Simple sketches

Recently I have been drawn again to simple drawings, focusing on movements that sometimes make the animals look odd.  From one angle a four-footed animal may appear to have only three feet visible or the body position appears awkward:

Ink

In another instance, an expression relies on the turn or tilt of a head or ear:

Ink

Graphite

Slowing down to look closely and carefully is calming and rewarding :-)

Last of the wolves

I recently completed the final illustration for this month's Year of the Fairy Tale.  The main subject is a wolf.  I think I focused on the wolf because it is similar to the dog and I love to draw them.  Hmmm, I guess I didn't stray as far from my comfort zone as I first thought...

So here is the last of the wolves:

Danger, danger.

I used oil pastels and graphite over acrylic paint.  I masked off the different elements and then used lots of layering and smudging - messy, messy but Fun :-)

Another scary one...

a wolf, that is, and a menacing one he is.  It's the second illustration I did for this month's Year of the Fairy Tale assignment:

Danger, danger.

Creating these scary images is mostly unexplored territory; I welcome the stretch.

Fairy Tale Wolf

Continuing the Year of the Fairy Tale assignment and more exploring oil pastels and acrylic paint -  this time a scary wolf.  And I wouldn't want to meet this snarling guy at my door:

Grrr...

From Wolf to Woof!

The mixed media assignment I just completed (for  Carla Sonheim's 2014: Year of the Fairy Tale) has a wolf as one of the characters.  Well, I began with a wolf but as I created the illustrations using the techniques Carla demonstrated, my wolf morphed into another critter.  Let me show you.

First technique:

Pretty wolf-like, I think.

Next technique:

O, I see a change.

Final technique:

Um... a dog.

The first illustration is oil pastel on watercolor paper and the next two are acrylic and oil pastel also on watercolor paper.  I haven't used oil pastels much at all so this was an opportunity to haul them out of the cabinet and explore.

When I laid out all three pieces to assess the results my reaction was, "wow, these are really primitive" and then to my surprise, "there is something about them that appeals to me."

I am not putting away the oil pastels quite yet because I want to find out what the appeal is... :-)