September 30

Soft charcoal sketch of a lamp I saw.  Not great, but not horrible.  The shade should be larger, but overall not bad.

September 29

A soft charcoal sketch of my purse.  It's not quite right, but not too bad I don't think.

September 28

This is the first colored pencil sketch I'm OK with.  I intentionally did not fill in the background as I'm sure I would've liked it less then.

September 27

I actually added two full rows to this tonight.  Not that it looks like it honestly.  I do like how it's sort of self striping though.

September 26

More knitting.  Didn't get that far tonight.  I wasn't that into it so I admittedly focused more on the TV than on knitting.

September 25

This is a slight improvement over the last one.  I suppose I just need to admit that I am on the beginning side of the learning curve with colored pencils.  I keep trying to use the same skills as sketching with pencil or charcoal and it's not that simple.

September 24

This one I actually hate.  Hard core hate it.  I didn't even want to post it.  This is still water color pencils, but I hate how it came out.

September 23

My first use of watercolor pencils.  I didn't actually apply the water, I was exploring them more like colored pencils.  I like them , even if I do feel a little clumsy with them.

September 22

I'm still not crazy about the medium charcoal pencil.  This sketch is not that bad, but working with the charcoal was not pleasant.

September 21

Second attempt with medium charcoal pencils.  I like it, but the shading is too heavy on the saucer.  Overall not bad though.

September 20

My lamp in the front room.  The proportions are completely off.  I guess I was in a hurry.  Or just not paying attention.

September 19

 

This one was done using the hard charcoal pencil.  Whatever my feelings about the medium, I definitely don't like the hard.  Attempting to do any shading with it was ridiculous.  Maybe that's the point.  Maybe you're expected to use them in conjunction with each other.

September 18

This one's not great.  It's a quick sketch of my little girl Adele.  It's quick because she didn't give me much time to do it in.  This is with the medium charcoal.  I don't like the medium quite as much as I like the soft, but that may just be a matter of getting more familiar with it.

September 17

Haikus:
Small furry purr box
Sleeps and purrs at the same time
How do you do that?

Couch is magnetic
Often holds me here in place
It's just so comfy

September 16

My first experiment with charcoal pencils.  I really like this pencil in particular.  It's a soft charcoal.  I haven't tried the others yet, but this one was fun to work with.  The drawing came out pretty well too.  Looking at this one I'm kind of proud of the progress I've made.

September 15

I am really pleased with how this has come out.  I wouldn't have expected it to come out so well.  I definitely want to frame it and hang it.

September 14

Just when I was saying how uninspired I was, a neighbor came and planted a bunch of mums at the park.

September 13

 

There aren't many flowers let, and even good foliage is getting harder to come by.  There aren't many colorful leaves yet so I haven't been feeling as inspired by my surroundings of late.

September 12

This is making such a mess in the studio.  There are scrapings everywhere.  However, the project itself is looking good.

September 11

I tried taking lots of photos of the kittens today, but these are the only  ones that turned out because these were the only ones that they held still long enough for.

September 10

I love crocheting, but sometimes it's frustrating how slowly pieces work up.  This is looking beautiful, but coming along so slowly.

September 9

I successfully made my first gluten free chicken pot pie.  The filling needs a bit of tweaking, but over all it was very good.  I think next time I'll try smaller pies as opposed to one big one.  I'm not sure how I'm going to eat all of this before it goes bad or I'm sick of it.

September 8

Continuing with the scratchboard piece.  It's not often that I work on a piece over any bit of time unless it's a knitting or crocheting project.  I'm not sure how this is going to look once it's finished, but it's not bad so far.

September 7

I spent my Birthday at the Chicago Botanic Garden with family.  It is probably my favorite place to go and my favorite place to take pictures.  There are many shots I like.  The rest of them can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/101523031@N07/sets/72157638219394953/

September 6

I'm making a new attempt at scratchboarding.  I'm using one of the photos from the packaging as a guide.  It requires a lot of focus as there is no erasing and doing it over.  It should be pansies when it's done. 

September 5

This is my first time trying oil pastels on canvas.  I don't particularly like it.  Using oil pastels to fill in all the canvas is not easy and the texture remains.  It also makes blending very difficult.  I'm not sure I'll try again.

September 4

Continuing on with the scarf.  I'm honestly not sure how long to keep it going.  It was only meant to be practice, but how do you know just where to stop when there's no preconceived purpose?

September 3

One of my bowls.  The bottom is wrong, but otherwise I think it's OK.

September 2

A kitten ear.  I was enjoying a snuggle and happened to have my sketchbook nearby.  This is as far as I got before my subject decided that snuggle time was over.

September 1

I spent the day at the Bristol Renaissance Faire with some good friends.  I haven't focused on taking photos there in a while.  These are the best of the lot.  The last one is of my friend's little girl who had the best reaction to a horse pooping at a joust ever.