Dad

This is a portrait of my Dad. This is the first portrait I completed in my drawing class taught by Sanela Dizdar at the Uptown Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario. It is pretty cool how my Dad and I are taking Sanela's class together.

My Dad is an artist, and art is a big part of my life because of him. I was always fascinated by his ability to create such beauty on a flat surface. It was like a magic trick that I never grew tired of watching. I loved spending time with him in his studio and watching him paint. For health reasons, my Dad can no longer produce much art, but he is still a great inspiration to me.

11" x 14"; Steadtler Mars Lumograph pencils on Strathmore Bristol vellum surface paper; 15 hours

My little Star

This is a graphite portrait on paper of my sweet little dog Star. I am soooooooooo happy with this piece. Never have I been able to do fur in so much detail and so realistically. I thank my drawing teacher Sanela Dizdar for patiently guiding me through this piece. She helped bring me to a whole new level of drawing. I even had to re-due it three times, LOL. But I learned so much and it was so worth it.

11" x 14"; Steadtler Mars Lumograph pencils on Strathmore Bristol vellum surface paper; 30 hours

Stapler Seven Forty Seven

One day I was feeling very blah and had my head down at the computer desk. When I looked up, I saw my Swingline stapler. I had looked at it many times before, but I had never REALLY looked at it. I had never noticed the numbers on it's front, nor how cool it looked. So I had to draw it. I am pleased with the final product. :)

This is also the first piece created with graphite on canvas using the techniques taught to me by my drawing teacher Sanela Dizdar. I feel this piece is a great improvement from my other graphite on canvas pieces. :)

If you are interested in owning this piece, it is thirty dollars at the Waterloo Community Arts Centre (the Button Factory) in Waterloo Ontario. This pieces was donated to them and all of the proceeds from the sale of this piece go towards art programs at the Button Factory. Although part of me wishes that they would sell the artwork for a bit more. But oh well.

5" x 7"; pencil, on gallery wrapped canvas; about 8 hours

Sketch from January 4th

I am taking an urban sketching class this winter. So far it has been very inspiring and fun. The above sketch was done at the Grand River Transit Bus terminal walkway during the first class. It was nice to be able to sketch the outside from inside a building (the weather was a bit chilly). I am proud of myself for not using any pencil on this sketch. I just jumped right in with my marker. Yeah for me!

Thanks for reading!

9" x 12"; Sharpie ultra fine point permanent marker on 80lb acid-free paper; 1 hour 30 minutes