Tag Archives: pencil drawing

Contracts, Shows: upwards and forwards.

Ever had the feeling that all the twists and turns of life will never straighten; just for a wee while, long enough to be able to stop smell the roses and catch your breath?
Boy is it a test of stamina.

Twists and twirling turns are in abundance down this end. Being in four countries over a period of three days is slowly becoming the norm. Meaning a strange on/off relationship with the cyberwaves and yo-yo working in hours in the studio.

The astounding thing is that there are all sorts of great things still happening. A signed 5 year contract with the NRW landgetsuet, a 3 day solo show and new commissions.

“Fuerst Piccolo”
Pencil on Paper
Reserved
Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved.

There has to be a moral in there somewhere.
To be honest I will postpone trying to find it until the movers and their boxes have been and gone.

Look forward to saying hi again in August, mid August where I will be posting from our new home, from the hills of Bonn.
Until then wishing you all a great few weeks of creating and loads of summer fun.

©Copyright 2010 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Bricks and stones: baby step added

Time was shuffled around and re-arranged over the week-end to give my pencils a wee gap to add a few more bricks and muscles.

Below the result of a few hours: a Clydesdale with an ever increasing chest and a wall with a new wonky bricks.

Next update coming soon….

©Copyright 2010 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

What Are you Waiting For? WIP sketch


8 X 10 Sketch for Painting
Here’s how I put a painting together…Pick images from as many photos as necessary and compose a drawing. Then I decide on time of day, size, palette, etc. and then transfer final drawing – usually using a grid to keep it in proportion.
These two cowboys are from a recent calf working event at a new friend’s ranch. The weather was varied all day – from sun to wind to rain to rainbows to sun again. I am tempted to use a dark, threatening purplish background. Also, the more distant cowboy needs to retreat farther with the calf between the two.
This was a quick drawing using a marker – I’ll do a more detailed one paying closer attention to perspective and darks and lights for the next one.
Isaiah 42:18
You’ve Seen a Lot, but Looked at Nothing Pay attention! Are you deaf? Open your eyes! Are you blind? You’re my servant, and you’re not looking! You’re my messenger, and you’re not listening! The very people I depended upon, servants of God, blind as a bat—willfully blind! You’ve seen a lot, but looked at nothing. You’ve heard everything, but listened to nothing. God intended, out of the goodness of his heart, to be lavish in his revelation. But this is a people battered and cowed, shut up in attics and closets, Victims licking their wounds, feeling ignored, abandoned. But is anyone out there listening? Is anyone paying attention to what’s coming?

©Copyright 2010 by Debbie Grayson Lincoln. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

“Who shook the oat bucket?” Horse head Graphite Sketch

“Who shook the oat bucket?” 11 x 14 Free hand Sketch with Graphite $45.00 to the first inquiry to debflood@debfloodart.com

This morning I delivered two wildlife paintings to the Sportsman Show, Art Show in Augusta, Maine at the Civic Center. That was an hour drive one way. So by the time I got home, it was lunch time. When I finally got to the studio, I couldn’t settle down to work on a technical painting. So I hauled out the 11 x 14 Sketch book. I started free hand sketching, what ever came off my hand! I love this one! It’s simple, yet is so expressive. Anticipating and wondering if what he heard is real! Probably the way you are feeling right now, when you read that this original sketch is only $45.00!! No, this is no April fool’s joke! Here is your chance to own an original, right out of my sketch book with all of my feelings of anticipating the Art reception that is going to happen tonight at the Maine Open Juried Art Show and the Sportsman art show this weekend! So much going on!

I hope your day has been going great, and if you are close by, I hope you can make it to the reception tonight in Waterville, Maine, 6-8pm

Debbie

Debbie Flood, Artist. Equine, Wildlife, and the natural world.
http://www.debfloodart.com

©Copyright 2010 by Debbie Flood. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Horse & head collar new drawing underway

Finally found time to say hi to my drawing board and coax my pencils into a serious work-out. After a week of marketing and organizing, I left them lying dormant! Definitely time to shake them back in to action.

Here the first steps in a new piece, non-commissioned and loaded with understated emotion.


Horse & head collar accurately describe the first scribbles done on Mellotex paper. I have used a 2B clutch and a little 6B in the dark areas.
Hoping to get another grand session in tomorrow (after sifting trough some paper work.)

