Finally, a Good Omens-Free Post!

 This past week I did the usual Thursday and Friday sketch Zoom meetings with the Puget Sound crew, and spent the rest of the time failing to think of anything else to draw, taking the Hounds for walks, basking in afternoon sunshine in the yard, researching computers, playing the piano, reading (The Return of Sherlock Holmes), watching British comedians on YouTube, and being quite indolent all in all.

For the drawing session on Thursday, this photo was chosen (but not by me!):

I did not care for the overall bland values, and the lack of strong shapes within the rock, or the driftwood--for some reason, I am terrible at drawing driftwood. But the majority opinion prevailed.  

So I drew it in pen first, using a sort of contour line approach (where you don't lift the pen from the paper, and that worked fairly well.

Then I decided to add watercolor. Because there weren't many interesting colors in the photo, I just made some up.  It got rather messy, and did not turn out great, but at least I had fun doing it.

On Friday we chose a Japanese Noh theater mask.  It was called the Demon Assassin--creepy indeed.  I did NOT make up the colors this time--it truly was deep red.  Trying to get the symmetry correct was a challenge.  I used pen and colored pencil.

In home decorating news, I spent part of Small Business Saturday at the local antique mall, wandering about looking for something to speak to me.  I came home with this fabulous wrought-iron candelabra:

Turns out that first spot I placed it was a bit too close to a smoke detector.  So I moved it as far away as possible, and am happy with the new location:

Every home needs a candelabra, don't you think?  One of my Facebook friends called it "elegant and whimsical", which is exactly what I aim for in much of my decor.

As for my computer research, I wound up ordering an iPad Pro tablet and stylus pen.  It should arrive next week.  The plan is to have lots of stuff to learn and try out over the wintry months ahead, including drawing/painting programs, and possibly animation software, too.  Digital art is not something I've ever done before, but I've been impressed by what I've seen out there, and am looking forward to giving it a try.

That's it for now.  Stay safe and warm out there!