Portrait update

Yes, I have continued to work on this, despite the lovely coffee stain. No matter how hard I try to tell myself that the stain can just be a character mark, it is just not working for me. You can't justify brown splotches on a graphite portrait. Anyway, it's just a practice run, so it's really all o.k.. I can't imagine something like that happening to a commission. That would make me rip my hair out and run down the streets naked yelling "shoot me"! It is fortunate that I don't have to do that. I know nobody is reading this blog now, but I hope to get some visters again soon. I've mentioned before that I have another blog and that one is active with comments, so don't feel sad for me if you see all of the "0 comment" entries. I'm just trying to update this one more and then maybe the readers will come. Or maybe not... There are a lot of unread blogs in cyberspace, so I'm in good company.

Double the Rhinos...

I was just up north visiting my family for a few days and this is all the drawing I managed to squeeze in. Yes, it is the rhino duo again. Double the drawings of the double rhinos... I start class again next week, but this one shouldn't dig into my drawing time as much as the last one did. Those summer classes require all of your time and energy, the regular school year ones do not. I need to finish my ATCs for the trade and then get going on the animal alphabet project I signed up for. I'm afraid I've been neglecting all of my on-line projects. I also need to get going on perspective studies that I promised myself I would work on and I may play around with that today. But now I'm off to Target to purchase a new VCR. Yes, this is the second one that has died this year. Oh, and my laptop is dead too. This has not been a good month for electronic equipment.

This is just a quick drop-in to post a portrait that I am working on. Unfortunately, as you can see, it has a "character" mark. I could pretend it is a smattering of sepia added to create interest, but we all know it is the mark of coffee. Oh, the dangers of coffee... Anyway, it is just a portrait for practice, so it's not a tragedy, but it's still annoying. And to top things off, it now also has a cat paw wrinkle. As much as I love cats and coffee, they are not always good for one's art...

A Pomegranate and some stew...

Tonight, after a long and rainy day that I had hoped to spend drawing to my heart's content, I finally did a quick little painting. I have these fairly new Inktense pencils (they're like watercolor pencils, but they're more vibrant and inky) that are so much fun to play with and that's what I used for the pomegranate. I also cooked today for the first time in ages. I made sweet potato and black bean stew and it was delicious. Too bad I didn't have a pomegranate for dessert. After a long, dry, hot summer, we finally had a cool and rainy day. When I went out earlier there were all of these prissy types with their umbrellas and I just had a great time splashing in the puddles and getting soaked. I'm not much of a fan of the sun to begin with and we have seen more of it than usual this summer, so today was a fantastic treat. And we're supposed to get more rain tomorrow! Yay! Unfortunately, tomorrow I will be at work, but still...the rain makes me happy.

Rhino Update 8/07/2007: Bath and Weigh-in for Zuri

More Rhinos

Yes, I have drawn more rhinos. I drew a cow today that ended up looking slightly deformed, so I wanted to draw some figures that I was more familiar with. So, I drew my favorite stocky, less than graceful looking beasts. I like them in all their awkward beauty. Yes, cows are maybe more poetic looking, but I like the reality of the rhino. I was really happy to find this reference photo on wetcanvas a couple of months ago as I had just about exhausted all of the public domain rhino photos. So, thank you lisilk for your fabulous photo.

Speaking of rhinos, I have been meaning to post this video (see above) of baby Zuri from the Cleveland zoo. She is a black rhino that was born on July 11th and the zoo had been posting regular video updates. She is the cutest little (well, maybe not little as she is already over 200 pounds) creature.

ATC trade

I don't think I've discussed here the ATC (artist trading card) project that I'm participating in. I am taking part in a trade with (I think) 30 other people from all over the world. ATCs are little cards (2.5x3.5) that can be done in any medium. This trade is actually not limited to ATCs (some people have done postcard sized works), but I'm sticking with the minis. It has been a lot of fun, but unfortunately, my class kept me away from it the past few weeks. Now I'm ready to get back in the groove! I have about 12 that are ready to be mailed and have, I think, 10 left to do. I thought I would post some that I have already sent out. This little puppy travelled all the way to Australia. Sometimes the cards are hard to part with. This one I almost didn't send out... *sniff* At least I still have the scan.

Rhino Collage

I made a little photoshop collage of some of my rhinos the other day, just because... Right now I'm avoiding homework (I have a 12 page paper and a presentation due on Saturday). Blogging is a great distraction. Some of these rhinos you have seen before, some you haven't. Oh, why can't the homework fairy just come along and finish my paper for me?! I really don't have much to say now as this class has sucked all the writing out of me, so I guess I'll just leave this entry in its brief state.