Ann Ranlett's Blog - Animals, Art, Etc.

Please Visit My Web Site for New Posts

2022-02-14T16:42:00.003-08:00

If you've found your way here, you'll see only old content. I'm moving posts from this blog to the blog on my web site. Old posts are still here as I work through the process, eventually, I'll delete this blog entirely.

K9 Ronin

2015-09-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Quite a bit more has happened since my last post, and I was lamenting to my Facebook friends how I haven't been keeping up with my blog. It's time consuming, but I really enjoy posting. So I headed over here to take care of some business!

I'll limit this post to the story surrounding this drawing of Ronin, a handsome and impressive K9 with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department K9 Division.

I had wanted to create a drawing of a working K9 for quite some time and the ball started rolling at the 2014 Kaleo Fun Run, a fundraising event. K9 Ronin was there with his handler for a meet & greet with the public. I was able to take some great photos of Ronin, and this one became the reference for the drawing. It was exactly what I had in mind.

I'll post some of the in-progress images here, but there are more that you can see in this Facebook album, along with explanations of the various steps. My concept for this drawing was to add color to Ronin only. Because I knew I could get the dog right in this drawing (since animals are my subjects of choice), I worked on the car first. I didn't want to put all the work into the dog and then not have the car & concept work out the way I wanted. When I was happy with the way the car turned out, I went to work on Ronin. The only "color" on the car is where I took a grey art marker to knock back the lines at the edges of the car and the lettering on the door panel. I used my go-to #16 X-Acto blade for everything except in a few places (the STAY AWAY lettering and a few other parts of the car), where I used a tattoo needle to knock things back a bit.

The "all scratched" stage, ready for color on Ronin

This is a detail of the section under the dog's feet. That area took a long time to do. It's a process of scratching, re-inking with stipples & scribbles, re-scratching, re-stippling, etc., until I achieve the smooth transition that I want. A section of fur that size would take less time to do. There's not much need for re-working, if I get the fur right on the first pass, with some refining, that's it!

For a "zoomable" version of the finished drawing, click here.

When the drawing was finished, I contacted Ronin's handler to give him a print. I found out he had been promoted and Ronin has a new handler, so the two of them worked things out so I could meet them, Ronin, and nearly the entire K9 Division. It was a great experience and an honor. Ronin's former handler was presented with a shadowbox commemorating his time with the division and I presented him with the print of the drawing. It was a fantastic way to spend a few hours, and they brought out many of the dogs for me to photograph. You can see some of those photos in this Facebook album.

Me with Sergeant Gregory, Ronin's former handler

Me with Ronin

And finally, I sent this drawing to the International Society of Scratchboard Artists' 4th Annual Juried Exhibition in Frederick, MD in July and am thrilled to announce that it received an Award of Excellence in the Open division. It didn't sell there, so it's back here in my studio where it will be on display for our annual Newcastle Art Studios Tour in October.

Sandhill Cranes

2014-11-10T00:06:00.001-08:00

This weekend was the annual Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival - a celebration of the annual return of the impressive and beautiful Cranes to Lodi and other areas of the central valley of California for the winter. An art show is part of the Festival and I entered 3 pieces this year, 2 photos and a scratchboard drawing. I'm happy to report that the drawing won a 3rd place in the Fine Art - Crane division and it also sold! I didn't scan many stages in the process of this drawing, but what I did scan is shown below. "Grassland Grace" is 5" x 5", colored with ink. I will eventually make prints on metal of this drawing, but I have to do a thorough job of cleaning up the scan before that happens.

While in Lodi, I took a couple of trips to the Woodbridge Ecological Preserve, which is about 20 minutes away from the center where the Festival is held. The cranes were plentiful and I took some photos and video.

Some Stuff Happened Since July . . .

2014-09-29T18:04:00.001-07:00

Time sure flies, and that time has been full of assorted creative and wonderful things!

Here's a list of some of what's happened since I got back from the ISSA gathering in NC (I wrote about that in the last post):

1) I completed a drawing I had just started and taken with me to NC. It was accepted into the Art at the Classic art show as part of the 2014 Draft Horse Classic and received a first place in the "Anything Goes" division. Below are some photos of "Fuzzdorable" in progress along with the finished board, it's a 5" x 5" board, colored with inks.

