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Last week I said I would show my favorite types of art.  I only had one photo on my computer and I did post that. It was a poppy mural, in progress, at my cousin's house. All my art photos are on my phone (over 2000 of them!). But today I moved some to this computer and will post them.

This is copied from a picture off of Facebook and is done in pencil. Pencil is my very favorite media. I like both graphite and color pencils, with graphite being number one favorite.  And did you know that pencils have always been made with graphite and never with lead? Amazing but true.

I recently subscribed to "Sketchbox", a monthly delivery of luscious art supplies. It is $103 every quarter, I think. I have it paid automatically so I've forgotten  exactly how much it is. In the June box I received a tin of Cretacolor pencils. 

This brand has been a favorite of mine for several years. The graphite is very smooth- no 'rocks' in the graphite to scratch the paper or leave a holiday. The set came in a tin with HB, 2B, and 4B regular pencils, an Ebony pencil which has a thick, soft and very dark graphite. Also included are three graphite sticks, 2B, 4B, and 6B with the 2B double sized.  Lastly, there is what is called a polishing cloth which is a small piece of fine leather to rub over your drawing to smooth out the pencil lines. When I was in school we used what was called a chamois and was produced from and endangered goat. I'm glad that has changed.

An old standby and also a nice pencil is the Mars Lumograph. I have many of these in several hardnesses from 4H to 6B. My full set is also in a tin.

This morning I drew my ICAD project using the Mars pencils. I chose them because of the wide variety of hardnesses. I started out with an H because, used with a light touch the lines will not be seen in the final drawing.  As it turned out I only used the H and a 2B. Patience and many layers gave me the values I wanted.  The final drawing took about two hours and is only 3 1/2" x 5". One of my professors did portraits on full sheets of watercolor paper which is 24" x 32"! Her work was gorgeous and she was quite an inspiration. I wish I could remember her name.

This is one of my Montana daughter's chickens, Buffy the vegetable slayer! She appears to be thrusting her head forward, looking around a corner for a tasty morsel.

Next time I will post my other mural and talk about either pen and ink or watercolor pencils. Or maybe about paper which is super important in the final look of the drawing.

Stay tuned!