Turkey - Final

© Ellen Blonder

The drawing's done, and I don't think I'll ever look at turkeys the same. 

Turkey - Progressive Drawings

 © Ellen Blonder

In early October, I visited Johnston's Cranberry Marsh in Barrie, Ontario. Besides the cranberries, there was a pen of extraordinary-looking turkeys. I had hoped to get a drawing of one of them done before Thanksgiving was over today.

 © Ellen Blonder

I've been working on the drawing for a week, daunted by how complicated their heads and necks are. For how important turkeys are on this holiday, few people (including me) have probably ever truly looked at what strange beauty and dignity they have.

© Ellen Blonder

I underestimated how long it will take to finish the back of the turkey's neck, but here's today's progress. I'll have to finish it later, but now it's time to cook vegetarian Thanksgiving. After looking this guy in the eye all week, I'm glad I don't have his cousin in the oven.

Cardinals - Sketches 1

© Ellen Blonder

I'm just now getting to sketching the delightful Brazilian cardinals that like to visit our lanai in Kauai, or hop about the beach and pathways near our place. I used my photographs for reference, while they posed obligingly and pecked at our breakfast breadcrumbs. I don't know what will work its way into a painting.

Lupine - 3 Final

It's starting to feel overworked, so I'm going to stop now.

Lupine - 2

© Ellen Blonder

I spent a little time laying in base colors, and now I'll keep shading them. The tricky part is keeping the petals delicate. 

Lupine - 1

© Ellen Blonder

At Sea Ranch, California, last week, I managed to sketch some lupine, but not add watercolors to it yet.

Rainbow of Peppers

© Ellen Blonder

Before a predicted frost, the generous owners of Draper Farms in San Anselmo, California, allowed members to harvest what was left of the peppers and tomatoes. We brought home a rainbow. I wanted to remember the peppers with a colored pencil sketch.

The farm is a labor of love, well worth joining if you're in the area. It's a joy to gather vegetables from their beautifully-tended rows, then traipsing home with the bounty.

Fierce Fish Fossil

© Ellen Blonder

Last year, I was fascinated by the fossils at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. I have finally gotten to do a sketch of a giant fish from a photograph that I took. I wish I had taken better notes at the time about it, but its fierce demeanor came through, even in its bony fossilized form. 

Plant Study

© Ellen Blonder

Does anyone know the name of this plant? I saw it growing in a large pot in Kauai, and loved its colorful ribbon-like leaves. This is a colored pencil study of it from my sketchbook.

Persimmon Loose Sketch

© Ellen Blonder

Happy New Year! I resolve to post more this year--to draw more this year. This is a recent colored pencil sketch of winter's persimmon crop, now long gone. 

Red Leaf

© Ellen Blonder

Something in colored pencil from the sketchbook. I can't get enough of fall leaves this year.

Cosmos

© Ellen Blonder

My friend Roney brought me a beautiful bouquet of cosmos last week, and I thought they were worth a colored pencil sketch. Thanks, dear Roney!

Sycamore Leaf

© Ellen Blonder

More fall: I'm trying to look down more when I walk around this season. I saw this the other day, with a beautiful range of color all in the same sycamore leaf. I drew it in colored pencil in my sketchbook today.

Abutilon 1

© Ellen Blonder

Some dear friends brought a gift of an abutilon plant when they visited earlier this month. I sketched the flowers in my sketchbook, trying to capture the tangerine shades and rich green leaves with colored pencil, and with more than a little frustration. I'll try watercolors next, before I find the perfect place to plant it in the garden.

Mynahs

© Ellen Blonder

They're a bit raucous, but also amusing to look at, with superhero yellow eyepatches to match their yellow legs and beaks. They're also the most skittish of beggars, always flying away at my approach when other birds hold their ground to see what crumbs I scatter. These sketches are from some photos I took on a morning walk in Kauai. They'd never stay still long enough for detailed drawings like these.

Apropos of Nothing

© Ellen Blonder

I didn't paint today, but I did go through a lot of old files, and I came across this silly sketch. 

I'm combing through years' worth of files of old work, and I've been a bit unsettled by how much work I did that I forgot about completely. I also couldn't help but see how much more we all rely on the computer for presentations, rather than slow, detailed pencil sketches. Computer-based art is slicker and more accurate, but I wonder if something's lost, too, from skipping the painstaking drawing.

Another Charlie Sketch-Day 2

© Ellen Blonder

Charlie looks one way when he's upside down, but I sketched this with his face right-side up, and he kept looking like he was floating. So here he is again, after I played with him in Photoshop, floating over a photo taken along a trip to southern California.

 

 © Ellen Blonder

Another Charlie Sketch-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

I can't get enough of this cat. He's fond of lying on his back, but stay tuned to see what happens.

Topsy Turvy Charlie Cat

© Ellen Blonder

This is Charlie, my daughter Lisa's cat. I sketched him from a photograph, where he was upside down. Funny how when I turned the drawing right side up, with the head at the top, I suddenly saw where I needed to correct the face. I couldn't see it upside down.

Colored Pencil Rooster-Day 5 Final

© Ellen Blonder

All done. I'll only overwork him if I continue.