Wednesday, February 20, 2008

EDM 81 - Draw a street light


I have been somewhat neglectful of this blog, mostly because I am taking an online art class that is using up most of my art time and computer time. But the other day I saw something that inspired me to do this challenge (and I admit I do enjoy these challenges). As the streetlights in our neighborhood wear out, the old round lights are being replaced by these newer ones. Not only are they more energy efficient, they contribute less to light pollution. There is something futuristic about the shape of them, every time I look at them, I am reminded of the Terminator movies. They look vaguely menacing. Their flat tops, though, are a perfect perch for two of the most enormous crows I have ever seen. This one landed and settled looking exactly like a monarch surveying his domain.
This is watercolor paint and Pentel Brush pen in my Aquabee sketchbook.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

EDM 155 - Draw your favorite sandwich


Here's a hot dog. It's not my favorite sandwich, although I do enjoy a good hot dog every now and then. And this hot dog I really did enjoy. We drove out to Lake Louise for the annual Ice Magic competition. This is an ice sculpture competition that includes professional teams from around the world who compete over a three day period to create huge sculptures on a theme. The theme this year was "Fairies and Fairy Tales". At the townsite, we loaded into a bus to drive up the slippery mountain road to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise who was hosting the competition on their beautiful grounds right on the shore of the lake. It was a lovely day, and we arrived around 1:00, just in time for lunch. After wandering around, we found a kiosk where they were serving hotdogs and hot chocolate. Perfect! Handheld food that you could eat while watching watching the chain saw wielding sculptors carve away at 300 pound blocks of ice. This handy little lunch set us back $7.95 each! For a hot dog with ketchup and mustard, and a cup of hot chocolate! Seriously! But it was a lovely day, and we had fun, so who cares?

This is water color in the Aquabee sketchbook. Can you imagine how many tries it took to get that color for the hot dog? It's a combination of burnt sienna and permanent rose.