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Showing posts from 2006

The Cat Has a Name

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The cat that has been hanging around the grocery store taking advantage of the huge heater by the doors. Why they just don't keep the cat inside at home to get it away from people that will just ignore the sign and feed it anyway, I have no idea. The cat isn't hurting anything by being there though, and I always laugh when I see him because he is really cross-eyed. Technorati tags:: Photos , Cat

The Joys of the Holidays

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Way too many people in the mall walking/running around with a look of panic on their faces. Also not looking to see who they push and shove out of the way to grab that last vital gift for someone. If I hadn't of had to go to Dundee I wouldn't have, but atleast the lights looked nice after it rained. Lights downtown Dundee. Red lights Green lights, I didn't even notice that the colours changed until John showed me these pictures. Shows how observant I am Technorati tags:: Scotland , Photos , Christmas lights

Death of an Ipod

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So my ipod is dead. This time for good because for the last few months the battery would not hold a charge and the hard disk was broken. It wouldn't turn on half the time, and when it did turn on, I couldn't get it to turn off. And if it wasn't dead before, it is now. Neat to see the inside of one. :) (its missing the hard disk in the picture) And a Christmas tree in downtown Dundee, very pretty in person. Would have gotten more pictures of the decorations but it was raining, will try to get some when we go back next week. No snow, just lots of rain and flooding in some parts of Scotland. The grass is so green its almost neon in colour. Been working on those cherries, once I get the shadows and the darker cherries done I will post it. :) Technorati tags:: Scotland , Photos , Christmas lights

Lack of Art

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I haven't drawn anything for a month. Well thats not exactly true. I have drawn tattoo line art, sketch ideas for dragons, and line art for various animal pictures. Even transfered them on to good paper but I can't seem to be able to colour any of them (or even just use graphite to finish anything). I don't mean to complain but its very annoying when I want to draw and colour but once I sit down to do so, I can't. I have the line art done for some Christmas dragons but not sure if it will get done by Christmas because of the size. Out of boredom, my hands were victims of a pen and covered with various pointless designs yesterday. Thank the Gods it washed off or I would have probably woken up with ink all over my face and the sheets. Next time I do that I have to remember to take a picture. So I was looking over transfered drawings, trying to see if anything caught my eye, and came across one I had done earlier this year but it was messed up by a stupid mistake (that I

Christmas Lights

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Some blurry night time shots of some of the xmas lights downtown, considering they are from a camera phone and it was getting dark fast, they turned out alright. :) Some of the Forfar lights, didn't get a picture of the tree because honestly it just looks like someone tossed a single strand of lights on to it and didn't do anything else but hope the lights don't fall off. Disappointing considering its a nice big tree. I really like the way the lights are placed on the sides of those buildings though, really brightens up that part of downtown. Some of the lights are animated and flash different colours, it looks neat but its hard to get a picture of though cause some of them flash really fast. Technorati tags:: Scotland , Photos , Christmas lights

Poor Neglected Blog

I haven't posted in 10 days, *hangs head in shame*. Nothing to post about though, just been trying to get over my art block (and failing). Usually when this happens drawing dragons helps, but I can't even seem to be able to do that. :/ Hopefully that changes tomorrow. Been reading a lot lately, just finished Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Not a bad book, better then I thought it would be (not just because it has a dragon :p) and only took a few hours to read. Have to get the sequel now, might even go see the movie :) Reading all the Discworld novels. Almost finished book number 24, good thing John's brother has almost all of them I think he is just missing the new one. Great books to read before going to bed and to kill time, really enjoy the ones that involve the City Watch. No snow yet, even though when I looked out the window this afternoon I thought it was snowing. But I think someone was vacuuming their car across the street and the dust was flying into the air (dirty

The Cat Came Back 2

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Outside the grocery store again. The day before it was inside sleeping on a newspaper stand, but of course I didn't have the camera. Pretty plump kitty. Chopped off most of my hair yesterday. Change is a good thing, and it was getting too long. Plus we will save on shampoo :p And the vacuum cleaner will not have to eat anymore hairballs off the floor (well not as many) Feels so much better with my hair being short. :)

