
Tender moment

To paint the bears fur is a challenge of making it look thick and rough. It takes time with colored pencil, but the colored support makes it easier than if working on white paper.
I have thought of a title since I started this (I often have a title from scratch). I just came up with it an early morning: "Tender moment".
As the drawing develops, you'll better understand the title.
Tender moment
I love this
Starting january 2011, I'll make a montly post with a couple of "I love this" drawings or paintings.Why not applaude something you really admire and love to look at :) Enjoy!
As I cannot copy-paste other artists work, I have placed a link on the title.
"Perseverance" Acrylic wolfpainting by Cristina Penescu.
I think this is a masterpiece. The composition, the light, the background, the mood, the texture and colors. Just everything works brilliant. The motif drags you in, and you cannot get tired of looking at that gorgeous animal. 24 x 36 inches - I would love to see this in Reallife too. Must blow you away.
"The Horse whisperer". Pencildrawing by Terry Miller
What a masterful drawing. The light and shadow-play are fantastic. Beside the superior drawingskills the drawing has a fantastic mood and tells a moving story. It just hit your feelings and emphaty for the horses. I love the title too. 8 x 17 inches.
Mike Sibley / Starving Artists

Do you know Mike Sibley? - if not, you must have a look at his drawings. They are outstanding, and he is a master at drawing dogs. Take a look here. Mike wrote a great book about drawing, there are info on the site. Untill january 18.th you save the shipping.
I have a gallery of drawings at his Starving Artists site. Take a look here. There are many galleries to enjoy at the site.

Plans for 2011
The first thing I did for 2011 artwise, was to alter the construction of the year-plan. So applying more steps, but only 1-2 sentence per step looks more simplified, easier to read. I then, hope I will manage to re-read it more often than I did my 2010 plan!
So:
Again: I have to limit time on PC! I am going to follow specific sites and maintain my own, but otherwise...
In 2010 I managed to make a montly workplan that actually worked for me. It seems to me, that the way written things are constructed means a whole lot for succes or failure for me.
I am certainly going to use this again.
I don't know how other artists do this, but I have so very many ideas and plans, that if I don't make some kind of plan I will go nuts.
Working in series. This is also very important for me to remember. I am a person that can be easily distracted (born in gemini might cause this ;)) and I must admit, that my eager to try out a lot of things, works against this goal. That is also why my idea of a calender is not yet a reality. Even I did make a tablecalender for 2009, I want to make a calender with more similar images than all kinds of animals.
My printsales has been going up, so try to keep it up.
I like to enter competitions and shows, but I am often out a bit late, even missing some deadlines. I will try to be more organized here too.
Now that I am joining an artclub, I'll have at least one pathway to exhibit. And I should do more in the exhibit direction - contact possible places.
I will increase my activity on my facebook artsite. I've been concentrating mostly on my homepage and blogs, neglecting FB a bit. That must change.
Summing it up :
Off the computer and go to the drawingtable
Use the new montly plan for what to do and use deadlines
Work in series, possibly for a calender
Advertise for prints, cards and originals
Start drawings or paintings for competitions/shows as early as possible
Exhibit locally = contact possible places
Use Facebook artpage even more
With this I look forward to a new year and I also wish all of my fellow artistfriends a fruitful and happy year with your artwork.
Lene Abstractions

The Blog has been quiet for some month, but there are new work on it now.
Lene Abstractions
Review 2010





And once again I must admit that making plans are one thing, following them are another.
A goal I made in 2009 was to participate in shows and competitions either on-line or in RL. I entered 14 shows online. I did not find any local shows to enter.
Accomplishments:
April: my graphite drawing “Mille - poodle” got a 12. place in Guestgallery’s International artshow: Realism. A show with hundredes of entries. Votes by public.
Juni: My oilpastel painting “He’s my Favorite” - jutland horse, got a 2. plads i Fine Art America Online competion: “Magical horse”. Votes by public.
Juni: My graphitedrawing “Playtime?” got a 4. place in Fine Art America Online competion: “Dogs”. Votes by public.
It seems the public liked my work more that judges. I entered a couple of judged shows, but didn't make it.
I used my sketchbook more this year. Even it hasn’t become a habit yet, I am satisfied so far. I also came up with a montly workplan that satisfied me, making it much easier to stay focused.
I build sites with sale of originals, prints as well as items with my prints on it. Especially I am happy with my printsales.
I contacted an artgroup in my area and was accepted as a member. That means groupvisits to artgalleries and musems and also participation in their yearly show at Easter. I look forward to that in 2011.
I did quite a bit of computerdrawings for my new blog Tegneriet and my new pin-up blog.
As mentioned above I started 2 new blogs. Both my A Zoo blog and homepage got tranlated into a danish version. I also started the danish blog Tegneriet and a pin-up blog.
I held a portraitcompetition for my readers and had a great response. I loved to draw the winner in graphite: The lovely dalmatian Sigurd. A competition for viewers/readers to win a print did not work at all.
Prints
Gentle giants as prints

Two gentle giants - irish wolfhounds - standing in surroundings representing the breeds long history back in time; old castle walls and heavy old wooden door.
Imagekind store
Your opinion please



I would love to have your help.
I am allowed to use one graphite drawing for a show.
I find it can be very hard to choose myself, and therefor I ask for your opinion.
Which of the 3 graphite drawings do you like the most?
You can apply why, but don't have to.
"Gentle giants - irish wolfhounds"
"Black like arabian nights"
"Dalmatian"
Macaw in watercolor

My macaw watercolorpainting are finished. I really had to watch my step, not to put in more details.
It has been more difficult with the bird, than with my chameleonpaintings (photo of two). Partly due to the feathers.
Beside that, the paintingtechnique has been different with fewer layers, which results in a less transparent painting.
It has been an interesting experiment though, but I find that glazing layers gives me a more satisfying result than mixing more concentrated watercolors. At least when I wish to paint a loose watercolor.


