Settling In

Work-in-progress of a scratchbord of Treat, my beautiful long-haired tortie.

I'm still unpacking all of my art supplies and "stuff" and organizing my new studio. Very excited over finally having my own studio space!!! I really need to get some photos taken in the next day or so. I don't have too much left to unpack, but quite a bit to still organize.

I'm having some custom shelves built into my closet space for additional storage space. I also got an idea for another way to store and organize my art magazines, of which I have many dozens to organize and store. I want to use those plastic crates a lot of people use to put kids toys in. I thought I can put stand it on it's side, stand my magazines in there, by order of date and particular magazine.  I am hoping to be able to use two of them and stand one on top of the other. Don't know if it will work though since magazines in bulk tend to be quite heavy.

I'm also trying to come up with ideas for new articles to write for my blog. Having lived in a tiny travel trailer for almost the past two years now, I haven't been able to get much artwork done. So I need to kickstart my creativity. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Is there anything you would like to learn more about? Let me know please and I'll see what I can do about putting together an article on the topic.

Must go for now. Will try to have pics for next time.

Website Redirected to Blog

 I have recently realized that "SiteKreator" has completely taken my website down due to my not signing into sitekreator for six months. Thus, I have redirected my website to right here, my blog, until I can get it straightened out. Hopefully I will have the issue resolved in a few days. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope you will visit my website as soon as I get it straightened out.

*EDIT: It is taking longer than I thought it would to get my website back up and running. I have two different computers now and have to figure out which computer has which photos.  I have to rebuild my entire website all over again.  

~ Nancy

Izzy - WIP 1

Izzy is a Spanish Water Dog with a lot of personality! Her mom commissioned me to paint her portrait, so here is the beginning stage.

Nothing is even remotely close to being finished yet. I started by painting her eyes, then her nose, and then her tongue. Just so it didn't look like her tongue was hanging in midair, I added the rest of her mouth. I then continued on with other areas of her fur. She is an interesting color, difficult to describe and even harder to mix, but I think I'm doing okay on the color so far. Still have a lot of layers and colors to add. I'm having a lot of fun painting her though. I added a close-up of her nose for those of you who, like me, like close-ups.

Thank you Gwen for this opportunity to paint such a lovely dog!

Details
Medium: Prismacolor colored pencils
Support: Ampersand White Pastelbord
Additional tools: Bristle and stencil brushes, drafting brush, and a kneaded eraser.
Size: 8" x 10"
Reference credit: My own from a photo shoot with Izzy

Black Lab Scratchbord

Here is my latest scratchbord piece. It's a beautiful black lab on regular scratchbord (black). It's not done yet. Still need to do some touch-ups and then add color to him. My first scratchbord of a black animal though.

Look Into My Eyes - Completed

I thought I had posted the finished piece. So sorry. Here he is - Jagar in high contrast black and white. You can see the progression of this piece in the post below.

5" x 7" on Ampersand Scratchbord. #11 Exacto knife and black repair ink were my tools used.