From My New & Gently Used Sketchbook Journal

Portrait Swap and a New Page in New and Gently Used Sketchbook

I did the portrait swap in Wetcanvas Portraiture forum. Here is the portrait I did of Melissa. About 9x12 inches on watercolor paper with watercolor and colored pencil.

And this is the one I did from a little bust of an eagle that I bought at Dollartree in colored pencil.

Wetcanvas Trades

I am participating in two projects on Wetcanvas. One is an annual Christmas card trade. There are 20 people in this trade and we are required to send a Christmas card to each of the other people in the project. In this trade, we are allowed to do just one original cad and have copies made for the giving. Or we can do several or originals for everyone. I chose to do 19 original cards. This is my second time to participate. One of the trades I made all originals and the other, I made one and did copies. I finished my 19 cards today. Now I am waiting for the addresses so I can mail the cards. The second project is the annual portrait trade. I have done this project for about 5 years now. I have had 2 females and 2 males. This year I got a female. She is a pretty blond. I find that I do bbetter with the males. Both of the other females had sorter hair. This one has long hair. That will be my challenge. I haven't started my portrait for the trade yet but will soon. I wanted to finish all my Christmas cards first. Now that those are finished, I can hopefully concentrate on the portrait now. My trade partner has started my portrait. She's doing a really good job. She is using pastels and I will be using colored pencil and watercolor. Hopefully with her permission, I will be able to post both photos and both portraits on here after they are finished.

Several New Pieces from my Journal

I have done several new pieces in my journal. Now looking thru all my photos looking for more to use in the sketchbook Journal.

For several years, we attended an annual baarbecue of some friends of ours who lived in the mountains on a cattle ranch. They have retired now so no more barbecues. This one was taken probably from the one the year before Bill passed away. Jerry sitting with him, passed away the week before Bill. Jerry had cancer.

This is Friday. We had to have her put down on December 31, 2009 just 3 months before Bill passed. She was one of our fur babies.

This was from a photo I took in the 1970s when we lived in Mapleton, Oregon. Bill was a log truck driver and he loved it. It was his dream job.

Bill in the Sketchbook Journal

I just finished this one in my "Till Death To Us Part" sketchbook journal. Colored pencil. I'm not finished with the page but not sure what else I will put on the page. I like the way this one turned out. You can see the pain in his face from his bad back and his overworked heart. He was still working a very hard job that just wore him out each day working too many hours. He had a heart attack on his way home from work one night around 9:30 but before he left work, he washed his diesel truck and got it ready for the next day.