Baby Gift

I have been busy attempting to make a baby gift for the landlords new grandson that is to be born on May 17 th, the same day as my oldest sons birthday.  I worked at it while we were in San Carlos for a week and finished it so just had to have it framed when we got home.
I am now working on a picture for my mom for Mothers Day, and yes, I do realize that it is going to be very late getting there.  I wanted to finish the baby gift first in case they had a baby shower for her before the baby is born.

Grandpa, (our landlord) loves to fish as a hobby so naturally all the grandsons are also interested in fishing, so I thought I would stick with that theme and start the new baby off with the right thoughts.
I hope the daughter in law likes it.
We spent a week in San Carlos looking after our friends dog and cat and I have a few pictures that I have to post from there.  We didn't do too much while we were there as I did something to my hip and could hardly walk for 2 or 3 days so it was pretty relaxing compared to our usual hectic schedule, (tongue in cheek).

Missing In Action

I have kind of disappeared from the blogging world this last while.  I am still around, I just have been spending a lot of time on my artwork.  I am still going to class twice a week and have also been working on a picture at home on my own.  I work slowly so it takes me a long time to do a picture.
The pastel painting that I did of Frank the dog arrived in Canada with no mishaps.  I took about a week and a half from the day I mailed it here to the day he was notified that it had arrived there.  That is not too bad.  I did send it registered mail though and I watched its progress on the post office site.
I have been working on a picture, again in soft chalk pastels of a hummingbird and flower.
This is the web photo that I have been using as a reference.

Here was the beginning of my painting.

And here is the finished project.  Well, finished that is until I take it to class tomorrow and show my teacher.  Unlike all the other people I have shown it to, he will see all the errors that I have made.  I have lots of questions to ask him about shading to get the right depth that I am missing.  It should be interesting to try and fix the mistakes that I have made.

I have several other projects at home that I want to get started on and also have several things that I want to blog about the neighbourhood, so perhaps will be on more frequently in the next few days.  We will see what happens.
Til later.

It Can't Be A Month !!

I can't believe that I haven't posted for a month now.  Time sure flies when you're having fun I guess.
I have been busy playing around with my pastels, going to class and just generally hanging out doing not much at all.
We both decided that we weren't in the Carnaval mood this year and therefore did not attend anything involved with it, so no pictures of it this year.
I am pleased with the picture I am doing in class, so far it is turning out OK. I haven't taken any pictures of it as yet, am going to try and remember to take the camera to class today as I want to show Roy how it is progressing.  I am not going to post it on here until it is finished though.
I am mostly done the initial drawing of what I am going to do next in class, just need to have another look at it with fresh eyes and see if I need to change anything before I set it aside until I am ready for it in class.
I am supposed to be working on a picture of a friends dog, Frank.  He wants a full body picture; but only in an 8 x 10 size.  It is a big dog and I am not pleased with it and so have been dragging my feet on that one.  I did finally finish it the other day though and then last night I started a bigger one of him; but this time of only his head. I am feeling better about this one and will send him both when they get finished.
Here's a couple of pictures of the small finished Frank and the larger in progress Frank.

Small finished Frank.

Larger version in progress.

A closer view of in progress Frank.

Zoe

Last night I finally decided that I was finished with the picture of my sisters dog Zoe, actually I was kind of sick of it to be honest.  I just couldn't seem to get the shape of her head or the portion of her body that shows quite right; but quit.  I hope the next one goes better it is a picture of a friends Doberman dog, Frank.
So here it is, it is done in chalk pastels.

ZOE

Class this afternoon so nothing much else going on with me.

It's A Dog Day

I finally managed to finish my pastel drawing/painting of my deceased dog Brandy.  She lived to a ripe old age of 14 1/2 yrs. and I still miss her.  She was the best dog ever.
I was kind of nervous about trying this as I wanted it to turn out well.  It came out not too bad for my first try at doing a drawing/painting of a dog.  It is done in Chalk Pastels.

Brandy

Chalk Pastels

Last night at art class I finished my first ever attempt at using chalk pastels.  It is a different medium for me and is interesting to see how it works.  I like it so far.  I am going to attempt something more difficult for my next one and see how it goes.
Anyway here is the final result.

First attempt at chalk pastels. November 2010.