Sunflower

Sunflower

By: Lori Talbert

3/21/09

I've had some other things going on lately that maybe I'll talk about later if it works out, so I haven't had a lot of time for artwork.

However, I did manage to produce this. It is from a drawing challenge on a forum I belong to from a couple of months ago. I just had not gotten around to working on it. Flowers are not my strong suit but that is what a drawing challenge is about, getting out of your comfort zone and stretching your abilities.

I think it came out pretty good considering I don't usually do flowers. I wanted to do something colorful as I am longing for warmer weather and spring. Even though yesterday was officially the first day of spring it does not feel like it here.

It is an OSWOA, 4x6 colored pencil on bristol board.

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.

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!

Recent Works / Snow Tonight!

It has been extremely busy at work and when you work full time and have a family it is sometimes hard to work on your art like you want to. I haven't taken the time to post recently but I have completed a few things.

The first is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) for an exchange on a forum I belong to. The theme was the new year and after turning over many ideas I thought of the Chinese calendar. A little internet research revealed that 2009 was the year of the Ox so I decided to work with that. The first Ox I tried was a realistic representation but it didn't seem to work out that well so I went with a cartoon version. It didn't take very long to complete and although not a work of art I thought it was cute and decided to send it to my trading partner. I received my card from my partner and I felt kind of bad because theirs was very detailed and intricate and obviously took a lot of time. Mine took less than an hour to complete. Well, that is the fun of a trade, you never know what you will get and you are always surprised. My partner liked their card so that is what is important.

Year of the Ox (ATC)

By: Lori Talbert

12/27/08

I also completed a couple of OSWOAs (Original Small Work of Art) that I haven't posted yet. The first was a still life that I had originally done as a digital work. It came out very well in digital but not quite as well in this version. Some parts of it I am pleased with such as the glass vase the flowers are in.

Still Life with Flowers

By: Lori Talbert

1/01/09

I also revisited the cardinal sitting on the fence and completed another version of it as an OSWOA.

Cardinal 2

By: Lori Talbert

1/13/09

All works are in colored pencil on bristol board. The ATC is 2.5 x 3.5 inches and the OSWOAs are 4 x 6 inches. I am thinking about another larger work in graphite probably 8 x 10 and am turning over a couple of ideas in my mind.

On another note the weather forecast is calling for 1-3 inches of snow tonight and early tomorrow morning. That probably doesn't sound like a lot to many of you but here in our part of North Carolina we sometimes go all winter without any snow at all. If we get bad weather during the winter it is usually freezing rain or sleet which is no fun at all. When we do have snow virtually everything closes down as we see it so rarely southerners do not know how to drive in it and slip and slide all over the roads. I have a 4-wheel drive but I usually stay home as well because the 4-wheel drive does not guarantee that someone will not slide into me! My son is extremely excited! When he was almost 2 years old we had a whopping 13 inches in one night! We were without power or telephone for practically a week but he doesn't remember that. He will soon be 11 and has only had enough snow in his life (since the 13 inches) that he remembers to build two snowmen. He is hoping for the 3 inches so maybe he can build one.

Back To Work

I had written that I had a long Christmas vacation returning to work January 5th. Well, I really paid for my vacation. I work in a non-profit assisting individuals that are unemployed or underemployed find employment, update skills, or retrain (through a grant) for a new career. Due to the state of the economy overall and especially in our area we have been swamped with customers coming in and the phones ringing off of the hook. The result is that I was exhausted last week. Friday night I could hardly wait for bedtime. It was a long busy week. I have not done any artwork since I returned to work as I have simply been too tired. I did complete another OSWOA before returning to work and have completed an ATC for a trade but have not had time to post them. I believe this week will be just as busy at work but maybe I will be more used to it now and not be so tired! I have many ideas for artwork but must find the time and hopefully some will be posted here. Until next time!

New Year 2009

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Christmas holiday! My family's holiday was very quiet. My parents and in-laws are deceased and brothers and sisters are busy with their own families, etc. so Christmas Day was very quiet for us. We had our family gathering a couple of days after Christmas on Saturday.

It is now New Year's eve and tomorrow will be the first day of 2009! I really don't make new year's resolutions because I rarely keep them more than a few weeks. So I will just hope that 2009 will be a better year for my family than 2008. We have all had some health issues, job issues, and various other problems. I am going to begin the year with the positive mind set that 2009 (The year of the Ox) will be a better year for us in general. I know that there are many families that have had it worse with the state of the economy and the high unemployment rate. Our state of North Carolina has had the highest job loss in the country and predictions are that more jobs will be lost in our area. My husband lost his job last February and fortunately he was able to go ahead and retire. If I lose my job I would not be able to retire and I know it would be a difficult job search and probably impossible to replace the salary I presently earn. I am truly thankful for each and every day I have a job to go to.

