I have one huge problem with my “art career” and that is distractions. I love making things and I simply do not have time to make everything I want to. Colored pencils are only one part of the vast treasure trove of art and craft supplies I hoard in my basement. All winter long I knit. I have boxes of fabric, leather, acrylics, oil paints, and jewelry making supplies. We just moved to a house with a work bench in the basement. I can hardly wait to pull out my dremel and do some small wood and rock carving.
In fact, I get so distracted that I had originally begun this blog entry in May. Something must have grabbed my attention and. . . Then I got back to the post in September. Now, it’s February. Oops!
After my last art fair of the season, I typically let myself go on a break from colored pencil art. Usually by the time the Super Bowl comes around, I am ready to draw again.
This year I knit a Vikings sweater, learned how to spin yarn on a spindle, failed at some small wood carving and am now 90% finished with a sweater vest for my husband. I am finding it very hard to tear myself away from the fiber arts right now.
This is one of my projects, begun from loose fiber, made into yarn and then knit. These photos are the “singles” (one strand of spun fiber); the plied yarn and then finished fingerless gloves. The fibers are Jacob wool from Roving Acres on Etsy and Malabrigo Nube, a merino wool from Peru. So soft! The grey Jacob dulled down the colors of the Malabrigo really well, I think.
It is past Super Bowl weekend and so it is time. I have at least 4 drawings started and deadlines to hit. I am looking forward to participating in a gallery show at the Edina Art Center that opens February 28th, The Art of T. T for toads! Not every piece I am working on is toad related, but I hope to finish two drawings in time for this show. One is 90% finished and very large. The other is 8×8″ and more fun. I will post progress on these as I finish.
Then, after the toad drawings and the sweater vest, I will do my best to ignore the lure of the fiber arts (and the wool and dyes I bought) to work on a project that has been a long time coming and takes me somewhat back to my roots in reptile and amphibian art.
I have a great green tree python, Tikka. Her colors have changed to a brilliant green. I photographed her close up and have begun a drawing that blows her up to dragon size. I had to buy a piece of MDF to mount the paper on, as this will be the largest colored pencil drawing I have done so far. I am hoping to have it in time to submit to the MN State Fair Fine Art Show.
Here is how far I am, complete with Tikka and a 11×17″ print out as reference. Not very far. I am beyond excited to show the world how beautiful green tree pythons are up close and larger than life.
