Carter Coat of Arms

I have been working on a different kind of digital art lately. I have been interested in genealogy for many years and am descended from an English family that had a coat of arms. My husband also is from an armigerous English family. Believe it or not our families lived about four miles apart in the 17th century. So I have been updating my rendition of the coats of arms. This one was used by the Carters of Kempston, Bedfordshire, England. The earliest immigrant of the family was Capt. Thomas Carter who arrived in VA in the 1690's.

This painting wasn't all brush work.  It took some drawing, some painting and a lot of playing with gradients in Illustrator.  The dogs were done with digital brushes in Photoshop and then moved into place in Illustrator.

Flower the Mule Deer

At last, my digital painting of Flower the Mule Deer is complete.  It took longer than planned because of too many other projects that needed attention.  I painted this beautiful buck from a photo that I took in my back yard. I had planted a large wildflower garden and the deer spent a good part of the fall gobbling up everything edible in preparation for the winter famine.  They aren't as hungry in the summer so we enjoyed the flowers for a long time before they became wildlife fodder.

Flower had beautiful antlers, five points on each, but they take up a lot of space in a painting or photo.  I chose to focus on his beautiful face.  I spent quite awhile sitting at the edge of the garden, very close to him, admiring his lovely markings.  I hope he comes back to visit next year.

Flower the Mule Deer

Wacom Pen

My new Wacom pen arrives on Monday.  I can't wait to get back to painting.  Don't know about Wacom?  They produce an electronic tablet that connects to the computer and has a special pen for drawing and painting on the tablet.  The designs I make show up on my computer in Photoshop.  There are all kinds of brushes available and you can make your own as well.  With these brushes you can create strokes that emulate oil painting, water color painting, charcoal drawing, ink drawing - the list covers all drawing and painting tools.  It is truly amazing and so much fun to play with.  You can see the pens and tablets at Wacom.

I hope to finish "Flower the Mule Deer" as soon as I get my new pen.  I just hope and pray that it is what is causing the problems.  We'll see!

Foiled!

Yesterday I was planning to finish "Flower" the Mule Deer, but my Wacom pen gave up the ghost.  I have ordered a new one, but it will be a week or more before it arrives.  The old one works a little bit, but is causing so much frustration that I have decided to work on some other creative activities until my new pen arrives.

"Flower" - How he got his name.

Stay tuned.  I will finish him as soon as I can.

Back to the Mule Deer

I have been remiss about maintaining this blog.  The holidays have passed and I have still been too busy to paint, but finally picked up the virtual paintbrush and worked on Flower the mule deer.  These deer are appropriately named for their huge, mule-like ears and I find them fascinating.  I had never noticed that those ears are very hairy.  It took a couple of hours to finish painting one ear, and I thought you might be interested in seeing it.

Ear of a mule deer.

One more ear to go and then he will be finished.  Stay tuned.

Holidays

I had hoped to finish my mule deer and have gotten quite a bit done.  However, the holidays have encroached on my painting time and now I see that he will have to remain partially unpainted until after the holidays.  He is standing patiently munching on a bunch of flowers from my wildflower garden.  I have decided to name him "Flower."  I can't wait to show him off, but won't do so until he is finished.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

I will type at you in January.

Meanwhile enjoy Kiki the Schnauzer.

Back to Painting

I am currently working on a beautiful mule deer buck that frequented our yard with a few lady friends in the last few weeks.  I got stopped by life-type responsibilities and the breakdown of my Wacom pen.  I got the new nibs in due time, adjusted the sensitivity of the pen and am now ready to paint again.  I am eager to show you the results, but it is just not ready yet.  I will put him on the website as soon as I am finished.  Thanks for dropping by.