Sharing the Joy of Books

Today, I have to share the stop-motion video made by my son-in-law Sean Ohlenkamp, with the assistance of my daughter Lisa and about 25 volunteers. The video was shot over four all-night sessions while the Toronto bookstore, Type, was closed. Many hours of editing followed. I hope you--and book lovers everywhere--will enjoy this.

Happy Holidays!

© Ellen Blonder

Happy holidays, everyone!

(This is my card this year, from a colored pencil sketch of hellebores--also called Christmas Rose--from the Orto Botanico in Rome, that I showed in earlier posts this year.)

Black and White Rooster-Final

© Ellen Blonder

Finally, done!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone

Can't always be painting. Sometimes, you've just got to take a break and make a pie, and lemon meringue is my favorite--this one's adapted from an old, torn and stained Betty Crocker cookbook recipe. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Black and White Rooster-Day 18

 

© Ellen Blonder

I'm slowly continuing to work on details of the foliage, mostly on the upper right today.

Black and White Rooster-Days 16 and 17

© Ellen Blonder

I'm adding details to the plants on the left side of the painting.

 

Black and White Rooster-Days 13, 14, 15

© Ellen Blonder

I've been working short periods on this all week, and some of the time has been spent overpainting details I didn't like. The painting still has a long way to go.

Dog Repair

© Ellen Blonder

Mice got into this stuffed dog, a prototype I designed to present to a toy manufacturer years ago. If it had been a stuffed pillow, I would have tossed it in the garbage, but this guy looked so sad I ran him through the washer and dryer and repaired him. He still has a few loose threads, but I hope that just gives him character.

Black and White Rooster-Day 12

© Ellen Blonder

 All I know is the pink's way too bright here, and it looks all wrong with the rooster's red comb. I have to tone these way down. I've also added grass under the rooster's feet.

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.

Black and White Rooster-Days 10 and 11

© Ellen Blonder

I'm almost done with the feathers--finally! Now that the rooster is nearly finished, it'll be fun to move on to the flora.

Black and White Rooster-Days 8 and 9

© Ellen Blonder

Ok, I have to confess it has been a distracting week moving myself back into my studio from a temporary set-up in my house. I've barely had time to paint all week, but I scanned a detail of the rooster's feathers that I've been working on. The lighter feathers are only half finished, and the darker feathers will be detailed more, too.

Black and White Rooster-Day 7

© Ellen Blonder

I painted out the foliage above the rooster's back, and will add something later. Meanwhile, I'm moving on to feathers before tightening up flora.

Black and White Rooster-Day 6

© Ellen Blonder

Still refining shapes and colors, with nothing really finished yet.

Black and White Rooster-Day 5

© Ellen Blonder

Back to work after nursing a cold all week. I'm slowly building each color to see relative values; it's too hard to guess them correctly if I go straight to finish against a white background.

Black and White Rooster-Day 4

© Ellen Blonder

 After transferring the foliage layout to the board, I laid down some rough color as a sort of road map. It really helps to paint when the background isn't a deceptive white.