2) Three pieces of my dog art were in the "Dog Days of Summer" art show at Alpha Fired Arts. Velvet, the chihuahua painting sold. A portion of the proceeds benefited Front Street Animal Shelter.

3) I completed a number of mini scratchboard drawings, including this one of Pepper, who belonged to Carla Bratt, a friend of mine and a talent gourd artist. These mini boards are 2" x 2", you can see many more in this Facebook album.

4)"Show Goat" was in the Rocklin Fine Arts "Animal Kingdom" art show held in conjunction with Woofstock.

5) Six people attended my scratchboard workshop at University Art and we had a terrific time.

6) I'm gearing up "Sibling Hearts", an collaborative show with my brother (P.Y. Simpson) that's part of the Auburn Art Walk, and the 3rd annual Newcastle Art Studios Tour. Both events are on the horizon in October.

That's it for now, I have a few more things to share, but I'll wait for the next time I have the urge to write a blog post. Thanks for reading!

Award-Winning Burritos and Fun Times in NC

2014-07-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful trip to Cary, NC for the International Society of Scratchboard Artists' conference and 3rd annual juried exhibition. While my husband supports my artistic endeavors, hanging out with artists for days is not super fun for him, so he attended the opening reception for the exhibit with me on Friday night and then spent some time on the weekend with a friend who lives in nearby Raleigh. He also went birding, so it was a trip that had something for both of us. I went birding with him on Monday, after the conclusion of the ISSA event.

I had a fantastic time hanging out with my scratchboard compadres and a bonus is that "Cathy's Burrito Bouquet" received an "Award of Excellence". Because it's such a unique subject, honestly, I was happy it was accepted into the show; winning an award was icing on the cake and very much an honor!

The venue for the exhibit is the historic and beautiful Page-Walker Arts & History Center and the scratchboard work displayed there is amazing. Our opening reception was well-attended and the Page-Walker is a happening place, so many people will be introduced to scratchboard during the run of the show. Courtesy of Daniel Rode, here's a lovely video of the exhibit and the venue.

Here are a few photos from our trip. There are more in this Facebook album on my art page.


In the evenings after dinner, some of us gathered in the hotel lobby or one of the conference rooms to chat & scratch

I gave a presentation on composition & cropping

Explaining my process for the burrito drawing

Group photo of the ISSA conference attendees

Eastern Box Turtle at the Mason Farms Biological Reserve in Chapel Hill, NC

Coneflowers outside the Page-Walker Arts & History Center

Upcoming Events

2014-03-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

Art & Brew, Saturday, April 26th at Roseville Brewing Company, Roseville CA

Art, beer, food and fund-raising for the Placer SPCA - a fun time will be had by all! There's also a partner show featuring a sampling of our works at Gallery iQ in Rocklin CA.
Click on the image below to view the full-size flyer with all the pertinents and such.

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Loomis Art Loop, Saturday & Sunday, May 10th & 11th, in Loomis CA

Visit 13 artists in 6 locations. I'll be showing with Doug Horton at the Horton Iris Garden (#4/5 on the map). Click on the image to visit the Loop web site and download the map.
There's also a preview show at Flower Farm Inn with a Celebration of Art on April 13th, featuring art and artists from the Loop. The preview show will run through the weekend of the Loop.

Now One of the "Women Artists of the West"

2014-02-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

At the end of 2013, my application to Women Artists of the West was accepted! I'm now an Associate member of this long-standing organization. I've recently completed two pieces to submit to their upcoming show in San Diego in May. I'll find out by February 28th if either/both are accepted. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the show this year.

The first piece is a miniature drawing of a Sandhill Crane. Show organizers requested that each artist submit at least one miniature - anything measuring 12" or less on a side, frame included. This crane is on a 3" x 5" scratchboard which I'll mount to a 5" x 7" board and put in a 5" x 7" black frame. The white outline is the edge of the scratchboard.

The "all scratched" version

The final version, with color. I used colored inks and India ink wash.

The second piece is a scratchboard drawing of a border collie pup. I'm Facebook friends with a border collie breeder in Australia and some time last year, she posted an adorable photo of one of her pups. When I saw that, I knew it was a "must draw", so I asked her permission to use the photo and she graciously sent the file. The format is long and narrow, so I cut a 12" x 9" piece of scratchboard down to 4" tall. The cut edge of the board is a little rough, so it's going into a custom-cut frame, no mat on this one.

