Sunday, July 3, 2011

A Little Cowboy Portrait and Garden Woes



I just finished this portrait of my niece's little boy, Read.  He's a cute little ole' cowboy!  It's been awhile since I've done a realistic anything, let alone a  portrait, so it was a little challenging but not too bad.  It's cut out of wood and then mounted on an 8 x 10 wood backboard for framing.  I used to do woodburned portraits for a living years ago.  This one isn't woodburned, it's airbrushed and I've never actually airbrushed a portrait before..  I could have (should have) accented the highlights and deepened the shadows now that I see it from this perspective of a photograph.

And my lettering leaves something to be desired....I'm no Sara!  I just kind of free-handed it on there and didn't try very hard I'm afraid. Lettering, eh, not into it.  I've already sealed it, though, so it's done and I just have to accept it. Airbrushing doesn't leave a whole lot of room for expression like brushwork does, though.  In retrospect, if I had to do it over, I'd probably brush paint it so there would be little more character in the rendering. (Stop it, Laurie, it's finished..gah!)

My niece Kris works with my sister Nancy who has a very successful tax and financial consulting business and she did our taxes this year.  In typical Laurie style, I assume that she might like something more personal than cash for payment. I hope that assumption isn't one-sided!  Maybe I should've asked.....

Well the deer ate my ENTIRE garden and started in on my precious purple phlox. Right down to the stems.   Man, I was just like, ERRRRRRRR.  They even ate the tops off my giant sunflowers and my morning glories. The only thing left is a bumper crop of passion flower vines.  By the way, passion flowers are super cool looking, but they spread like alien freak plants.

Between the early flooding, the hail and the cold followed by record heat, draught, and now deer, it's not been a good year for growing things.  If that's not bad enough, my cherry tree has no cherries, my apple tree has no apples, my mulberry tree has no mulberries and my pear tree has maybe six pears.  What in the world... ?   I don't know if it's crazy weather or if the honeybees have taken a hit and things just didn't get pollinated. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any honeybees this year. I bet it's because of that damn electric company and their toxic herbicide program. I'd rather have growing thngs than electricity.  We didn't even get any black raspberries this year and those are always copious.

Ah well, whine whine wah wah wahhhhhhh.  I'd better get out into the studio and make something before I depress myself and everyone around me!  Gah!

Have an awesome whatever day this is!

Laurie

9 comments:

  1. I'm sorry. But your post made me laugh! I know all about marauding animals, except for us its kangaroos! Was your winter rather mild last year? That may account for lack of budding fruit? Your portrait is lovely! I think as artists we are never happy with what we have done, can always see room for improvement! But really, that is the key, isn't it? Look at what is finished, see if improvements could have been made, then use that knowledge on the next one. x Julie

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  2. Ohmygosh- it looks fantastic to me!! Adorable!! I didn't know you did that stuff :D Super AWESOOOOMMEE!!!
    Wow- okay... I just had a spaz attack because I wish *I* could do that ;D Hahaha

    Aggggggggggg, oh my!!! Badddd growing year :( And soorrry about the deer :P That really sucks! I hope your 6 pears make it at least ;)

    xoxo
    Jordan

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  3. Not bad considering you said you hadn't done it for awhile. I never would have guessed. He's cute! I think it's a different kind of portrait. The lighting comes from above, and the electric colors I think make it special.

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  4. Lol ~ and I thought I was critical of my work... ;) It looks fabulous, and I think your lettering looks great!! I would love to get payment in the form of one of your creations, what a treasure! Sorry about your garden. :P You should really have your boyfriend pee all around the perimeter... ;) Maybe losing the garden freed up more of your time for creating? Always looking for that silver lining... ;)

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  5. It looks wonderful.. she'll be thrilled with it.. we are sooooo hard on ourselves...you did a fab job.. he is adorable.. so sorry about your garden.. maybe Melinda's right and get him to pee around it next year..lol... or put up a big fence around it next year.. it's been a crazy weather year for sure everywhere.. sad about all the flowers too though... can hardly wait to see what you do with the silver lining..
    Kath
    xx

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  6. I love the portrait! I can do letters, but people? absolutely not! My people look more like Picasso's than a portrait! I would take something personal and handmade over a cash payment... it shows that you put thought into it :)
    I feel your pain about the garden... its been too hot for anything to grow here!

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  7. Julie, kangaroos?! Good gawd that would be weird! I can't even remember what last winter was like, but I don't think it was mild. How could I forget that? Menopause....should be called memory-pause.

    Jordan, yay for six pears! They're low on the tree though and right next to the deer trail so I figure they'll be a tasty snack for the little "dears".

    Thanks Finding Charm, I haven't done a portrait in at least 10 years, probably longer than that. At first I thought I'd lost my ability, but it started to ease up a little. I can't seem to avoid those electric colors, even in a portrait!

    Thanks Melinda, I hope she likes it, you never really know with portraits. People see likenesses in a different light, sometimes. So having the ole boyfriend pee around the garden would actually work? I have several male friends, I'd better put them to work! It actually is kind of relief to not have to worry about the garden. This draught has been causing me to spend hours watering every couple of days and our community well is getting low. Things happen for the best, silver linings are good!

    Hi Kath! yeah, I'm especially bummed about my flowers, but I notice that maybe they're starting to put out some shoots lower on the stem. To protect them, every time I see my bf heading to the bathroom, I'll send him outside, lol. Hopefully the neighbors won't mind...hehee

    Hey Sara, Picasso's wildly famous and successful, ya know! I figured you Oklahomians were getting the heat, how about the draught? We've had rain all around us and when it reaches are little haven, it just evaporates. I'm getting suspicious that Eureka has some kind of bubble around it!

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  8. Hi Laurie.. hmmm are the neighbors that close?? they might bloom again.. the rain/hail etc has been missing us again so we are drying out finally... whoo hooo!!
    xx

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  9. That completely STINKS about your gardens and plants... YUCK! I don't really swear, but if I did I might throw in some sympathetic curses here. ;)

    That portrait is really, really good, though, Laurie! You did a fantastic job - don't be so hard on yourself! If nothing else, you did better than I would have done. If I'd tried... now THAT would be an alien freak. ;D

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