And the winner is...

Both of you!

Patti agreed that the two of you should not have to fight to the death in the randomizer so you're both getting a copy courtesy of Chronicle Books. Just e-mail me your addresses Labour of Love and Danny and your book will be on its way in no time.

Please direct your e-mail to selfindulgent at hotmail dot com.

Thanks for participating!

Bottle Opener and a Giveaway

So as I mentioned before, Patti Quill is talking about me today over at the Chronicle Books blog which I am super excited about. We weren't connected before I started doing this, and I'm not receiving any kind of compensation from them. I really just enjoy the book and the challenge. Also if you're not reading their blog I highly recommend it. There is a lot of good writing and fun guest posts from authors. Plus, it's very informative if you like artsy crafty and/or organizey things. (Which I do.)

Some things about the blog and me that won't be in that post because I forgot to tell Patti about them are the fact that I'm currently revising a YA novel (Isn't everyone these days though?) and that I do have some rules for myself besides just working through the book. Partly, this is an exercise in taming my inner critic/perfectionist/nit-picky jerk. To that end, all sketches must:

1. Not involve a ruler

2. Be done in one sitting (unless said sitting is interrupted by a short crying person)

3. Have minimal eraser use

I strayed when sketching the sandwich because it was a lot more complicated than I thought, but I copped to that. In any case, here's the latest product of these guidelines.

I chose the fold up pocket bottle opener because my dad always used to carry one around and it brings back fond memories of picnics and Coke's in glass bottles.

I will get back to the string quartet but I'm probably going to stick with simple things for the rest of this month. My life tends to have a nothing nothing nothing ALL THE THINGS pattern to it and I am currently in ALL THE THINGS mode.

Anyway, thanks to the good folks at Chronicle Books I can now present to you the first ever SIE contest!

For a chance to win a copy of 642 Things to Draw, simply comment answering one (or both in one comment) of the following questions.

Choice A: (Inspired by an episode of House and in the spirit of finding some time for yourself) What is the biggest lie you ever told just to get some alone time?

Or if you're the honest sort,

Choice B: What is your favorite PG-rated alone time activity? Why?

Just enter your answer(s) in comments below. I'll enter the number of comments into a randomizer to pick the winner because I have an unhealthy need to be liked. Contest is open until February 6th, at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time.

Bubbles, Mushrooms, and Luminescent Plankton

I'm not thrilled with any of these to begin with. It's made worse by the face that I'm apparently taking these from inside a freezer. I just could not take a steady picture despite multiple efforts.

Here's my bubbles, although they look a good deal more like wonky marbles. I've tried before to draw bubbles and I just can't seem to get the lightness of them. I think this is a subject best done in watercolor.

I couldn't decide between real mushrooms, and the Nintendo toadstool that pops in my head whenever mushrooms are mentioned so I did one of each. I think I made toadie look subtly malicious.

Last but not least, I give you luminescent plankton. I've been a little obsessed with bioluminescence ever since I was a kid, so I got a little distracted researching this. In then end I think this is more sardine/rabbit hybrid than luminescent plankton but it has it's own distinct charm.

Fin.

Ottoman, Sandwich, Van Gogh's Ear, and Chronicle Books

Okay. So, I've been feeling mostly like myself again for a couple of days but I've had to use that time to try to make a dent in the piles of filth that mysteriously sprang up during my convalescence. I am skipping the string quartet page for now because I'm going to try to knock some easy ones out this week while I'm still playing catch up everywhere else in life as well. Also, I want to get some more content up because I'm expecting guests from the awesome Chronicle Books blog where Patti Quill is going to feature my poky little sketching blog on Friday. Hooray! They have also been kind enough to offer a copy of 642 Things to Draw for me to giveaway on Friday as well so I'll have to think up a fun and exciting competition for y'all.

Sorry again, for the crappy shots. I'll be getting back to using a real camera by the next post, cross my heart.

Van Gogh's Ear

The envelope was a last minute decision. Can you tell? I really thought this was fun. I kind of have a thing for ears and I've always had trouble drawing them so it's good to get the practice in and have an opportunity to focus solely on the ear without any pesky heads or faces to distract me.

Sandwich

I was totally wrong when I classified this as an easy one. Lettuce is kind of hard to draw and a monochromatic sandwich caused me way more problems than I thought it would. Overall it took me about three times longer to do this than I planned, but I've never drawn a sandwich before so I think it's pretty good for my first time.

Ottoman

I'm also pretty sure this is my first ottoman. It was by far the easiest of the three but I actually like how it turned out. I'd like to work on my fabrics in the future. I'm always impressed by people who can make things appear to drape, especially when it is done in sculpture.

All in all I'm glad to be back in the saddle. I've been drawing for over ten years and I've never even tried to do two out of three of these things. I'm usually a houses and flowers kind of girl so these really stretched me which is part of what this whole project is about.

Final Christmas Flower, or Finally for the love of God Finally I'm done

Sorry for the crap photo. I took it with my cell phone because I had to finish this at my mother's house and didn't have my fancy camera. It was a gift for her so I couldn't bring it back to take the picture either.

This was really a case where taking a little more time to plan and prepare would have saved me a lot of time on the back end.

I'm planning to get back to sketching now, but posting will still probably be light for the next little while as I have been stricken with plague.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Flowers Part 2

I finally finished this one yesterday. It's a water lily. There's something about it, maybe it's just the composition I'm not sure, that feels off but it's growing on me and besides I don't have time to dwell on it if I'm going to get my mother's painting finished before we leave.

Once we're out of town I plan on having a lot of time to sketch due to all the people who love to occupy a baby. Yay Christmas!

Christmas Flowers Part 1

This was all I got done yesterday.

I'm pretty happy with it, but it definitely illustrates the importance of this project for me. I spend so much time between artistic spurts that I have to relearn how to do things and get certain looks so projects take a lot longer than I budget for until I get back in the swing of things. On the upside, I learned a lot doing the detail on this one so hopefully the next two will go faster.