A Lush Read

October 16, 2012 | dodington

Today’s studio time saw the completion of this painting I’ve been poking at for a while now.

in the studio oil painting palette — Studio shot

oil painting of girl reading in garden — A Lush Read

Take THAT Drawing Challenge…

September 16, 2012 | dodington

I’ve forgone the drawing challenge for the past few days in order to complete a commission for… well… this. Kind of a sexy cowboy thing going on. I don’t question, I just draw. 😉

graphite drawing of man's stomach and jeans and hand sexy cowboy — Sexy Cowboy, graphite on paper, 11 x 14″

Day 16 of the Drawing Challenge

September 9, 2012 | dodington

Draw Inspiration…

Here’s just what came out:

pen and ink drawing of woman in quilt nature bed leaves — Nature bed, pen and ink on paper, approx 8 x 8″

Day 15 of Drawing Challenge

September 6, 2012 | dodington

Day 15: Family portrait.

I decided to do a blind contour project with family photos. This is the result for day 15:

ink drawing blind contour with grandparents — With Grandparents

ink drawing blind contour of knitters — Knitting with Grandma

blind contour drawing of people holding cats pen — Holding Cats

Day 10 and 11 of the Drawing Challenge

August 26, 2012 | dodington

Hello all,

I ignored Day 9 (favorite tv show) for the time being and instead drew Day 10 (favorite candy) and Day 11 (turning point in your life).

In regards to favorite candy… I had to draw the wrapper because I ate all the chocolate itself… These “buttons” are the British version of Cadbury chocolates as we North Americans know it and altogether much tastier than US chocolate. Sorry USA.

Next I drew the faint outline of my wedding day, the “turning point” in my life where my husband’s and my individual trajectories collided and formed a new life path. With a few lines I outlined the people present and suggested the big pine tree we were under for our short, casual ceremony atop a mountain in New Mexico. Sometime a line is enough to describe what you remember or feel.

ink and graphite sketch of people wedding — You may now kiss the bride

Stay tuned for more drawing challenges and surprises 🙂

Day 6 of the Drawing Challenge

August 22, 2012 | dodington

Day six of the drawing challenge calls for your favorite book character and specifies, “can’t be a movie” so that one doesn’t just grab a dvd case and sketch a hollywood actor/actress.

I chose Princess Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I’ve only read the first book, “Dealing with Dragons” in which the princess, unwilling to remain in her castle and succumb to an arranged marriage, runs away to become a servant to a female dragon named Kazul. There she is in charge of making tea, cherries jubilee, and doing much of the cleaning. When princes begin to arrive one after another to “rescue” her from her dragon she turns them away – at one point telling a fib about a sprained ankle in an attempt to prevent more potential suitors from making the journey to rescue her. She is quite happy serving Kazul.

I thoroughly enjoyed the young adult book and recommend it to anyone who likes a somewhat unconventional fairy tale or two.

ink and pencil crayon drawing of princess cimorene of dealing with dragons book — Princess Cimorene, pencil crayon and ink, 8 x 10″

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 1

August 16, 2012 | dodington

I saw this pin on pinterest and decided to give it a go. “30 Day Drawing Challenge”: why not?

Now, I’ve decided to show you my process even though it is a little embarrassing… because I’m cool that way. Below you will see my attempts at Day One’s challenge: “yourself”. Please keep in mind I haven’t been in the practice of drawing lately (and insert sheepish smile here).

First attempt. This one captures my eye best (that’s totally my eye) but look at that giant jaw and mouth! Hahahahaha. And I just ran out of space in general (squishy forehead).

Next attempt. I made this one very quickly and just didn’t have the proportions right. I don’t think it resembles me very much. Tant pis. My drawing hand is warming up a bit more at this point and I’m less stiff than attempt #1.

graphite drawing self portrait — Attempt #2

Third attempt exhibits some nice proportion but I still don’t recognize myself in it. Often when you draw yourself you idealize your features (I think this happens when you draw other people too sometimes). That’s probably what happened here. Oh well… I still quite like the scribbly-ness of it and enjoy it as a drawing in itself.

graphite self portrait drawing — Third attempt

The point is to attempt all 30 days of the drawing challenge… warm my hand back up, get expressive… not necessarily produce perfect results. Okay? Okay. 🙂

Tomorrow’s challenge: favorite animal…

Colouring Book Page!

November 8, 2011 | dodington

As some of you know I’ve been drawing some sketches for the purpose of being coloured by children (or children at heart). I’m pleased to have an example to show you of someone’s colouring! Teenager Erin, of Huron County area in Canada enjoyed colouring this splendid multi-coloured yarn project at her public library. She did such a great job I really wished I was making these socks right now!

colouring book page of yarn and sock knitting — Multicolored Sock Knitting, colouring page example

If the yarn was just a bit thicker I would knit this with it:

malabrigo yarn cowl pic — Malabrigo yarn cowl, image via here

Closing reception of “Sleeping in the Forest, Waking in the Desert”

November 3, 2011 | dodington

It’s been a busy few weeks for me and I’m glad to be back to the blog.

I enjoyed a lovely closing reception at Runnels Gallery on Friday and want to thank everyone who came out to see the art and show their support in general. I really appreciated the feedback and great turnout.

I have some pictures of the evening to share with you!

First, there was the food (That is warmed caramel dip… mmm)!