Prints

I have uploaded some of my artwork to Imagekind and added a link on my blog. (See Link). I don't know if I will get any type of response or not but I did obtain a fan before completion of the upload of the second image. It may also be a good way to obtain prints of my work for myself if I need to. Anyway, I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Back To Graphite!

Baby Orang

By: Lori Talbert

2/14/09

I have not done any projects in graphite lately and came across this reference pic in the image library of an artist's forum I belong to. I decided to do the drawing in graphite in the OSWOA format of 4x6. An OSWOA can be any medium just the size is required.

I learned that for me graphite (my preferred medium) needs to be practised frequently. With colored pencil I can sometimes rely on just the colors to show what I want but graphite needs to be more subtle using just different shades of the medium. This little guy took a somewhat longer than the other OSWOAs I have been completing but I was glad I tried it in graphite. I will definitely begin using graphite as much as color pencil in my work in the future. I want to keep all of my skills and continue to improve in them.

However I think I may also try this little guy in color pencil as well!

Better Than I Expected!

This Little Piggy

By: Lori Talbert

2/08/09

I usually draw something, anything a few days per week to satisfy my creative urge. I don't have a lot of free time so the majority of my projects are small and something I can complete in one or two sittings. A lot of times they are simple and quick as the last OSWOA I created but sometimes you get pleasantly surprised when something turns out better than you expect.

When I get time I use the internet as one of my sources for ideas and reference photos. I use Morguefile a lot and look through the copyright free pics. When I see something I may want to use or is interesting, I save it to look at when I have more time. When I am ready to create I look through my references to see if anything appeals at that time.

When I saw a photo of a pig I knew it would be easy to sketch and possibly something to do for a quick, fun project. The pig in the reference pic was black and white and there was the edge of a wooden structure under it's head. I suppose it was a feed box, due to the pig's eager posture and food was coming at the time the photo was taken.

I pulled this photo out the other night for a quick, fun sketch, figuring I could complete it in less than two hours and satisfy my urge to draw. I quickly sketched the outline and then pulled out my colored pencils. I always start with the eye because if that doesn't work for me, nothing else will. Eye completed, nothing complicated there and then I started on the pig's ear. I felt large areas of black would not work so I changed to a deep brown color and I wanted to keep the underlying hint of pink skin showing through. Using the brown, pink and white I began to work. Something happened and I took as much time on the ear as I usually would on the entire drawing. I lay in my areas of color and use a colorless pencil as well as white for blending. I completed blending the ear and was surprised to see that it came out pretty nice. I put the drawing aside and completed it the day. I am very pleased with the results, it's always nice when something works better than you expect. It is an OSWOA 4x6, colored pencil on bristol board.

Art Blog Award!

When I checked in this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had received not one, not two but three! "I Love Your Art Blog" awards from fellow artists/bloggers. Laure Ferlita of Painted Thoughts Blog, Jan from Pets to Posies, and Teresa from Tresses Art Blog had all awarded this to me. Thanks to all of you and may I say if I had received it first I would have sent this award to each of you!

I am supposed to name 7 things I love and pass the award on to 7 other artists. So, first things first!

The 7 things I love:

1. Nature: I see beauty in all of nature. God is the ultimate artist; a sunrise, a sunset, an autumn day, he has placed so much inspiration all around us.

2. My family: My immediate family is most important in my life. I support them and they me; I rejoice in their accomplishments and sorrow with them when things are bad. There is no encouragement like that you can receive from your family.

3. America: Like the country song says; "This lady may have stumbled, but she ain't never fell." Our lady is definitely stumbling now and I hope and pray she doesn't fall. We still stand for freedom and in spite of our present difficulties many people would give anything to live here.

4. My Art: It is always nice to receive recognition and have others appreciate what you do but I create primarily for me. It gives me pleasure, relaxes me and a sense of accomplishment when I complete a project.

5. The Ocean: It seems to have the rhythm of life for me and I pilgrimage there at least once per year. I would live at the ocean if I could.