"Tell Me More About 'Sheep'"
I used colored ink on the eyes and India ink wash on other areas.

A detail of the drawing

To see earlier in-progress images of this pup, start with this image in my Facebook album and advance forward.

In other news, I gave a scratchboard demo at the Stockton Art League a few days ago and will be giving a demo, followed by a workshop at Rocklin Fine Arts next week. On March 15/16, I'm teaching a workshop at Mendocino Art Center. I'm also working on a new drawing to submit to the International Society of Scratchboard Artists annual show that opens at the end of June.

Portraits of Max & Rosie - Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

2014-01-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

These two portraits were commissioned by a friend for her daughter. Each is 5" x 5" on Ampersand Scratchbord™. After I completed the majority of the scratching on each portrait, I tinted them with colored ink. After adding the color, I do a little more scratching to pull out highlights and tidy things up. I scanned more progress stages of Max's portrait than I did of Rosie's.

The finished portrait of Max

My reference photo

Transfer lines visible and some scratching done

More scratching . . .

Scratching mostly complete, prior to coloring

A time-lapse

A detail

Another detail

The finished portrait of Rosie

Scratching mostly complete, prior to coloring

A detail

My reference photo; I chose to leave out her body

Happy New Year!

2013-12-31T14:55:00.000-08:00

"Frosty Buckwheat with Border Collie"

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that 2014 is everything you want it to be and then some!

Scratchboard Workshop

2013-11-16T00:30:00.002-08:00

I'm excited about teaching my first workshop for the Mendocino Art Center! It's a 2-day scratchboard workshop on March 15 & 16, 2014. Click here for all the details and sign-up info.

New Look!

2013-10-08T16:48:00.001-07:00

Yes, the blog is different. I've updated the color scheme to reflect the overhaul of my web site. The web site isn't ready for launch yet, but it will be eventually. It's something I've been working on for years - converting it to the Wordpress platform. It's slow going because there is a lot of material to transfer, so I work on it in fits and starts. The beta version is accessible, if you'd like to see it here. Today I decided to come up with a different header for the new web site. I wanted to use the same header for the blog, and that required an update to the color scheme. So there you have it and now you see it.

In other news, I applied for membership to Women Artists of the West (WAOW) and was accepted. I'm now an Associate member.

I'm gearing up for the first of two fall open studios this weekend. #1 is the Newcastle Art Studios Tour (October 12/13), #2 is the Autumn Art Studios Tour (November 8 - 10). My studio is full of art and just needs a good vacuuming to get rid of assorted insects and cobwebs.

The bison you see in the header is a new scratchboard drawing. I created "Call of the Prairie" for our Newcastle Tour's preview show, which is on display through the Tour weekend at Lone Buffalo Vineyards. I scanned the bison in various stages as I worked on it, you can see those images in my WIP (work in progress) album on Facebook. Scroll down to the bottom of the album. Donna Ridgway provided the terrific photo I used for reference.

"Call of the Prairie", 5" x 7" scratchboard, tinted with ink

Past and Future

2013-09-23T18:55:00.001-07:00

It's been over a month since my last post, I'm sorry for ignoring you, my dear blog . . .

I love blogging, but it's much quicker and more immediate to share on Facebook, and that's exactly what I've been doing. I realize and understand that many people are averse to Facebook, and I was too, at first, but now I really enjoy it. I have two pages there, one's my personal page (where I'll admit, I spend more time than I should), and the other is my professional art page. Even if you're not on Facebook, you can still see and browse my art page. So if you'd like to see what I'm doing on a more regular basis than what you will find on my blog, please check it out.

To flesh out this blog post, I'll share the condensed version of what's coming up and what I've been doing lately:

It's time for fall open studios tours and I'm participating in two of them. The first features a group of Newcastle-area artists. The second features a much larger group of artists in the western portion of Placer County. For details about both, see the invitation I just sent out to my subscribers via e-mail.

I entered two scratchboard drawings in the annual Art at the Classic juried art show at the Draft Horse Classic. One of the two, "Beginning Line Dancing" (a pair of foals) was awarded a First Place in its division (Miniature). They don't have a category where scratchboard fits, so I entered Miniature, which is based on size, not media. I also entered my drawing of Rocky the donkey, and although it was accepted but didn't place, it ended up on the web site and in the event program (click here to see the art section from the program).