Promise to post the result.

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Five Horses Continuous Line Drawing

nodp I recently found a clever website lately of an intriguing artist who loves rhinos. She calls her studio the Smelly Rhino. On the day I checked it out, she had posted a continuous line drawing of…a rhino, and it reminded me how necessary it is to return to the basics when the painting muse decides to go on vacation…and a valuable training tool is to draw negative shapes to acquire the solid shapes and to do it without lifting the pen or pencil. Often “happy accidents” occur and a pleasing composition emerges.
This may be my next large horse painting….or not.
Genesis 2:9
And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

©Copyright 2009 by Debbie Grayson Lincoln. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

How to Draw – Selecting Your Drawing Paper

In a recent post we looked at the best pencils to use for pencil drawing. That is usually the question emerging artists ask when they decide to delve into pencil drawing more fully.

Ironically, even though there are a myriad of options when it comes to pencils, probably the single most important aspect of a quality drawing is not the pencils, but rather the paper.

Top quality, acid-free paper is essential if you want the best drawing results. Standard drawing paper has a poor-quality surface, and lacks the qualities needed to allow rich drawing development. Everyday papers also tend to have acidic qualities, which means they will yellow and/or discolor over time. (Think of old newspapers as an example – they turn yellow and discolor.)

You will also want to consider the surface of the paper. Most drawing surfaces have a slight texture, or “tooth” to them. These are usually known as vellum surfaces. Drawing paper is also available with an extremely smooth surface, which would be known as a plate surface. You can purchase drawing paper as actual paper, or in heavier weights known as bristol board. A sheet of bristol is heavy enough that both sides have suitable drawing surfaces. There are also illustration boards – these are heavier still, though only one side is suitable as a drawing surface.

As a general rule, most artists using pencil, charcoal or pastel will prefer the vellum surface. The texture in the paper provides some friction to the media applied, and thus allows for a greater range of effects. Smooth/plate surface paper is usually preferred by pen & ink artists as very clean lines can be achieved with such a surface. For myself, I prefer a bristol surface when drawing “living” subjects such as people or horse or dog drawings. I like the plate surface for more mechanical subject such as aviation drawings or historic home portraits.

In addition to the weight or thickness of the paper, you will want to consider brightness. Drawing papers come in a range of “whites.” Some are soft white and have an antique appearance. Others are off-white. My favorites are the brighter whites, as I feel I can obtain the greatest range of shadows on these papers.

For years my paper of choice has been the drawing paper is Strathmore 500. It’s bright white surface and acid-free/archival properties make it a superb choice for pencil drawing. Strathmore 500 is available in paper weight, bristol board and illustration board. I also like this paper as it is available in large sheets – up to 30″x40.” My top two suppliers for this paper are DickBlick.com and UtrechtArt.com.

Happy Sketching!Pencil Drawings by Kelli Swan.
Graphic Design and Virtual Assistant Services.

©Copyright 2009 by Kelli Swan. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

An new visual update: Hurricane

Here he is, the big chap with all sorts of strange feature problems.
Notice how the eyes and the nose are wonky. Easy fix (phew!) and not a big worry at this stage as all is still in the “getting it just right” process.
I will ask you however to forgive the quality of the scan. This drawing is so big and getting it to sit on the scanner is pretty challenging. I will have to revert to my Eos’s help from now on.

Thanks for popping by.
More to come… soon. Tomorrow is another “no school” day.

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Mini progress on Hurrican portrait

Zoomed in and cropped: due to the size of the piece this is all my scanner could cope with (sadly all I could get done this week)
I did however finish another Christmas commission, sort out paperwork and miscellaneous data before the school break next week, so all in all it has been a successful and busy week.

Hurricane is coming along smoothly (if still a little bit bland and without much muscle shape.) This is has all been rendered in light layers of 2B on Mellotex paper.

Must admit to wondering if I have not bitten off (size-wise) more than I can chew draw…
One thing for sure: there’s nothing like a new challenge and pushed boundaries to keep an artist on hers toes…
Thanks for popping by. Have a great week-end.

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Legacy – New graphite equine drawing.

