Friday, December 5, 2014

Pears for gifts!!

I have been struggling with what to give as gifts this year.  For people who seem to have everything. And I think I have come up with a suitable solution......I am gifting them pears!!!  I love drawing pears and I love learning to paint and so I have put those two things together and come up with this. What do you think???


Ten little gift cards, no message inside, but each one original.  They are certainly not meant for anything more than to be sent out as thank-you cards, birthday cards, whatever cards, (or directly-into-the-bin cards, but you see, I'll never know!!!) but they were totally fun to do. I learned in the process and it's a unique little gift as well.  (The intended recipient is always sending out little cards so I think this will be appropriate.)

In the meantime, I have also been continuing with the work for the Liz Steel class.  I am really enjoying how she has structured the lessons and the way each one is flowing so well into the next.  All right, I confess, I'm still not very good about getting out to sketch, but soon.  I'm pretty sure.  Probably.  Maybe.  But.... it's very possible I may be busy that week.....


I am trying to learn how to draw an ellipse.  Good grief, that is one tricky shape.  So I filled a page with attempts at drawing a little milk jug.  And a cup.  And then a leaf got in there.  Practice, practice!!  (And I am still loving the Waterman inks, they wet out so beautifully.)



 And volumes:  here is my notebook sitting on top of one of my books.  Angles, volumes....more practice!!  Lots more to do....fortunately, I have a rather large selection of books from which to choose!  I drew this one with a watercolour pencil first and then went over the (final, after many attempts!) lines with my waterproof Platinum Cartridge pen.  Then added watercolours.



For this one we were to do a little thumbnail first to try and get the values right.  It's drawn with pencil and painted with watercolours.  I am starting to see shadows and shapes more clearly....I'm just not getting them on the page yet!  But I am certainly encouraged to keep, you know, practicing!  This one I did with my sketchbook on my knee....I'm practicing for when I got out, into the real (read: populated) world.


Liz' lessons are fabulous and it's possible that my enjoyment of them and my wish to keep painting and drawing and improving will finally get me out the door.  I'll keep you 'posted'.

I've given a link to Liz Steel's blog below.  I'll be back...

www.lizsteel.com

7 comments:

  1. How absolutely lovely those little pear cards are! The recipient ought to be delighted. Presents made by the giver are absolutely the best ... I envy her!

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    1. Thanks Margaret. It was fun to do these with the recipient in mind. I hope she likes them!

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  2. Beautiful cards, Marny. Also, lovely drawings.

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  3. Thanks Susan. These really were a lot of fun to do....I'm thinking I might do some more....but I'm still feeling so much 'safer' doing my drawing at home! Pears versus chairs.....perhaps I'll take myself out for tea this afternoon and see what happens....

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  4. HI Marny. I love the look of the informal arrangement of the jugs on the page. I hope to achieve this type of relaxed, uninhibited practice. The lovely pears you painted show the value of practice. It took me a very long time to realize that it is okay to draw or paint the same thing over and over again. I was one of those people who thought that finished art just flowed from the hand of the artist, till I read a lot and did some workshops. Then I had a go at drawing my house over and over again because I love it, and was amazed how I saw it better each time and the drawings improved. So I now know what 'practice' means. Thankyou for your blog. Sandi.

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by, Sandi. And for your lovely comments. And your thoughts about practicing...I too find it totally amazing that each time I try to draw something I see it a little bit more clearly and it somehow seems a little less daunting to draw. It still might not be the way I want it, but I am encouraged to keep going. And I think that's what I am the most excited about....the desire to keep going!!! Happy practicing!!

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  5. Oh these are so lovely. I hope the recipients loved the pears.

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