I did two "tiger eggs" for the Sacramento Zoo's Wild Affair and one for the tigers' keeper. They all feature CJ the adorable tiger cub. And I had great reference photos, courtesy of the keeper. I'm making a run to the Zoo tomorrow to deliver those.

Completed pet portraits include these scratchboard drawings of two golden retrievers. Sampson is drawn on a white board. I used ink and ink washes (leaving the upper background white), and when that phase was complete, I tinted the dog with a light wash of watercolor. You can see the progress stages of this drawing in one of my Facebook albums.

Bear is on a black board. After completing the scratching, I tinted the drawing with ink pencils.

And then there's this - something very different for me. It was challenging and fun and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. "Glory and Power" is the Harley-Davidson "gun sight" logo on a 5" x 7" scratchboard. The only color on this is the flag, the rest is black & white. I created this piece for the The Pink Llama Gallery in Cedarburg WI, where I have some of my work. Tammie Strause, the PLG owner, put out a call for motorcycle art for an HD Anniversary Celebration that was held in nearby Milwaukee. I figured, what the heck, and gave it a shot. Thanks to Sandy O'Bleness for providing the reference photo and to her husband Mike for suggesting that the drawing should have a flag and/or eagle in it. I opted for the flag.

Well, that's a snapshot of what's been happening, check back here in a few weeks or visit Facebook for the next update!

An Ostrich Egg for Cabela's

2013-08-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

My ostrich egg supplier commissioned this egg to be given to Cabelas' Wichita, KS store in honor of a number of milestones. He requested the Cabela's logo on it, which was a challenge, but I was pleased with the way it turned out. The cattails on either side of the logo were an extra touch. He had initially wanted all the text shown on the plaque on the back side of the egg, but I suggested he have the egg mounted in some fashion and have a plaque made. Lettering is really tough to do, and getting the logo right on the front side was all I wanted to tackle! He took my suggestion and boy, did he run with it! I love the way this turned out. I sent the egg to him in February, but hadn't heard anything until last week when he sent some photos. He told me everyone loved it and even Jim Cabela, the founder, was at the event!

Three views of the logo art

The egg mounted, with deer antlers and the plaque

The plaque

Newsletter Issue #21, July 2013

2013-08-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of my e-newsletter is available.
Here's what you'll read about:
- "Award of Excellence" - For my tiger scratchboard drawing
- Colfax Art Walk - August 9th, 2013
- Basics of Art Marketing - I'm presenting in September at the Sierra Vista Art Center's monthly meeting (Colfax, CA)
- Style Magazine Cover - my painting of Ernie is big & bold on the cover of the August 2013 issue
- More Happenings
- July Discount Coupon - for any purchase in my Bonanza shop

Truly an Honor!

2013-06-20T13:58:00.002-07:00

I'm proud to announce that my scratchboard diptych, "Sleeping Patterns" won an Award of Excellence in the Open Division at the International Society of Scratchboard Artists' (ISSA) exhibit in Vancouver, British Columbia! You can read more about the drawing in this post. The award truly is an honor because the judges in the open division were three of the ISSA Master-level scratchboard artists (MSA) who are my peers and artists I respect and admire. This drawing was one of those pieces that "all came together" from the moment I saw the reference photo and I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out. To win an award for it is icing on the cake!
John & I were able to travel to Vancouver to see the exhibit and hang out with the 20+ ISSA members who attended the artists' reception at the Federation of Canadian Artists' gallery. We rented a car and drove and had a wonderful time. On Saturday and Sunday following the reception, ISSA presented demos by 7 members, including myself. I demonstrated a couple of my techniques, including how to add color to a board. You can see that board in the second of these photos from my demo. I've since finished the drawing, a portrait of a Toy Manchester Terrier. He'll be the subject of a future blog post. Thanks to Allan Ace Adams for taking photos during my demo.

See my previous post to read a bit more about why it's so fun to attend these ISSA events and to see my other two works that were in the exhibit. To see all of the exhibit entries, visit the ISSA Exhibition Preview.

