Beetle Bugs

ACEO Borer Beetle
2.5 x 3.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
click here to buy

ACEO Leaf Beetle
2.5 x 3.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
click here to buy

A couple of beetles bugs to share. Things are still hoppin' around here but I did manage to make these ACEO's this past week.

And I want to thank everyone for your generously kind comments on my last post. I really do appreciate all of the support, it means a lot, especially lately when my time for art is so limited. You all keep me going!

Morning has broken. . .

Dawn
colored pencil on pastel board
8 x 10 inches
©2008 Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I believe this is now finished. I actually completed working on it last night but was too pooped to scan and post. Must be one of the quickest colored pencil drawings of this size I have done to date. I feel more energized about my work now. I do think all that experimentation with various media these past few months has paid off in that I approached this piece with a clearer objective of what I wanted to do and how I would accomplish that. The only major change I made from what I started with was to change the title of this piece. It is 'dawn' here, not 'before dawn' as I had previously had it titled. Oh well. I can be known to be indecisive at times.

Before Dawn - WIP update

Before Dawn - work in progress
colored pencil on pastel board
8 x 10 inches
© 2008 Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Just a quick update to show the progress I made on this drawing today. It's getting there. I am really enjoying doing this piece. This may lead to something.

I wish I was there right now

Before Dawn - work in progress
colored pencil on pastel board
8 x 10 inches
© 2008 Ann Thompson Nemcosky

This is what I sat down and worked on this evening. It's an image from one of our trips this past spring to the beach. It felt good to just draw with colored pencils. No underpainting. No establishing values and working out a color palette. Just begin. I think I have really needed to do something that wasn't an experiment in media or technique, something familiar and comfortable feels better right now. Looking at it here on the screen I can see where I do need to make some adjustments - like straighten that horizon. But maybe all that stumbling around experimenting with my art process has its rewards in that this is going rather rather quickly. Maybe there is an influence from doing all those works in pastel too. However it is, here is the first stage of what I hope will soon be a finished piece.

On another note, I have a blog for you all to check out. Billy Fowler's Sweaty Buffalo. We stopped in at Cheap Joe's this evening, where Billy works and is a former student of hubby's. We talked blogs and selling art on line. He's a great guy and you will enjoy seeing his work, I'm sure.

something in my favorite color

It took me all week to get around to this, EDM challenge #180, draw something in your favorite color. Did I mention that I have been busy with other work lately? Feeling overwhelmed all week until last evening I looked at all I have going on, compared it to everything that I want to do, and realized that something had to give. I had been expecting too much from my art work and as a result have been keeping myself from doing anything, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I have greatly reduced my list of things to do, and some of that stuff I want to do will just have to wait a while.

So, Everyday Matters weekly challenges remained on my shortened list because these continue to be important to me. Because I get to play and try to let go of any expectations I may have about the final result. These attempts at watercolor are a good example of that!

Today I tackled the challenge for this week, but the question remained, what is my favorite color? Not being able to decide, I chose to think about the color blue. Then which blue is my favorite? Oh, I don't know. Is it the green-blue of the ocean? Or the flat slate blue of the November sky? Maybe cobalt blue like the cobalt blue glassware hubby and I collected from flea markets and junk shops when we were newly married? Or perhaps my very favorite blue is that deep blue of kiddo's eyes? Cornflowers are blooming here now everywhere along the roadsides. I always did like cornflower blue.

Bugs!

ACEO Ladybug
3.5 x 2.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
sold

ACEO Moth
3.5 x 2.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
sold

So what's buggin' me? Lately I've been in a funk with my art. Things aren't coming along quite the way I'd like. Maybe it's because of summer. Or that my time for art has been chopped up due to lots of other work coming in. Or that there is so much neglected stuff around the house that keeps calling for my attention. Whatever the reason I haven't had much to post recently simply because I don't have much art happening and what art I have attempted to do I haven't wanted to post. Big whine. It will get better.

Anyway, about a month ago I drew this little ladybug. It seemed lonely, so last night I drew the moth to keep it company. It has been a while since I posted any art cards. They are very relaxing to make and at least I can feel like I have accomplished something. But don't worry, no insects were harmed in the making of these drawings.

Onions and things

Here I am still playing with watercolors. This one is for Everyday Matters drawing challenge #179, Draw an onion. It is in my small hand.book journal.

And while I was doing that, Laurel Neustadter of An Artist's Journey gave me this award. Thank you Laurel! The rules of accepting are as follows:

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

These are a fun way to share links to blogs. I enjoy reading through many artists' blogs for there is always inspiration to be found and encouragement to be shared. But to choose only seven to pass along the award to is tough. Here is my list of seven, out of the many wonderful blogs I enjoy.
1. Cindy - Color On!
2. Christie - from the Labyrinth
3. Margaret - MaggieArt
4. Linda - Quotidian Curiosities
5. Kathleen - My Creative Spot Blog
6. Rachel - The Jacobite Rose
7. Barbara - One Happy Fool

