January 13, 2015

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I went to bed early last night so I didn't do a sketch, but since I did a fantasy drawing of Bryan, I had to do one of April, his fiancé. I sketched her as an elf, but I think that I went too fast because the sketching was not very finely done. I added a old paper effect to give it texture, but it may be too much.

January 12, 2015

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This is my effort in doing a human this time using that sepia effect. This is an image of my son, Bryan, adapted from a photo that he gave me earlier this year. I have him in part of a costume that he was showing me and in the background, a dragon flying over the forest.

January 11, 2015

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Mom and I were watching one of the Hobbit movie series and I let the ending credits go because I enjoyed the beautiful drawings in the ending credits. It looked like a sepia ink drawing on parchment. I was sure that they were done in Photoshop, or Illustrator, so I had to try to reproduce the effects. 

I chose to do this head of a zebra. I had intended to do the whole animal, but it was too much to do in one day. 

Bryan suggested that I do a fanciful drawing of a person. Maybe I'll try that with this effect next.

January 9, 2015

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I had a rough night last night, coughing all night. I sound like a fog horn! My chest still hurts. It feels like I was hit in the upper back and chest with a steel bar. Every breath is painful, like a steel band cinched too tight around my chest. I think that Fay, my sister has been feeling like this. She said that she has had to sleep on the sofa so as not to disturb her husband.

Despite that, I feel much better today. I actually stayed up all day, ate real food and for the first time, cooked and cleaned with a clear head. No more fever. Even my throat feels better! 

Maybe I can walk Tulip tomorrow? 

January 8, 2015

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Mom made jello for me today. I've been cooking only two meals each day, but I can't eat it. I was feeling better, but I still had no appetite. Anything that I try to swallow hurts, but the jello felt good. My sore throat is going into my ears. My eyes are getting crusty. If I can get myself together tomorrow, I'll go to urgent care. My sister has the same thing, but she has to commute to work. At least I can stay in bed if I need to.

January 7, 2015

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Since I got back last Friday, I've been ill with this head cold and sore throat. I gargled with salt water a few times and took a zinc lozenges. I think that that has helped. I was able to stay up long enough to do this drawing about the way that I've been feeling. A sore throat and a head ache with a fever.The temporary good thing is that I have no taste for food and anything with meat makes me feel nauseated, so I've lost a little weight! I know that it will not last, but I can enjoy it while I can.

My regular doctor has dropped out of my insurance and my insurance has said that I can pick out a new doctor. In the mean time, I need to go to urgent care if I want to see a doctor. I think that I should go to see one if I can be up long enough to get presentable. Is this too long to have a sore throat? 

January 4, 2015

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We got home from Paso on Friday night. We had stopped at the Mission at San Juan Batista to drop off a present to mom's friend, Sister Loretta. he had a doctor appointment so we had missed her, but we did get to visit the other nuns who were retired there. 

Taking the coastal route,  is always longer, but the highway above Salinas, is a divided two lane each way and seems always congested. This time, it took an hour to go a little over 5 miles. By the time we got home it was about 7 pm. Driving all day.

I felt more exhausted than usual, with a sore throat and head ache. The next morning was not any better. The head ache and sore throat got worst, turned into laryngitis. I slept all day Saturday and most of today. I began to feel well enough to watch what seemed to be a Batman marathon, between sleeping and waking. My cat and dog tried to get me up but I really couldn't  Luckily we had stopped at the store on the way home and got some to go and fresh fruits and veggies before getting home on Friday. Mom ate leftovers. 

This evening I felt good enough to get up to eat something, even though nothing had any taste. I felt well enough to watch Galavant on ABC (a good new series) and do this little sketch. Feeling better, but I'm going back to sleep now.

January 1, 2015

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We are still in Paso Robles, but are supposed to leave tomorrow.

 I've been working a lot on this dragon project. I did not intended to get this involved with this picture, but it has kind of taken on a life of it's own, demanding the detail. Like eating peanuts, you just can't have one, so I keep on putting details into this thing and drawing. The fun part is seeing what I can do with this character.

 I actually took Comparative Anatomy in college just to see how different types of animals are made from the inside out. It was a pre-med class, so about half of the students dropped out or failed by mid semester, but it was really interesting.  I also took Herpetology, the study of cold blooded vertebrates, because I was fascinated with snakes. Both classes filled my need to know more about the creatures that I was creating. I've always loved to invent new creatures and no one can say what a dragon should look like since they don't really exists.

This dragon is a little different, but not completely innovative, in that it has some hair. Some extinct reptiles did have some hair, an evolutionary link to mammals.

 I've got a lot more done than the head, but here is just the head. I've left the file a little larger than usual so that you can see the hair on it's head.

December 31, 30114

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As the sun was setting over the hills this evening, I realized that this was the end of the last day of the year! What glorious ending and i had to share it with all of my friends and family. So I painted it, (in Photoshop). I am grateful for all of you, new and old friends, close family, of course, all of the support that you have given me and the wealth of memories. 

