In-Laws Christmas Present 08

This is a CD scrapbook I did to give to my Mother and Father in-law for Christmas last year. I wanted to have a picture of each of their grandchildren in it. Some of them are even great-grandchildren. = ) Also, I was only working with pictures I had received through the year, so some aren't the greatest. Poor Matt didn't have any pictures except his school photo so we took an impromptu one in front of our fireplace. LOL I think it turned out pretty nice. :D

Lightbulb

This is my homework from last weeks drawing class. I'm quite proud of my lightbulb. = ) However, in order to get all the shading in the actual lightbulb, it would have to have been darker overall. I'm still struggling with that.

You'll notice the shadow of the bulb is lighter in the middle. My instructor commented on this. I had to explain to her that this is what I saw. The reason being that with the light passes through from top to bottom of the bulb. As it shines through the sides of the bulb the sides get thicker, thus resulting in a halo in the middle of the shadow and darker on the outside.

I also selectively ignored the windows reflecting in the sides otherwise it would have taken 4 or more hours to draw instead of the 2 1/2 or so. = )

Make and Take

My wonderful sideline Sally Carlin had us do this fun make and take. We used a circle to cover the background paper and then sponged over it in the new color Sorbet. Hers looked like it was suede; mine, not so much. LOL The mummy's eyes are itty bitty brads. Very cute. Thanks, Sally! Colors used: Sunflower, Smokey Plum, Garden Green, & Black. Enchanted Paper Packet and Sorbet and Black Ink Pads

New Swap Card

I did a swap with my Close To My Heart consultant group hosted by my wonderful upline Beth Welmaker, on Sunday, Sept. 28. We were to pick a paper pack out of the new catalog to do a card with. I picked Evensong, which is kind of Christmas-y. I didn't have very many Christmas stamps to chose from (actually one), so I made the most of what I had. I really wanted to do something out of my comfort zone, but time restraints got the better of me and I wound up doing something pretty conservative and plain. I still like it, though. = )

Pumpkin

For our second class we did contour and gesture drawing. You draw an object or a person doing an action without looking at the paper and without lifting your pencil. Yeah, nobody will ever see those pictures. LOL

We then got to draw another object. This time it was a mini pumpkin. I had about a half an hour and had trouble just with the outline so didn't get much shading done. My instructor has told me I need to let go of my perfectionism. = ) I'm sure I do, but at the same time I want my drawing to look as close to the real thing as possible, especially if I want to eventually be doing people. Anyway, one step at a time.

Our homework this week is to do a frosted lightbulb or a battery. I also have a swap due Sunday, so I'll be posting that soon, too.

My Big Toe

Our homework was to draw our toe or a piece of chewed gum. I chose my big toe. I kind of cheated and took a picture, then printed it out in black and white. This helped me with getting the shading since I have a problem with tonal qualities of projects. Anyway, I got to class and everyone else had done almost their whole foot. LOL I did mine at the last minute 2 hours before class. I just keep telling myself, "I'm doing well, for me." = )

Not the prettiest foot to look at. LOL

New Artistic Endeavor

Even though the title of this blog is "Tammy's Stamping Fun", now that I'm no longer an active consultant, I'm going to incorporate my other craft interests.

Right now that interest has turned to drawing. I used to doodle all the time in elementary school. Since my junior and high school electives were taken up with band, I was unable to take art classes. Plus, once I saw my friend's effortless works of art, I became discouraged and put it aside for other crafts. So I've come full circle and decided to try my hand at it once again after becoming inspired by some beautiful fan art on the web.

I'm taking an adult education class for drawing. The first class our teacher had us shade down a piece of paper from light to dark so we could get a feel for gradually shading using our pencils. Then we got to pick an object to draw. I was the last one to pick, so my choices were limited. Probably was a good thing. LOL Here's the drawing of the clothes pin from 9/15. The object is shading and shadow for 3-D effect, details are secondary.

Again, I try not to compare myself to the others in the class but the others put mine to shame. LOL