Zippity-Do-Da

More Apples
colored pencil on Rising Museum Board
5.5 x 7.5 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

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Remember the work in progress I showed here a while back? Well, I finally had some time to finish it. I was pleased with how this worked out, despite the fact that it sat for such a long time while I was doing other things. That kind of interruption can disturb the flow, but thankfully I was able to get right back into this drawing without skipping a beat.

While I was finishing this up today I was thinking about Captain Wendy. Captain Wendy was a character on the Uncle Al show, a tv show that I watched when I was a little kid growing up in Cincinnati. I really didn't care for Uncle Al much. He played the accordion and sang "Zippity-Do-Da" while the children that were guests on his show danced around him in a circle. But Captain Wendy was amazing. She would "fly" in, wearing her super hero costume complete with a cape and she would give a drawing lesson on a magic drawing board. I'll never forget, that whatever she was drawing, she would always end the lesson with, "don't forget the shadow!"

Sketchbook Tuesday

Looks like posting works from my sketchbook is turning into a regular Tuesday thing. And that's okay. Maybe it will inspire me to work in my sketchbooks more regularly, knowing that there is always another Tuesday right around the corner. Pears are becoming a regular subject for me too. I just love their shapes and the subtle gradations of color. I did this page spread while the Professor and Kiddo were out Trick-or-Treating last Saturday evening. It's all done with watercolor pencils in my hand.book journal.

A little quiet time

Autumn Woods
5.5 x 7.5 inches
Neocolor II and colored pencil on hp
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

The little ghosts and goblins have all settled and we are now preparing for our winter with warming soups, fresh baked bread, pulling the sweaters out of their storage boxes and planning creative time spent indoors. I am looking at all the projects started on my drawing table and really hoping to be able to spend more time with them this month, as all the festivities and work of the last couple of months is now mostly behind me. November is a quiet month and I am ready for it now.

Sketchbook Tuesday

Lately, it seems like Tuesdays have been my day to post sketchbook drawings. I didn't mean for an entire week to pass since my last post, but here we are at Tuesday again. So here are more sketchbook pages from my watercolor Moleskine that I did while we were at the beach a couple of weeks ago now.
With traveling, visitors, birthdays and parties, and a little design work keeping me very busy, October has just flown by. I am now actually looking forward to November and the peaceful return of a routine to my days.

While I was away

I filled one spread in my watercolor Moleskine by recording a little slice of the ocean and sky colors for each day we were at Edisto Beach. I had such a great view from my spot at the dining table in our rental cottage that I couldn't let it go to waste.

I also couldn't help thinking of this song, especially on our rainy Wednesday, when the fishing boats disappeared on the horizon.



And when we returned from our trip I was greeted by Abner! I had the good fortune of winning Abner in a drawing over on Diahn's blog, and he's gorgeous! I really couldn't believe this was a print, it is so beautifully done on such quality paper. A wonderful surprise to come home to after our stay at the beach. Now that we are back in our mountains life is crazy busy around here. I have a design project that needs finishing and we have guests coming for the weekend. If you could see the state of my house right now you would wonder why I am even sitting here typing this with so much that needs doing. At least I have Abner to keep me smiling! Thanks Diahn!

Away

I was away from the computer last week. But I kept myself busy here.
Of course, I had this view for inspiration.
And plenty of reasons to play.

Keep trying

For further proof that I need way more practice with watercolor, this is my contribution for October's Monthly Sketch Project. But what better way to practice than with these online challenges. Makes it more fun and gives me that extra bit of motivation to keep trying. This was done in my watercolor Moleskine. The photo reference was mine, a view of Grandfather Mountain from Price Lake.

Red leaves and more apples

Yesterday was such a brilliant autumn day that after Kiddo's PE class we took off on a photo safari. The foliage in our mountains has suddenly turned into a kaleidoscope of hues and we didn't want to let it go unnoticed.
I don't often post a work-in-progress but just to prove I have something in the works here is another apple drawing in progress, inspired by Jeanette Jobson's apple challenge. It is unlikely that I will finish it by the deadline so I thought I'd post it as a work-in-progress. This way you can see how my scribbles will eventually become the finished drawing. I hope to work on it some more over the next few days, if I'm not out soaking in these beautiful autumn days.

Since it's Tuesday

it's as good a day as any to post a couple of recent works from my sketchbooks. I couldn't resist picking up a few pears from the grocery, they always remind me of fall. Because it takes me so long to finish my drawings in colored pencil I took lots of photos of pear groupings to possibly use later for still life compositions. But I also couldn't resist doing a quick watercolor sketch of pears while I was at it.

We spent Sunday afternoon in the park at Valle Crucis and I tried doing some quick watercolors while there too. These I sketched in brown colored pencil first and then used watercolor over top. The pears were painted directly without any drawing first. Both were done in my watercolor Moleskine journal.

Looking ahead

Hatteras
neocolor II and colored pencil on hp
5.5 x 7.5 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here it is October already. Turn around once and it will be the winter holidays and then the new year before we know it. This is a view from the most southern tip of Hatteras Island, near where the ferry takes you to Ocracoke. I worked on this from an old photo of mine. This area is probably filled up with over sized beach houses and souvenir shops by now.