Bread Bag - charcoal and pastel still life drawing (Carbon Footprints #26)

charcoal, white charcoal and pastel still life drawing of a plastic bread bag and crust

I hate eating the last crust of bread. It's usually all dry and stale and too chewy for words. And I am here to testify that it DOES NOT make your hair go curly. That's a complete fib. (Although luckily it has not put hairs on my chest either - which is what I suspect my brother was promised)

However, I can't quite bring myself to throw it away either. That would be wasteful...and I can see my Grandad's disapproving face hovering over my shoulder.

So the compromise is to leave it in the bag until it goes green...and then throw it away. Well, I couldn't possibly eat it in that state.

This slice hasn't quite reach the interesting moldy stage, but unfortunately a day under the studio lights has turned it rigid. I think its going to have to be consigned to the bin

Sorry Grandad

Description : charcoal, pastel and chalk still life drawing of a plastic bread bag and the last dry crust.

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

Find me on Facebook

find me on facebook

Hooray! After much tinkering, I have my with Facebook Fan Page up and running. Please stop by and "friend" me, or I shall feel terribly lonely :(

Who Ate All the Pie? charcoal, red chalk and pastel drawing (Carbon Footprint #25)

Charcoal drawing - empty pie box

Red and white stripey string cascades over an empty cake box and discarded silver pie dish Who ate all the pie?

 Left over from celebrating last week's art sale this was a delicious egg custard. And how could I resist that string!

Free 5" print when you leave a title suggestion below

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

Wind in the Willows illustration ~ Ernest H Shepard

I have been reading Wind in the Willows this summer. I thought I knew the story, as I had the audio book when I was a kid...come to think of it I still have the audio book. But it is an abridged version.

So it has been a delight discovering all the  "new" bits - like Christmas at Moley's and meeting the God Pan.

But even better than that are the illustrations.

EH Shepard is better know for his Winnie the Pooh illustrations, which has always been a great favorite of mine, and I loved to copy the pictures of Pooh and Piglet. I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from Wind in the Willows.

I think he had the most fun drawing Toad. You can feel his shame and apprehension when, disguised as a washer woman, he is ridiculed by a saucy fox.

And you can almost see his proud strut as he swaggers into the local pub.

Here he is splashing through the text in his brand new wager boat.

toad

And I think I see just a touch of Piglet in this drawing of Moley, freed from Spring Cleaning and dancing through the wild flowers

oh, I know that feeling so well

So who is your favorite children's book illustrator? Leave a comment below and open up a whole new magic world for us

Strawberry Box Charcoal Still Life Drawing (Carbon Footprint #24)

Strawberry Still Life

No matter when I get around to hulling the strawberries, there's always one or two that are too squishy even for the dog to eat. I had to draw this one quick though. After a day of sitting under the hot studio lights I had a legion of little whizzy flies trying to get in on the act - damn this humidity!

In fact I wouldn't be surprised to find a couple mashed into the charcoal. Do you think that makes this a "mixed media collage"?

Description : Charcoal and pastel still life drawing of sliced strawberry stalks littering the empty plastic box

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

Website Updates and New Etsy shop

This month I have been working on creating three brand new websites - hence the lack of Work in Progress posts. And nothing gets you looking at your own dingy wallpaper and old fixtures like visiting a newly decorated house. So bradney.com has been getting a general Summer Sprucing too. (well... it's a bit late to be called a Spring Clean) The Carbon Footprints series that you have been helping to name each Friday now has its own page. Head on over to check out whether your suggestions inspired any titles. These charcoal drawings and giclee art prints are also featured in my brand new Etsy Store. In case you missed out on the 5" freebie print there are links to buy affordable 8x10 art prints and also for some small original drawings.

I will be adding a few more prints each week, so email me with a request for your favorite, or post a comment below.

I also have some pretty cool cards in the works - Alternative Baby Announcements, New Years / Christmas cards and Get Well cards for those of you who like a little irony with your sympathy. But I will, quite literally, "keep you posted" on their progress.

A Moldy Green Pepper : charcoal and pastel drawing (Carbon Footprints #23)

charcoal drawing of a moldy green pepper

Salad box corner

Silently growing fur coat

Green pepper wrinkles

Description : Charcoal and pastel combine in this still life drawing to capture the black and wrinkled flesh of a green pepper as it slowly molds into its compostable cardboard tray : compost in the making

This charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

Tomato Box : charcoal and pastel drawing (Carbon Footprints #22)

Tomato Stalks and a Plastic Box - charcoal and pastel drawing

This plastic tomato box threw out great shadows and highlights to capture in charcoal. And the spiny tomato stalks are always fun to draw. This is on Canson Edition paper and I love how the smoothed charcoal looks. Last weeks Coke Glass was the first time I have used this paper and I was enchanted by the soft textures it produced. I have saved half of this sheet to test with color pencil, so this drawing is smaller than those of the past few weeks.

Description : All the tomatoes are gone, just the stalks are left in the empty plastic box.

This pastel and charcoal still life drawing is part of the “Carbon Footprints” series.

Buy the Original Drawing on Etsy

Affordable Giclee Art Prints on Etsy

Color Pencil Drawing cloudscape update

cloud5

It is hard to see on the screen, especially a laptop, but there are a few details picked out on the house silhouette.

I still need to work on the sky - some of those clouds are looking a bit flat and refine some of the details on the house -think it needs some chimneys but this one is nearly done. Just got to keep polishing away the waxy bloom from the color pencil.

Leave a comment if you spot anything else that needs fixing. Critique by Blog! Gotta love it.

How to Paint like Monet

this one is Monet's

this one is mine

With the proceeds of the miniature sale I treated myself to a workshop at NJCVA this weekend, taught by Victoria Starger. My knowledge of art history can be described as "spotty" at best, so this seemed an ideal class - "active" art history.

Rather than copy the painting straight, I decided to draw the actual still life, but looked to Monet's painting for inspiration on colors and brush strokes. I am very happy to have discovered Vermilion, which makes the soft warm pink in the background and also the orange highlights in the sunflowers. It is not a color I would naturally choose -the color always looks too overpowering - but it is quite delightful.

I think Monet's compositional choices are slightly more masterful than mine. The pointy table edge compared to the straight really draws you into the picture and makes it more dynamic. And the way the sunflowers overflow the picture space enables you to revel in their exuberant abundance.

As you may be able to tell from my picture I was more interested in the purple backdrop than the flowers. I find that is the case with more traditional still life set-ups. It is usually the way the light falls on the tablecloth, the background or the cast shadows that really excite me.