I've been doing something completely different this weekend. I've been needle felting these little items. The sunny face is the one I was working on this weekend. They are all small. The sunny face is about three inches in diameter. The animal is a ferret and is somewhat poseable. We have ferrets so that's why I chose that subject. I still have a little more work to do on all of them. I enjoy seeing the transformation while I'm working on these.
I bought some ornamental gourds or squash the other day at the grocery store. This is a quick sketch using a Micron ink pen and a little bit of watercolor.
I have been playing with ArtRage software lately. I'm a rank beginner when it comes to digital art and I'm not even sure yet how much I like it. This program suits me perfectly. The registered version is a whole $25 US and they have a limited functionality demo that you can download. I discovered it from a mention on Nancy Stahl's blog (scroll down). For me it's an inexpensive way to try out digital art. It works best with a drawing tablet. I have an inexpensive Manhattan drawing tablet that works well. Drawing with a tablet is like starting over again though. I found I had to spend some time just developing my hand-eye coordination. There's some good information on starting with tablets at DaniDraws.com as well as a number of links to tutorials. It's been a fun experiment.
I'm getting back in the groove of sketching and painting. Actually I think the break did me good. Maybe my brain needed to work in the background for a while.
I have a small bowl of sea shells and sponges sitting on a table by the front door. I grabbed a couple of things and did a quick watercolor sketch in my watercolor moleskine. Overall I'm pleased with it.
