EDM #019 - Handmade Tack

EDM #019 - Handmade Tack
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Poor Gisa! This is the worst drawing of a horse I've ever done!! I'm posting her anyway...to remind myself, it can only get better!! She's a wee thing, an inch at the withers, and the tiny Native Show halter I made is extra-tiny! The headstall is a four-strand braid and the throatlatch is three strands, braided into the four at the poll, of cotton embroidery floss. So is the lead rope.

My eyes are normal, middle-aged and not as good as they used to be for close work like this, so, yes, I used a magnifying lamp and reading glasses for the details. The braiding - I have an idea that people think I braid tiny, short lengths of floss. That would be daunting...even to me! No, I use about 14-18 inch lengths, folded in half, and braid about half of it. I tie a knot at the end of the braid, so I can lengthen it if I want, and can make lots of halters out of one four-strand braided piece. I didn't learn to do the four-strand flat braid this small...I started with crochet cotton, just a little meatier and I have gobs of it. I got good with that, nice and even, then went smaller. So, with learning a new braid and scaling it down and trials...this took about 6 months to make, off and on.

Native Arab Show Halter
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm still tweaking it, though. The tiny "jewels" are Balger blending filament French knots and one is pulling out already (I gave it to Rianna on Tuesday last week), so some Super Glue Gel is in order for those and the tassle knots. Halter number two will take about a day, using the pre-braided floss.

Slide

Slide
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

This was all I got to draw yesterday, having sliced a thumb open fixing my daughter's bike (it's minor and the bike got fixed!) and witnessing her riding without training wheels for the first time!!! While my DH was helping her, my son needed my help with the monkey bars and they both made lots of progress in playground skills! She fell, of course, and skinned a knee and bruised her little self. We got home and iced and cleaned and stung and kissed and had celebratory cheesecake!
BTW, this is the only time I've ever changed the date on a post. I'm posting a drawing a day in May and wanted the drawing on the date I made it...such as it is!!

Enreina & Eight Belles

Enreina & Eight Belles
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

One of our Stablemate foals. The horse racing world lost another filly today. Eight Belles broke down after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby. She had broken both of her front ankles and was put down on the track. We are all deeply saddened by the recent deaths there and at the Rolex Three Day Event last weekend.

Friday at School

Friday at School
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm jumping on the Everyday in May bandwagon, drawing something everyday this month. A bench and a Black Locust tree getting it's new leaves at my son's school in Noodler's Lexington Grey ink and Prismacolor & Graphitint watercolor pencils in my sketchbook.

Nelson Sketches

Nelson Sketches
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Geordan's class went on a field trip to the Nelson today and had a workshop in Shapes. They went around the Modern art galleries and identified different shapes in artworks and went back to the classroom to make their own collages with shapes and colors. I tagged along and sketched while I waited and along the way. After they went back to school, I went back down the ramp to the Noguchi sculpture garden and worked on one of the sculptures a bit more.

Shapes Collage Demo
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

They listened very well!

Shapes Collage Cub
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I drew Geordan while he was working on his collage. They got to use some watercolors. When they were done with them, I used them, too.

Fremont's Leather Flower

Fremont's Leather Flower
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Young Naturalist
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Rianna was home sick yesterday, but it was too nice to stay in. We went to the Anita Goreman Discovery Center (MoDNR) and did some field sketching. We took Cathy Johnson's Sketching in Nature and looked at some journal pages she did, the details she included and notes, and did our own. I painted mine at home.

Fremont's Leather Flower is a Missouri Native, preferring dolomite glades where it blooms in the spring. The leaves last through Fall, when they become filigree ornaments gracing the Autumnal splendor.

Rianna's sketchbook page from yesterday:

"I was out drawing with mom and saw this Flower. I think its fun to darw. It is very prity and a Bug was on a leaf. Ther was tow of them."

She really tried hard to draw what she saw and get some identifying features included, we had talked about doing that before we started. We also worked on not disturbing each other and using the available time (while Mom was still drawing!) to fill in more and more detail.

