'marie therese' ~ graphite, prismacolor pencils and albrecht durer watercolor pencils

i'm still drawing a lot of smudgy faces...

manila tags smudge beautifully!

*and* i bought a pocket moleskine to draw them in, right page only so there's no worry about smudging the drawing on the opposite page.  the pencil is my new cretacolor 8B pencil.  i like it even more than the derwent 8B!  it feels almost weightless, sharpens beautifully, and lays down a gorgeous, dark line.

i got it last week in chico, CA at ellis art and engineering -  i love this store!  they have a good variety of stuff to try out...  i also got a pentel triangular eraser that's perfect for erasing in small areas, and a derwent turquoise green watercolor pencil.  it's greenish aqua, which is one of my favorite colors and not easy to find.

one street over i found this book in a used bookstore; i can't remember the name of the bookstore, but it's the big one downtown, and it has a *huge* art book section.  definitely worth checking out if you're in chico.

it's full of sketches and paintings that picasso painted between the ages of 11 and 25.

the images are high quality and  many of them are large.  and there are lots of images from his sketchbooks...

if you click on the link (above) you'll see that there are a  lot of used and new copies for sale at amazon, starting at $5.08 including shipping.  i highly recommend it.

'loves trees and parks' ~ graphite and prismacolor pencils on a piece of shell

left this at a park in chico.  now i'm back home, drawing more smudgy faces...

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 early last summer i was interviewed by lesley riley; she was in the process of putting together a workshop, and as part of that she interviewed ten artists that she feels have a unique style.    fortunately she told me what the questions were before the interview because the focus was on composition, which isn't something that i give much thought to in a rational, left brain sort of way when i'm painting.  i can honestly say that i enjoyed the interview a great deal! i felt like i was talking with a kindred spirit who totally 'got' what i was saying...  i could've chatted  for a long, long time, ha!   fast forward to now and her workshop, compose+yourself, is almost ready to start, and  i'm helping her spread the word.  she's incorporated the interviews into the workshop, but there's so much more - it's a three month course for heaven's sake!  if you feel at all inclined, please check it out... 

XO