WIP Jimmy Choo

8 x 12"  Arches Smooth 300gsm paper. 

I think I will call this finished.  I Will leave it for a day and make sure there is nothing to change.
It's been fun but curly white fur is always difficult.

WIP Jimmy Choo #3

Jimmy is an Apricot/White Poodle. It's coming together but White fur is so so hard especially when it's also curly. I am getting there slowly. I have decided to mist her out at the bottom of the drawing ...cuts down on all the curls a little with not having a lot of time. Still quite a bit to do yet.

WIP #2 Jimmy Choo . ( Poodle)

8 x 12"  Arches Smooth 300gsm paper. 

I managed to get a little more done on this yesterday. I am hoping to get this finished over the next couple of days so that I can get it in the mail.

Jimmy WIP

8 x 12"  Arches Smooth 300gsm paper. 

I have managed to get down to drawing Jimmy.    He is an apricot colored poodle.  He is so cute.
I am hoping to get this finished and sent off to Perth to my son Greg and his Fiancee Tash for Christmas.
I think I will make it in time.

Busy time of the year

Yes it's a busy time of the year.  Heaps of preparation for one day ;). I love Christmas especially when children are around.  I have spend many years making and fitting out Dolls houses etc. A long time ago now. My daughter and family live in  Townsville Queensland, My son and partner are over in Western Australia (Perth).  Nevs son, daughter and their families are in Melbourne (Victoria)  We are spread all around our huge country. It's not always easy to get together.    We will chat a lot on the phone especially Christmas morning.
So this year is is just Nev, me  and Jessie. this year.  Christmas day we will have Turkey (no fuss a nice Turkey Breast to slice).  Ham of the bone and some King Prawns.  Olive bread and salad.   A bottle of wine.     I have to have Plum pudding, Christmas cake, rum balls mince pies etc... you know all those watch the waistline foods.  hehehe.  Oh when I think of Christmas's many years ago when we had traditional Christmas dinner, it was nothing to have 15 - 18 family and friends around the table.
I am putting up the Christmas tree today which I always enjoy with the help of Jessie..LOL.  I will post a photo when it's finished and the lights are on tonight.
I will be starting a WIP  this week.   A dog....Oh no it's not Jessie YET .  Ity's my son Greg and his partner Tash's dog called Jimmy Choo.    The drawing will be a gift. Ssshhhhhhhhh...

How is everyone's preparations going for Christmas?  

Jessie

We have at last got our Bully.   We got her yesterday.  Jessie was a show dog and has had 2 litters of puppies the last being only 9 weeks ago. She went by the name of Audrey.  We will change to Jessie when she gets settled.   She will be 4 yrs old in January.  
Last night she was very worried and a little stressed.   Today sees a  huge change in her.  very calm and seems well settled.    She ate well at dinner last night and enjoys her walks.  She walks well on the lead.
Now retired as we are...Jessie can enjoy a good life with no work and all play.   We think she will be such a good companion for us and us for her.  She loves the tummy rubs.

Bison (Buffalo) WIP finished.

I think I will call this finished...  I can fiddle with it for ever LOL.  There comes a time to say  sign it and call it done.
I have really enjoyed drawing this wonderful majestic animal.   Now what can I do next.????  I am sure I will find something interesting from our trip.

Bison WIP #2

Canson 220 gsm Paper. 30 x 18cm

Got a little further on the Bison yesterday.  Still lots of detail to do yet.  It's so much fun drawing him with his thick coat     I'm not sure if they look like this all the time or if they are in the process of shedding the winter coat but then we took these photos in August/Sept.

WIP Bison

Canson 220 gsm Paper. 30 x 18cm

Time I started drawing.  A nice free day at last to draw. I am doing the complete animal so it will take me awhile. Lots of hair...  It's good practice.   It's pretty much at the ugly stage on the head. hopefully it will get better as I work on it.
  

Bluey having breakfast on the patio.

Bluey having breakfast on the patio. a video by Nev Cross on Flickr.

