My Latest Drawing--Puddin

This is my mother-in-law's kitty, Puddin, which I just finished. She's a long-haired cat and is a medium to lighter gray with a caramel tone with some white.
I had a lot of fun drawing this one in 2B and HB graphite and on smooth bristol board. I did lots of layering, but I'm pretty happy with the end result and I might give it my mom-in-law for Mother's Day, since Puddin is her baby (in a sense).

I've Won a

Thank-you Maria of Pencil Sanity for this award!
I've been asked to list 7 things that I love and to pass this neat award on to 7 people that I feel have a passion for and most definitely are much more deserving of this award than myself.

1. My husband
2. My kitty, Chance
3. Drawing
4. Hazelnut flavored coffee
5. Play guitar
6. The fact that Spring is almost here
7. Smooth Jazz

And my nominees are: (Big Drumroll)

• Christine of http://creativelifestudio.blogspot.com/
• Lori of http://laartgallery.net/
• Dors of http://dorsart.blogspot.com/
• Paulette of http://becomingarenaissancewoman.blogspot.com/
• Greg of http://www.bionicgreg.blogspot.com/
• Kain of http://dibujandoandoando.blogspot.com/
• Kev of http://kev2grey.spaces.live.com/

Be sure to stop in say hi to everyone!

In Honor of Vincent

Since Vincent van Gogh's birthday is coming up on March 30, I did some research on the Web and found some interesting information about his life.

Did you know?

Vincent was born in 1853 in Holland.

He would be celebrating his 156th birthday--imagine blowing out all those candles on his birthday cake!

Vincent's father was a Reverand in the Protestant church.

He suffered horribly from epilepsy, psychotic attacks and delusions: now thought to be related to Bipolar Disorder.

During a stay at an insane asylum, he painted one of his most famous paintings, "The Starry Night".

Vincent sold only one painting during his entire lifetime. Now, some of his paintings sell for millions at auctions around the world.

He viewed his life as horribly wasted and felt that he was a failure.

Two of his closest friends were Theo, his brother and artist Paul Gaugin.

It's believed that Vincent painted about 900 paintings in a ten-year period

Sadly, passed away 2 days later after a self-inflicted gun shot to the chest. Vincent was only 37 years old.

---Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh's Self Portrait, courtesy of WP Clip http://www.wpclipart.com/index.html

Drawing of An Old House--Part 4--Finale!

Ok, here's the finished Old House pencil drawing. I added in some shading that would suggest trees around the building, deepened some shadows and added a bit more foreground ground areas.
I had a lot of fun drawing this old home, since it was my first architectural drawing. Together with the fact that I was drawing on watercolor paper, I was brand new at this type of drawing and in the method that I used.
So, what do you think? How did I do? Think I should do more or give it up with this one?
I welcome your comments!

Thank-you for joining me and I hope that you enjoyed watching me progress through this project-start to finish.

Drawing of An Old House--Part 3

Here in this photo, I've added more shadow tones and some more detailing. Like I mentioned, I wanted to achieve an "aged" look. I think this is going well on the watercolor paper that I have chosen to draw on this time.

I've placed more detail in and around the windows and doors, etc.

I have also roughed in some ground around the house, which anchors it to the ground, so that it doesn't appear to be floating in mid air.

You can see that I have placed some deeper darks and shadows at the side of the house that can be see the most. I made those windows and door much darker than the others, because I want the feeling of emptiness and abandon to come through to the viewer.
It's really starting to come together now.

Return for Part 4 and see it finished!