He’s magnificent.
He’s striking.
He had to be drawn.
Had to get the pencils to “comb” through the tick wavy main and tail. Render the muscles, the faint traces of sweat…

The reference for this new piece was kindly provided by friend and photographer extraordinaire Juliet Harrison. (If you are seeking for inspiration trundle over to her website Juliet Harrison Photography is a must)

This is a large piece, completed over the summer months, in between servings of ice cream, visits to France and tin men on stilts.
A labour of love, an indispensable support maintaining an all important stability and sanity during the happy chaotic summer months.

The result is powerful, strong and full of movement.
Just right …

Legacy
Graphite on Paper. 2009. 34×37 cm
Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved.
Inquire for Purchase

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Calle. Equine Head portrait finished and signed.

Calle is now finished and the portrait approved by his owner.(Yippee!)
So, he’s off to the framers before making his end journey to Germany .

As with all 2xbridled head portraits, I get my “knickers in a twist” when it comes to all the cheek pieces, throat lashes and nose band. After a while tough, managed to straightened out knickers and crossed eyes, followed the lines of logic and completed the bridle.

Interestingly enough most of the drawing was done using a 2B (layered). A few parts were done on the nose using an F.

Here you can see the blank space waiting for some attention. The head piece and the nose band are rendered. Really left the bridle to the bitter end!
Calle
Pencil on Paper. 23×27 cm.
Sheona Hamilton-Grant. 2009
All rights reserved.

Another week-end is just round the corner.
Once again loads of quality familly time on the agenda here.
Wishing you the very same wherever you are.
Cheerio

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

09-09-09 a cool date to post

09-09-09
Visually pleasing.
A post today is a must even if it means not posting the finished portrait.
Here it is nearing completion.


Bridle still to do and all sorts of fun fiddly bits
Will tackle all that tomorrow.
Off to mow the lawn while the girls play and the sun lasts!

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Follow up steps in Equine head portrait

Calle is taking shape.

He now has a more defined expression, a fluffy mane and a silky nose.

The tricky bridle work is being left to the bitter end…
Drawing leather is still not #1 on my drawing list despite tackling the bull by the horns a few years ago and producing a drawing I was quite chuffed with. (Some of you may be familiar with “Leather”.) Any road this is slightly off subject.

Below a few more steps in Calle’s progress.
The steps are pretty straight forward.
All completed with a 2B.
The darks were drawn with a 6B and established earlier on.
Pressure put on the strokes and the number of layers used are the key elements to getting the soft yet detailed end result

Step3: detail added to neck and mane. Blaze taking shape.

Step4: forelock started as well as more detail around left eye and on the end of the nose.

Step 5: work done on nose and lower part of the neck. White space left for the double bridle.

The way the pencils are flowing: smoothly and precisely.
I can’t help thinking that the final steps of this bonny chap’s portrait will be posted very soon.
Until then leaving you all with a cheery cheerio!

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Kentucky Dreamer Comes Home


It had been quite a while since I took anything new up to the gallery shop which sells my art in Central Lake. Adams Madams is a fabulous shop with an outstanding mix of home decorating merchandise, crafts and artwork. It is light and airy, and everything is temptingly displayed. Unfortunately, the past two years my sales have been very low, and I’ve been wondering whether it is my art that just isn’t appealing to people now or if it’s been the economy. I got my answers.

After speaking with the owner and her assistant who handles the art selection and the merchandise displays, the answer seems to be the economy. They both raved about the quality of my work and the reasonable prices, but people are now coming into the shop with a set budget to spend there; between $25-$50. That’s not much in a shop with so many temptations. The interest in horsey products has also dropped off I was told which impacts my sales even more. But they both made some suggestions, and I came home with some hope that sales will turn around. Clearly, diversifying my offerings is in order.

I also brought home the original drawing, “Kentucky Dreamer” because it’s been there for quite some time now, and I’m thinking of entering it in some local shows. Either the mats have changed color slightly or my eye is better now because it needs to be rematted with better color mats. That should improve its appearance considerably.

“Kentucky Dreamer” is 11×14 inches and is a delicate pencil drawing of a young Thoroughbred foal. It’s available for sale if you’re interested. I named it before I even heard about the horse movie, “Dreamer”, in case anyone wonders about that coincidence.

My drive to and from the shop and later to the barn has me thinking about doing some plein air painting in the beautiful Fall light. Our weather just couldn’t be more gorgeous on this last holiday weekend of summer. I didn’t even mind too much the hordes of bicyclists who descend on us every Labor Day weekend for their tours on our scenic winding back roads. You really have to slow down and watch out for them because a lot of these roads don’t have paved shoulders, and you can be on top of them before you see them.

