Fourth (D)

Yesterday we celebrated our fourth anniversary!  It was a very busy and exciting year with lots of traveling, family activities and of course welcoming a new addition to our own home.  For this (sort of) surprise for J, I went back to a drawing that's almost as old as our marriage.  I originally sketched this in early 2009 as a memento of a most splendid and EXTREMELY highly anticipated reunion (I can't exactly recommend doing almost a year of long-distance relationshipping, but it does have its perks, one of which is several epic airport reunions).  This was one of our last reunions before we were finally dwelling in the same time zone, and just a few days after this world-stopping moment we were officially (secretly) engaged.

I've been meaning to paint this for a while, but I decided to save it for a special occasion, and here was one, so here it is.

Happy anniversary, Wife!  You're my favorite and my best.

Sunday Sketches -- Austen Again (D)

The Summer of Austen continues as I have now made my way through two more of her novels.  This post features character sketches from one of Jane Austen's least well-known and one of her most well-known (and one of my favorite) novels.

Mansfield Park (1814)

The Timidest of All Austen Heroines, or, Sibling Shenanigans

 Emma (1815)

No Inducements To Marry Indeed, or, Paired Off Ever So Nicely

A couple more to finish up the series are on the way by summer's end (or shortly after).


P.S.  We have J to thank for Fanny's pug there in the top right.  It's a most appropriate addition

Babyfaces (J)

We have a baby now!  He is very cute and funny and charming.  He is also giving me cause to practice drawing babies, which I have always found difficult to draw.  The proportions of their faces can be so tricky.  I don't have a lot of drawing time these days, but here are a couple of little attempts I've made recently:

It's so hard to capture his looks and little personality in a wee pen drawing, but it's fun to keep trying. Here's to many future attempts!

Sunday Sketches -- Austen Arts (D)

Last year I had an epic Year of Hardy, which you might recall inspired several Sunday Sketches posts.  This summer I decided to go for something pretty different, much less tragic, and much shorter, with a Summer of Austen.  I'd read two of Jane Austen's published works years previously (and of course seen many movie versions of almost all of them), but I thought it was a good time of year to work through all of them.  I have now read two, which naturally led to these:

Sense and Sensibility (1811)

The Disparate Misses Dashwood, or, Ever So Many Beaux

 Pride and Prejudice (1813)

So Proud, So Prejudiced, or, Waaaay Too Many Characters to Draw Them All

There you go, a plethora of character sketches from two of Jane Austen's most enduring novels!  And plenty of Miss Bennets to go around.  I'm looking forward to reading her less popular (or at least lesser-known) books.

An Unexpected Posting (J & D)

Once we saw the (first) movie in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit series.  Overall we liked it (not as much as his masterpiece that is The Lord of the Rings, but how could anything be as amazing as that?), and who knows if we'll like it more or less as the series goes on, but in any case, it did inspire a few more polished arts, so now we shall present them to you!  First, I'll turn the reins over to J to introduce her masterpiece.

In The Hobbit, you may recall, there is a certain villainous orc of significance called Azog.  He's big, pale and scarred and wreaks havoc periodically during the movie.  He also loses half of one arm and replaces it with a robot hand long, clawed contraption.  But I just couldn't stop thinking of a more practical thing he could stick in there: 

Surely every orc is in need of a good back scratching.  Weta is missing out on my brilliant ideas, you guys!!!!

...

Back to me!  Whatever issues I have with this movie, I think Martin Freeman is brilliant as Bilbo, and so one day he appeared in my sketchbook.  I liked the result so much that I decided to paint it, and so, here he is:

Son of Belladonna Took, Photoshop

Just for fun, here's the original sketch.  Sometimes it's worth seeing things in their rougher form too.

We'll see what happens this December with part the second! As far as we can tell from the first trailer, it features a lot of Legolas and a lot of Kate.

Sunday Sketches -- Speck Style (D)

The day came at last!  The Speck is for certain a speck no more.  Just over two weeks ago we welcomed our little one into the world, and naturally this inspired a couple of arts (though not very many as yet, since most of our time has been spent actually interacting with the little one and adjusting to his and our new schedule).  So, just to update the blog regarding the latest post, here is my first Speck*(-on-the-outside)-related contribution to Sunday Sketches.  I'm sure when J gets the chance she'll be glad to do a little something or other in honor of her firstborn too.

Happy birth, son!  I just love a baby burrito!

And now, just for fun, here's the first unofficial portrait of the little one, done in that most versatile and favorite medium, dry-erase marker and whiteboard.  It changed a lot here and there over the days we spent in that room, but I thought it ended up looking pretty good!  The nurses always seemed amused by it.

Welcome to the family and the world, Boy!  We are ever so pleased to have a whole new ever-changing subject for drawings!

* And yes, we still sometimes refer to him as The Speck, but decreasingly often.

Sunday Sketches -- Eight-Plus Months (D & J)

We're down to the last few weeks of expecting our little one, and naturally I figured J's delightful bump should feature in as many drawings as possible.  So I did a little drawing of her, then she responded by drawing her perception of herself.  Then she did another drawing of her as she felt sitting there as she was, and I likewise responded with a seated portrait.

She just draws smaller figures sometimes because that's how she likes to draw her Pen People.

You look beautiful, Wife!  Even if you do feel like lounging with your water bottle and putting your feet up all the time.  You go right ahead and lounge.  Not much longer!