Pencil Sketch Completed

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.”
– John Lubbock

Boy, I can attest to that, after worrying about tornadoes yesterday.  My two step-sons live in Moore, as well.  They are both okay and their homes were spared.  My heart goes out to all those folks in Moore and their families.

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Pencil Sketch Completed – KC Commission

I haven’t added the brick yet.  That will come after I get this stage inked.  I am enjoying this very much!

What a terrible couple days it has been for Oklahoma.  I heard a wonderful story on the news a moment ago.  There were some guys who are fixing people’s tires for free in Moore.  They also just said that the confirmed death toll is 24.  It was reported at 51 & 91 earlier.  24 is awful, but still better.

About John Lubbock

 

John Lubbock, the multifaceted British banker, statesman, and scientist, was responsible for the institution of England’s monthly Bank Holidays, sometimes referred to as St. Lubbock Days. He was born in 1834 in England. Growing up, he learned science from his father’s friend Charles Darwin. He coined the terms Paleolithic and Neolithic to denote the different Stone Ages, and he wrote the well-regarded books Prehistoric Times and Ants, Bees, and Wasps. He died in 1913.

Commission Pencil Sketch - A Sneak Peek

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
– St. Francis of Assisi

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Progress Shot – Commission Pencil Sketch

This is a small portion of the commission I am working on now for Jackie & Carl, from the Kansas City show.  Their house is beautiful!  So much of it is hidden by trees and I’m diligently pruning the leaves on some of the trees, so that you can see the house.  Yesterday morning, I was working in their yard.  I was putting some of the plants back in the flowerbed that had died, and sprucing up some to give them blooms.  All with a pencil.  No dirt under my fingernails.  Oh, and I also rehung the chair swing that had broken.  It’s all fixed now.

At my house, I planted a cactus a friend gave us.  That’s about the only plant I don’t kill. 

About St. Francis of Assisi

 

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology in Catholicism, was born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone into a wealthy Italian merchant family in 1181. As a youth, he was known for carousing. After a series of illnesses, one of which occurred while a prisoner of war, he had a spiritual awakening. God came to him in a vision and told him to build up his crumbling church. Taking the dream literally, he began rebuilding a local chapel. He took a vow of poverty and began traveling, preaching, and working to help the sick and the poor. A group formed around him, becoming the Franciscan order. He died in 1226.

Miss Target Market - October 23, 2009

"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."

– Freya Stark

.

Miss Target Market

4" x 6" Pencil Sketch

I am taking a Creative Marketing class with Laura Bray (an artist with an MBA). One of the exercises Laura has asked us to do, is describe our target market.

So far, I think mine is a woman between the age of 25 and 30. She is probably an apartment dweller, living in the city. She is either single or a newlywed and hasn't started her family yet.

I think she likes health food, but can never resist good chocolate. She enjoys chick flicks, blogging, tweeting and Facebook. She has to read a lot of business journals, as she is establishing her career, but when she gets a quiet moment, she may read the occasional Cosmopolitan. Her hobbies are entertaining friends and music.

She doesn't make a lot of money yet, but she knows what she likes. She enjoys color and funky, happy things that make her smile when she wears them or looks at them. Her pain is the high stress of her job and all the hours she spends being the best at her profession. Buying the occasional piece of art that makes her feel good, is one of her greatest pleasures.

More about Laura Brays classes can be found here. This is my second class with Laura and I recommend them. The classes are very hands on and practical, so you really do walk away with a plan.

About Freya Stark

French-Anglo travel writer Freya Stark was one of the first Western women to see the deserts of the Middle East. She was born in 1893 in Paris and spent her childhood split between her father's family home in England and her mother's in Italy. Her first book, Valley of the Assassins, brought her grants to continue her travels. She focused on remote areas of Turkey and the Middle East, seeking cultures that the modern world had not yet altered. She died in 1993 at age 100.