Already some of the trees are beginning to turn, and the light has that soft diffused look that is so characteristic of Fall in northern Michigan. Yup, it’s time to paint outside.

©Copyright 2009 by Karen Baker Thumm. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Start of new equine portrait

School’s back, dust’s off the drawing board, pencils are sharpened and work has begun.

Here are the first steps in my new equine portrait. This chap is a lovely dressage gelding. I met him this summer in Germany where he posed very nicely for a few reference pics. He his known affectionately as “Calle” .

The usual gear has been pulled out.
Hahnemuehle Nostalgie Paper, love the off-white colour and not-so-toothy surface. Works well for portraits.
Derwent 6B and I filled my mechanical clutch pencil with koh-i-noor 2B (never tried them and they seem to be good.)

Below, steps one and two, here I have established the eye and expression with the 2B as well as establishing the darks with the Derwent 6B.



Tomorrow will yield (I have no doubt) further progress.
Today’s was good, the new found “freedom” and extra hours worked wonders on getting this portrait off to a good start.

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Finished equine pencil portrait.

Bet you were all thinking I was still gallivanting around la France hunting down pics of shutters.
No, been a busy bee.
Spent a great few hours with friendly grey Marble Arch.
Actually we had such a ball I’ve signed the portrait. Yeah!

“Marble Arch”
Pencil on Paper, 20×30 cm
Copyright:Sheona Hamilton-Grant
Sold

His roman nose was a tad difficult: “over do it” and he looked deformed, “under enhanced” and he looked too much like a dainty thoroughbred. Needless to say a “few” minutes were spent tweaking here and there, there and here, here and there …

Slowly working down to the nose and nostrils. Strangely enough I am still working with a Derwent 2B. I thought I might moved on to a B or F but there seemed no need to.

This stage shows progress being made on the lower part of the face and the mouth.
To render the skin around this area I used a Derwent 3B for the added darkness which I then worked over with a dry Derwent 2H. Like the effect.


One of the big challenges with pencil is not the rendering but the scanning!
Here a zoom in on the nose, roman “bump” and all the finer details which are quite difficult to make out in the full image scan.

The week-end is just around the corner.
Bringing out worn grotty jeans: painting and re-decorating kiddie bedrooms planned at this end.
Wishing you all a great one wherever you are and whatever your plans.
Cheerio for now!

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Mini progress steps in new equine portrait

Marble Arch now has slightly more defined face, a soupcon of an ear and a sprinkling of a mouth.

The progress is slow (laying all of the blame at summers door…) but quite good.
A 2B Derwent pencil has been used with various strokes: some harder some softer but all short and crisp.
Slowly approaching the problem area: his roman nose.
The good news: still love greys!

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

Finishing stages of portrait drawing of black labrador

Untitled Black Lab
Graphite on Paper, 17×22 cm
Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved.

Finished and awaiting approval (and a name).
Below: the vital steps that led me to the end result.
Following on from where I left off last week here are steps 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Step 4
Here more work has been done on the bone structure and depth. This was done by refining the layer of 4B and adding to the nose and mouth. Remembering to follow the lay of the hair.Work has also begun on the longer hairs around the neck.

Step 5
More emphasis is brought to the jaw line and start given to the ear. Invisible on the scan: work was also refined around the eyes.
Step 6

This step was all about getting more hair blocked in and establishing movement and texture to the neck. The ear also takes on a little more shape and texture. At this stage I am only working with a 2B and varying the layers over the blocked darks.


Step 7

This step is were the nose and the lighter areas of the head get “covered” in hair.
After which I was unhappy. A niggling annoying feeling.
When this is the case, best to mirror the image. This showed (and as suspected) the nose and muzzle were not quite right nor was the mouth and the outer eye.
This is crucial step. The changes are minute (sometimes in can be only a stroke) but I feel make a massive change to the overall accuracy.


The finished portrait mirrored with small changes made.

A gorgeous chap: he was great company -
At last it felt right beating back memory demons! I lost my Lambda 9 years ago and still feel the void.
If only he had a brother: I’d love to make his acquaintance…

©Copyright 2009 by Sheona Hamilton-Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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