International Society of Scratchboard Artist's 2nd Annual Exhibition

2013-06-03T14:02:00.003-07:00

I'm honored to have 3 drawings in this juried exhibition and to be a Signature member (SSA) of the ISSA. Our 2nd annual exhibition opens tomorrow (June 4th) at the Federation of Canadian Artists' gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia. The show runs through June 23rd. I attended last year's inaugural exhibition in California and it was fantastic (read about it here). To be able to see an entire show of nothing but scratchboard art is such a treat and scratchboard really needs to be seen "live" to appreciate the level of detail and see the scratching involved. Not to mention the joy of having a chance to meet and hang out with other scratchboard artists. We have chosen an uncommon medium, so there aren't many of us around to get together in our own neighborhoods. I'll be attending again this year and will be one of the participating artists in the workshop/demos. I presented a demo last year as well. If you're interested, you can purchase my demo video and others at a very reasonable cost.

You can see all the works that have been accepted in the show here.
Below are my drawings that were accepted (click on any image to find out more):

"Kili Man Jaro", 5" x 7"

"Sleeping Patterns", 8" x 16" (each half is 8" x 8")

"Baby Face", 3" x 5"

Assorted Pet Portraits

2013-05-29T00:14:00.002-07:00

Catching up and sharing a number of pet portraits I've completed over the last few months:

Sirus the Great Dane. 5" x 7", ink on Ampersand Claybord (white scratchboard), with watercolor for his eye. Adopted from the Placer SPCA.

Sadie the Cocker Spaniel/Pomeranian mix. 4.75" x 5.5", mixed media on Ampersand Aquabord (ink, watercolor and color pencil)

Divot the Jack Russell Terrier. 2.5" x 3.5", miniature pencil drawing (aka an ACEO)

Kili Man Jaro the Savannah Cat. 5" x 7", ink on Ampersand Claybord (white scratchboard). Click here to find out more about this drawing.

The last three portraits are each 5" x 5", mixed media on watercolor Art Board (ink, watercolor and color pencil) and were created for the same client.

Brutus the Mastiff

Jinx the Doberman Pinscher

Eazy the Malinois

"Sleeping Patterns" - New Scratchboard Drawing

2013-04-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

"Sleeping Patterns", diptych - each half is 8" x 8", on Ampersand Scratchbord

I finished this drawing with about two days to spare. I wanted to submit something new for this year's International Society of Scratchboard Artists' (ISSA) exhibit. I had to take a week-long break from the "Down on the Farm" series to make the April 1st entry deadline. This tiger drawing has been on my "to do" list since I saw the wonderful reference photo in a Sacramento Zoo membership brochure. I'm fortunate to have contacts at the Zoo, so I was able to get permission to use the photo and a high resolution digital file from which to work. I knew from the moment I saw the photo that I needed to come up with a unique concept for rendering it. Using scratchboard was a no-brainer and the composition pretty much created itself. I wanted to makethis a diptych (two part) piece, so I took the original photo and cropped/scaled it into two 8" x 8" sections. I liked the mirror image of the photo better, so I flipped it also. I used Derwent Inktense pencils to color only the tigers' heads and I knocked the rest of the drawing back with a wash of diluted black ink. You can see each finished half at the bottom of this post.

The original photo

The photo flipped, sized and cropped into two parts

Greyscale version of the previous photos

Since I was up against a deadline, I didn't have time to scan this drawing in progress, but I did scan each part after I finished the scratching.

And here are the two finished halves.

This piece represents a lot of scratching and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. And it's always nice when a finished drawing matches the vision I had for it!

"Down on the Farm" - New Series

2013-03-09T13:22:00.001-08:00

In 2011, Laurie Barrows, the curator of the Art Can Heal program at the Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital contacted me to see if I'd be interested in showing my work there. I agreed, but our 2012 schedules didn't mesh, so we chose April 2013 for the show. The show opens in mid-April, but I don't have the exact date yet.

I decided I wanted to come up with a new series of scratchboard drawings, since scratchboard is an under-represented medium and I truly love sharing it with others. Scratchboard drawings are more time-intensive than other mediums I use, but I had months to come up with a new batch of drawings and I planned to work these drawings in a simpler style than I usually do. Well, of course, the drawings took on a mind of their own, and they're not really much less detailed. And as is always the case, although I started on the first board of this series in December of 2012, I'm feeling the time crunch to get them all finished! Having said all that, I'm really happy with how the boards are turning out and have been getting wonderful feedback as I share them on Facebook and WetCanvas.