My work has been featured. (Big Smiles)

A nice surprise when an online company asked if they could feature my work.  Here is the article.
http://pocketchange.become.com/2011/11/best-of-the-web-no-39.html


Thank you  Max Shpungin.   Also here is a link of interest from the company.  http://tips.become.com/

Have a great weekend.

If this isn't the most handsome little Boy.

More on our trip in Gallery. 

I couldn't show you this before our trip as it was a surprise for friends of ours.  Lee, Charlie who live in the US.  This is their grandson Jake.   He is 3 yrs old now.  and still as handsome.  

I can't remember what size I did this but it was quite large.  It was great to meet young Jake in person.  Our last visit to them was in 2004. 

Photos of our trip.

I am slowly working through some photos to upload to Picasa .   I have created an album for China.

Please click on the Gallery Tab under the header on my blog site and click on the image for China 2011.

I hope to get back to my drawing board very soon now.  I didn't get chance to draw while on the trip...  Hope I have not gone rusty  LOL.     I have so many ref photos but not as many of wild life as I would have liked.

Hope you enjoy the photos.   I will work on the USA next.  this will be a large album as we were there for 6 weeks and visited so many places.  

Back home

Hi all.

I am back home after a wonderful 66 day holiday.  Sorry for no posts during the China trip.  China do not allow access to Blogger or Facebook. Grrrrrrrr

USA 

We had a marvelous time in the USA as we have before. The country and the people. We cannot speak highly enough.  Everyone is so friendly.   It was so sad to leave.
Meeting our art friends was amazing  -   Jan http://petstoposies.blogspot.com/   Gary http://gkeimigart.blogspot.com/  Tom http://silversagegallery.blogspot.com/   It was great to see all  Gary and Toms work in the gallery.
Deb. http://artshtickscorner.blogspot.com/    It was great to meet you all and wish we could have spent more time with you all.   It was also great to meet up with a friend  from Flickr Andrew and his beautiful Bully, Maycie.     Last but not least meeting up with friends Charlie, Lee, Dawn, Mario and young Jake.  It was great to see them and catch up again after 7 years.

UK 

We had a great time in the UK.  My very dear Aunt who I love so much.  Meeting up with a 2nd cousin twice removed whom I had not met before Dennis and Christine. We spent a wonderful 2 days with.   It was just like we had known them forever.
I also met up with friends from my teenage years.  We all had a great lunch.

China

Our first meal in Beijing with the tour group was Peking duck.   which was lovely.  

Beijing.   It was great seeing the Pandas at the Zoo.  The great wall, Tianaman square and the Forbidden City.  I am sorry I do not have anything nice to say about the city in general...It was dirty and the Chinese spit everywhere, the toilets are disgusting except for in the shopping centers. It was difficult to find a western toilet at times.  The Chinese don't seem to have any regard for personal space... they push, shove and they are neither friendly or smile.   The only place we did see friendliness was in Suzhou where they smiled and said Hello.  Came over to us at times to show off their babies, it was so nice.  

We had lunch with a Chinese family in Xian which was very nice.  We also visited a school in Xian where we had morning tea and entertained by dancing and singing from the children. It was a special school for children with learning difficulties.  They were so sweet and we got up and did the chicken dance with them.  so fun.  We bought bracelets that they made and gave donations to help the school.  www.westhuiling.org 

We had two overnight train trips.  15 hours each on the tour.   from Beijing to Xian and Xian to Suzhou.  The first overnight train was a real culture shock with only squatting toilets (disgusting state).  6 bunks to a cabin.  fortunately I was given a bottom bunk.  The old Chinese man opposite me snored and slurped noodles through the night.   Grrrrrrrrrrr.     The second overnight train was a little better after getting over the shock.  toilets the same but we managed to have all the tour group in 2 cabins next to each other so we had lots of laughs together.   We took Imodium tablets to before getting on the train. haha to reduce using the hole in the floor toilets. 

