Pen!

And now it is the week of pens!

I love pens. Smoother than pencils, and they just have... I don't know... a better, darker look than pencil.

Only downside? You can't erase pen (which I'm sure all of you have figured out).

As I've said in my post before this, Colored Pencils, I stated that I wanted to expand from just doing regular, pencil drawings.

 

How it came about to pen?

I began drawing on the backs of my receipts during church, because there was nothing else to doodle on.

 

They call this a dream catcher, am I right?

 

 

And then there's the random flower that at first was just a mess and then I added detail that distracts the mind from the mistakes.

 

 

And then I went back to my old self... and drew a person. As always. I can't resist! A little off-kilter, but aren't we all. ;)

 

 

So there are some of my latest pen artwork.... until then!

And I do believe next week will be about Sharpies! Exciting, right?

Colored Pencil

You all know how I just draw with pencil. Love pencil. And usually it's not even those "professional" pencils, that range from 2B to H to 6B (or something like that). Sometimes I even use a mechanical pencil and the eraser attached.

But after a while, pencil gets boring.

I like color.

So now I am working with colored pencils, and so far....

Okay, let's just say that you can tell I'm used to just plain pencil.

My first piece was of a dancer, without even looking at a picture.

When you think of color, you think (at least, I think) of some kind of...fiesta.

Yes, judge me if you want; it's not the greatest picture.

But hey, it's bright, it's colorful, and if I had done it in pencil, it would have been just black and white. Literally.

 

And then, seeing this picture, I decided to do what I love to do the most: create a face.

So this time I found a picture off the internet, of some green-eyed beauty.

 

And so you now have two colored pencil artworks by me.

When I have time, I shall practice!

And I do have time right now.

But I can hold it off for now.

I'll do it tomorrow. ;)



Summer in a nutshell (part 2)

So, in came July.

Pretty good month, because it was when me and my brothers went to a youth retreat in Colorado.

So we hopped on a plane.....again.

Heeeyyy, I'm getting pretty good at living out of a suitcase!

We traveled with another family, who were pretty fun to hang out with.

So we arrive to Retreat, and (of course) volleyball is constantly going, and I meet old friends and new people. And there was plenty of hiking. Plenty. Eesh.

 

And there was lectures and workshops also, but I never got pictures of those.

But it was a great way to study God's word, and learn more about him, and not just a time to hang out with buddies and play volleyball and sing around the campfire.

I really enjoyed my time there, and hope to go back next summer. :)

 

And theeeeeen, boring life begins.

Okay, not too boring.

We picked and canned peaches.

And we also canned green beans.

Exciting, right?

Along with other events, from hanging out with buddies to pool parties to weddings, the summer break was pretty nice, with some slow days and some busy days.

But am I ready for school to start.

Haha, nooooo. ;)



Summer in a nutshell (part 1)

Okay, sorry about my slacking.

It's something I'm good at. ;)

But, now that summer break is coming to a close, and since I doubt any of you would like to hear long stories of my trips, new friends, dramas, I will just wrap up my summer break with a bunch of pictures. (and explanations, so there is no confusion).

 

First of all, my brothers graduated.

*sniff*

'Twas pretty sad, but I'm proud of them.

My big brothers.

So, right after their graduation, our grandparents took us on a long trip.

This was actually supposed to be their graduation present, and our grandparents paid for their plane ticket and everything. I just tagged along.

The first stop (actually, not really, but let's just say that this is where I started taking pictures first) is a church conference in Indiana.

Volleyball was a big part of Youth Group. (and group conversations, as you can see in the above picture).

 

 

A beautiful building where a lot of sermons took place. There was murals on the sides, of the history of the church, and a beautiful stained glass window in the very front. :)

 

This is half of my "yurt" (which is pretty much just a rounded cabin)... it was very large, with a big skylight, and quite a few bunk beds. In other words, it was quite a luxury, for a camp.

 

Next, after the conference, was a family reunion in Ohio.

With some crazy cousins.....;)

 

Next, after the two week trip East, came a camping trip, with the family and two friends....

Including the lovely Miss Lynsey, one of my best friends. :)

Isn't she cute?????

 

All in all, June was a pretty good month! I'm glad I got to spend it with family and friends. :)

Drawing/Photography Challenge Days 7-9

Day 7: Your Favorite Word

Yeah, I know. It's the capital of Canada or something. Something.

Somewhere in Canada.

The reason WHY this is my favorite word?

Well, deary, when I was like, in 6th or 7th grade, I had to do this spelling thing.

Horrible spelling thing.

What thing is that, you ask?

Well, it was called Spelling Power. It's where you sit down with your teacher (in my case, it was my Mother...) and she'd say a word for you to spell. No studying beforehand.

