I decided to post some of my other work. "Lost My Hat!" is a pen and ink drawing I did a little while back. I had been asked to submit some drawings for a cookbook that was going to have a western theme. The cookbook never materialized, but I enjoyed creating the pen and ink drawings.
"Mollie" is a graphite sketch I did for a larger pen and ink drawing. This was a commissioned work that I did. Doesn't she have a sweet face? I know she was well-loved pet.
Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor
nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Calendars and Other Sources of Income
How is everyone today? It's a hot and slightly muggy 93 degrees outside right now. I am in the cool house waiting for things to get more comfortable out there in nature. My neighbor and I had a yard sale this morning and we did pretty good considering we live in small town Texas. I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who have a hard time parting with my stuff. When I make up my mind to get rid of things, it's even harder to have those things left over after a yard sale and have to decide what to do with them. I hope to be able to find a charity to donate them to.
One of our customers this morning was also an artist. She and I visited for a while and I showed her some of my paintings. She seemed to like my wildlife paintings quite a bit and suggested that I might want to produce a calendar with my artwork. That is something I have considered in the past. I need to follow through with that and see about putting one together. Look for this to come in the future.
Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor
nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)
One of our customers this morning was also an artist. She and I visited for a while and I showed her some of my paintings. She seemed to like my wildlife paintings quite a bit and suggested that I might want to produce a calendar with my artwork. That is something I have considered in the past. I need to follow through with that and see about putting one together. Look for this to come in the future.
Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor
nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Court of Honor
Tonight our grandson, Toby, had a Court of Honor. He was given the rank of Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class Scout, and First Class Scout. He also was given the six merit badges he has earned this past year. The scout troop he started with was a little unorganized and they never had a Court of Honor. We got him enrolled in another scout troop and he was honored for all the work he's done along with three other Boy Scouts in the new unit. It was a simple, but well-done meeting and we had a pot-luck dinner afterwards. About 24 people showed up to support our boys.
I started another fawn painting today which I will call "Peek-a-Boo." It's going to be another 8" X 10" in size and it will show a fawn peeking between the back legs of its mother. I went to Austin to visit my sister a few weeks ago. We were in a nice neighborhood visiting our mom and the deer were epidemic! They were literally everywhere. Gail drove slowly while I snapped away with my camera. I must have taken over 150 pictures, but it was worth it. With this material, I will be able to paint quite a few pictures. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I believe in taking a lot of photos. Usually, a few of them will be usable to work from for a painting. When you are working with animals, children, or anything else that moves you just never know exactly how the shots are going to turn out. By taking a lot of pictures, I usually get some that speak to my heart and that will make a great painting.
I also worked some more on the backside of the horse in "Singin' and Dancin'." I've been trying to figure out why it seems so difficult for me spend more time on this painting. Challenges come up in all of our lives. One thing that I struggle with is my fear that I won't be able to do well on my paintings. Now some of you that don't paint probably won't be able to relate to what I am saying, but painting new material and trying different techniques can be scary when you don't know how they will turn out. You are just hoping you can make it all work. You have this vision of a beautiful painting that will stir your heart and look oh so perfect. Sometimes my paintings accomplish that vision and sometimes they don't. The good thing is that you really can learn a lot even from the failures. I tend to be a perfectionist and really hate to have a failure, but I suppose most of us would like for all our efforts to be successes. Situations like this can help us learn that important quality called patience. I am convinced that patience is a virtue that Heavenly Father really wants us to learn. We seem to have so many opportunities to practice it! And I often think about how grateful I am that He is so patient with me. Some of the lessons of this life have been very slow in coming and there are probably many that I haven't figured out yet. It's a good thing we get to live so long, don't you think?
It was interesting to see how the voting turned out for your favorite paintings. Thanks to all of you who took the time to let me know which one you liked the best. Next month there will be another chance for you to share your opinions on your favorite piece, so be looking for that. Thank you, also, to those who have left comments for me. It is so good to hear from you.
Kindest regards,
Nancy
I started another fawn painting today which I will call "Peek-a-Boo." It's going to be another 8" X 10" in size and it will show a fawn peeking between the back legs of its mother. I went to Austin to visit my sister a few weeks ago. We were in a nice neighborhood visiting our mom and the deer were epidemic! They were literally everywhere. Gail drove slowly while I snapped away with my camera. I must have taken over 150 pictures, but it was worth it. With this material, I will be able to paint quite a few pictures. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I believe in taking a lot of photos. Usually, a few of them will be usable to work from for a painting. When you are working with animals, children, or anything else that moves you just never know exactly how the shots are going to turn out. By taking a lot of pictures, I usually get some that speak to my heart and that will make a great painting.
