I've Been Awarded - Twice!

Just when I was feeling a little stressed and discouraged what should show up in my mail box? Not once, but twice, this very sweet award! I have Mellanie and Col to thank for their impeccable timing in sending it my way. Mellanie's blog is like a breath of fresh air, always a joy to visit and see what new art works she has been up to. And Col, another homeschooling mom I might add, is bursting with creative energy.

Blogging offers me many rewards that I did not expect at the outset. One of which is the opportunity to visit so many other artists, see their work, and read about their processes. So now I get to pass this award along to blogs I love!

Jennifer Rose, with tons of spirited energy I always enjoy visiting her blog to see what's new with her wonderful art.
Rita Woodburne, another colored pencil artist, amazing talent, and visiting her blog always brightens my day.
Andrea Joseph, does amazing pen and ink drawings, along with a few other media, from her own unique point of view. She really helps me think outside the box!
Kasie Salle, a talented artist, and mom, with a good deal of wisdom thrown in.
Nichole Caulfield, another artist and mom, too, inspires me with her colored pencil work and her energy.
Terri, yep, a mom, homeschooling at that, and creative spirit. Terri and I have been on-line friends for quite some time now, sharing the struggles and triumphs of homeschooling our daughters as well as the challenges of pursuing our art. Check out her awesome hand made cards.
Belinda Lindhardt, a wonderfully talented artist, and mom, who very generously shares her processes along with other necessary information related to the business of being an artist. Remember when I said I finally got my image files organized? Thanks to Belinda!
Rose Welty, yes, you guessed it, an artist and mom and her blog never fails to be interesting and a thoughtful read.

So the rules are that if you get tagged (and you want to play) , write a post with links to blogs that you love, and link to this post so that folks can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

Busy days

Rutherwood
ACEO 2.5 x 3.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
sold

Thunder Hill Road
ACEO 2.5 x 3.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
sold

The days have been mostly cold and extremely windy here in our mountains lately and I have been busier than usual with stuff. Yes, just the stuff I usually have to do but at a more hectic pace these last few weeks for some reason. However, I did manage to do these two ACEOs this past week while watching (listening to, really) the Democratic debates on TV. Maybe because there has been this air of stress around me lately that I chose two calming, warm summer images to draw. They are both scenes from my "neighborhood" when it is at its best. All warm sunshine and soft breezes.

A Towel, Popcorn, and an Experiment

I bet you thought this post was going to be about some crazy homeschool science experiment. Nope. Sorry to let you down but this is just me catching up with the Everyday Matters weekly challenges.

The towel is for Everyday Matters challenge # 157, draw a towel. This is one of our old, well worn, hand towels. I can say "old" because I recently purchased new sets of bathroom towels for our home. We were way overdue. There's nothing like a new fluffy towel to offer a feeling of luxury.

Here is challenge #158, draw a piece of popcorn. Popcorn is very challenging to draw but I had fun with this one. I actually covered the area with graphite first and then used a kneaded eraser to 'draw' in the popcorn shape. Then went back with my usual mechanical pencil to enhance the shadows and form.

Both drawings are graphite in my usual hand.book journal.

And now for my experiment. I have been seeing some incredible drawing lately done with Derwent's Graphitint pencils. So I added a set of 12 to my latest art supply order, just to try them out. After making the color swatches in my larger Aquabee sketch book to see what these pencils will do I sketched my wallet for the Everyday Matters challenge #3, purses, wallets, or bags. Despite problems with perspective I enjoyed drawing with these pencils and their subtle color palette. Then I tried washing my drawing with water, and well, you can see that is where I went too far. Of course, restraint with watercolor is what I don't have and exactly what is needed for a successful watercolor sketch. But it was fun anyway. And I'll keep experimenting with the Graphitints and my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils as I'd love to get comfortable enough with them for sketching landscapes.

And for those still wanting a science experiment I am sorry I don't know of one using a towel and popcorn but I did find this, making glue from milk. (note - I have not actually tried this experiment and cannot vouch for its success, but it does look interesting.) Have fun!

Loose Ends

Hillside
watercolor pencils and colored pencil on paper
7 x 9 inches
copyright 2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky



Here is what I have been working on this past week. It is an image that I revived from a drawing I began last summer but never completed. This scene is from a photo I snapped on one of our hikes. Not one to be happy when something is left unfinished I dug it out and started again. I don't know that I achieved exactly what I was after with this one, but I feel better having completed it and am now ready to move on to the next thing.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Roses are red . . .

Violets Are Blue
ACEO 2.5 x 3.5 inches
colored pencil on Strathmore Bristol
copyright 2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
click here to buy

Maybe it's that I'm growing weary of winter. Or maybe it's that Valentine's Day is approaching. Either way I was in the mood for flowers this past week. I found this little flower growing wild on a mountain top while on one of our hiking/sketching outings last summer. It's actually a type of Spiderwort. I like to think of them as a wild violet. They are very pretty and it is so nice to happen upon these little blue flowers.

Draw your favorite sandwich

This is my drawing for the Everyday Matters challenge this week, #156, draw your favorite sandwich. It is the usual graphite in my small hand.book journal. We had the flu bug going around our house this week so not much motivation on my part to draw or eat sandwiches. But wanting to complete this challenge I decided to draw an Oreo cookie. Well, it does say on the bag "chocolate sandwich cookies" so there ya go. And these are the 'double stuff' Oreos because we don't fool around here. We always have a bag of Oreos at our house.

I sometimes wonder what it might be like if it were my image in fashion magazines and on TV ads. All over, women would be drinking beer and eating Oreos trying to achieve that perfect figure just like mine.

There I go again

Looking East
colored pencil on paper
9 x 7 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Welcome back to my identity crisis. I actually think I really have it right this time though. So what is 'Blue Bird Hill'? It's a name I had a while back for an e-business. I no longer have that e-business but after some very good advice I decided to retain the name. And I do still have some things tied to the 'Blue Bird Hill' name. Plus I kind of like it.

Which got me thinking, yes again, about the name I have on this blog and what I hope it to become and reasoned that this is now "Blue Bird Hill' for me. It's about where I live and the fact that bluebirds are somewhat rare and elusive in nature. They have very particular nesting habits. It's all about location. Bluebirds, I have heard, prefer nesting in houses of just the right size that are placed precisely at the edges of fields and wooded areas. We were fortunate enough to attract a pair of bluebirds to a nesting box in our yard one spring.

The drawing above is a re-posting of this image. It's also the image I used to get my header. One of the things that interests me about landscapes, besides the qualities of light and color, is the edges. Where grassy fields meet wooded areas and the shapes of the land that are found there. Hope you don't mind seeing it again.