I chose "Down on the Farm" as the theme for my show, since I have plenty of reference photos of farm animals. Completed so far are a border collie, our dog Arrow, a donkey, a cat, a chick, a sunflower and a vintage Ford tractor. Nearly finished is a pair of mini foals. I've just started on a goose and left to do are a border collie/sheep diptych, a goat, two hens, a pig and a cow. That's fifteen in total, but I'm making good progress! You can see the series and various stages of progress in my Facebook album.

"Tough Chick", 6" x 6" Ampersand Scratchbord, colored with Derwent Inktense pencils
This is one of the boards, "Tough Chick". All but two of the reference photos are my own. One of the hens I'll be drawing is from a photo by Katherine Plumer. Kat Moore, a fellow scratchboarder offered some photos of her banty chickens. She sent quite a few and I fell in love with this one.

I've been scanning a few in-progress stages of each of the boards in this series. Here are the scans of "Tough Chick", along with the reference photo. As I do with all my scratchboard drawings, I also work with a greyscale version of the photo, to give me a better idea of the tones of the image. The second greyscale image is one with adjusted contrast to give me more darks and lights.

At this stage, the scratching is mostly complete

One of the ways I'm saving a little time is by not re-scratching very much after I've added the color. If this were going to be a stand-alone drawing, I'd go back in and scratch out more of the black and re-color to build even more depth and detail. As it is, these drawings resemble tinted photographs or woodcuts, and that's perfectly ok!

An animated image of the stages

On Entering Art Shows

2013-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

I decided to try and enter more art shows this year. Not just local shows, but shows where I have to ship work that is selected. In past years, I haven't had much in the way of "surplus" art. Much of my work is commissioned pieces which aren't available to enter in shows. The extra work I do have is needed in my space at the Auburn Old Town Gallery. This year, I have some extra art because I did a number of new paintings for an Art Walk last year, and over the years, the surplus has been building up. Many shows require that entered work be current, created within the last year or two, others aren't as particular.

While being accepted into select shows is good for my resumé and garners exposure in new places, it also has a downside in that I have to pay to enter and then pay to ship my work. However, another item on the plus side is that shows offer cash awards, so it's worth a shot. If I'm hoping to win an award, it's important to pick shows where my work has a chance, so I look for shows where my art (subject and/or medium) is a good fit. So far, things are going well, I entered three pieces in the Sacramento Fine Arts Center's "Animal House" show and all three were accepted (no awards, but at least I was able to hand-deliver the art). One of the pieces was my scratchboard drawing of Magpie, mainly because I want to bring attention to scratchboard when I have the opportunity. It's an uncommon medium in the art show world. Rarely is there a category specifically for scratchboard. Sometimes there will be a category for "drawing". In the SFAC show, all two-dimensional art other than photography was lumped together.

The other two entries were paintings "recycled" from the Art Walk: Ernie & Velvet.

My work was also accepted into the 26th Annual "Animals in Art" Show at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. I learned of this show in 2012 and thought it would be a good one to enter this year. I submitted two works and one was accepted. I'm honored to have been selected, since my drawing of Homer the pig was one of 75 pieces chosen out of 426 entries submitted by 181 artists. Homer is an older drawing, but there was no restriction on creation date for this show. I looked at last year's entries and thought he would be a good fit; I'm glad the judge thought so too! The show opens March 23rd, awards have not been announced yet.

I'm currently working on a diptych (two-part drawing) for the ISSA's 2nd Annual Scratchboard Exhibition, which I'll have to ship to Vancouver (British Columbia). I'll be attending the Exhibition and annual conference, so I definitely want a piece or two in that show. I have one or two others already completed that I'll enter, but I really want to have something new and different to submit. I created the Magpie drawing above for the 2012 ISSA show.

And since this has been a really scratchboard-heavy post, why not finish it off with a preview of works in progress for an upcoming solo show of my drawings? It will be in April in the "Art Can Heal" gallery of a local hospital. I'm scratching away like a mad woman to complete 15 new drawings for my "Down of the Farm" show. The icing on the cake for this show is that it will add to my surplus of art to enter in shows later this year and into 2014!