I also worked some more on the backside of the horse in "Singin' and Dancin'." I've been trying to figure out why it seems so difficult for me spend more time on this painting. Challenges come up in all of our lives. One thing that I struggle with is my fear that I won't be able to do well on my paintings. Now some of you that don't paint probably won't be able to relate to what I am saying, but painting new material and trying different techniques can be scary when you don't know how they will turn out. You are just hoping you can make it all work. You have this vision of a beautiful painting that will stir your heart and look oh so perfect. Sometimes my paintings accomplish that vision and sometimes they don't. The good thing is that you really can learn a lot even from the failures. I tend to be a perfectionist and really hate to have a failure, but I suppose most of us would like for all our efforts to be successes. Situations like this can help us learn that important quality called patience. I am convinced that patience is a virtue that Heavenly Father really wants us to learn. We seem to have so many opportunities to practice it! And I often think about how grateful I am that He is so patient with me. Some of the lessons of this life have been very slow in coming and there are probably many that I haven't figured out yet. It's a good thing we get to live so long, don't you think?
It was interesting to see how the voting turned out for your favorite paintings. Thanks to all of you who took the time to let me know which one you liked the best. Next month there will be another chance for you to share your opinions on your favorite piece, so be looking for that. Thank you, also, to those who have left comments for me. It is so good to hear from you.
Kindest regards,
Nancy
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
"Summer Shade"
Here is the painting of the fawns. I got it completed today and it felt good. Sometimes paintings just come together and this one did that for me. I'm going back to work on my large painting of "Singin' and Dancin'." I hope everyone has a good day.
Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor
Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor
Monday, September 17, 2007
Roadrunner
I wanted to include one of my pen and ink drawings on my blog. This is one I did a little while back. This roadrunner lived in a sour orange tree in my neighbor's back yard. He would visit our yard from time to time and it was amazing to see him run along the wooden fence at the back of our yards. One day I got a chance to take some good shots of him with my camera and this one of him on the fence turned out great. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did drawing it.
Kindest regards,
Nancy
Kindest regards,
Nancy
Perspective Tip
I did get to work on my painting of the fawns today. They are turning out quite cute! I hope to be able to post the painting tomorrow.
For all of you artists who may occasionally struggle with perspective, I learned a terrific tip today. This works for simple two point perspective. I am not sure how you might adapt it for more complicated scenes, but it is great for something like a barn in a field. You will need your sketch pad, a rubber band, and two bulldog clips (or wooden spring-type clothes pins). Cut the rubber band so that it is one long band. Decide where you want your horizon line. Place one end of the rubber band at the side of your pad at the horizon line and secure with one of the clips. Stretch the rubber band to the other side of your pad and secure it at the horizon line on that side with the other clip. Now you need to determine where you want the front corner edge of your box, house, barn, etc. Raise the rubber band to the height you want it. Holding it in place, draw your lines toward your vanishing points on the horizon. Draw a vertical line extending down from the top point of lines you just drew. You can extend it below the horizon line if you want. Then you will pull your rubber band down to the bottom of the vertical line. Once again draw your lines out to the vanishing points along the rubber band. You can now place the other two vertical lines to express the far corners of your box or whatever shape you are making. I hope this makes sense to you. "A picture is worth a thousand words" probably applies here. It is hard to write it all out instead of just showing you. Please email me if you have any questions about this perspective tool. Maybe some of you can figure out ways to use this in more complicated scenes. Good luck and I hope you can have fun with this!
By the way, I realize I haven't posted my email for you. Please drop me a line if I can help you with anything: jnv268@toast.net
Some of my paintings are still available for purchase. Please send me an email for the price on any piece you are interested in.
Also, don't forget to vote at the bottom of the page for the painting you like the best. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kindest regards,
Nancy
jnv268@toast.net
For all of you artists who may occasionally struggle with perspective, I learned a terrific tip today. This works for simple two point perspective. I am not sure how you might adapt it for more complicated scenes, but it is great for something like a barn in a field. You will need your sketch pad, a rubber band, and two bulldog clips (or wooden spring-type clothes pins). Cut the rubber band so that it is one long band. Decide where you want your horizon line. Place one end of the rubber band at the side of your pad at the horizon line and secure with one of the clips. Stretch the rubber band to the other side of your pad and secure it at the horizon line on that side with the other clip. Now you need to determine where you want the front corner edge of your box, house, barn, etc. Raise the rubber band to the height you want it. Holding it in place, draw your lines toward your vanishing points on the horizon. Draw a vertical line extending down from the top point of lines you just drew. You can extend it below the horizon line if you want. Then you will pull your rubber band down to the bottom of the vertical line. Once again draw your lines out to the vanishing points along the rubber band. You can now place the other two vertical lines to express the far corners of your box or whatever shape you are making. I hope this makes sense to you. "A picture is worth a thousand words" probably applies here. It is hard to write it all out instead of just showing you. Please email me if you have any questions about this perspective tool. Maybe some of you can figure out ways to use this in more complicated scenes. Good luck and I hope you can have fun with this!
By the way, I realize I haven't posted my email for you. Please drop me a line if I can help you with anything: jnv268@toast.net
Some of my paintings are still available for purchase. Please send me an email for the price on any piece you are interested in.
Also, don't forget to vote at the bottom of the page for the painting you like the best. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kindest regards,
Nancy
jnv268@toast.net
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