Mary 3 of 12 - Joseph Holds the Baby

I like their expressions and the feeling of connection among them. But some of the arms are too long! More practice needed. I used an ellipse template (plastic with many ovals cut out of it) to make the halos.

Copic colors used: Halos Y26; Baby BG000,32, E00,25,37; Mary E21, B41,45, R02; Joseph E04,29,37,41, YG91,95,97

Mary 2 of 12 - Mary and Baby

She looks uncomfortable. Maybe she's thinking, "now what?"

Generally, I don't draw people. So when I decided to attempt a Mary series (see yesterday's post), I went to my local art supplies store and bought 2 manikins. Fortunately, I was on vacation with time for drawing.

This was my first drawing with the gray plastic manikins. It helped a lot with proportion and angles. But ouch, that left hand! A lot more to learn and practice.

Copic colors used: Bench YG91, W3; Baby R00, RV11, Y000,15; Mary B01,05, E29,41, Y15, R02, C3

Mary 1 of 12

The verse reads: "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19"

For a whole month, I was doing small images, including the Thanksgiving prayer drawing. So for this drawing, I thought I would do a large abstract something, lines & shapes, just get myself back into the larger scale & wider hand-arm movements. My only plan was to use some orange, which I didn't use in my Advent calendar.

I started with a few swirly lines and patterns. Then I turned the paper a different way & saw the beginnings of a face with scarf or hair or maybe both. Along with other shapes that didn't seem to fit. I kept on drawing and coloring, and in a little while, I saw that it wanted to be Mary, pondering. Not what I expected. Definitely not anything that I planned to draw! I don't draw people usually, and if I had set out to draw "Mary pondering," it would have been shadowy and mysterious. Not like this.

This is Mary 1 of 12 because, when my friend Sybil saw it, she said, why not draw the "Twelve Marys of Christmas." (Like the Twelve Days of Christmas, December 25-January 5.) So that's what I did.

Copic colors used: YR04,09,14, E04,21,37, BG000,72,75, Y38, R32

Advent Calendar 2008

During Advent, I drew something every day in my calendar, a Word table that I created and printed. Each day's space is 1-3/8 x 1-5/8".

It was a wonderful experience for me. If you're interested, click here for what I learned from it. Colors, words, and sources of quoted words are listed here.

Added November 27, 2010:
Click here for my 2010 Advent calendar drawings. Click here for 2009.

The "animals and people" labels are for 12/25. The "from life" label is for 12/7, where I drew a pressed-glass candlestick that is on my dining room table. The "still life" label is for the Sunday candle drawings.

In addition to Copic markers and multiliners, I used Copic Opaque White (12/7 & 12/15), colored pencil (a touch of white on the candles 12/7), gold Sanford Uniball Gel Impact pen (12/16, 12/23 & 12/24), and white gel pen (lace 12/14). Click here for details about the Copic colors used. The pine branch for 12/15 is drawn from Marianne Walker's tutorial on coloring palm and pine branches (her I Like Markers blog) - used with her permission.

Embroidered Ribbons

When I started with Copic markers, I knew I would want some colored multiliners, because I had enjoyed drawing with colored Pilot Razor Point pens. (Which do not work with the alcohol-based Copic markers.)

So, along with a set of black multiliners, I started out with four colors of Copic 0.3 Multiliners - wine, sepia, cobalt blue, and cool gray.

Then I decided to get the other eight Multiliner colors- yellow, orange, pink, purple, sky blue, olive green, turquoise, and red. When they arrived, I did this drawing. I was thinking of embroidered lace.

I did a similar pattern for the 12/16 drawing of my 2008 Advent calendar.

Copic colors used: Background C1; Colored multiliners- cobalt, yellow, red, purple, sky blue, and turquoise
Paper: white Crane's card approx. 4x6"

Three Drawings from Sybil

In December, my friend Sybil sent me an e-mail with three of her recent drawings. (Used with her permission.) Here's some of what I liked about them (from my reply to her):

• The patterns instead of solid colors - I should try more of that
• The shapes that pull away from the main shape, like puzzle pieces that could fit back together
• The curvy lines with dots or circles out at their far ends
• The graceful lines that make emphatic shapes
• The colors and patterns that almost repeat, but don't
• The lines parallel to each other that make new shapes
• The color combinations, bright but harmonic
  
• I feel myself pulled into them - it is very meditative