Proud

When my students finish a drawing, I take it home to scan and convert into a file that can be used for printing as cards or prints to share or sell; sometimes it is just so they can have a clean record of work completed. Sometimes it takes a few hours of computer work, but […]

Finally

After finishing the pencil drawing of the irresistible subject, I didn’t want to stop drawing. I used this desire for drawing to get another pencil drawing finished. Why did I wait so long to work on this? I think it is a good drawing, and if one of my students did this, I would be […]

Irresistible Subject

One of my drawing students brought in a very faded snapshot from about 40 years ago and asked if I thought she’d be able to draw from it. I asked her to scan it and email it to me so I could improve it for her (using the baby version of Photoshop). I didn’t save […]

Trying New Colored Pencils

I am a sucker for a nice tin box of colored pencils, especially if it is a brand I haven’t tried before. One day no one showed up for a drawing lesson class. No worries, I had a new box of colored pencils to try. My favorite colored pencils are Polychromos by Faber Castell, and […]

Out There

“Out there” is a strange turn of phrase. Does it mean on the edge, in outer space, and weird? Or does it mean away from one’s comfort zone, out in the world? Either, but today it means having my work out in the world away from the comfort of Three Rivers, my known and beloved […]

Lighthearted Lessons

ArtSpeak is what I call the pretentious vocabulary of artists. In my drawing lessons, and among my students, we have our own vocabulary. I’ve recently begun using the word “embiggen”, simply because it makes me smile. One of my students asked if she should “smallen” something recently, and then another one said she needed to […]

Do-Over #2

This is the other pencil drawing that I will enter in the juried show at the County building. Now, I just need to think of a good title. “Grapes”, “Reworked Grapes” – nope. How about “Before M&Ms. . .”? Yes. I like that! What do you think?

Do-Over

Sometimes my pencil art doesn’t sell. It might win awards, sell as a reproduction print, garner much praise, get borrowed by someone to decorate their vacation rentals and second homes, but just not sell. It is a mystery. Sometimes I can look at a drawing and see what it is lacking. Sometimes it needs a […]

Wondering About Colored Pencil

A year or so ago I bought some new colored pencils. Blackwing manufactures something called “Blackwing Colors”, and I am a sucker for new pencils. With the box of 12, I did this 5×7″ drawing. I posted it on Instagram (if you like Instagram and want to follow my very occasional posts, I am JanaBotkinArt) […]