Therefore, you never knew what words were going to be thrown at you.

Misspell something, and you'd have to rewrite it five times, and then it'd appear again on the next spelling test. Fun, right?

And it gave you the most random words on the planet.

Saskatchewan...Loitering....Pennsylvania....Origami....

And Saskatchewan happened to be the hardest word for me.

But once I learned it, I loved it, and now it's my favorite. :)

Day 8: Your Favorite Animated Character

Mulan! Who'd have guessed.

I seriously couldn't think of any favorite animated character, and when I did, it was two.

So I was stuck between Rapunzel and Mulan.

But goodness, my sister has watched Tangled so many times (and I with her) that I can quote that movie while acting it out.

Just ask my family.

However, I have yet to get tired of Mulan. It is one of the funniest Disney movies. Ever.

Day 9: Your Favorite TV show or Movie

"Football???" You might ask.

Well, not exactly.

Actually, the movie I'm thinking of is Facing the Giants.

Totally awesome Christian movie, and I'd definitely recommend it, along with Courageous, and Fireproof, which are also made by the same people.

And this movie happens to include football in it. Which I don't mind watching, since it's not like a real game where the men are all leaping up and yelling, and I'm just sitting there thinking, "Okay, I don't even know what teams are playing against each other!"

So this is a pretty awesome movie. :)







Day 4-6 of Drawing/Photography Challenge

And so we meet again, exchanging our different pieces of art,

be it pictures by camera or pictures by pencil.

I found it somewhat challenging the past couple days to keep up with this,

(I guess this is why it's called a challenge!) since I have other things that also need tending to.

But here we go! :)

 

Day 4: Your Favorite Place

I made this picture extra big so that you could actually see what was drawn in my notebook.

One of my favorite places is my bedroom. Especially my bed.

There I've done so many things....

And I'm not particularly fond of drawing "landscape" so I only did a quick sketch, not really going into detail.

My bed, my pillow especially, has seen me in every single state.

It's seen me extremely happy-- especially when I'd bounce excitedly on top of it and then fall off...

It's seen me totally sad, and I've soaked the pillow with my tears....

It's seen me in a calm state, where I'd just sit there and read, or draw, or write....

So my bed is one of my favorite places to be.

Day 5: Your Best Friend(s)

Sometimes I wish the page wouldn't wrinkle or bend.

Then it wouldn't distort the faces I had drawn on it.

But anyways, I have many friends, and these are two of my best friends, Joslyn and Lynsey.

Two sweet girls, with two very different personalities. <3

 

Day 6: Your Favorite Book Character



 

This is one of my most favorite book characters, Sage, from "The False Prince" by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

I think I spelled her last name right.

So, it was sort of hard to draw Sage, because I first get a picture of people to draw off of.

And so I looked on the Internet for a picture, but there was none.

So it had to come from my imagination.

Let's see.... in the story, he has blond hair that hangs in his eyes....

Oh, I forgot to put the sassy attitude in his looks.

If you like adventure books, read The False Prince. :)

 

And so, I shall leave you now. Have fun with your drawing/ photography! :)

 



 





Day 1-3 of the Drawing/Photography Challenge

Well, it's been three days since I've started. I did drawing, not photography, though I did think about doing both. And I would have, if dragons had not attacked me.

Dragons with the names of Homework, Activities, Things-to-do, ect.

So! anyways, as I was taking pictures of what I had drawn, I thought, "Oh boy, these people, whoever reads my blog, will be learning quite a bit about me."

So here we go!

Day 1: Draw Yourself!

   Okay, does not look like me. Even though I've spent about 2 or 3 years teaching myself to draw humans, I could never accomplish drawing a self-portrait that actually looked like.... a self-portrait.

My chin looks nice, don't you think?

Hey, my chin actually looks like that chin! Isn't that amazing. ;)

 

Day 2: Your Favorite Animal

Cats! I am (pause for effect) a cat lady. While others happily marry, or others live their lives alone forever...... I shall die alone with 72 cats.

Just as long as my cats get good homes after I die.

 

Day 3: Your Favorite Food

 

This picture says it all. Having a bad day? Eat chocolate. Having a day where you just want to cry? Eat chocolate. Having a fine day? Celebrate it by eating chocolate.

I am a chocoholic.

And that's chocolate the lady in the picture is eating, not ice cubes still stuck together!

I need to put a Willy Wonka symbol on there. ;)

 

And just to randomly close off this post, I'd like to post a picture of one of my cats, who proudly posed for me.

No, really. She posed like a soldier about to go off to war!

Who can resist posting that?? ;)