"Got Treats?"

Posted with permission, though the recipient won't see this til Christmas. The drawing is off to Colorado in the morning! :-) I am sooo happy with how this turned out!


"Got Treats?" (Joker and Kid Rock)
colored pencil and graphite on gray Stonehenge paper
10 by 10.5 inches
sold, custom commission

Here it is framed, though this isn't a particularly good photo as far as showing the accurate colors:

And for anyone who's interested, these are all the colors that went into it (plus graphite):

Of those, these were used on the chestnut pinto horse:

And these were used on the buckskin, there is hardly any difference! Almost the same color palette but in different proportions:

December 15 work in progress

Getting there! So much for the buckskin being quicker. ;-) Believe it or not there are three more colors to add, plus some final "tweaking." This is probably the last WIP pic you'll see. Next time it'll be done. I'm not sure if I'll post it before or after Christmas (I'll have to ask the person who commissioned it, since it's a gift).

December 14 work in progress

I finished the Sheltie! You'll see it here eventually. :-) I shipped it out this afternoon. Not that it has to go far, it doesn't even leave the county, but I couldn't count on having time to deliver it before Christmas.

So, the last commissioned piece to finish before Christmas is the horses. I'm cutting it close, I know... somehow Christmas kinda snuck up on me. It should be fine though. I'll order a frame tomorrow which should be ready early next week, and I'll be done with the drawing by then for sure. And then it's time to finish my Christmas shopping/baking/making stuff! I think some of my friends will be getting, uh... early January presents. ;-)

December 10 works in progress

Why am I working on this little doggie one side at a time? I don't know, that's not how it usually goes, but that's how this one wants to happen. Okay...

December 9 work in progress

I will show you the Sheltie scrim tomorrow, it's in a weird looking stopping point tonight. Yes, scrimshaw has ugly stages too. ;-) I was able to fix what I did to it, but I had to sand off about half the work I'd done. Arg. People sometimes ask me what happens if I make a mistake. I tell them mistakes are not allowed. Because if they happen, you either have to sand it down or start over, and this was a stupid error that was my fault. I used the wrong pen to draw some guide lines, and it stained. Lesson learned!

Anyway, the horses are coming along just fine and I'm enjoying this one! The paint horse is more or less finished (there will be some tweaking of shadows and final touches on the white marks) and I've just started on the buckskin. I think the buckskin will take less time to draw because there won't be as many layers of color... I think. We'll see, I could be wrong. It happens. ;-)

December 5 works in progress

There are lots o dots that you can't see yet, because I haven't inked them!

These are obviously not all from today (ha!). Still a LONG way too go on this horse (about 5-6 more layers of color, there are some major deep shadow areas, as the one mostly-finished ear shows you) and a whole 'nother horse next to this one.





I am going to need to pull some late-nighters this coming week!

only because I promised

I'm only posting pics because I promised yesterday that I would. But I'm going to tease you with closeups. Because I'm a tease. And because I only got about an hour or so of studio time today and REALLY want to get past the ugly stage before I show this to you. So tonight, here are some noses for you. Don't pick them.



Today was super busy. I threw some cards and prints and whatnot in the car this morning and headed over to the restaurant, where I then sat at the bar for several hours (no, I didn't even get to drink anything!) and educated people about scrimshaw and enjoyed a chance to chat with friends, some of whom I hadn't seen for a little while, and one of whom I hadn't seen since high school (that was an incredibly pleasant surprise!)

Then I loaded up the car and drove home just in time to get through before the Christmas parade. Actually I wouldn't have minded stopping to see this, but I had to get back because I had too much to do. I grabbed a bite of lunch, threw on my grubby clothes, and headed out to sort the chickens. Yup, sorting chickens, isn't that how every girl wants to spend her Saturday afternoon? It took a while but I found 17 birds to take to auction tomorrow. Yay. The downside is I need to get up at 5am, and I am soooo not a morning person.

I am calling it a night.

November 28 work in progress and other stuff

First and foremost, The Pioneer Woman is right. If you make her cinnamon rolls, all your other achievements in life become obsolete, because suddenly you will be known only for your cinnamon rolls. As a side note though, for you engravers reading this, THIS is my style of scrollwork! It's the only way I like making scrolls! ;-)

Okay, there are two finished pieces to show you but I need their owners to see them first. Stay tuned.

I have two pieces that I've just started, so I'll be dividing my time between these two things in the next while:


"Missy" (Sheltie dog)
scrimshaw engraving on pre-ban elephant ivory
30x40mm
sold (commission)

And I know this doesn't look like anything yet, but there really is a drawing sketched out on that gray paper. :-)

not yet titled
will be colored pencil and graphite
10x10.5 inches
sold (commission)

Oh, and for anyone who's interested, remember three weeks ago when I got stung on the arm by a wasp or yellowjacket or something? There's still a slightly red blotch on my arm. It's not very noticeable unless my arm gets hot (washing dishes or something). Three weeks! Cripes.