Animals

Running Blue Horse - Drawing Day 2009 by Calzephyr

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:59:51 -0000

I took a photograph of this because there was no way I was going to lay it on the scanner! This horse, inspired by Franz Marc's colour theory, is rendered on paper with oil pastels. I haven't used oil pastels for since I was a kid. I started this drawing this morning for Drawing Day 2009 and I wondered how I was going to finish. I realized I was trying to be too perfect about everything. It was actually nice to be doing something for the sheer joy of mark making. In Marc's colour theory, blue represents maleness, yellow femaleness (mother earth?) and red is heavy and brutal. The only part I don't like is the green lines that extend into the grass. I wish I hadn't made them. I could see redoing this as a full size picture. Drawing Day requests the following description - Created for Drawing Day - www.drawingday.org

Medium: oil pastel
Tags: horses Franz Horse running day wild blue nature galloping uncertainty drawing marc 2009

Paisley Peacock by Calzephyr

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:03:46 -0000

Here's another Mission 101 thing done - Paisley Peacock. It's a 2.5x3.5" ACEO rendered in pencil and Prismacolor marker. I took a little liberty with his head feathers to make it look more like a crown. He is for sale on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26082991

Medium: Prismacolor marker
Tags: bird ACEO birds peacock blue nature pattern gray profile view royalty peacocks paisley

Great Blue Heron ATC by Calzephyr

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:37:38 -0000

Now that the recipient of this ATC trade, Ghiti, has received, I feel I can post it! This is an Art Trading Card of a great blue heron made from many layers of paper. I didn't have the right coloured cardstock, so I coloured large blocks of heavy white paper with Prismacolor markers.

Medium: paper
Tags: bird red ACEO grey birds blue blue wildlife heron great great atc gray profile herons

Sunshine Canary by Calzephyr

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:39:28 -0000

I hate to see paint go to waste, so I painted a bunch of ACEO cards yellow. And what's naturally yellow? A canary! He is drawn with black Staedtler marker on Strathmore Canvas paper. The background is painted with yellow Golden acrylic paint. The original is for sale on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23029118

Medium:
Tags: bird ACEO yellow birds pet canary headshot pets nobody canaries

Inga the Prehistoric Horse ATC by Calzephyr

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:59:28 -0000

My friend Sighthoundlady and I did an ATC swap this week. She drew a purple My Little Pony and I did her prehistoric horse character, Inga. This was done in PanPastels, Micron pen and good old fashioned pencil crayons. If you would like to do a swap with me, just note me. I'd love to do it!

Medium: pencil crayon, PanPastels
Tags: horses Horse animals animal headshots profile headshot prehistoric

Putting the Love in Lovebird by Calzephyr

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:08:16 -0000

A pair of ACEOs rendered in Golden Acrylics on Strathmore paper. I had two sketches for V-Day lovebirds, but couldn't decide on my favourite, so I did both! They are for sale at http://purpleponyart.artfire.com

Medium: acrylic
Tags: pink bird bird purple heart love love love birds birds lovebirds pet lovebird pets Pairs shapes togetherness

Blue Jay ACEO by Calzephyr

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:50:42 -0000

Looks like this winter bird has found a bit of spring! Pencil crayons, PanPastel and Micron pen. The original is for sale on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19905353

Medium: pencil crayon, panpastel, micron pen
Tags: jay bird day birds blue blue blue nature jays outdoors perching

Flaxen Chestnut Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:49:14 -0000

The last in a series of nine - this one is a flaxen chestnut. Whew! I'm glad to be finished - using textured paper was a real mistake for something so intricate.