I took a nice long Christmas vacation and do not have to return to work until January 5th. I had some projects I wanted to complete and have been successful so far. I cleaned my son's closet out and reorganized his room, going through all of his clothes and boxing for Goodwill the ones that he had outgrown. Believe it or not that took a full day. I then cleaned my closet out and reorganized it and boxed up clothes that I no longer wear and delivered both boxes to the Goodwill store last night. I have a couple of other projects I would like to complete and of course the Christmas decorations will need to be taken down and stored.

I have also continued working on my artwork and have completed another OSWOA and started on a new one. The one I completed is below:

Barnyard Friend

By: Lori Talbert

12/27/08

It is colored pencil on smooth bristol board. The new one I am working on is a still life. Until next time!

Merry Chistmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy and safe Christmas! Christmas seems so hectic anymore, that we sometimes lose the meaning of the season. Please spend time with family and friends and enjoy the holidays!

This is an old drawing that I did for a Christmas challenge a couple of years ago and I wanted to post it here as a Christmas card for everyone:

Still working on the OSWOAs. Hope to complete several during the holidays. This is the latest:

Parrot

By: Lori Talbert

12/20/08

It is colored pencil on bristol board. I also have an ATC to work on for a trade.

Once again, Have a great Holiday Season!

First Sale!

I have been creating artwork for many years but have never actually sold a piece. I have given many works away, created artwork by request, and have had people ask me what amount I would sell a work for, but something just stopped me from charging for my work. I would think of all of the hours of work I had in that piece and even if I charged minimum wage I believed they would be shocked at the price I would have to name so I just told them it was not for sale. Usually, I actually did not want to sell these pieces as I had put so much time and effort in them. However, it has always been a secret dream of mine to actually SELL something!

I discovered the OSWOA website a few months ago, read the rules, decided to create a few and put them up for auction on Ebay. The ones I have created thus far have been shown on this blog. The website recommended a minimum price of $9.95 per OSWOA so I decided to start there, put four of the pieces on Ebay and last night I sold one! Not a fortune but someone actually wanted to purchase one of my works! I am so thrilled! Hopefully I will be able to sell more as time goes on.

I am also currently working on a piece now that will take awhile to complete. It will be 8x10 graphite on smooth bristol board. It is of a stone barn with an antique wooden wheelbarrow that has a metal wheel standing in the doorway. There is a pitchfork with one of those incredibly long handles that books used to call "widow-makers" because the user would have to "heave his guts out" to use it. The photo came from Morgue-file. I will post it when complete if it works out as I want it to. I also want to work on some more OSWOAs.

Until next time!

And Again!

I guess I have gotten on a bird kick as I have completed another OSWOA of a bird. This one is a cardinal. I keep working on something until I have it the way I want it and I am working on the colored pencils and bristol board. I experimented with illustration board but liked it even less. Anyway this is my latest:

Fence-Sitting Cardinal

By: Lori Talbert

12/02/08

More OWSOAs!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving Holiday! I enjoyed mine even though there was the usual family drama that I won't bore you with here. It seems there cannot be one family holiday that there is not some type of drama occuring. However, I did find time to complete a couple more OSWOAs over the Thanksgiving Holidays. This is the first one:

Yellow Bird

By: Lori Talbert

11/26/08

I also was not satisfied with the Bluebird drawing I had previously completed. The bird faded into the background unless you were looking at it under very strong light. So I took another try at it and came up with this version:

Bluebird 2

By: Lori Talbert

11/29/08

I am more satisfied with this version. I made the bird a little rounder so it looks less predatory, darkened the colors of the bird and lightened the colors of the background. What do you think?

Second OSWOA Completed

I finished my second OSWOA (original small work of art). It is of course 4x6 on smooth bristol board. I wish I could find another firm surface that accepted the colored pencil better. It almost comes out like watercolor. I cannot get the colors as dark and rich as I would like. If anyone has any suggestioins please let me know.

This is the piece:

Bluebird

By: Lori Talbert

11/24/08

Completed First OSWOA

Definition: An OSWOA (original small work of art) measures 6" x 4" or 4" x 6" and fits into a standard 6" x 4" photo album sleeve or can be matted and framed and can be any medium.

Anyway I have been looking at some of these on various websites and wanted to try creating an OSWOA for myself. It would be bigger than an ATC but not as large as the last work I created.

This is the result:

Owl Portrait

By: Lori Talbert

11/22/08

It is colored pencil on smooth bristol board. I wasn't that happy with the bristol board. It made it really hard to blend the colors possibly due to the slick surface. However I wanted a firmer surface than regular drawing paper.

I am currently working on a second OSWOA and should complete it soon. Hope you like it!