pencil portraits

A portrait of my beautiful nephews and niece recently completed. I chose graphite 2b pencil (my favourite) and 3b as a soft medium with which to work the portraits and then to add a subtle bit of color and link the children together I washed in the background and parts of the clothing with watercolor. The portraits are drawn on quality Arches watercolor paper. I found out years ago never skimp on supplies, always use the best available.
It has been a while since I have drawn or painted people portraits and quite enjoyed doing this piece.
Years ago I lived in Manitoba and painted many portraits in pencil and chalk pastel. I enjoyed taking courses at the Winnipeg Art Gallery to have access to models and great teachers, it was my love and passion then and quite enjoyed seeing clients so happy with the finale results. I have painted children, centurions and also memory portraits of loved ones who had passed on.

Today I posted nine more new paintings at:
 http://teresastiebenart.blogspot.ca
enjoy!

winter is back with us

Thoughts of sunny summer days and birdsong fill my thoughts as I view the whiteness of falling snow that lie silent on my world today. Hugs and warm wishes to all.

Back in the saddle again

Well truthfully there is no saddle involved but we did go out to the countryside for a winter picnic yesterday afternoon and what a wonderful day it was. To begin we had bright sunshine, o-so -glorious sunshine. Its a wonderful day when there are no chem-trail clouds blocking the sunlight.
I moved to Alberta years ago even though I don't relish the cold I loved the bright blue clear winter sky, sadly these days planes crisscross dumping who knows what all crap into the environment that causes cloud formations. If you don't believe watch the sky for a year and see how some days planes leave spurts or trails that form cloud cover rather than dissipate and dissolve as regular plane trails do. Its unbelievable I know, but I believe what I can see and I have watched these plane systematically checker the sky with trails or grids or spurts and an hour or so later, voila, the sun is not seen only man-playing-at-God-cloud-cover. Is this the cause of Asthma and sensitivities being on the rise? Our environment is continually under attack by greed;  one day maybe our Mother (earth) will give a darn good shake and toss us mutants off her back.

When one realizes that great civilizations have come and gone throughout history one must wonder did they bring about their own downfall due human greed of always wanting more, of wanting whats our neighbours, of wanting "all" there is to one selves rather than sharing. Greed, its a consumptive illness and it surrounds our lives like an ever eroding disease. This time of year its so apparent with the garbage that is uncovered by snow melt, we are a disgrace to the wonderful planet God gave us to live well on. As society on the whole we have failed at the living well part haven't we? Grassroots people are rallying more and thats a good sign, a sign of change, and hopefully our leaders will see there is a better way to live than raping and pillaging our Mother. Lets bless her with love and giving back in a good way in return for all she graciously gives. For without clean air to breath, fresh water to drink and unpolluted earth to grow our foods in we have nothing.

I didn't mean to go on a rant this morning it all just came out, and more, thank goodness there is delete, lol. Onward now with yesterday; that thought is kinda like living in the past isn't it?

Mom and last years young-un.

There was a group of eight does and young out in a field but they saw us coming from miles away and headed lickity-split for the shelter-belt. Arriving near the abandoned farm we were lucky enough to spot these two stragglers momentarily in the open. 

 Love this image of curiosity.

 Porcupine, this is the best shot I could get through the tree branches. Such sweet creatures to behold. I find it exciting to meet these cute fuzzy spiky rodents. I was hoping for a bit of action or a face shot at least but he casually shifted position, curled in his head, then went to sleep, so we trudged through the snow back to the road and left him be.

 Fore-bearers of spring, the Horned Lark migration is in full force, we saw three separate groupings of them, smallest was a group of three and largest was about eighteen. You can see their heads poking up out mid field. We had our lunch and afternoon tea while watching them, ah I love going on picnics.

Further along the gravel road we came across more larks, don't they blend well. These are real long shots as the larks kept quite a distance. I was shooting 7D, 300m lens with extender and this is a highly cropped image as well.

Headed homeward we encountered a winter squall, it was quite beautiful watching the wind stream snowflakes past the window. This drive by shooting is a keeper only for photo reference for paintings for the effects it captured of blowing snow.

