Merry Christmas

copyright Valerie Jones

Colored Pencil

8 1/2" by 5 1/2" on Stonehenge

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas this year!

Graphite Completed

"Laremi" copyright Valerie Jones

Graphite on Strathmore Bristol Smooth 100lb

I seemed to have this little jewel on the drawing board for quite awhile per the calendar. It only took 11-15 hours to complete, so that's a plus. I used the following pencils, give or take a few. Staedtler 4B, 2B, B, HB, H, 2H, Sanford Design Ebony, and a Grumbacher Willow or Vine charcoal stick. The Ebony, 4B, and 2B was used in the darkest shadows. I used the B for normal shading and the HB, H, and 2H for smoothing out the skin tones. Everything was blended using blending stumps of various sizes. At the very end, I used the charcoal stick in some of the darkest areas. To finish this off, I sprayed the work with Krylon Workable Fixative, Matte Finish. This is a surprise gift for a friend, so in the mail it goes this week for its 300 plus mile journey.

It's snowing and very cold here today. We had a high of 17 degrees F today and the low is supposed to be 15 degrees F. The wind chill is 3 degrees F. Brrr. I know it's a lot colder in other parts of the country but this is cold for us where we live.

I probably won't be posting much over the next several weeks. That's not really anything new, is it? My sister is coming for a 2-week visit beginning next week. We can hardly wait!

I'll leave you with a quote I found the other day.

The best thing is the feeling you get when you’re inspired. ~ Penelope Dullaghan

I hope you all have time to be inspired over this busy holiday season.

Colored Pencil Work In Progress

"Colors of Fall" work in progress

on Stonehenge Paper 5x7

I had a colored pencil demonstration at a local gallery yesterday. I worked on this leaf painting and have a long ways to go to completing it. I have to complete it because some of my students said they'd be looking for the finished piece to show up at class. It's a fun piece so I'm looking forward to finish it.

I'm still working on the Little Baby graphite drawing too. Life has been busy with little time for drawing or blogging.