Redhead Beauty

My husband's sister -- isn't she gorgeous? This rendering is in charcoal on paper.

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...And a few non-relatives:

Doodle art

This doodle started and nearly ended as a series of swirls, then evolved into women's faces.

Tomorrow I'll post the same drawing, except upside down, which will look similar but will have all new faces.

I'm putting off that inevitable errand to the post office, even though I know the lines will only get longer and longer. How crazy is it to wait? But it's so cold outside and so warm in the house...

Photoshop + Janet = bad art

Playing with Adobe Photoshop Elements...and I've got a lot to learn. I am not good at using this software.

Christmas Card, Ashley, Degas' Ballerinas in Blue

Well, the Christmas cards are finally done. I wanted this year's handmade card (shown at left) to reflect my belief that it's okay to acknowledge the meaning of Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, without fear of offending someone. It's okay to say "Merry Christmas," and not just "Happy Holidays." I wouldn't say it to my Jewish friends, of course, but you get the idea. The press makes us think people are so very sensitive...

...and although I wanted to emphasize the religious rather than commercial character of Christmas in my card, I still placed an old drawing of a Christmas tree inside!

On a quite different topic... Nineteenth-Century impressionists Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt got me started drawing with soft pastels (pastel sticks). Degas drew dozens of groupings of ballerinas in various poses and different colored dresses. I tried my hand at one, based on his rendering of four ballerinas in blue. Here's my 11x14" drawing which a friend asked me to do for her daughter's bedroom:

Last, do you remember Ashley Smith, the woman who was kidnapped and released by Brian Nichols a while back? I painted a small watercolor of her at the time.

So I've posted examples of four different art media in today's posting: pen and ink, markers and ink, soft pastels, and watercolor. Until next time......

Adobe Photoshop Elements Example

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This is the same drawing I did before, posted below on November 28th -- except I altered the colors in Adobe Photoshop Elements from their original brown tones.

I like bright colors so this is more my style, although I realize most people probably prefer the muted browns I used below and that Adolph Wolfli himself (my inspiration) used; but he was insane, wasn't he? Surely the brighter colors are more intriguing.