and being thankful

The turkey and stuffing, marshmallow sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie have all been consumed. Company has departed. But when sketchbooks came out while dinner was being prepared on Thursday afternoon, I remembered that November marks one year of my membership in the Everyday Matters group. You can see my first attempt at an Everyday Matters drawing challenge here. For the image above I chose an orange and a handful of cranberries destined to become cranberry sauce to sketch in watercolor in my hand.book sketch journal.

So I just wanted to take a few minutes and mention just how thankful I am to have found this wonderful artists' community. There could not be a more varied and supportive bunch of artists as I have discovered during this last year among their company. And I have felt myself grow as an artist because of the inspiration they provide. So "Thank You" Everyday Matters folks, for all the time you take out of your busy lives to share your art, wisdom, and a bit of yourselves to the rest of us out here, showing that everyday really does matter.

Giving thanks

Apple I
6.5 x 4.5 inches
colored pencil on sanded pastel paper
©2008 Ann Thompson Nemcosky
Click here to buy

The last couple of days I have been in a cleaning and cooking frenzy preparing for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. As I was grumbling over picking up after kiddo and hubby-again- I realized that I do have so much to be thankful for. Family, friends near and far, that's enough.

Noodle doodle

Another Everyday Matters drawing challenge, #198, draw some noodles. This is graphite in my small hand.book journal. I love noodles. All kinds. These were left over from our dinner where they were served with my homemade beef stew.

Remote

I'm a little more out of it than usual this week. Fighting a cold/flu bug and generally just feeling like ick. Now as I was getting ready to do this week's Everyday Matters drawing challenge I realized I hadn't yet posted last week's, #197, draw a remote. So here it is, graphite in my hand.book journal. This remote is one that we have that no longer works. I don't know why we are keeping a remote that doesn't function. But it came in handy when I wanted to do the drawing challenge. You see, between hubby and kiddo I never get to use a TV remote. I have no favorite shows because I never know what is on. Our TV is usually on the golf channel. Or Hannah Montana. This is why I really don't spend much time watching television.

Something different

Low Country
8 x 10 inches
colored pencil on pastel board
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I have heard that in order to allow something new to come into your life that first you must make room for it by clearing out the old. Makes sense to me. Otherwise where is that something new going to go? So I am preparing for the next thing by clearing out some of the things that may be in the way. My creative ideas need shaking up. Plus I am quickly running out of storage space in my little studio/cubicle where I make my art works. Sorting through my art works the other day I decided to try selling some of these pieces through a blog dedicated to sales. You can see what I have set up here at Ann Thompson Nemcosky. I plan to add an additional piece to sell every few days and I am sure it won't be long before it starts to fill up with art works. If you like you can subscribe to my sales blog so you don't miss any updates.

In the image above I tried a different approach with colored pencil. I acquired a nice set of Prismacolor Art Stix a while back (thanks Donn!) and tried them out with this piece. First I drew the entire image with the art stix on the pastel board, much like how I would approach a pastel painting. In fact, the process seemed almost the same as using pastel. Then I washed all the color with a solvent, softening some of the strokes and filling in all the texture of the board with color. Last, I drew over the image with Coloursofts, adding a few details and tightening it up a bit - but not much, I liked the pastel quality I had going. In fact, some areas I applied very little dry colored pencil. The whole process was quite fast, for a colored pencil work anyway.

Jumping rope

Remember those jump rope rhymes? As I drew this for last week's Everyday Matters drawing challenge, (draw a rope) I tried but couldn't remember any of the rhymes we said as kids when jumping rope. So I searched the internet and found loads of them. A few I remembered, most were unfamiliar to me. I noted one I did recall on my journal page with my drawing of a jump rope. I also remember starched smocked dresses with short puffy sleeves, the kind with elastic that cut into my arms. Those dresses with Peter Pan collars and sashes that tied in big bows in the back. And bobby socks with stiff leather black and white saddle shoes. Remember those? It's a wonder little girls in the late sixties could play at all, let alone jump rope dressed like that.

Autumn's splendor

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

Here in our mountains the brilliance of autumn has now given way to the quiet colors of November. This is a sampling of the color we had just a few weeks ago, when I began this piece. All of the leaves and then some are now in our yard. We have a wooded acre with a small area carved out for lawn around our house. Just enough lawn to collect the leaves not only from our trees but probably many other leaves blown in from neighboring trees as well. Hubby and kiddo spent most of the weekend raking. I've been occupied with cooking and baking. Somehow, this time of year inspires me to make huge pots of soup, breads and muffins. A time of gathering in has arrived.

Blue skies

Woke up this morning with this song in my head.

A challenge

Everyday Matters challenge #195, draw a fork, graphite in my small hand.book journal. This was a tough challenge. Once I began I was immediately sorry that I chose a top view, getting the perspective of the curve on the fork was beyond me, so this looks a bit wonky. Kiddo was watching me work on this and I mentioned the fork was hard for me to draw. "That's why they call it a challenge," she replied.

We purchased this set of stainless flatware in January of 1998. Hubby and I eloped when we married in 1984, so we never went through the process of picking out china and silverware for a wedding gift registry. That was just as well. Those kinds of decisions are a real challenge for me. As you can see, it took me 14 years to decide on this pattern. Some decisions are easy to make, like should I clean the house or work on a drawing? No brainer. Draw, of course. But deciding on something like a silverware pattern that I will have to look at everyday. For years. Now that is a challenge. We were in Raleigh delivering artwork that January weekend in 1998 and spent the evening strolling through a large mall there. When I spotted this stainless set on sale I knew it was the design I could look at day after day and not grow tired of it. The pattern is called Tribeca. The design still pleases me. That and the fact kiddo was born nine months later leads me to believe the planets must have been lined up just right for me that weekend.