*cough cough*

Everyone in the house has a cold. Well except for John because he gave it to everyone else. Its really hard to draw when every 5 to 10 minutes your sneezing or coughing your lungs out and trying to reach for a tissue before you sneeze all over the work you just finished. So not much drawing has been done this past week, lots of line art but if I had of sneezed on that it wouldn't have been a big deal. Sneeze on a coloured drawing that took me 10 hours or more and I would have cried. Getting cold here, no snowflakes yet. Thought it was going to snow last week, there was snow in the hills. If it doesn't snow I'm fine with that. Don't really want a repeat of last winter trying to shovel the driveway (in ontario) while it was snowing so that the snow doesn't get over 2 feet deep and we get stuck at home. Should have updated sooner, but with being sick there really wasn't anything (and still isn't) to write about besides a list of the movies and Stargate episode

Carousel Horse

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For a project over at WetCanvas, I drew this carousel horse, completely from my head. Hence the bad horse anatomy hehe. I really like the sketch and its been sitting around for probably a month so I decided to work on colouring it today. Here is the sketch: Not really sure I like how the colouring is going. Probably should have used some reference pictures. Oh well, I can always try again tomorrow and try to improve it. Don't really like how the eye looks and not too sure about the colour of the horse but that could change once more is coloured. (yes I complain a lot :p)(purple horses would be cool though) I know that carousel horses are not always the most realistic looking things in the world but I usually try to draw horses as realistic as possible. Its hard to draw something cartoony or simplified when you try to make them as perfect as you can. Ok enough complaining. :p I really want to go draw a realistic horse now, hmm maybe this horse will be put aside again for another mo

We are Under Attack!

Well, not really. But it sounds like we are. Not sure why people think its a good idea to set fireworks off in their backyard (very small backyards some of them) and then cross their fingers that the sparks don't set fire to a neighbours roof. :p Was our wedding anniversary on Halloween :) Time seems to have flown by. And really kids need to make an effort when they go out trick or treating. Your school uniform does not count as a costume. *rolls eyes* I know Halloween is not really a big thing here, but make some kind of an effort. But we didn't have the lights on and were not giving out candy so its strange that anyone even rang the bell. Hopefully have art tomorrow. :)

Dragon Pumpkin

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Blurry photos of our pumpkin! :P I messed up his wings but I think you can still tell what it is. *crosses fingers* Roasted the seeds too, so atleast something good came out of carving :p

Nap Time Finished

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Finally finished, the paper will not take anymore colour even if I wanted it to. Going to leave it for a few days and then see how it looks. :) I like how it turned out and the black paper was nice to work on. The log/rock did not turn out the way I wanted it to, its hard to tell if its a rock or a piece of wood. Live and learn, and study tree bark more. hehe And all this time I have been saying its a leopard, but nope its a jaguar. I feel like an idiot, I can never tell them apart. Always forget which one is supposed to have spots within spots. Technorati tags:: art , jaguar , coloured pencil , colored pencil

Another Nap Time Update

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Another quick update (3 hours worth of work). He looks like he has the mumps :p Need to darken up a few areas and still work on the log/rock. Going to carve that pumpkin tomorrow, have to remember to take pictures when its done. Technorati tags:: art , WIP , Works in Progress , leopard , coloured pencil , colored pencil

Extra Large ??

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Its about 7 inches tall, not really that large to me really. :p If I can pick it up with one hand its not extra large. Not sure what I am going to carve on it, probably just your basic jack'o lantern face. Hopefully it has atleast a few handfuls of seeds I can roast. John still wants me to carve a neep. Not sure about that, just doesn't seem like it would work very well. No art, and I feel guilty about it. Been drawing a bunch of tattoo designs, but don't want to post them incase one of them catches someones eye and then gets it. You never know, might get a tattoo one day (not sure but I could). I have worked on that leopard a bit, going to change the log he was resting on to a rock. It was hard to tell what it was anyway, and I think a rock would look better. Hopefully *crosses fingers* an art post tomorrow.

