July 25 work in progress

Two nights ago my web host was being moody and last night I was gone, so this is two days worth of WIPs. Wait, where did I leave off (I have to read my blog and find out!) Ah, okay.

I connected the lightly dotted outline (with more dots) so I could better see what I'm doing:

I'm going to start with the foreground and work my way backwards. So for the tree I started with the limbs:

And then put in a "base coat" for the trunk. I'll be working back into this to create the texture of bark, this is just to give it some roundness and a base gray tone:

If you want read my ramblings, I mean words of wisdom, in great detail about how I do scrimshaw and this piece specifically, I am using this piece as a submission in a tutorial contest on The Engraving Forum. You can read all about it here. Can you tell I like to write? If only I had this much to say in person. ;-)

I have not had time to ride for the last few days. Today Shylah got bathed and braided and primped for tomorrow. I'll be spending the day in a ridiculous costume. I'll post pics when I get a chance. Nobody on the team seems too gung ho this year, me included, I think we all just have a lot of other stuff going on in our lives. But hey, I guess we all need to saddle up and wear a skimpy costume at least once a year, it builds character. ;-)

Cross your fingers!