaway.

29 Faces for February

Oh my goodness, it's mid-February and I haven't posted since December!  I am once again doing the 29 Faces for February Challenge, and have several faces ready to show you.  (Not fourteen of them, but several, LOL.)  I'll be posting them with the 29 Faces in the subject line, and if I can ever figure out the way to get the "Linky" up here, I'll do that too.  

I have been quite taken with the subject of "Les Miserables," of late.  So, this is what will form most of the basis for my 29 Faces Challenge.  I won't do 29 faces from "Les Mis," but I intend to cover each major character at least once.  I'll toss a few others in for kicks!

Well, first things first:  When Jean Valjean was paroled after nineteen years of slave labor for stealing bread (and some escape attempts) he was told by one of the guards to remember him, as he would be remembering Valjean.  A paroled prisoner had to present papers before applying for work, for lodging, almost anything involving the law-abiding citizenry.  The papers declared each parolee to be dangerous.   Nobody wanted to give a "dangerous criminal" anything, any kind of chance.  Valjean found his way to a bench outside an abbey, to sleep upon, when the bishop discovered him and invited him inside.  He was fed, and given a bed to sleep on, gently called, "brother."  Yet in the night, Valjean stole the bishop's silver dinner service, and ran off.  Caught, he was brought back to the abbey by the gendarmes, who were surprised to hear the bishop say the silver was a gift to Valjean.  "But in your hurry, you forgot to take the best!" and put two large, elegant silver candlesticks into Jean's sack with the rest.  When the police left, the bishop told Jean Valjean to go forth and become an honest man, using the silver for good deeds.  "I have saved your soul for God."

Rocked to the core, having never experienced such kindness and trust from a stranger, Valjean vows to cast aside the man he was, and become a new, better person.  He shreds his papers, assumes a new identity, and violates his parole, slipping into the population of France. 

More tomorrow!

Some Holiday Cheer ~

I have made a few holiday ornaments, all for different reasons.

The first was for a swap in a polymer clay group I belong to -- our ornament swaps are so much fun!  The members look forward to this event all year!

This one went out to RuthAnne (because Santa said she'd been a very GOOD girl!):

 (Santa's beard is real goat hair, from Alaskan goats.   If Jay is still in business, you can find this at Arctic Fantasy.  Maybe I can find a link....)

The next one went to a friend of my dear friend Sprite, because a woman she volunteers with at her local animal shelter lost all her holiday decorations (well, she lost everything, I guess) in Hurricane Sandy.  Sprite asked me to make something for her friend.  Sprite has done so very much for me over the years; this was the least I could do in return.  I chose a kitty because of the good work they both do for homeless animals.  The models were two of my own cats, Leo and Cole.  It's more Cole's facial shape, but Leo's coloring; they are brothers.)

Last, but not least, is a commission -- a companion piece to one I did a couple of years ago.  I had done some generic House Elves, like the ones from Harry Potter, but not specific characters.  One of those went to a friend of my buddy Jean, as a Christmas present.  I was asked to do another one this year, because he needed a girl companion!  I had already begun one as Winky,  an actual character from the Harry Potter books, omitted from the movies.  With Jean's permission, I used that and continued it.  Winky is a rather sad House Elf, having been dismissed by her employer, Barty Crouch.  She was given clothes, as a sign of her disgrace, and she must wear them.  Dumbledore gives her and her friend Dobby jobs at the Hogwarts kitchens,  as they could never again find employment with other wizarding families. But Winky falls apart -- weeping uncontrollably, and getting drunk on butterbeer (which affects elves very strongly).   She's a pathetic little creature!    
  

                                                                     
                                                                           ... and ...

It was so much fun to make her little hat!  Her eyes, unlike most of the facial ornaments I make, are "store-bought".  I purchased some inexpensive ones that cannot be used for polymer clay, so this one is made with air-dry clay (no baking, no temps higher than room temperature).  Winky is not really a favorite character of mine, but I've gotten quite fond of this ornament!

Bilbo?

Been working on this for a few days, off and on.  I can see some corrections/refinements to make, now that I have it in photo form.  It's from the dvd (blue ray) cover of The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey.   Black and Sanguine Conte on white Strathmore charcoal paper.  I'm still having issues getting photography to get the colors right, but this is the truest of all the photos I took.  Just think sanguine conte, and you'll have it about right.

                                                  
                                                   Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. 

Last of the September Challenge for 29 Faces

I've been working on this one for about four weeks, give or take a few days.  Since I have no models, I made this girl up, as I drew.  She seemed to want ethnic features, and I love the way light plays on dark skin, so I picked up the ball and ran with it.  Ran slowly, LOL.  I could have made it darker, but it's not an actual portrait, so I'm good with it the way it is; I like her.   I used my new Art Bars by Derwent, on Strathmore Watercolor (cold press)  paper.  Photo taken outdoors in natural, afternoon light.  This is the closest to the true colors and values of all the photos I took in different lights.  Sorry it was a tad crooked, LOL! 
Anyway, I didn't blog the others, having posted them on Facebook, in the group created for it.  I was still very busy with my gardens, and was not thrilled with most of the faces I made for the challenge, so I didn't redirect to my blog.  But this one -- I'm happy enough with her.

It occurs to me that I didn't post pics of the other shingle shake I worked on! 


It started out looking like this:  

Look at that potential!!!  Can't you just see a hundred possibilities?  (Just no possibility of being used to shingle the side of a house....)


Then it progressed to this:

I made a Harpy, a bird-woman from Greek mythology.  The word is still used to denote a shrewish, ill-tempered, sharp-tongued woman.    The lines are burned into the wood.

But I decided she needed just a bit more.........

 
I am now thinking she needs a touch of dimension and shine/moisture to the red.  Have not decided just how I shall execute this, so it must wait.  If I do anything truly significant to change this, I'll post; otherwise, I'll just leave it as being like this.



 

For a couple of weeks, I have been helping a friend prepare to reshingle her home, or a part of it, anyway.  She's using cedar shakes, which need to be primed and sealed first: that's my job!  Occasionally, some turn up useless, for one reason or another -- but they're artistically intriguing!  As "payment" for my work, I requested a couple of the reject shakes.  One had a knothole that was almost human-eye shaped.   With a wood-burning tool, and a bit of stain I found in the barn, this is what I made of that one.  I sketched approximately the same face, profile/reverse profile, on each side.  When I stained it, I gave in to a "wild hair" and reversed the stain, almost (but not exactly) like a negative.  Haven't wood-burned in many years, and painting with stain was more difficult than I'd expected.  But I did do something different from usual, and learned a bit along the way.  That's the important thing!

Thanks to the blue sky behind her, she has light blue eyes! 

I have another I'll be working on and posting, fairly soon!
 

I should like to state that I do not sell my artwork.  The sketches I've made were for practice only, and they have helped me learn a LOT about facial construction and expression. I have learned a great many things from doing these sketches, and would recommend the same thing to other artists who lack a live, human model to sketch from.  Having made them doesn't mean they are sales quality, nor that there is legal freedom to profit from them.  Besides, most of them are in bound sketchbooks and there are no plans to split up any groups.

Just sayin'......

We now return you to your regular programming.   Have a lovely day.