Friday, October 23, 2009

"October"

Since I came to Virginia, my impression of October has changed.  In Englad I tended to think of it as cool and wet.  Here, I think of it as bright blue skies and harvest colours!


October's Bright Blue Weather

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)


O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather;

The view while I waited for my meal in Aunt Sarah's :)

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

A so called 'hardy orange'- not a citrus, but edible.  We have oodles of them- which means it will probably appear again since I am not satisfied with this particular effort ;)


When Gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

Decorated with leaf prints- which came out a lot better than the pictures.  Those were watercolour pencils, and the more I tried to correct the flaws, the muddier they got :(

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

Woolly Bears are all over the place- supposedly predicting the weather.  In our case they were posing for pictures ;)

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.

And the latest EDM #246- picked up on our nature walk today :)  I love autumnal colours ;)  My first choice for something October would be my birthday- but it has been and gone so I can't draw it now (the cake was delicious too ;)).  This is my second choice ;)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

New Look

Yes, if you visit the blog you will probably notice it looks different.  I made a new header (I've been learning to play with Gimp) and made my page much simpler.  I did keep most of my sidebar contents, if something is gone, it is probably over at one of the other blogs ;)  


Thursday, October 08, 2009

EDM #244

Draw the oldest thing in your Refrigerator



EDM #244: Draw the oldest thing in your Refrigerator

Originally uploaded by Spinneretta

And this is mine. Some old horseradish with no use by date and a label 1/2 falling off of it!

I don't remember how long it has been there :-o

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

"Prairie Girl"


"Prairie Girl"
Originally uploaded by Spinneretta

From a photo of my friend's daughter- I just spent all afternoon on this one LOL
My friend named the photo "Prairie Girl" and I liked the title.
Tried a few new techniques with this one- and I am very happy with them :)

I spent the last couple of days reading up about coloured pencil drawings, and then remembered than I really wanted to draw this photo... and here you go :)


Monday, October 05, 2009

Happy Birthday to ME!!!


Happy Birthday to ME!!!
Originally uploaded by Spinneretta

I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of fellow Librans on my Flickr art groups :) So I shall toot my own horn and declare this my birthday with pride :)
So for my birthday, I decided to do EDM# 243: Draw a pillow
This was an exercise in patience- the patience necessary to do it in coloured pencil... the patience necessary to get over the fact that the kids messed up the model TWICE (:-o) and the patience to get over the fact I don't have access to odourless mineral spirits to help blend. And alcohol and acetone do not work. Luckily I tried those on the first drawing which was the first messed up model ;)
Now if only I was allowed to take advantage of said pillow for my birthday ;)

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Monthly Sketch Project pt. 2


Monthly Sketch Project pt. 2
Originally uploaded by Spinneretta

Part 2 of the October 2009 monthly sketch project.
Stop and Go apples, coloured pencil.
Trying again with one of my favourite media- coloured pencil :) I have been reading up a little more on it- so I have a slightly better result- I just need to find some more things to perfect the technique :)
From a photo by Leslie.

Friday, October 02, 2009

Autumn Accordian Fold

So, I wanted to add a few more pieces to Jeanette's Apple Challenge. More because I felt like trying a few things than for any other reason :) These golden delicious apples are locally grown, and the colours just cried out for pastels :)


First try was not so great, but this one came out well- especially when it occurred to me to add a little detail with the pastel PENCILS :)
Then I found my old accordian fold from last year- unfinished. So I added a couple of pages- with a poem from Kate Greenaway :)

The first leaves to turn here are always the pawpaw ones. They turn yellow with highlights of golden brown :)

I picked these up from the garden and painted them :)

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Monthly Sketch Project: October 09


Monthly Sketch Project: October 09
Originally uploaded by Spinneretta

My first attempt at this month's Monthly Sketch Project.
I opted for an impressionistic pastel pencil piece- limited palette since I have only 12 pastel pencils. Slightly blurry at the edge since my book cannot quite fit onto the scanner :)
I liked the effect of the way I used the pencils- not so satisfied with the result. Oh well- I have a few weeks still :)



from a photo provided by Ann