Another Nap Time Update

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Not much of an update, been sketching dragons like mad lately, might have some to show tomorrow if I don't work on the leopard. Worked on his other eye and the top of his head, things are starting to look better. :) I really need to work on that log though, its really distracting right now. Walked around downtown Dundee yesterday and took some pictures in between the rain. Its not even November and some of the xmas decorations are up already. o0 It doesn't even feel like fall, let alone winter. The leaves on the tree are just now starting to change colour. I love this! It was in front of the Overgate (a mall), but its back where it was before I am told. I want one for the backyard. :) Links: Info about Dragon and other public art in Dundee Technorati tags:: art , WIP , Works in Progress , leopard , coloured pencil , colored pencil , Scotland , Photos

Loch Photos

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Went to the Loch hoping that the tree leaves had changed colour, but they can't decide on what time of year it is. Most of them are still alive and very green. A few have changed, but not many. Always have to be on the lookout for the many geese on the banks, huge mean buggers they can be. Not the best time of day to take photos, but I think some of them look really cool. Go back in a few days and see what the trees look like then. If the weather holds up tomorrow, we might go to the botanical gardens, if not I will work on that leopard. Technorati tags: Scotland , Photos , Loch

Day Out in Forfar

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I have been working on that leopard, just haven't gotten enough done to warrant an update. So here are some pictures instead of our day out. We went to The Meffan Gallery today and walked around downtown. They had some more artifacts from the witch trials in Forfar that I wanted to look at. Was interesting, and sad at the same time. Its a nice little museum, showing the history of Forfar and the Picts. There are a few Pictish stones to look at too. I had seen them before but they are really cool to see anyway because some are not behind glass so you can get really close to them. Not too interested in the current gallery show though, not the kind of art (conceptual I think it is called, my art history is a little rusty) that I or John am into. So I'm just going to leave that at that. :p Not our dog, not sure whos it is. It was standing right outside the grocery store not even trying to go any further inside. Could have been a stray, was gone later on. It looked so sad. :( Im al

Derwent Colour test

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John bought me 3 of the new Derwent Coloursoft pencils so I could try them out and see if I liked them as much as Prismas. Decided to do a little test to see how well they layed down and how well they blended together and blended with the Prismas. Derwent colours used: Deep Cadmium (yellow) C040, Red C120, Blue C330 Prismacolors used: Sunburts Yellow PC917, Carmine Red PC926, True Blue PC 903 I do realize the colours are not an exact match but its the closest I could get. :) The first box is the Derwent colours blended together, they blended well enough, not as smooth as the prismas but after a few extra layers the colours went together. The red didn't blend very well with the other colours as much as I personally would have liked, but thats just me. Order of colours: Yellow (twice oops), yellow/red, yellow/blue blue, blue/red,blue/yellow red, red/blue, red/yellow Box A I put the Prisma pencils down first and then put the Coloursoft over them. Found the opposite, the red blended ok

Lovely Foggy Weather

The last few days the weather has been foggy and wet. The kind of weather people think of when they think of Scotland. I haven't been here in the fall or winter, so its new to me, strange seeing green trees this late in the year. The trees where I come from are usualy bright yellow and red right now,(except when I lived in Alberta, where trees were few and far between). On the plus side I don't have piles of leaves to rake up or fear the odd dead branch falling on my head if I went for a walk in the woods. I do miss the colours and the smells in the air(hopefully by this time the manure smell had gone away). And its way too early for xmas stuff. Half an aisle of Halloween things and 2 full aisles or more of xmas stuff. o0. But did get these really cute little Halloween coffee cups today and John bought me some tea light candle holders shaped like pumpkins. :)So I have started a Halloween collection again. Also got a pumpkin, so I have to think of something to carve into it. Pr

Shhh! The kitty is sleeping

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Didn't go to the zoo today because it was really foggy and no point going to the zoo if you can't see the animals. :/ Hopefully we can go sometime soon. I keep buying a few bags of sour candy so that I can do a still life, but I keep eating the candy. oops. They don't even make it to the bowl before the candy is half gone and by then there isn't enough to draw so I just eat the rest. lol Didn't get as much as I could have done today on this, but considering it used to take me sometimes months to finish one coloured pencil piece, I'm working on this pretty fast. Still needs a lot of work, areas on the face need to be darkened heavily. Still happy with the way it looks, so yay! :p Technorati tags:: WIP , Works in Progress , leopard , coloured pencil , colored pencil