I did as much of the pencil detail as I could and we ran back inside the center, worried that the rain would catch us (boy, the clouds sure were threatening-looking!). In the bookstore, we found some infor about the flower. We also found Peterson First Guides: Butterflies and Moths and Don Kurz' Trees of Missouri Field Guide that really wanted to come home with us...so they did!

The Fountain of Lamy

The Fountain of Lamy
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The Lamy Safari has been one of the be-all-end-all writing tools of Moleskine fanatics next to the Pilot G2 pens. Loaded up with a bulletproof Noodler's ink in a converter, they are a pleasure to draw with on smooth papers. Once the ink is dry, it can be painted over with my watercolor pencils or paints without smearing. To date, I have 3 pens. The Vista, pictured here, loaded with Noodler's Lexington Grey with an Extra Fine nib, produces a fine enough line without being heavily dark, but still neutral enough to work with many other colors. My Charcoal Safari, also sporting an Extra Fine nib, is loaded with Noodler's Eternal Black, mostly used for writing, though some subjects beg to be drawn in stark black. The third Extra Fine Safari is Blue, filled with Lamy's blue ink. It's water soluable; a property I love to expoit and use. I'll use a water brush to wash a sky or set a background for more blue linework. I smell garage sale season, may have to look for hidden treasures this summer...

EDM #158 - A Kernel of Popped Popcorn

EDM #158 - A Kernel of Popped Popcorn
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Popcorn is a tradition in our family (the Weltes). Dad would make some in the cast iron skillet almost every night and we would eat it out of round cake pans with salt (no butter at home). Sometimes we would lie on the floor with the pan on our bellies watching TV. We don't eat it that often now, but it's a favorite still and is featured at every Welte reunion. This is some Topsy's Old Fashioned popcorn from Crown Center. I like it ok, but it's missing that frying pan taste.

EDM #074 - Clouds

EDM #074 - Clouds
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

It's thunderstorm and tornado season here. Towering, anvil-topped Cumulus clouds have been moving through all day, dropping rain, off and on. Tornados almost never make it this far into the city--but it's possible--so the kids and I talked about what we should do and where to go--in case.

Breakfast of Raptors

Breakfast of Raptors
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

A local Peregrine enjoying breakfast on the utility pole in front of our building. He stoops down, pulls up, over and over. We see them, once in a while, riding thermals like California hangliders and diving after prey like F-16s. Good morning.

The Newbern

The Newbern
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Built in 1921-1923 and designed by Ernest O Bronstrom. It's at 525 E Armour Boulevard at the North end of Hyde Park, one of the most affluent areas of Kansas City in the 1920s. The style is called "Sullivanesque" after Chicago Architect Louis Sullivan, mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright, and is characterized by the profuse ornamentation and visual division of the vertical towers into zones. Originally two separate towers sporting 6-foot terra cotta peacocks over the doorways, the "unfortunate birds" scared patrons and were removed, one taken by Bronstrom for his garden. The central, barrel-vaulted connection and new doorway (that I drew) was added in 1925. The apartment-hotel is listed on the Missouri and National Historic Building Registers. The entrance is grey limestone with terra cotta ornamentation, framed by two wrought-iron and stained-glass lamps.

More information is available on this site: www.newbernapartments.com/history.htm

Noodler's Lexington Grey ink and Graphitint watercolor pencils on Bristol Vellum in my sketchbook.

EDM #035 - Draw a Bicycle or Part of One

EDM #035 - Draw a Bicycle or Part of One
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Geordan's home sick with a fever. Nothing hurts and his breathing's fine, he just feels puny and has a 102 temperature. We went to Wal-mart and got an air pump for the bikes. He's happily riding around and around.

Geordan's closer to leaving the training wheels behind, Rianna will take lots of coaxing, cajoling and tears to give them up! I think the key will be peer pressure-her best friend rode by on her bike a couple weeks ago-without training wheels!!

