I put some of the ship's menus behind the drawing and I like it much better now.  Again - hard to get a decent photo of at the moment, but I like the two layers.  If I wanted it that way permanently, I might rearrange the menus a little differently so the white lines would be in different places.  At any rate, its interesting.

Week #26

Kinda difficult to get a good photo of this week's drawing, as its so darn big.  (so the uneven surfaces come in as ripples of shadow)   I'm trying out the sheets of vellum now so I can go big, but its difficult to handle.  Anyhow... this is a drawing of two of the fellas that worked in the food services on the cruise ship.  They were handing out plates at a salmon bake.  I have no idea what size it is - close to 2 feet by 3 feet I think.  I'll have to measure it later when I get the chance. 

two cruise ship stewards   approx 2 feet x 3 feet

Week #25

Here's a fellow sitting outside a ship in Alaska.  I initially wanted to draw his entire body, as he was sitting in an interesting way - but I ended up just doing the portrait.  He looks like a fisherman that was washed up from the Pacific haha - but I think he's a tourist because he looks like he's trying to dress up.  He's cute at any rate.

Week #25         17x22

WEEK #24

Still loving this paper!  Its funny how it works for very smooth drawings as well as very textured drawings.  Here's a lady I saw on a city bus way up by Anchorage Alaska.  She had on a hat with a big brim and she was carrying her fishing rod and equipment.

Week #24    Lady with fishing hat     17x22

I'm not exactly satisfied with where I put the brim for her hat, but all in all, it was a good exercise in using a lot of texture.  Its a pretty big drawing and I basically used a thick charcoal.  I have brown paper underneath the vellum, so it doesn't look quite so harsh.

Week #23

Okay - still absolutely loving the mylar!  I found a few pieces of "vellum" to work with - which to me seems to be the same type of thing.  At least it gives the same effects.

Week #23       17" x 22"

This is a wonderful little lady I met on the cruise ship.  Her name is Liz, and she's a retired nurse as well.  Here we are sitting in a lounge - she's sipping on her vodka and we're listening to Sinatra music played by the Neptunes. 

I think this paper will work well for me.  This is the right size, and I'm getting the right feel for it.  Now just to search out where the heck I can get a good supply!  I think it has a lot of potential for my style of work.

Week #22

I was away for week 22, although I did send myself a little unfinished drawing on a postcard, but I haven't received it yet.  So I'll put this drawing into the week #22 even though technically I did it about a week later...

This is a fellow I noticed on a dock in Alaska, sitting by the cruise ships.  I don't know if he was a passenger, or it almost looks like he was a local fisherman, although he had a camera around his neck like tourists do.  As I got drawing him, I made him gruffer and gruffer - so now - I'm not sure what he looks like - maybe a Russian KGB with that fur hat haha. 

Once I started drawing him on the mylar, I realized although the paper fits my style well - for people, it's almost impossible for me to do dark backgrounds.  Maybe I have to try something different... I don't know yet, as I'm at the beginner stage here. 

So.... nice technique for scragginess, but no good for backgrounds I learned. 

Week #21

Just before going on vacation, I met a guy at the local "Spring Into Art" show and he asked me if I've ever tried drawing on mylar.  He gave me a piece to try out and I absolutely love it.  It's a little obscure around these parts though, and to make matters worse, the size I'd like is very hard to find.

At any rate, I managed to scout out a few appropriate sized pages and I'm off to the races now..... trying to figure out how on earth to use this stuff.  I love the product, I love the feel of it and the way the pencil and charcoal sticks to the paper... and I love the way the light glows through the finished drawing.  But it is a pretty big learning curve - just like all new types of papers are. 

I started a drawing of George (a fellow I know from Yorkton).  I was trying to figure out how hard to press the pencil, how to work with the eraser, etc.  Maybe I'll do another drawing of George on the mylar some day, but for this week - my unfinished drawing is my contribution. 

Back to the blog

Okay - I'm back now and its time to get back to real life.  We had a great time last month - my daughters were getting cold and rained on in Europe, and my husband and I were soaking up the heat wave in Alaska.  I took a lot of photos of people when I was there - that's the good news.  The bad news is - they are almost all out of focus!  That'll teach me to buy a new camera before going away.  Anyhow... that's maybe not bad news though, because I don't want my drawings to look like those people anyways, so I can "fill in the blanks" a lot and make the people the way I want.  It just takes a little less time when you copy from a picture though - because it cuts out the research (ie: where does this shadow go.... which way does the wrinkle go... etc)
Anyways.... lets see what I can post to catch up....