Thank you all and a Happy New Year!

December 30, 2014

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I've been sitting here all day at my computer drawing scales on that dragon. Slow and tedious as it is, I am happy with the way it is coming out. When I draw the lines, it seems that it doesn't look like much, but when I put in the details, I sometimes feel like a magician! We artist create illusions. We make the viewer think that they are looking at an image that seems like it has texture, dimension, movement, depth or people and things, but in fact, it's just shapes, color, lines and in this case, just electronic pixels on a two-dimensional surface! I often wonder if God did this, played around with shapes and color. There are such a variety of creatures and flora, that it seems that it seems that way in all of the plants and animals present and extinct. I'm not say'n that I'm God-like, but sometimes it sure feels like I'm creating things. Maybe it is the hand of God that is guiding me! 

Not to get all theological, but as I took a break from drawing scales, I was inspired to draw the scene out the window. It has been very cold here, colder than Sacramento, according to my phone apps, and it rained a little too! I thought to just do something simple, but got caught up a little with some of the details in the land and sky. 

December 29, 2014

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There are a few more addresses added to my "Daily sketch" email list. Welcome, Gill, Guy, Carla and Bing, Kathy and Stewart! If there is anyone else that you know that wants to be on this list, please send me their email addresses and I will add them! 

For those of you who have just been added, I have been working on a piece for my son, Bryan for his Christmas gift. I have been sending out pieces of the work as I finish them, but because it is Bryan's gift, I can't let you see the image in it's entirety, (unless Bryan says that it is okay.) I am re-sending some of the pieces of this picture that I have been creating in Photoshop. 

I have been working on the dragon scales today. I tried to use a stamped image of scales, but I didn't like it, so I am rendering each scale on the dragon by hand.I've created other dragon images on a much larger scale using acrylics, each scale rendered individually. I was hoping to get the whole head done today, but it is the most labor intensive and as you can see, I am not done. It is the most time consuming because of the size of the small scales around the more delicate areas of the eye and mouth. I wanted it to look more flexible and soft as opposed to the other areas that will have larger scales, such as the neck and chest. 

For those of you who have not been on the list from the start, most of the past images that I had sent, I've put on my blog. They do have a watermark on them. I have some of them for sale at Society 6 as prints. The ones that I've been sending out in the "Daily sketch" emails are not watermarked, but are compressed for easy viewing.

Included in this email are the original concept sketch, woman and the fairy in the landscape with the castle in the background and a separate image of the dragon, in detail, of part of the head that I worked on today. 

December 28, 2014

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Today I finished the castle and the background for Bryan's Christmas gift drawing. I left out the dragon because I am not finished with it. I cannot show the entire thing finished a this is a gift for Bryan only, but I will share parts of the dragon with you as I finish them.

December 27, 2014

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As I listen to mom, Vivian and Fay watch "Sharknado", I am finishing up this little rendering of the fairy in Bryan's picture. I thought of doing a flower dress, but little individual flowers was too much and a single flower would be out of proportion for what I have in mind. What I did do was intended to be individual petals for her dress, but it looks like feathers! I thought that was interesting as birds are the evolved versions of reptiles!

Now on to the dragon!

Decamber 26, 2014

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I hope that your Christmas was the best ever! 

We are at Fay's and she gave me a glowing, Zing Air Storm Fire Tek Bow and arrow set with a soft, whistling arrows, that was so fun! She let me shoot her in the but and then we went outside to shoot them up into the air at night!  He, he.. Then we did a few rounds of Wii, karaoke!

Although we are doing something everyday, I am still able to bet to sketch something. Actually I'm still working on Bryan's gift! It has taken me longer than I had expected, but I have been enjoying the process so far. Although the finished piece will be only for Bryan, I can share the parts as I finish it. I sent you the sketch earlier. If you don't remember what it was, I have the preliminary sketch attached again. I'm still working on the dragon. I tried to do the scales with a stamp style, but I was not satisfied with the results, so I am drawing all of the scales on the dragon individually. 

I did finish with the woman in the picture, so I put it into a separate file for you to see it.

Decamber 24, 2014

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Merry Christmas eve! May all of your fantasies come true!

December 21, 2014

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I'm still not ready for Christmas, but it is almost here. I still have lots to do, but we are supposed to leave for Paso Robles tomorrow. Fay, Viv, it looks like we will be leaving late. I did get the lights up and got cookies out to the neighbors, but I haven't packed up up yet and I am not staying up late to do it! 

Today I did an e-card for you. A magical tree, with the star of Bethlehem above it and the sparkly of frost and snow. 

Merry Christmas! 

December 20, 2014

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Today is Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. Family gatherings besides the fire when it's cold outside. A sleigh ride came to mind, "dashing through the snow," sorry, in a two horse open sleigh!  It's another chance to draw horses! Gliding through the countryside with cold faces and warm hearts brings the holidays to mind. Yes, Noel, I've been thinking of Midway. I hope that you get a good snow fall that will stick.