This year, Bicycle Moto-cross (BMX) will make it's debut as an Olympic medal event. The kids will love watching that! NPR interviewed the two girls on the team.

Noodler's and Lamy inks and Neocolor II soluable crayons on Fabriano Artistico hp.

Science City

Science City
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The stair goes up to an area with mounted birds-the most common in our area-and a microphone to listen to bird calls on. At the foot of the tree is a cave area with stalagtites and stalagmites, crystals and spelunking gear and a bat call area. It opens to the dig site at the Dino Lab where a real Paleontologist is working on the fossilized bones of a Camarasaurus he found in Montana (I'm pretty sure). You can watch him and another guy freeing the fossils from rock and see the field jackets they were transported and stored in (plaster and toilet paper coccoons for the fossils and surrounding rock so nothing gets lost or damaged). I was sitting up a hallway from the tree, by the playground where my kids were busy climbing the jungle gym and making soap bubbles. We have a Family Membership to Union Station, our second year, and will spend lots of time here on hot days! During the World-wide Sketchcrawl. At Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri.

Hagalaz

Hagalaz
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

(Hail) is the whitest of grains,
it comes from high in heaven
showers of wind hurl it,then it turns to water.
-Old English Rune Poem

Chestnut Graphitint and Noodler's Eternal Black ink on Stonehenge paper, the rune was drawn with a C-1 Speedball pen point dipped in clear water.

Germanic/Norse Runes are something I've studied, off and on, for a number of years. It's a way for me to connect with my German heritage in a way that meshes with my spiritual practices. I had the idea to try to use the watercolor pencils in a way to illustrate the symbols, reminiscent of illuminated initials in Gothic texts. Still playing with them, this will be a bit of a journey and I'll do lots of exploring along the way. I noticed on NaBloPoMo that April's theme is letters, prompting my return to studying some of the more ancient European letterforms in a new way. This particular rune marks the beginning of my journey.

Lamy Goodness!

3-15 Journal Page
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

This is the first "real" journal page in this book! I have a new pen and am really enjoying it. I'm trying to watch Elizabeth, the Golden Age before it expires (on pay-per-view) today. The Cub's playing on the floor in front of me with his Mini Whinnies and Star Wars and Transformers Pocket Models. I like being able to do this! I may keep using Lamy ink in this pen-maybe not blue, I'll see what's available. I plan to buy a second one, anyway, to keep another color in. One for grey waterproof Noodler's ink, the other for soluable Lamy ink. What color? Something to ruminate on for a few weeks! I'm also able to lift the ink with my waterbrush and a tissue, nice! More to spend my allowance on! We got the new MW Drafter set last night, too. They're carrying Breyers at Zoom again! It's been about 10 years, or so.

Masking Tools

Masking Tools
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Not that anyone ever needs an excuse for more art tools, but I got these to satisfy my traveling-with-masking-stuff need. I also read and got started on the first exercise in Lesson 3, trying out different ways to draw/paint surf and waves.

Off for a hike along Indian Creek with the kids...there's a waterfall at Jasper's!

Stuck Still Life

Stuck Still Life
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm sitting here with my morning coffee, as I did 2 days ago when I made this photograph, staring at the same page in Kate's book. It's the second page of Lesson 3 on water, sky & clouds. I'm thinking about why I'm not keeping my attention and energy in the lessons and off making the book. When I pick it up, I read "I wanted to maintain lacy foliage effects in the distant trees, as well as a lighter trunk here and there, so I used a bit of liquid mask to protect those areas, applied with an old bamboo pen." Then I stop. My brain says, "liquid mask, bamboo pen, how can I make those really portable? that's a necessary thing, i must solve this now." And off I go to the internet and look up all the art supply stores' sites for masking supplies and think about screw-top containers versus snap-top containers spilling in my backpack and how can I get the really fine lines I need to make with a bamboo pen versus a synthetic brush dipped in soapy water first to keep the mask from gumming up the brush and all the things I would have to take in my backpack to paint at the park and how I can make it so I can throw it in the pack quickly to keep up with the kids or run from rain.

