Blick art supply low shipping fee and sale

Blick Art Supplies is having a sale with sliding discounts, based on what you buy.
However, they also have $4.95 shipping with no minimum purchase for that low shipping price.
The reduced shipping fee expires at Midnight. I know I will be taking advantage of this! I love Blick art supply.

New blog posts

I've been posting more to my main blog lately because I just had it re-designed and I need to make that worthwhile! ;-) Some new posts on my main blog:

Portrait Art Show
I went to The Portrait Society of Atlanta's juried portrait show (includes photos)

Portraits of buildings as gifts
The story of how I was hired by a business to draw my biggest artwork ever.

House portrait in pencil
A house portrait commission I recently completed.

Dog pencil portrait

Here's a dog portrait of a mixed-breed dog. My client said she was told that Chester was a Labrador/Dalmatian mix. I think I see some Great Dane in him, though - especially in his snout area. But whatever he is, he's a gorgeous dog, and I really enjoyed drawing him. I used 2B and...Read more>>>

Hunting dog classic portrait

My client sent me a photo of her husband's hunting dog sitting in their backyard with a fence behind him. I 'moved' the dog from that scene into a classic hunting scene at the client's request. The dog is her husband's hunting companion, and this outdoor scene suited him perfectly. The dog was drawn in graphite pencil, the background was done in pastel chalks, and the grasses were done in pastel chalks and Lyra colored pencils. My client was completely thrilled.

Portrait of a young woman

A gift from boyfriend to girlfriend, here is the portrait on the drawing board.

Little boy retro pencil portrait

Kind of a retro portrait, because this was done from a photo from the 1960's for a client, to be similar to the one my client's wife has had since she was a child. Now they have a portrait of each of them for each end of the mantle!

Pencil portrait of Richard L. Taylor of Leonard TX

This is a Memorial Portrait I did of my Uncle, Richard Lafayette Taylor, of Leonard Texas. I did this one in pencil on bristol paper for my Aunt Ruth.

Uncle 'R.L.' was a licensed funeral director for 40 years. His total number of funerals directed is unknown, although it's estimated that it was well over 2,000. He performed funerals for people in up to 8 nearby counties.

I have a newspaper article about my uncle dated 2002, after his death. The article mentions many times about how Uncle RL would show his compassion and love for people...not seen in facial expression, but by his actions, and that there were many kind things that he did that were unknown.

My uncle lived in Texas and I lived in Michigan while growing up, so I'd only see him every two years or so, but he was a special uncle to me and made a big impression. I remember once when I was about 12, he let me come in while he prepared the body of a deceased elderly lady. He took great care and his professionalism was evident. This was at the stage where makeup is applied and the final touches of jewelry, etc are added. His goal was to prepare her to be in a lifelike pose, to cover the bruising she had from the IV tubes with a lace handkerchief, to spare her family from seeing her that way. The goal was compassion and service to the family of the person. It was not a horrible experience for me - if anything, it made me less afraid of death.

Today's pencil portrait from photo

This is the portrait I'm working on today -- not for much longer, though, because my 3 year old son is sick so didn't go to preschool today. He's napping now, that's the only reason I've gotten anything done.

This portrait will be going to the United Arab Emirates, so she has a long trip in front of her!
I just love her classical features, just really lovely to draw.

I left off the purse strap and repositioned her necklace.

I still have some detailing work to do, and more highlights to bring out, then I think I will be done.