July 10, 2011

      I started this sketch of a boot with a different type of colored pencils - drier and less heavily pigmented - just to try the other pencils. I didn't like the initial outline much (the body of the foot is a bit long in the arch) but I'm running out of paper so I just flipped the page and started over with a close-up of just the toe, but decided against that and went ahead with simply finishing this one, adding in some black pen too... so the over-all shape still has the overly long thing going on, and you can just make out the ghost image of the second start through the page. 
      One of the reasons I was interested in drawing the boot was because of the combination of the distressed leather, the steel on the hooks and pull, and the copper plate held on by brass round-headed screws. My colors available here are limited and it was a challenge to approximate copper. 
      My husband cut the copper plate and put it on, so the shape is just a bit irregular and the whole hand retro-fitted look is much more appealing. He thinks I should tell on myself that he added the copper plate after I brushed my boot on his tail pipe. Apparently it took a half an hour to remove the scorch mark... and then I got this cool copper plate! (I really can't see how I could possibly have touched the blasted thing except just as you find the pegs if you have to get back on while it's still hot...). There, I confessed (but I like my boot bling so I'm Not Sorry)!    

May 31, 2011

    As I said earlier, I spent several days this week at my daughter's place helping her get her apartment ready for someone else to stay in it and herself ready to spend the summer taking a class at the Marine Biology Lab at Woods Hole. We stayed very busy and generally ended very tired! 
    This snowboarding boot was one of the many winter things that had to be moved out. It has a hard beetle shell outer portion with - so far as I can tell - purely decorative ribbing and arches. 
    I didn't have enough energy to really finish this patiently, so much of the shading is fast, scratchy and who-cares; but only a minor part of the practice is supposed to be in patience!