Artwork, travel, and musings by artist, Gail H. Shelton.
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| Around Mannheim Germany town square |
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| A meal in Mannheim, and a day in Heidelberg |
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| A few sketches along the way |
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| Downtown Heidelberg...my favorite so far |
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| A few scenes along the way... Just a few pages from my travel journal..more to come! sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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| We made it! We flew into Frankfurt this morning, and got underway to the town of Mannheim |
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| This is the old water tower in the center of the town. A lot of the city was destroyed during the WWII bombing, so alot of the buildings are more modern |
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| This is our hotel...named after one of my favorite artists! |
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| Here we are at the welcome dinner...woohoo! we made it! |
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| We ate at Koch's...a little Bavarian restaurant, serving local food. This is a pig knuckle? a potato dumpling, and some red cabbage. It was quite tasty! |
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| This old mill stone is down around the city square also. I am now working on my book, doing a little painting before I hit the bed...like a rock hopefully! More tomorrow...stay tuned for "adventures in Germany!" sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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| A new "work in progress", some clouds and an egret. It's colored pencil, and I just got started. Lots more to go. |
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| And this is my little watercolor palette that I take during my trips. I have added a few colors, and I will clean it up a little more before I go to Europe. I have just a few more days before we leave. Will be lots of fun, and I will try to post during the trip. Hopefully...! Stay tuned! sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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| Eating lunch in Mineola...a cute town near the workshop |
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| Alan Woollett demonstrated how to do each part of the owl drawing. This is the twine that goes across the bottom of the piece. |
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| This is my finished piece next to his example that we used to go by. The colors are a bit different, just because the copy was a different shade. He told us what colors to use for each part, so the colors are accurate in the real drawing. |
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| I am happy with the finished product. I did learn a few things. Most of all, that I don't take the drawing far enough...detail wise, etc. And we used different paper and pencils that I have never used before, so the results are a little different as well. |
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| This is the nice group of ladies and Alan that I spent the week with. They were a "hoot"! |
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| Alan Woollett and I...his prize pupil! sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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| Making a little progress on this... almost done with the owl |
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| This is Alan's drawing...he is demonstrating for us |
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| I am in Lindale, Texas! and this is Maureen Killaby's wonderful studio. I am here for a colored pencil workshop taught by an artist from London, England, Mr. Alan Woollett. |
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| Here is Alan demonstrating for us. We are all drawing a barn owl that he has already done. We began with a light pencil sketch, and then started with the dark background. This is not how I would regularly work, so I am glad to try something new! |
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| Her studio is in an old building, kinda like mine. |
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| This is my start....my dark background, leaving some white whispy strokes for the feathers. |
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| "The touch of the master's hand...." |
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| This is where we stopped today. This is my drawing. I really liked doing the straw, and making it look like it was receding in the dark. I can't wait to start the bird! Stay tuned! sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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Finally finished this colored pencil drawing of these blue crabs. It was a challenge...especially trying to figure out what part went with who?! But the colors were fun..I like the contrast between the blues and the oranges. It's an interesting viewpoint. I am leaving today for a colored pencil workshop in Texas with the English artist, Alan Woollett. He does a lot of birds, and I really admire his work. It will be fun to meet some other colored pencil artists, and "talk shop". I will try to post while I am there. sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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| I have been driving by these black eyed susans for a couple of weeks now. I have been wanting to stop and photograph them, and today, I finally took the time. It rained again today, but the sun came out late this afternoon. It lit up the petals, and gave the contrast I wanted. These would be fun to draw or paint. sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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My upcoming trip overseas is fast approaching! I always do a sketchbook journal during the trip, so I thought I would go ahead and do the intro page. I have a couple of travel guides, so I used the photos in them to do this montage. It will be alot of fun to see what I will want to draw and paint in the book... landscapes filled with mountains and vistas; cityscapes of ancient buildings and alpine gingerbread; interesting food like sausages, apple strudel, and beer!; and fascinating people along the way. I am so looking forward to it, especially since some of my own family is going with me this time. We have never all traveled together...so it will be a hoot. Hopefully I will be able to post while there. I am planning to...hope connections will be available. So, check the blog out during the month of June, and you should see some European scenes. www.goaheadtours.com sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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| Been working on this drawing for awhile. It is a basket of blue crabs....such an iconic Louisiana image. The funny thing is I took the photo in New York City, in Chinatown! They were selling all kinds of stuff in the markets there, and these were on the ground near one of the tables. I just took two photos, and this is the cropped version of one of those. This is colored pencil. |
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| Here is a little more progress on it. It has been very intricate and time consuming! I do like the colors though, and it really is fun. Hope to be through real soon! sheltongail@hotmail.com |
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| Another Art Class Wednesday....today we did some pastel drawings. We did the beach scene together. And then they chose another one to do on their own. |
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| Lauren chose a sunset scene with bright oranges and purples |
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| Olivia did a yellow flower landscape |
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| And Alyssa did the beach scene again...she liked it so much! Children's Art Classes: Wednesday 4-5 pm $15.00 a lesson I am only doing classes till the end of May. Hope to see your little one soon! |
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Georgia O'Keefe.....master painter of flowers, and one of my favorites. In my art class today, they learned about her and how she painted flowers. We examined her sunflower painting, and then tried to copy it on canvas. They did pretty well! It was fun, and they got to take home their little creation! It was a good day! sheltongail@hotmail.com Children's Art Classes Every Wednesday from 4-5 pm $15.00 a lesson We only meet during the school year. I will schedule other special classes during the summer |