Vernal Pool Illustrations

2013-02-02T12:28:00.001-08:00

In November of last year, I was contracted to create some illustrations for vernal pool signage that will eventually be installed at the Jepson Prairie Preserve. Many years ago, I created illustrations for Sacramento Splash's wetland education curriculum and the Jepson job was a result of that connection. This project was funded by a grant which had a year-end deadline, making a quick turnaround necessary. I have to admit, I felt a little crazy agreeing to do this on such short notice, but I would have been more crazy to turn it down! I'm thrilled that my art will be on signage at Jepson Prairie; my client was easy to work with (she provided the majority of the reference photos and was very clear on what she wanted); and the job paid well. Funding still needs to be raised for the sign fabrication and installation and there may be additional illustration work at that time - most likely some edits to the existing drawings. Drawn in pen, there were 18 single-subject drawings (approx. 4" wide, varying heights), 9 smaller drawings (approx. 2" wide, varying heights) and 5 landscape schematics (approx. 9" x 11"). That added up to many hours and plenty of ink! Below is a selection of the single-subject drawings. The drawings are line art because the signs will be laser-etched metal, which will last longer out in the field than other sign production methods. My client set up the sign layouts, incorporating my drawings with text and time-line diagrams to explain the habitats and denizens of the Jepson Prairie preserve.

From Cell Phone Photo to Finished Portrait

2013-01-07T13:53:00.001-08:00

In this post, I'll show how a portrait with a challenging photo reference goes from initial consultation to finished product.

My client found my work on the web and sent a cell phone photo of his two cats. He wanted a portrait of them as a Christmas gift for his wife. The photo quality wasn't optimal, but I really liked the composition. Since there was a risk of spoiling the surprise, it wasn't feasible for me to go to his house to take more photos, so I told him what his options were with the photos he could provide. He wanted a detailed portrait as opposed to something in a looser style. He had initially inquired about a mini portrait (ACEO, 3.5" x 2.5") vs. a full-sized one. Because both cats were to be in the portrait, a mini portrait wouldn't have worked, too much detail would be lost, and the proportions wouldn't fit. Due to the quality of the photo, there wasn't enough detail to go any larger than 6" x 7". He agreed to the 6" x 7".

In the photo, the grey cat has decent detail, even though the photo is grainy and a little blurry. The black cat, however, is what worried me, it's pretty tough to see much detail in her, especially in her face. When I work on a portrait, I enlarge or reduce it to the size I'll be working so I can transfer the basic outlines and details to my working surface. You can see how it would have been difficult to enlarge this photo very much and maintain enough detail for a quality portrait.

I took the photo and lightened it substantially to try to pull out some detail in the black cat.

The lighter photo helped some, but I also found some good photos of black cat faces on the web and used another photo provided by my client.

Next to the cat's face is a foot reference I found on the web, since I had to draw the rest of the grey cat's right foot. The other leg/foot is a piece I cropped out of the original photo so I could lengthen the grey cat's left leg to sit on the same plane as his right. You can see how that looks in the photo below:

And here's the a version of the photo I converted to greyscale in order to have a better idea of the tones in the portrait.

As you can see, it took some editing and research to have what I needed to complete this portrait properly. Here is the final result:

Despite some frustration, I'm happy with the portrait and my client was too. Even though I was able to pull this off, it's not something I want to tackle very often. It's certainly much easier with a good, detailed photo. Whenever possible, I take my own photos since I know what works best for a portrait and can get high quality photos with plenty of detail. Of course, that's not always possible, and over the years, I've learned to be firm in what I'm able to offer a client, based on the references they can provide. Since I offer a number of style and size options for portraits, I rarely have to tell a client "no", but it's not uncommon for me to limit their options. In the end, that results in both of us being happy.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-12-19T18:29:00.002-08:00

Art Newsletter - Issue #18

2012-11-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

My November 2012 Art Newsletter is available here.

Mini Scratchboard Drawings

2012-11-20T19:14:00.001-08:00

These two small scratchboard drawings are available. I started them as demo pieces and I just finished the border collie. In fact, I still need to spray it with sealer, I'm just waiting for a day with minimal humidity! The llama has been finished for a little while. Each is $125 plus shipping (and tax if purchased in CA). You can either "buy now" via the PayPal button below the drawing, or contact me (annranlett [at] gmail.com) if you're not a fan of PayPal. Please note that I ship only to the US, UK, Australia or Canada. Price as shown below plus $5 additional shipping (sales tax will be added if you're a California resident). A small wooden easel is also included with either drawing.

Llama, Original Scratchboard Drawing, 3" x 5"
on Ampersand Scratchbord™

"Ready to Work" - Border Collie, 2.75" x 4.75"
on Ampersand Claybord™

If you'd like to see other works I have available, please visit my "Available Art" album on Facebook.