Retrieving Deleted Data

No pics today - just some advice for anyone who ever, like me, accidentally deleted some valuable photos and reference material. Last week, one of my boys needed a Flash Drive urgently and thinking I had already saved the 400mb of photos on this device to a CD, I quickly deleted all the files and then promptly emptied the Recycle Bin. This week, I went searching for one of my reference photos of a peacock, only to realise that all those photos were not stored anywhere else. Time to PANIC!!! Or to go on-line and do a search (thank God for the internet). I came across a program called Uneraser. Many of you may of heard of it, but I never had, and tentatively downloaded the trial version. I then popped the Flash Drive into the USB port and ran the Uneraser software. Up came all the photos I had deleted, however to retrieve them and save them to the computer, you do have to buy the full version which was $45AUD (around $40USD), but in my mind that was money well spent. I was so happy to have all my precious images back and promptly copied them to two CD's. :))

Jack II Portrait, a couple of awards and a Tutorial

Jack

8x10 inches

Acrylics on Canson Mi-Teintes Tex Card

I promised by brother and sister-in-law that I would do a portrait of their gorgeous little son Jack when he was first born, and he turns one next week, so here it is (better late than never)

I was thrilled to get a couple of awards in the miniature section of the Art Exhibition at the Penrith Show and the Penrith City Council Encouragement award for 'A Life Well Spent' and 'Carnivale Juggler' this week.

For anyone interested in step by step tutorials on working in pencil on drafting film, the tutorial for drawing this eye came out last week in Fine Arts and Decorative Painting magazine, Vol 17 No. 12.

I helped out at the youngest fellow's athletics carnival today, so that's all from me - I'm dead on my feet!!! Cheers to all :))

Baby Self Portrait

Baby Self Portrait

8x10 inch

Acrylics and some pastels on Canson Mi-Teintes Tex Card

This portrait was really done for a challenge for the portraiture group on RedBubble. I like this one much better than my adult self portrait, and I bet you can tell from the portrait, that it was quite an OLD reference photo - LOL!!!

Acrylic Portraits - Steph

Steph

8x10 inches

Acrylics on Canson Mi-teintes Tex paper (with a hint of coloured pencil and pan pastels)

This was my second portrait using acrylics, and was actually a little more challenging than the first because of the dark skin tones from the cast shadows. I always prefer doing softer, lighter skin tones, but couldn't resist using this beautiful reference photo of my Goddaughter Steph, who actually turned 18 last week. How time flies!!! This portrait will the first used as a sample for my painted portrait listings.

Unlocking Old Secrets

Unlocking Old Secrets

9x5 inches

Acylics on Plywood

This is my entry for the 2010 9x5 Illustrator's Australia Exhibition, where the theme is 'Untold Stories'.

Well, we all know it is a woman's perogative to change her mind, so after several weeks of experimenting and pulling my hair out, I have now decided to offer commissioned portraits in acrylics, rather than coloured or graphite pencil, I redid a commissioned portrait a couple of times last week for a very patient client, and whilst unfortunately I can't post the image at this stage, I was really happy with the results. I will spend this week doing a few more to include with my listings. Being an artist is never dull!!!

Self Portrait II

Self Portrait II

8x10 inches

Coloured pencil, pastel, graphite pencil on paper

In the last week, I have redone this self portrait about 6 or 7 times on all different supports, (I am so fed up with it and hope I never have to draw it again!!!), as I am looking to change my style a bit with the commissioned portrait work, opting for a softer look. The drafting film is wonderful for achieving smooth skin for portraits when working with graphite, but I often ran into problems at the point of applying fixative, and had to redo several portraits as a result. When it comes to working with coloured pencils, it was much harder to get a nice smooth skin tone on the drafting film, and so I spent a rather frustrating week shuffling between the art shop and the easel in the search for that elusive support that would solve all problems. I must give a huge thanks to Bec Winnel - an extremely talented artist I came across on RedBubble, who does the most beautiful, etherial illustrations of women, and was kind enough to share some of her tips. She works on Epson Archival Matte paper and I was amazed to find how well this surface grabs the pastel powder. It also accepts coloured pencil and graphite very well, and happily there are no issues when applying fixative. The biggest problem I had with this artwork was getting an effective scan - the original is very soft, but for some reason the scanner didn't like that and gave it a dirty, grey appearance, so this image has been altered digitally in an attempt to match the original.