And I don't get the lesson read.
And I don't paint.

Hopefully, this self-examination will clear up the matter enough, this morning, for me to actually get further than that sentence once I post this entry...we'll see!

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Orchid WIP 6 - Done?
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Watercolor pencil on cold press paper. It's a little bigger than the last two were, it's 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches. I was just supposed to do a simple flower or piece of fruit to get some feel for watercolor pencils...but couldn't pass this up. I took the photo at Powell Gardens last year during Cynthia Padilla's Botanical Still Life class. It was fun to try different techniques; lifting color from the pencils with a wet brush, dry points on wet paper and blending in layers. I like them! I'd like to pare my palette down to something portable, like most of us are in Kate Johnson's Watercolor Pencil Magic online class, and I want to get some of the F-C Albrect Durer pencils, too. They are very portable and it was neat to do the doorway and come home and wet it and detail it later last week.

This orchid's gotten some nice comments over on Flickr...come see!

Conway Hall Door

Conway Hall Door
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

at Rockhurst College, a Jesuit school in Kansas City, MO. We were there for a Girl Scout function and I had a little time after helping with the sack lunches (I bagged turkey sandwiches, PB&Js & cleaned up), so I got out the Graphitint watercolor pencils and my trusty sketchbook! I did this so quickly! Some details I had to do from memory or make up... the reflection in the doors, the texture of the stones...the bush wasn't there, and I know I should have been able to see into the door a bit..and wet the whole thing at home tonight. Not an assignment for my class either, but we were working on rocks and trees in Lesson 2 last week.

Art--of a Different Sort

Destiny's Road Headstudy
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

My current subjects, if you've followed my Flickr photos, are mostly of the four-hooved nature. And, if you've known me for any length of time, it's about time! I've loved these animals all my life and this summer I turned my hand to painting models of them. My first two completed Customs (as repainted models are called in the hobby) went off to a contest some time ago to benefit a model horse community site I "live" on. The models I painted didn't win first or second place, or even Honorable mention, but they did get nice comments from the judges! Mind you, these are Breyer Stablemate-sized models, about 3 inches high by 4 inches long average, made of plastic in many different breeds and poses, all very realistically done! This one started life as a white horse with black spots, an Appaloosa. My daughter picked it out and promptly found out how easily their ears can break if dropped onto a wood floor. After some minor re-sculpting, he got painted. All the mold seams get smoothed and re-sculpt parts that got lost, ears get hollowed out, so does the nose, then the whole thing gets a dose of Krylon Primer. The primer gives just enough tooth for Unison dry pastels to adhere in layers, brushed on, building up the muzzle, eyes, mane and tail shading, sealing each layer with Matte Finish spray. The flea-bites are done in Prismacolor pencils, different colors, in layers like the pastels, to build depth and hair patterns that were carefully researched and referenced. Mane and tail details were added in CP, also, giving individual hairs definition and depth from the carved grooves and adding shading and striping and growth ring details to the hooves. Last were the eyes. 1/16th of an inch across, I used a 15/0 brush to paint them in 6 colors of acrylics with a dry touch of interference blue for the retinal reflective bit of 'life" in them. After sealing the entire model in several coats of Matte finish, the eyes, nostrils and hooves are given 2 coats of Gloss coat. Click on the photo to go to Flickr, click on "all sizes" to see the excruciating detail I put into these!!

Would you believe I forgot to sign them? Yup! Like I'd never made art before!!

The models in the contest were taken to the "Walkin' in a Mini Wonderland" live model horse show in Tucson, AZ on Dec 15. Destiny took 1st place and earned a North America Nationals Qualifier card in his class! The models were all auctioned on Ebay last weekend and this Jumper fetched $31! The other one I painted, a shaded grey Andalusian, brought $25.50!