In Suzhou, we had a ride on a rickshaw which was fun and then on the gondola which was even more exciting with the Chinese men and women that rowed the gondolas sang as we wound our way through the waterways. I will post a video clip soon. It was awesome.   In the evening we went with a couple from the group for a long walk along the canal where it was buzzing with life.  went to a wine bar and relaxed with much laughter.   Suzhou was a lovely surprise for us...I could have stayed there longer.  

The Tour we did was the Intrepid. Our guide was Chinese but spoke good English, he was fun. There was a good measure of free time which was great.  We had a mixture of food.... some Chinese ( not sure what we were ordering) LOL   We tried to look for the restaurants that either had pictures or was written in English underneath the Chinese.    We did find some Pizza Huts which amazingly had upstairs al a carte . We could get a steak, Pasta, Pizza.   super desserts and WOW a glass of wine, and a western toilet with soap and hand drier.  Pure luxury.   The Chinese are not wine drinkers, especially white wine was so hard to get.   OMG I think I dried out in China. ...hehehehe.   

Our last train journey from Suzhou to Shanghai was on the bullet train. which traveled at 299 klm hour at times.  We saw the old Shanghai and the New.   We then got the MagLev train. ( Magnetic Levitation). to the airport.  The speed reached over 300 km per hour. When the Maglev was tested it went 500 kmh.   We got to the airport in 12 minutes. a taxi would have taken 1 hour.
Our group on the tour was small....   3 Americans, 2 Canadians, 2 English and 3 Aussies.

It is nice to be home.  We slept well last night in our comfy bed.  In China all the beds are like concrete...they are so hard.

It feels good to be back with my friends on Blogger and back to my art board which I have plenty of ref photos to draw.  I did not get as many wild life photos as I hope to get.  I guess it was not the right time of year .   We did get close to the Buffalo's which was great in the US.

I will post a lot of photos into Picasa and post the link in blogger for you.

Hugs
Dors.  xx

More on our trip.

B&B in Williamsburg.   (Home from Home with great hosts at the Magnolia Manor).

Williamsburg.  of early settlement.

At the Magnolia manor.  dinner on the deck.

Lunch with Deb in most awesome place.  Clydes Willow Bank. 

Deb and I.  It was so wonderful to meet Deb.

An Amish Farm in Lancaster.

I posted this oil painting to our wonderful friends Charlie & Lee in Connecticut about 8 years ago.  Reunion yesterday so I got to present it officially.    Friends for life and beyond.

Charlie, Jake and the drawing I did recently of Jake when he was a baby....  to present to them on this trip. 

Oh wow what a dinner at a wonderful steak house in Connecticut.  We had a great time with long time friends that we cherrish so much. 
You know we have more friends in the USA than we have in Australia.   that's a fact. 

Presenting a drawing of Maycie to a dear friend  in Connecticut.  Andrew and his gorgious Bull Terrier Maycie.
Nev and Andrew met on a Bully site..   We had a wonderful day meeting them and lunch was at an old restaurant which was awesome.   Smorgasboard of fine foods..   most enjoyable.   Thank you Andrew.   

North Carolina

We had a wonderful time in North Carolina.   
We met Jan and Dayle, stayed with them overnight. They treated us to a wonderful homecooked meal with specialty southern food which was so delicious.    Spent some time in Jans  studio which is super.
It was Nevs birthday that night so a special desert was made by Jan even dressed with candles. 
It was sad to leave them as we had so much fun.

At Jans.  Humming bird at the feeder.



Bear at an inclosure at Grandfather Mountain..  couldn'y get a pic of a wild one.

Deer at Granfather Mountain.

Mile High swing bridge.

We are having the most exciting time. 

We are in Williamsburg 3nights.   Not uploaded the camera pic yet so hopefully tomorrow.   Staying at the Magnolia Manor.
We leave Williamsburg tomorrow after breakfast.... yummy B & B breakfast.
Meeting with Deb and Cliff for lunch at a super looking place that Deb  chose.   Can't wait to see them.   Then we have to depart and make for Lancaster to check into our next B&B.

We have become addicted to the WalMart... LOL.   I wanna live here.  :)  They are a super store. 

