I was so excited on Thursday when my new colored pencils arrived. After a lot of research, spending much time reading reviews on art supply websites, etc., I decided I needed the Faber-Castell line and my birthday present is this lovely full set!
I know it probably seems to a non-artsy person that this is way more choice than a person would ever need, but trust me, it's not! I love having a lot of choices in the blues, greens, reds and pinks, but where it really is helpful to me is all the warm fleshy tones and the array of browns. These are so wonderful for doing faces and hair, which is something I totally enjoy!
The thing that put me over the edge in choosing this brand over Prismacolor is that they are oil, rather than wax, which means you do not get that "bloom" that happens when you put it on heavily. Also, this brand supposedly breaks less while sharpening, as they are glued all the way through. I already broke one on my 3rd day, but I think the problem was a jam in my manual sharpener. Time will tell, I suppose, but in the meantime, I'm loving how smoothly they color and the richness of the colors.
Hubby asked me to do something for Easter "with eggs...and bunnies" so I did this "slightly tangled" one for him.
Then my niece said, "Oh, well if you're taking requests, I like frogs and turtles." Hmmm....Okay.
I decided to do a little drawing of my own Asian "Jinny" doll and I think she turned out nicely, though I had an unfortunate incident with my blender pen that I still don't fully understand. This is ink and Copic marker.
Sometime soon I will dig out my other Jinny doll and give that one a try. She is dressed for tea :)
I didn't leave purely tangled designs behind at all. Here is just one of my recent ones.
I didn't leave purely tangled designs behind at all. Here is just one of my recent ones.
I decided not to color this one, as it already had so much depth just with the shading. I do love the structural quality I can get with just shaded hearts.
Oh, I almost forgot that I did this this little one in ink and colored pencil. She's based on a 1950's paperdoll of the Jinny doll.
Oh, I almost forgot that I did this this little one in ink and colored pencil. She's based on a 1950's paperdoll of the Jinny doll.
I seem to have a new obsession this week and I will be back soon with photos of my work, but I took a short detour into canning walnuts in syrup tonight. We are planning a banana split party next Saturday and I'm getting together all sorts of toppings, trying to do as many homemades as I can. Wet nuts is a favorite of ours and they are terribly expensive to buy in those teensy jars, so I'm giving this a go. I made 10 pints tonight and will get to taste them tomorrow. The syrup tasted good, but I want to give the nuts a chance to sit and soak up the flavor and get softened by the syrup before I open one of the jars up. The process was every bit as much work as any other canning project, except there was no chopping and peeling involved. Yeah. Anyhow, these will make nice gifts. I don't dare keep all of them, or we'll be eating ice cream every night till their gone and neither of us needs those calories!
Over the next few days I plan to also make up a batch of caramel sauce and some hot fudge sauce. I've made these before and they make smaller batches, which I do NOT plan to can. We'll probably eat it all up on Saturday :) I may, if I have time, make some strawberry topping, as well. I haven't done that before, but it looks simple and will certainly beat the heck out of anything you could buy in the store. Yay, ice cream party!
Over the next few days I plan to also make up a batch of caramel sauce and some hot fudge sauce. I've made these before and they make smaller batches, which I do NOT plan to can. We'll probably eat it all up on Saturday :) I may, if I have time, make some strawberry topping, as well. I haven't done that before, but it looks simple and will certainly beat the heck out of anything you could buy in the store. Yay, ice cream party!