Nap Time update

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Today in the for the first time in the longest time I actually had a nap. Realated to drawing this? No, I wish. Couldn't sleep last night I was so nervous because of the ultrasound I had to have done today. So when that was over I crashed at home. There were no loud gasps of horror during the whole thing so I would assume nothing is horribly wrong, but better safe then sorry. Find out soon I'm told. Probably just scar tissue, meh. Anyway, now that I almost wrote too much info here is some art: This is taking longer than I thought it would, about 6 hours into it so far. But I really do like how it looks in real life, the pencils are laying down very nice. Laying down the basic colours and then going to go back and darken or lighten areas that need it. *crosses fingers* that the weather is nice tomorrow and it doesn't pour down rain. I really want to go to the zoo before it gets too cold. I could wait until next year, but I like going to the zoo this time of year and I really

Nap Time Nose

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In between watching my mother-in-law panic as she packed to go away to canada for 9 days, I worked on this. I really like working on black paper, the colours lay down really fast. Not sure if its the paper or the colour but I am getting a painting effect with this, the pencils are laying down like acrylics. Kind of neat. Hard to see in the scan of course though :( It is an odd size, about 10 by 11 inches, but probably going to crop it either square or small enough to fit into a 8 by 11 frame. Canson Black Mi-teintes paper, sprayed with acid free spray. Not really sure if that will help, but figure it can't hurt. I think its strange that the black is the only mi-teintes paper that is not acid free, all the other colours are. Need to roughen up the tree log (which looks more like a brown rock right now) more, but going to wait until the cat is finished. It just looks funny being the simple white lines, a nose and a chin. :p Tried to get a better picture of the art card I did yesterd

New Zealand coast

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Little ACEO of the east coast of New Zealand, between Picton and Kaikoura. (I think) Wasn't too worried about realism, just wanted to get the basic shapes and colours. I have 2 more drawn out just waiting to be coloured (waterfall and moeraki boulders). Really like doing these because they don't take hours and hours to do, well they probably could if I wanted realism but on something this small its not that important. Sprayed this with fixative, so the colours changed :( *trying to get a better scan or photo, this one is horrible Started on a leopard, its drawn and transfered to good paper. Just getting the colours together to colour it. And gloves! With bats!! that Glow! Technorati tags: ACEO , New Zealand , gloves , bats

Hair everywhere

Started some little art cards today of pictures we took in New Zealand. Not sure really why, because don't really know if anyone would want art cards of New Zealand scenery, but you never know, I can always add them to my collection if not. :) Might have one done today, but that all depends on if I can get any of the sharpeners to work properly and not eat my pencils. (and if I stop writing online) Thinking of re-doing my website, probably with another template because its a lot easier for me then learning anymore html. (and the husband with a computer degree runs away at the thought of templates) Want to add certain features that I can't with the current site. I need a haircut. Im starting to look like Cousin It with grey hair. I want to chop it all off but everyone says I will regret it. Regret getting my hair caught in the door or sat on?? hmmm no. ok off to draw

Halloween Dragons Finished

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Spent the last 2 days in bed, not out of laziness but because everytime I moved the room would spin one way and I my head would spin the other. Not a nice feeling. I don't get sick often but when I do, I make it count. Atleast this year I don't have to spend 9 days in the hospital. *knocks on wood* So the dragons turned out alright. The scan is a bit fuzzy but thats ok, the size online also makes it hard to make out some detail. But considering this was just for me, I'm alright with that. 10.5 by 10.5 inches, prisma colored pencils on stonehenge. I might scan each dragon tomorrow to try to get close ups of them. And because Halloween is not as big here as it is in North America, I'm having candy withdrawls. No one has heard of rockets or peeps, and I'm sure they are a few more teeth rotting goodies that you can't get here (surprisingly I had the all clear from the dentist, no cavities). I really want marshmellow peeps (the marshmellow pumpkins are cute and s