Going past Elk Island Park the buffalo were within view of the highway so we stopped to watch them for about 15 mins, such magnificent beasts.
Well its snowing here again, so much for the three days of sun forecast. May all have a great week, I know I will as I am busy painting for an upcoming exhibition in Calgary this spring. 

Hugs!

Friendship Muse

As mentioned previously, I enjoy making special one of a kind gifts. This is "friendship muse" which was made of course for a close friend of mine. 

Friendship muse is wearing the latests style fascinator (an antique button) atop of her wind-blown tresses. Her face is painted with inktense pencils on material that is used for stiffening material in garments.

Initially I had found a free pattern online for a similar type cloth doll but as with free items there can be a catch, such as the item turning out to not even vaguely looking like the item its supposed to. Anyhow after getting half way through the first doll I realized it was all wrong, so I set down with pencil and paper and drafted my own design. Much more fun. Also this muse needed to stand up and embrace life, no laying around for her.

Today I was looking at fabric bird patterns in a library book and set about to copy a few, but alas my mind never sleeps tending to cause dismay following others patterns as I look at them and see too many unnecessary steps and set about redrawing. I guess I never have been one to draw within the lines, follow rules or patterns set by others, preferring instead to make my own way.

Have a wonderful weekend, hugs!

Gift given, joy received.

Every year we take in the Nativities display. This year I entered one I made.

I heard it received many wonderful comments which I was glad of as it was a gift for Daniel and his wife. Daniel gets his students to make interesting Nativities and I decided to give it a go. It took me about a year to find all the pieces that would fit into the tiny frame.

 I was going to post the write-up about it but have decided to let viewers decipher it in their own way.

Enjoy!

 Last year I commissioned owl hats for our grandson and son. Well I didn't want daughter-in-law left out so decided to teach myself how to crochet and after many days watching and following along youtube videos I made four different hats, though one was real ugly and was taken apart. After days of making, deconstructing and making again I got to the point of less mistakes and at that point I felt skilled enough to make the special hat and this is it. As the boys hats are similar for change I made loopy eyelashes and gave it fun ear tassels. I must say the sharing of info on youtube is wonderful.

 I like to make one of a kind special gifts for loved ones. Though I designed this fella myself I realized once made that this softie reminds me of Mercer Meyer characters from books I read my children years ago.

 I found the plain denim back boring and didn't know how or what to do rather than leave it plain. My husband suggested "give him a backpack" and voila, it worked; together we make a great team. The pack has just enough space to tuck in a matchbox car.

 Of course a hand stitched felt heart embellishment topped off the character, isn't he cute. I heard our grandson packed it around for a few hours when he opened his parcel which brings joy to my heart.

On the sad side though I made a special designer gift for a special girl and it got lost in the post, seems they said it was delivered though the intended never received it, argh it has caused so much stress, tears and disappointment for me that I dread to post anything of importance again.
I really pray for the parcel to be found and delivered to the rightful recipient asap.

I pray for blessings, hugs!

Went a wandering today.

Went out today to see if we could spot owls but they were elusive.

There was a dark lump in the far distance way across a field so I snapped a few shots and what to our wondering eyes do we see... a porcupine. 

click on photo to see larger

We saw two porcupine in different areas and both were way out in the middle of a field. Amazingly they move at a pretty steady pace which surprised me as this is the first time I have watched one out in the open. Now I don't have a fantastic love of rodents though I do find porcupines ironically adorable.

Enjoy!

New Years Blessings

Prayers for Chief Theresa Spence for her courage and strength. I pray that Harper will meet with her. I pray she will live and not die needlessly from her hunger-strike which is in its 22nd day as we need her strength and courage to guide us into a peaceful way.

Harper government has destroyed protection for our Mother earth, our water and air regardless of the devastation it leaves this country in for our grandchildren. Corporate greed for the illusion of monetary riches needs to change. All need to recognize that riches lie in fresh air, clean water and clean land to grow healthy foods. Money is an illusion; our land, the air we breathe, waterways and health are not.