Inktober Day 4 . . .

Inktober : Day 4

Prompt : Hungry

I've chosen just a portion of what I used for the 'hungry' prompt.

An empty bowl.

This sketch has the feel of the political cartoons you see on the editorial page, I think.

Only this portion pleased me - the handle.

The rest was just a bowl.

So now I'm only a day behind. Or two since today is 6 October.

Inktober . . .

October = Inktober

New month, new challenge. 

A pen and ink drawing every day for 30 days (yeah, right) 

and a list of prompts to help spur me on.

Still, once in a while something like this comes along that artists like me are inspired to participate in just to get creative juices flowing.

 Day 1 : Fields here in the Great Plains are being harvested. The cut corn looks sheared like carpet. Little piles of corn that missed the grain trucks are on the sides of the gravel roads. Grain trucks lined up at the elevators in queues a mile long. Here on the prairie is where the work of providing food for the world is done.

Day 2 : The prompt word is 'noise' and leaves constantly dropping all around is the inspiration. On a dry patch of what used to be mud but is now cracked earth is a single leaf from an old mulberry tree. Leaves crackle as they blow across the rough dirt. In short order, the trees will be nearly bare and the ground covered with mulberry, maple, oak, and leaves from all of the shrubs and plum thickets.

Day 3 : The prompt word is 'collect' so I arranged three of my little collection of lustreware bird toothpick holders. I can't resist buying one of these guys whenever I find one (rarely) and I do think they're pretty cute.

Each of these three drawings has reminded me of the lessons in composition, value, and sensitivity in line. Lots more to learn but these challenges are so valuable in the process of art.

Color . . .

Trial and error.

The 'trial' is the scan. My poor printer is not a high-quality piece and trying to get color and detail just right is probably not in the stars for this machine. I guess that makes this the 'error', as well.

Still.

A little colored pencil piece that I'm pretty proud of. A red 1957 Chevrolet front fender and bumper drawing that measures 2.5"x3.5" as in "ACEO size". The scan comes into play as I'd like to scan and print a limited run of all of my hotrod drawings for summer shows. A departure from jewelry for me. Labors of love, these little "jewels" are.

Love.

And now for something complete different . . .

. . . a few of my drawings.

I have a 'thing' for drawing reflections and shiny metal not to mention a love affair with old cars. When we hit the car shows and cruise nights, I am constantly on the lookout for interesting shots. I take my own photos and crop and manipulate them until I come up with something 'pencil-worthy'. I use Prismacolor colored pencils on Arches paper.

These are a '55 Chevrolet BelAir and a '60 Ford Thunderbird. I sometimes get requests to draw the entire car but that's not my 'thang'. I prefer to get the angle that I think tells the most about the car. All the better if there is a reflection of another car!

Look closely - I also make sure when I take a picture that my own reflection is in each car somewhere. A nice contrast to the hard metals I usually work with.