6. My Job: It can be frustrating at times and near impossible at others and I have had people tell me they wouldn't have my job if it paid a million dollars. But for the most part I enjoy it and I am very good at it. I am thankful to have a job at a time when so many do not.

7. A Good Book. The only way I know to take an adventure, live during another time or live someone's else's life without leaving your home.

There are many other things I love, a genuine smile, spontaneous laughter, the sight of a happy or sleeping child, but I guess the ones I named are my top seven.

Now to pass the award along: I am fairly new to blogging and am still discovering other artist's blogs. Upon checking this morning I see that many of them have already been awarded so I hope to offer a few new ones:

1. Jenna Whie at Color Conscious: a wonderful color pencil artist.

2. Who is Arthur Simo - The Outsider Artist? Arthur has autism and his mother creates the blog and promotes his art. He does wonderful work and has had many sales and some shows.

3. Blair at Blair Goold Art - a blog I just discovered. Blair does wonderful paintings.

Many of the blogs that I follow have already received this award but I would have awarded them as well. I will reserve my other four if I can to award as I discover more blogs.

Thanks again for the award!

Two Days In A Row!

We had snow again last night. Shortly before 8 pm it looked like blizzard conditions it was snowing so hard. We thought we would really have a big snowfall and the forecasters were calling for 1-3 inches. Well, the snow didn't last very long and we awoke this morning to only a dusting. It is all almost melted now. It is only 27 degrees farenheit but the sun is shining brightly. The road crews were on the ball this time and the roads in my area looked clear but once again the schools were closed.The weather forecasters described it as "snow showers" and said some areas really had a lot so maybe that is why the schools are closed. So, here I am stuck at home, using up another vacation day. I didn't have enough work to do at the other location to last all day. Hopefully this will be the last snow/ice situation we will have. But we have quite a few weeks of winter left yet!

My son wanted to go out a play in it so I let him. There wasn't enough to make a decent snowball let alone a snowman. This snowfall wasn't worth taking a picture of but I finally downloaded the pictures I took of the January snowfall.

This is a picture of my son with all of the snow he can gather. He called it his snow mound.

Picture of my house covered with the snow:

Also last night I created another OSWOA (original small work of art). I called it Spring Bird. I found the picture on Morguefile and I don't know if it is supposed to be a baby robin or what. It only took an hour or so and is not my best work but I enjoyed creating it. I think it has a "painterly" look.

Spring Bird

By: Lori Talbert

2/03/09

Thank you to the individuals who are following my blog! I appreciate it and enjoy reading your blogs as well! Until next time!

A Little More Snow For Us

We had rain last night that changed over to snow and made a mess. There was a dusting of snow on the ground (less than 1/2 inch) and what we call "black ice" on the roads. Schools were first delayed and then closed.

My work place was delayed 2 hours but we have a back-up location that we can go to on time and I decided to go there today so I would not have to use any more vacation hours. The weather forecasters were not calling for travel problems with this system so the road crews had not treated any of the highways. There was a wreck below my house with red and blue lights flashing so I decided to drive with extreme caution.

I took an exit ramp off of the freeway and felt one of my tires lose traction with the road surface. As I stopped at the top of the ramp and looked in the direction I was going to turn, all I saw was icy road! There was a bridge over one side of the freeway, a short distance and then another bridge over the other side of the freeway, and then a steep hill that looked straight up . I wasn't sure I wanted to try it but I took a deep breath and started out. I was driving very slowly and of course someone had to tailgate me and try to push me faster. I hate it when people do that! I didn't let it rattle me though and made it to work OK, only three minutes late.

As I said in an earlier post we get bad weather so rarely that southerners do not drive well in it. We just don't get enough practice. The children were all excited to be out of school today (I know my son was) but they will have to make the day up from their spring break. The weather forecasters say another system will be moving through tonight and may bring us another dusting of snow. Personally, I have seen enough ice/snow for this winter! I am ready for spring!