Coloured pencils

Here's the picture I did in coloured pencil.









I worked on my leaf picture some more yesterday and got everything filled in with a layer of paint. And I finished cross stitching the birth announcement border. Next I'll be starting another one.

Leaf crazy

Thursday I cut a few branches off my Amur maple to bring into the house to use as a reference. Then I drew leaves on an 8x10" piece of masonite. When I was about halfway done I realized that if I was smart I would have drawn them bigger, and fewer. But I kept going and covered most of the board with leaf outlines.

Yesterday I started to paint the leaves with watered down acrylics. I still want to do it metallics but I thought it would be better to do the first layer with regular paint. All I did was outline the leaves with burgundy and brown, and paint the branches and stems, and that took me 2 hours.

Not much accomplished

Well, I didn't finish that picture on Tuesday because I ran out of patience. I did finish it yesterday, I think. It turned out ok for a first try. I think if I do more with coloured pencil it will be a matter of choosing the right subject, and better paper. Or maybe I would like it better in combination with acrylics.

I'm not sure what I'll do next. Something fall-ish I think. I picked up a bunch of metallic acrylics a while ago and have been wanting to see what it would be like to paint something all in metallics. I'm in a experimenting mood these days.

I am happy to say that I have already inspired someone to start her own blog. Pixie is a very talented and creative lady.

Lazy days

I will just admit it right now... I am lazy. I wish I wasn't, but it just happens. Lately, though, I blame the weather. We had quite a few gloomy, rainy days and it was hard to concentrate on anything. I did start drawing a picture of a bridge last week. Another thing I had been meaning to do for a long time. It's an old bridge that can be seen from the highway. A nostalgic local attraction. On Friday I started colouring it with coloured pencils, but didn't get very far. I haven't really done anything with coloured pencils yet, but I have already discovered that it is hard to use them for very long.

Then I started playing Empire Earth, which I've had for a long time but hadn't played it yet. I played it a lot over the weekend and finished the Greek campaign. I also did some necessary household chores. And I did some cross stitching. Whenever there is a new baby in the family I cross stitch a birth announcement with a Ukrainian border, and that is what I have been working on since there is one coming soon.

I finally went back to that picture yesterday, but only for a little while. My goal this afternoon is to finish it.

So maybe my house isn't sparkling and my yard looks half finished all the time, but I do get things done sometimes. I can't do everything so my priorities are with my art. And maybe I have a bit of a gaming addiction, but there are worse things to be addicted to.

Introduction

Starting a blog has been on the list of things to do in my head for quite a while. Maybe it would help write down this list, but I never seem to get around to it. Here I plan to write about my creative projects. I don't know if anyone will even read this, but at the very least it may make a good incentive to get things done so that I have something to write about.

First, a little background. I have always been interested in arts and crafts, though as a child it didn't amount to much. I did learn to make Ukrainian Easter eggs from my grandmother when I was very young. She also taught me needlepoint, embroidery, and crocheting. And I taught myself tatting and, recently, knitting. Though I haven't gotten very far with the knitting yet.

I do all kinds of crafts. I make jewelry and Christmas ornaments out of different things. I have started sewing a bit, and I recently started getting into polymer clay. I'm always looking for ideas and I like to try something new once in a while.

As for my art, I had a few lessons when I was young and dreamed of being an artist. I had tried pencil and watercolours, but was never really happy with what I did. I had given up completely but in 1997 I was so inspired by the fall colours, that I had to try again. I took out my craft paints and painted a picture that I was actually pretty satisfied with. So I have kept painting since, always learning as I go. I have mostly worked with the acrylics, but have just started trying colour pencil. And I have discovered the joy of painting on the computer.