Halloween Dragons update

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I have been seriously neglecting this blog the past week, but I have a valid reason (well atleast I think it is). I have an inner ear infection which seriously makes the room spin in circles, kind of makes drawing hard and I will leave the explanation at that before going into any graphic details. But its getting better and I managed to work on my Halloween dragons. They are not done but I still have um.., 23 days!. Should be done tomorrow *crosses fingers* I really like the way it is turning out, even if the pumkin doesn't really look like a pumpkin oops (use your imagination ;). I will post the whole finished version once it is done, with just a small watermark. :) I love fall, once my ear gets better I really have to try to get pictures of the trees by the loch. Must watch out for the killer geese if they are still hanging around though, they chase people. o.0 Technorati tags: art , dragons , colored pencil , coloured pencil , halloween

More kitties

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I had posted in my livejournal awhile ago that there were two kittens that were showing up in the backyard, no matter how many times we tried to chase them off they came back, thinking we were playing a game. I would see the black one sometimes when I was hanging up the laundry, all you would hear was the jingling of the bell on his collar and then he would be standing beside you. Pointless to try to chase him off because he just sits there, or comes running back to you. I haven't seen the grey tabby for a few weeks now, hopefully it is alright. We only chase them off because they make a mess in the garden and can get into the bins. The black kitty showed up today again while my brother-in-laws were hanging up the laundry, almost stepped on the cat because he snuck up behind one of them, oops. He jumped onto the windowsill and if it had of been open a little more he would have gotten into the house. No biggie, just pick him up and take him back outside. The kitten had no fear of an

Cough cough

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I'm sick, :/ so I really didn't draw today. Coughing every 5 minutes gets annoying after awhile when you are trying to colour small little cards. I'm watching "Who Do You Think You Are" and I really want to do a family tree now. I always wanted to, not really sure why I never did before. Not even sure where I would start now, must get more names from people. I'm just curious as to where people came from and maybe why they left. I think someone in the family started a family tree, but I might be remembering that wrong. A photo of the hills and some of the town from a walk yesterday. If its nice this weekend (and I'm not still sick), I might try to get some closer pics. :)

Halloween ACEO #1

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2.5 by 3.5 inches on white Stonehenge I had this done yesterday but John had to replace the motherboard in the computer so I couldn't post it. I was going to do a WIP but I got carried away colouring and didn't scan any progress shots, oops. I am going to try to do 3 more, maybe 5 if I can think of more Halloween things to draw. I have no idea how people get sometimes 3 or 5 of these little cards done in a day. 1 takes me atleast 4 hours to do one. lol, I draw really really slow it seems. Hopefully get faster at them the more I do, and even if I only get one done a day, its better than having a month between art updates for the bigger pieces. And I HATE candy corn. I have no idea how peolpe can eat the stuff. Its vile! Went to the dentist today and they said my teeth look pretty good (I get too keep them all this time :P). Which comes as a shock considering all the sugar I eat, they just said floss more and then nothing at all would be wrong with them. yay! So they are all nice

Evil games

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Ok I had every intention of drawing today. Pumpkins and candy and broomsticks and dragons. Got a little sidetracked. Devil May Cry is very addictive. Great for anger relief. I'm not angry (really I'm not) but if I was, I would spend a few hours playing this game. Yeah its old I know but I don't generally play games so thats my excuse. I really want to bake muffins or cookies. But the oven god demands a daily sacrifice. Many muffins have lost their lives already. Oh well I guess if I make cookies I could just eat the dough. :) I have a slab of Sculpey I really want to use, but I think I read that if it burns the fumes are toxic. :( Here is a picture of my current art supplies to sort of make up for the lack of art. I tried to find a case for my pencils but decided hey why not recycle. :) The different sized jars work just as well as an actual case and were free. The supplies are sitting on an overhead projector from my brother in laws workplace, it was surplus. Works very we

Rooster Finished

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Title: Wake Up Call 9x12 inches white mi-teintes paper I like how this turned out. The feathers are not the most realistic compared to the head but I like the effect. :) I can't sign my name straight to save my life. Next up are the Halloween art cards and Halloween dragons. :) Not both at the same time though, unless I do nothing else tomorrow. Technorati tags: coloured pencil , colored pencil , art , rooster