(327) First Attempt at Portraits

This weekend we went to visit our friends Dave & Steph and met their sweet baby boy.

I offered to take them to the park and do some portraits of them with their little one. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

Mr. Handsome




Happy Family on a beautiful day!


Mommy lovin'

Family Portraits:

Proud Daddy...


Smiling Mommy...


I love the baby kisses!

By the end of the day there was a very sleepy boy!

Sleepy time!


Tiny hands and a sleepy boy.

(328) Implosion Play

Tonight I attempted some implosion pieces at the glass studio.  Though I did not get the desired effect, I think the practice will help.

I think the next thing I need to do is determine what tools I need.

(329) Charcoal Anana

Mmm fruity! Makes me want a delicious juice.

Tonight's creativity came in the form fruit. A perfect specimen to study for practicing shading and adding dimension, texture, and edible too!


I really liked the changing the focal point for an interesting outcome:


Fruit is a great subject as it is often around the house and can be complex and interesting from different angles.

Though charcoal is not my favorite medium as it is messy and does not last very long, it is cheap and quick to get an effect of a shape and depth of a subject. What I do like charcoal for is practicing concepts for more complex pieces.

If you do like working with or create a piece that you want to keep around there are some finishing sprays to keep the charcoal intact.

(330) Wilderness Waterfall

Today my mother and I took a class in Gladstone through CCC called "Paint Like Bob Ross."

The class walked through step-by-step to help you learn techniques based on Bob Ross. So we attempted to mimic his piece Wilderness Waterfall.

Photo of Wilderness Waterfall:


I particularly like that they show you how to use different brushes and styles and the table was setup (and minimal clean up was needed).


In one session we were able to create our own oil painting rendition of Wilderness Waterfalls. I would highly recommend it!


Here is a close up of my final painting:


And here is a close up of my mom's with her final painting:


It was fascinating to see how different everyone's work came out even though we were painting the same subject!

(331) Bead Making Special Effects

Today I took a special effects bead making class to learn some new techniques in soft glass (Bullseye).

I attempted to make some flowers, canes and encasing to learn new techniques.

Pictures to come once I get the final annealed beads back.

(332) Charcoal Flowers

Flowers, ah what can I say. One of my favorite subjects in any medium.

Tonight the focus was on contour drawing in charcoal. Cherry blossoms it was and though I am not super pleased with my results, here are my drawings for the evening:

Form study:



Quick sketch:


Concept drawing:


Sketch playing with contrast:


Playing with conte:


As you can see there are many different renditions and I could not quiet find one form I was pleased with for the cherry blossoms, but it was good to play with different concepts.

Wii - Ray Man Raving Rabbids

Everyone needs a day off here and there. So why not a weekend! This weekend was long and relaxing. Monday I treated myself to a massage at Dosha (thanks to Greg) and picked up a JaCiva Valentine's Cake for everyone to share.

Jason made some delicious ratatouille and we played Wii (Raving Rabbids). I would highly recommend this game, even to non-gamers. The design is very creative and it was good to make us move and laugh through out the weekend.

(333) Random Pictures Around Town

Train tracks:


Mt Hood:


Random shot-o-barbwire:


Old rail:


Neat vintage looking gas station in Gladstone:


These geese came to visit us during breakfast:


I ran across these sweet cupcakes critters and they made me laugh:

(334) Boro Glass Studio Playtime

Tonight my mother and I went to the glass studio to play with boro and work towards our goal of making implosion pendants (some nice examples here: http://www.gloriouslightglass.com/services.html)

We basically spent the whole time trying to figure out a little more on how to work with the glass. I made two pendants and a marble. Only one of the pendants turned out...but here are pics of the pendant.

(335) Value of a Paper Bag

Tonight was Oregon Society of Artists drawing class #2 brought on the subject of paper bags. The medium was paper and pencil (Ebony).

The focus was to creating a dynamic box-like shape and add value to the shape for depth. A neat exercise to try is using a paper and pencil build a scale of dark to light using at least a seven scale in change. Even more challenging, try 10 values in pencil:


Enjoy my bags:

(336) Skye's Baby Shower (the Owl Mobile in Full Action)

Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Today on the way to the baby showers Greg and I stopped by and got the twine and attached the owls to the mobile.

The results are in from the baby shower...an overwhelming adorable! Here is the happy mommy with mobile:


The shower was set up super cute with baby clothes pinned across the fire place and presents galore.










The ladies played a game with paper bags. Each bag was numbered and had a letter and you had to feel the bag and write your guess on a pad.



The spread at the baby shower was exquisite:


Juice in the bottles was a cute touch:


Baked goat cheese deliciousness:


And my personal favorite was a potatoe skins with a squash nut puree on top:


Skye opened a tower of presents, but here are a few of my favorites:




To top of a sweet day and make it even sweeter Saint Cup Cake (mmm...red velvet):


After the shower Skye, Christine, and I had some nice bonding time constructing furniture and arranging the nursery. I can't wait to be an Aunt (again)!