In Dubois

We had a great day in Dubois Met up with Gary and Vicki Keimig. also Tom Lucas. We had lunch in a cafe in Dubois with Gary and Vicki.  Then went into The Silver Sage Gallery to meet Tom. 
Fabulous people and wow the art was superb in the gallery. 

Here are a few photos we took. It was a very hot day.  Gary was doing a workshop and we still had some driving to do to get to our destination that night in Rawlins on the way to Denver.

Gary and Dors

Tom and Dors.

Taking a look at Gary's work.

Silver Sage Gallery.

More on the USA's beautiful Country

Buffalo Herd

We could not believe it ....We were driving  along the road to take pictues of the Moulton Barn on Morman row Jackson hole.  As we had not seen any Buffalo or Bison close up...Nev said no problem Doreen when we get toi the Barn the Buffalo will be there with the wife and kids and even the relos.   Well we laughed so much because as we arrived there...Here were the herd and we stopped the car and they just strolled passed us...We could have touched them.   No zooms here. 

Just waiting to get the the photos resized from Dubois.  
Oh we are having the best time and there is so much more to come.... 

In the USA

OMG we are having so much fun.  Glad we don't have to pay for rolls film and processing these days.  taken so many photos.   Not seen too much wildlife yet except for Buffalo and the odd deer.
We had a wonderful time in South Dakota. Met up with a dear driend of 4 yrs emailing.  Maria was so lovely and it was like we had known each other all our lives.

Mt Rushmore.

Mt Rushmore was superb.
We went onto Jackson Hole and stayed in Jackson.   It was our anniversary during our stay in Jackson.  Great dinner

We left Jackson this morning..Oh I must say that the condo we stayed in "The Indian Painbrush" was superb.   Everything we needed there and they went the extra mile with the nice little extras.  

We drove up to Dubois from there and met up with Gary & Vick Keimig, Tom Lucas.   We enjoyed a lunch together at their favourite cafe.   The Silver Sage Gallery was awesome to see.  All the wonderful work of Gary and Tom. Lots of hugs and photos.   (to come).  I even got their autographs.   :)

We are now in the lovely B&B Ferris Mansions at Rawlins in Wyoming.   Elegant, old and comfortable. 

Ok time for bed after a long journey.  Nev had done most of the driving but I can now say I have driven in the USA which is the opposite side of the road driving and left hand drive.  It was a bit nerve wracking at first but good.  just have to think all the time...  we keep saying turn right and turn tight. LOL.   or as Nev says follow the car in front of you.  hehehe. 

It's all fun.  

The US is a fabulous country and we love the friendly people. 

In the USA (Las Vegas)

A fantastic Helicopter ride and Champagne Breakfast at the Grand Canyon.

Ok everyone has to put a dollar in the machine in Vegas.

A great time in Vegas but we are not Tinsel town people and as good as it was we were happy to move on to Denver.

In the USA

Arrived safely in the USA.  SF was fantastic..  We walked so much and saw so much.  Walked from The Hilton to the Golden Gate Bridge.   walked over the bridge and back.  wow sore feet but a great day.
We then flew to Las Vegas.  Tinsel town  LOL   Celine Dion concert was amazing as was the Helicopter down the Grand Canyon.   with Champagne breakfast and a delicious food hamper. Only 2 days in Vegas.   Photos tomorrow when we have resized. 
I caught a cold in Vegas which went to my chest.  Grrrrrr  I barked worse than a dog.  LOL  ended up at the Dr's in Jackson.  What with the altitude in Yellowstone and Teton being as high as 9,000 feet above sea level.   I gasped for breath and coughed .... On anti- Biotics and cough bottle and recovering well.  
The we flew onto Denver got into our rental car and headed up to South Dakota.   where we met my long time friend Maria.  (photos to follow).   Fabulous time in Spearfish, Rapid City. Mt Rushmore.
We will post photos as time permits.
We left South Dakota and arrived in Yellowtone National Park and onto Jackson Hole.  Staying at Jackson in a Condo.... very comfy.   We are here until Saturday when we leave for Dubois to meet up with Gary and his wife Vicki. can't wait to see them.
Then to Rawlins for a night and then to Denvor for our flight to Charlotte.  I will leave it there until we have sorted out some pics....we have thousands already. 
We love the USA.  
Lots more to post.....  soooooon.   Love to all and hope you are having fun painting.  I can see I will have lots to catch up on.  But for now we are having so much fun. 
Hugs...Dors.

