Friday, September 20, 2013

"Do Not Disturb"









My two elephants drawing is finally complete and is hanging in a show at Seacoast Artist Association. I'm including some more of the steps I did before I got to the final piece. I used both graphite and charcoal, smudging along with a stump to keep my fingers off the piece. I did a lot of research before I settled on the background. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. All told, I probably spent over 20 hours on this piece. I'm including some detail shots also. Final size is about 8.75 x 11.75 inches on Canson paper. My title is "Do Not disturb" because I believe all animals deserve dignity and to be left alone in areas where they can thrive. I want my great great great grandchildren to still be able to appreciate their beauty and dignity when they grow up.

When I start a drawing, I look closely at what to leave in and what to take out, what changes to make overall to the composition and how to make it more unique. I love working on the animals eyes and usually change them somewhat. With these guys, they were just big black dots so I added in detail after researching close-ups of elephant eyes. Google makes it so much easier to find reference material. Never just settle on the photo you have in front of you. Make it your own. You'll be happier with the results.

So I start my drawing laying out the large shapes and outlines of the animal in pencil, turning my paper around several time as I go to be sure I have the positive and negative shapes correct. Then I usually start on the eyes and then start adding light details, which I will later build up in layers. I have my trusty gummed eraser in case I get too dark or want to bring out some highlights. It's all very relaxing and meditative, no matter how many times I draw. I just love it. Time flies by and I loose all sense of time. Enjoy!

Friday, September 6, 2013

Illustration Friday theme: Hidden

I created this drawing in colored pencil and then added the snow in Photoshop.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Some new erasers

I got some Blu-tac after I read it's great to erase graphite, even better than a kneaded eraser. I also bought nice fresh white plastic erasers, getting ready to teach my upcoming art classes. I played around on a piece of scrap paper with pencil, charcoal and pastels and found the Blu-tac worked great except for on the pastels. But the nice bright white Stadler eraser cleaned them right off the paper!

I love new art materials! I'm also looking in a new type of paper that seems to be only made in UK called Mellotex. I may have to send for some!

Monday, August 5, 2013

I am offering 3 art classes at Seacoast Artist Association, Exeter, NH September 2013


Drawing With Colored Pencils
This class is for students who would like to learn to use colored pencils, or if you have used them before, come get a refresher class and learn some new techniques and supports for your work. Explore various techniques in colored pencil: shading and highlights to create volume, building layers of color, burnishing for deep rich color. You will work from photos and still lifes, to enhance your own personal technique and style. You will learn the five basic techniques that form the basis of any colored pencil work and explore new supports for your work. This great medium allows you to stop and start easily, without any set-up time, and to draw on location without worrying about solvents.
What to bring: A quality set of colored pencils such as Prismacolors, a battery operated pencil sharpener, kneaded eraser, hard white eraser, 2B pencil, colorless blender pencil or marker. Bring a selection of great drawing papers in colors of your choice, such as Canson Mi-Teintes, Stonehenge, Strathmore, Art Spectrum Colourfix Coated Pastel Paper. Paper should say “acid free, 100% cotton, lignin free” for the best results. Other great surfaces for colored pencil are hot press watercolor paper and Vellum Bristol Board. Minimum class size is 3. Class size limited to 7. Class starts: Thursday, September 5th, 2013, and runs 8 weeks, 10:30 to 12:30 pm. Cost is $135.00. To hold your spot please mail a check directly to: Revelle Taillon, 26 West Pine Street, Plaistow, NH 03865. For more information you may call 603-382-3397 or email Revelle at rtaillon@comcast.net. 10% of each tuition is donated to the Seacoast Artist Association Scholarship Fund.  

Drawing I
This class is for budding artists or those with only a small amount of practice who want to learn drawing skills; or perhaps you have painted but never really learned to draw. Learn to break down objects into their basic elements and shapes so you can truly see how an artist sees. Learn about edges, shape, positive & negative space, and working with spatial relationships within and between objects. Learn how blind contour drawing can enhance your understanding of how to render what you are looking at in a realistic manner quickly. Learn how to use shading to create volume and start to understand perspective. Learn proper dimensions of the human face and work on a self portrait. This is a great class for all beginners and those of you who want to go back and relearn the basics to enhance your drawing practice.
What to bring: A small sketchbook for daily practice (5”x 8” is fine). Moleskine makes a great sketchbook with blank pages, black fine tip markers such as Staedtler pigment liners, 3 colored markers or colored pencils (any colors), Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, kneaded eraser, white plastic eraser, drawing pencils. A great quality paper for drawing is Arches Hot Pressed watercolor paper. Large sheets can be folded and torn into smaller sheets. Minimum class size is 3. Class size limited to 7. Class starts: Thursday, September 5th, 2013, and runs 8 weeks, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Cost is $135.00. To hold your spot please mail a check directly to: Revelle Taillon, 26 West Pine Street, Plaistow, NH 03865. For more information you may call 603-382-3397 or email Revelle at rtaillon@comcast.net. 10% of each tuition is donated to the Seacoast Artist Association Scholarship Fund.  

Intermediate Drawing II
If you have learned all the basics in a beginners drawing class, you are ready to move up to an intermediate drawing class. Here you will work more on adding finesse to your drawings and paying closer attention to detail, perspective, proportions, shading, blending, and composition. You will work in pencil, charcoal, and pen and ink and explore more fully, the different papers that are available for drawing, and what a difference they can make to your final drawings. You will work from still lifes and photos. What to bring: A small sketchbook for daily practice (5”x 8” is fine). Moleskine makes a great sketchbook with blank pages. Fine tip black markers, set of drawing pencils, kneaded eraser, hard white eraser, charcoal pencils and/or sticks, conte crayons, sharpener. Bring a selection of drawing papers in your choice of colors. Paper should say “acid free, 100% cotton, lignin free” for the best results and archival quality. Some great papers are: plate or vellum bristol board, Canson Mi-Teintes, Stonehenge, Strathmore, Arches Hot Pressed watercolor paper. Large sheets can be folded and torn into smaller sheets. Minimum class size is 3. Class size limited to 7.
Class starts: Tuesday, September 10th, 2013, and runs 8 weeks, 10:30 to 12:30 pm. Cost is $135.00. To hold your spot please mail a check directly to: Revelle Taillon, 26 West Pine Street, Plaistow, NH 03865. For more information you may call 603-382-3397 or email Revelle at rtaillon@comcast.net. 10% of each tuition is donated to the Seacoast Artist Association Scholarship Fund. 

My digital drawing/collage won first place!

The digital drawing and collage I created in Photoshop, was entered in the theme show at the Seacoast Artist Association Gallery in Exeter, NH and took first place! The theme was "Water, Water, Everywhere". My piece is titled "Creative Solutions to Global Warming". Happy dance!!

Illustration friday theme: Hybrid

Created in Photoshop for a kids clothing shop.

Monday, July 22, 2013

More on my elephants


I'm plodding along on my elephants, depending on the weather and how busy my graphic design studio is. I'd really like a good 5 or 6 hours to work just on this!!!

My Dad has been up for the month visiting us kids (six kids in all!) and the weather has been close to 100. It's finally cooling down this week. so I hope to get back to this for a bit!

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