Medium: Colored pencil
Tags: horses Horse brown day arabian outdoors standing full-length profile arab nobody chestnut

Jack Quaker by Calzephyr

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:25:02 -0000

Jack is a Quaker parrot owned by my husband's stepfather. He had two or three homes before coming to live with Heinz. He isn't tame, but is vocal and quite a character. Unfortunately Jack was somewhat abused - newspapers and anything long and thin scare him. He has so much intelligence in him! I took a portrait of him, but due to lack of light, it came out grainy. I painted over it in Corel Painter and am quite pleased with the effect. I ended up taking two tries at it - and merging the two versions as the first one was a little more painterly.

Medium: Digital
Tags: bird parrot one birds portrait pet quaker profile headshot pets nobody parrots quakers

Chestnut Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:55:34 -0000

I'm regretting using textured paper with this one...somehow this one didn't come out as well as the others. A stray mark I couldn't erase made this one more of a stallion than the previous ones :-)

Medium: colored pencil, panpastel
Tags:

White Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:46:29 -0000

Technically there is no such thing as a pure white horse, so he's more of a light gray really. #7 in a series of 9.

Medium: colored pencil, Panpastel
Tags:

Dapple Gray Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:57:53 -0000

Here's #6 of a 9 part series. Even though some of the dapples came out large, I think he is my second favourite of the bunch.

Medium: colored pencil
Tags: horses one clouds day outdoors standing cliffs full-length gray nobody Majestic arabians

Fleabit Gray Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:44:09 -0000

I think his delicate fleabit (brown flecks on gray) got a little lost, plus he is a little dark. This is #5 in a 9 part series, stay tuned!

Medium: panpastels, colored pencil
Tags: horses Horse one day arabian outdoors standing full-length gray profile arab nobody views arabians

Gray Arabian Stallion ACEO by Calzephyr

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:58:04 -0000

My 9 piece ACEO series continues on! This is #4.

Medium: PanPastels and pencil crayons
Tags: horses Horse day arabian stallion outdoors gray profile nobody views arabs

Bit of Parrotdise ACEOs by Calzephyr

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:30:05 -0000

This ended up more like a sketch than a finished piece, but it's a future colour ACEO project. It features a cockatoo, three macaws, an African gray, two budgies, a cockatiel and two lovebirds, which didn't come out very lovebirdy! I have to go back to the drawing board on this one and improve the sense of scale between all the birds.

Medium: pen and ink
Tags: bird ACEO parrot birds parrots variety

Laughing Cockatoo ACEO by Calzephyr

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:55:46 -0000

What's so funny? Only he knows! This cockatoo was to be part of a series of parrots, but I decided to single him out because I liked him the best. He is cut by me, by hand, from lignen free, acid free cardstock. This was my first picture cutting with the Fiskars Fingertip Control Cutter, which is basically an x-acto blade on a ring. I love it, although I can't do the inner cuts as fine as I would like.

Medium: paper
Tags: pink black funny birds cockatoo laughing profile nobody silhouette views cockatoos

Outrunning the Storm by Calzephyr

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:49:03 -0000

It seemed natural that my first stab at using PanPastels would be with an ACEO. This horse has a little acrylic and pencil crayon in him though!

Medium: pastel
Tags: horses Horse running clouds day galloping outdoors outdoors gray fields nobody storms prairies

Blood Bay Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:53:41 -0000

I wonder if I will regret using toothy paper...it just seems that the scanner makes him look more crunchy than he really is...if horses are actually crunch I guess ;-)

Medium: pastels, pencil crayons
Tags: horses one clouds day outdoors standing cliffs full-length bay nobody Majestic arabians

Bay Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:56:32 -0000

So this is my ACEO project - one pose, nine colours. PanPastels and pencil crayon.

Medium:
Tags: horses black one clouds day outdoors standing cliffs full-length nobody Majestic arabians

Black Arabian ACEO by Calzephyr

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:00:15 -0000

Just a sneak peek of an ACEO project I'm working on that involves horses. Who woulda guessed? PanPastels and pencil crayon.

Medium: pastels, pencil crayons
Tags: horses black one clouds day outdoors standing cliffs full-length nobody Majestic arabians