Koalas

Koala drawings in Graphite.  Arches 300 gsm smooth paper.

Just a couple of Koala and that's it until we return from our trip.  

Watch out for the photos though.

We will post photos on here , FB and Flickr. 

Happy drawing and painting. xx 

Hugs to all We leave Tues and will have the night in Sydney so we are close to the airport for our early flight on Wednesday.    

Kagaroo with Joey

Kangaroo with Joey
Arches 300gsm smooth paper. 20 x 31cm

Still drawing Kangaroos here. I just could not resist drawing this Mom with here sweet little Joey. 

WIP Kangaroo Finished.

Kangaroo on Arches smooth 300gsm  paper 30 x 20cm.

I really enjoy drawing these Kangaroos as they feel part of  the family.  They visit so often now.
Only 10 more sleeps before we are up up and away on our US/Uk/China trip.
I may be able to get one more drawing in before we leave.  I don't think I will have much drawing time while away so I will post photos and keep you updated as to where we are.  We will have the net book with us so I will try and keep up with reading and commenting on blogs as much as I can .

New arrival. Awwwwwwwwww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lCKc8tURtc      This is an amazing video showing the birth of a Joey.

We had an idea this was happening and tonight there she was with baby Joey in the pouch.  Couldn't you just cry with joy.    Just beautiful and in our garden.   This is truly heaven in the back yard.

 They are tiny when they are born about 1" long, they find their own way after birth into Mum's pouch where they keep growing.  I think Mum kicks them out when they are big enough and strong enough to walk.

WIP Kangaroo

Kangaroo   30 x 20cm on Arches 300 gsm smooth paper.

Another Kangaroo. Nev took some great shot and now I am hooked on drawing them all.  LOL.

I am getting in as much drawing as possible as while I am away I expect we will be too busy with all the sightseeing and taking photos. It will be a while before I put pencil to paper. Maybe I will get a little time in the evenings to do some quick sketches, especially when I have had my Dick Blick fix.   I can't wait to get  into that store.  I will have to watch I don't spend to much of the holiday dollars.  hehehe.  

Cutie Bub (Kangaroo)

Baby Kangaroo. 8 x 12"  on Arches 300 gsm paper

Graphite Drawing.

Ooops no WIP's.  I had better get back into them.   I have just been playing around  having fun with the photos that Nev took last week of the Kangaroos in our garden.

Today this gorgeous little one was right our side my window....almost like he was saying, Hey is that me you are drawing.  LOL  and yes it was.  

Maycie Finished.

Maycie.  English Bull Terrier.  graphite on Arches smooth 400gsm paper.

Well Maycie is finished.  What's next.  I think maybe one of the Kangaroos  that visit us regular.
Nev took some great photos this week of them.  

Maycie

Maycie on  Arches 300gsm  smooth watercolor paper.   28 x 20cm

This is a gift for a friend in the USA where I will be delivering it by hand.   I still have some tweaking to do on it. and to finish work on  the front legs.  

I have not had a lot of time to blog the last couple of weeks with finishing drawings and getting things sorted for our big trip.  We are all sorted now, everything booked . I have done a little yummy clothes shopping but all is casual as I am not to much  of a  dressy up person.  The good old faithfuls like jeans and Tees.  LOL.  I feel so at home in. A lot of our time will be sightseeing and cameras in hand which will be so exciting and to be able to meet up with a few blogger friends is a huge plus. There will be a bunch  of photos .   

Male Lion Finished.

Lion.  28 x 42cm  on  Waterford & Bockingford drawing paper 300gsm

I finished it this morning.    After many many hours work I am calling it done.  It's been another project that I have really enjoyed.