And here is what became of the onion that I drew in watercolor. I purchased some lovely summer squash and juicy red tomatoes at the local farmers' market this morning. When I didn't find a recipe for the squash to suit my mood today, I created one myself. It turned out pretty well, and we enjoyed it with our grilled fish this evening. So here is what I did:
I beat two eggs with about 1/2 cup sour cream, some pepper, oregano, and thyme. Then I added around 1/2 cup of grated cheddar, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup or so of finely chopped onion, two squash very thinly sliced and mixed that all together. (Now my measurements aren't exact because I was making this up as I went along, and not bothering to measure what I put in.) Then I sprayed my small casserole dish with cooking spray and placed a layer of thin tomato slices on the bottom, added the squash mixture, and another layer of tomatoes on top. I sprinkled more cheddar cheese on top and baked uncovered at 375 for about 40 minutes. Sorry for the poor photo, (bad lighting) and it was prettier in real life! It turned out to be the perfect summery dish and a great way to enjoy our market fresh squash. Enjoy!

Pastel Monday

Gardens at Manteo
pastel on sanded pastel paper
4.5 x 6.5 inches
©2008 Ann Thompson Nemcosky
click here to buy

This is a scene from the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, North Carolina. What a lovely place that is. Walkways that meander on forever with something new at every turn. The day we toured there started out cloudy but soon enough the sun broke through casting all sorts of wonderful light and shadow patterns. I liked this view where through the dappled sunlight a bright spot appeared just as the path made a turn toward something new.

Something Red

It has been a while since I posted drawing challenges from the Everyday Matters group. And that's because I've been busy with other work and took a vacation and ahem ahem, you know, other stuff. Excuses, I know. But today I got out my hand.book journal and the watercolors and just had fun working on some of the drawing challenges I have missed lately. The challenge this week, #178, was to draw something red. These strawberries are from today's trip to the grocery - they were on special.
This is for challenge #174, Draw a basket and what it holds. This is a sea grass basket that hubby and I bought at Edisto Island, South Carolina, at least 15 years ago. At the time it seemed expensive for just a basket, even though hand made locally, but I knew then that this was an art form with a rich history. Sea grass baskets this size now sell for at least three times as much. This basket holds a wealth of good memories.
Here is my challenge #174, Draw a bridge. This is the Linn Cove Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway that snakes around Grandfather Mountain. We are not too far from this bridge, a local landmark. This is the only challenge that I have done from a photograph as my goal with these is to improve my skills drawing from life. But I am also trying to learn to use watercolor for sketching. I am currently going through the tutorials in Cathy Johnson's book, First Steps Series, Painting Watercolors. I have a way to go but still thought it would be fun to try some EDM challenges in watercolor as further practice.
And lastly, here is challenge #5, Draw your bed. For this I used a black gel pen and Pitt brush pens. I'd like to try more sketches this way. It was an immediate way to respond to the drawing. And yes, I rarely make my bed. It has a duvet cover so really it's just a matter of straightening it out but I hardly ever do that. And that is my little stuffed dog on the pillow. Kiddo gave him to me a few years back and he's slept on the bed there ever since.

Color lessons

Detail from Bass Lake Trail
colored pencil on pastel board

First, let me begin by apologizing for not having a pastel post yesterday. I did do a pastel drawing but haven't finished it, so next Monday I will hopefully resume with my Pastel Monday posts.

What I do have to post today is a small colored pencil piece that I have been working on, and all its stages of process. I have been concentrating on color these days, or more specifically, my use of color, and have learned a few things about myself and my working habits along the way. Not to bore you with all the details of my color study I will just say that using color, and especially using color expressively, is a constant challenge. A challenge that keeps me interested and moving on to the next thing but is always a learning process. I have a tendency to over work color through a struggle of pushing and pulling layers of color throughout the making of a piece, often losing that fresh, expressive quality I was after in the first place. I do this no matter what media I am working in, colored pencil, pastel, acrylic, watercolor, any color media I pick up is fair game. So my challenge is to overcome this habit and try to be much more focused in my intent. And posted here is one recent attempt to hold on to that focus plus do a little experimenting with color.
This first image shows my 6 x 6 inch pastel board drawn with Derwent's Inktense watercolor pencils. I was looking for patterns of light and dark, warm and cool, in this little landscape scene.









Next, I washed the Inktense pencil with water. The colors become much more saturated.










When the board was dry I started in with Derwent's Coloursoft colored pencil. Again looking for patterns of light and dark, warm and cool.









Here I am much further along with the dry colored pencil. I tend to work from the top left outward, getting to about 80% completion, and often bouncing back and forth from the area I am expanding back into previous areas to make adjustments and outward across the board some more.

Bass Lake Trail
colored pencil on pastel board
6 x 6 inches
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Lastly, here is the completed piece. I did manage to keep my focus for the most part and was happy with the overall process on this one. I have previously done colored pencil works using this technique but with a lot more pushing and pulling of color back and forth. I still have a way to go before I can really say that I was able to stay focused on my intent throughout. And I know there are always those times when you have to let the work dictate what it needs. In this piece I like the effect those bright colors of the underpainting have on the colored pencil applied over top. In the future I would like to push this use of color even further and have the underpainting play a more important role in the finished work. It's really all about the process.