Figured I'd do something a little bit different this time. I did a little bit of photography last month, so I thought I'd post my favorite. Since buying a new camera, I've been experimenting with different styles. I really like nature shots, and my friend's backyard is full of beautiful flowers. Enjoy.

Sorry it's been a while!! This is my friend Morgan. She's absolutely beautiful, and I'm so glad I got to draw her portrait! It's in a much looser style than I usually use. I used only a 4B pencil on a rough paper. This drawing will be hanging up inside a restaurant downtown. Hopefully it will get my name out in the community more!

Boots N' Spurs

I just sold Boots N' Spurs at an auction. It only went for $20.00, but nothing there went very high anyway. It was drawn on gray paper with white charcoal and graphite pencils. I didn't draw this as well as I knew I could have, because I was selling the original. But I'll be drawing another one soon...

Baby It's Cold Outside

I drew 'Baby It's Cold Outside' for a winter art show. I put it up for sale, too. This is one of the first drawings I sold to someone I didn't know. It won 3rd place in the show and was put on display in the window of a business downtown for about two months. I LOVE this drawing (it's my niece, Hannah). I was really sad when it sold, but I keep telling myself I'll draw it again someday .......

Doorway to Dreams

My local theater. ^_^ I love this place. This is the only architectural drawing I've ever done. I have a feeling I'll be doing more in the future, but in the meantime I'll stick to portraits.

Elephant in a Box

I tried out a lot of new techniques when I drew this. The wrinkles on the skin were etched in before I started shading. That was a really cool effect. It gave it sort of a 3D look. It was also the first time I'd really put in much of a background on a drawing. The most fun part was showing it to people. I could tell who had an artistic eye, and who just didn't "get it". The ones who liked it saw that it's just sort of an abstract drawing. But some people just asked me why I drew an elephant's butt lol.

Ella Pt. 2

Episode two!!!!!

Homesick

I loved drawing this. A lot of heart went into it. I drew it for a friend of mine who is out of state in college. This is one of my most detailed horse portraits so far. I might be putting a print of it in an auction this month, so wish me luck there. I'm finding that I really love to draw horses. So much emotion shows in their expressions!

Ella's Umbrellas Pt. 1

My adventures in watercolors. ^_^ I was so scared when I started this one. See, despite the name of the blog, I am NOT a painter. But I was brave, and I got through it. This is the first of what will be four portraits; each of the same girl at different stages in life. The reference photos are not all of the same girl, obviously, but I've been changing each one just a little bit to make them look similar. To be continued....

Romance

Now we're digging in my archives again.... I drew this in 2008, I think. I'd seen this photo on a magazine cover (Don't remember which one) so I went home and tried to draw it freehand. I don't usually work without a reference photo, but this one turned out pretty good despite it. This is a miniature (Only about 4 x 4"). I loved the way he was looking at her.....I named the portrait Romance.

Whoops, sorry peeps. Life's been kinda hectic for a couple days. Back to work lol. This is one of my most recent self-portraits. It's drawn from a photo taken when I was 5 years old. Wasn't I cute? That long blond hair was so much fun to draw! Hair is one of my favorite things to draw. I wanted to capture the sort of whimsical attitude that went along with this photo.

I used to draw horses all the time. And a couple years ago I guess I just stopped for some reason. So when I started this last summer, I was a little nervous. I wasn't really sure if I'd be able to remember how to draw horses. Lol it was a stupid thing to worry about, because you never "forget" how to draw things. I had a beautiful reference photo to draw from, even though it was a little small. I could have done better on a lot of the detail work, but I don't thin I'd change any of it if I could. And there will definitely be more horses in the future...

PETE WENTZ. Ok, yes, like every other teenage girl, I think Pete is cute. Despite the sloppy eyeliner job. I drew this in '08, when a friend of mine asked me to. She loved the drawing, but she decided to let me keep it. At the time, this was one of the most realistic portraits I'd ever done. It's still one of my favorites. The tattoo kept me frustrated for a LONG time. It was really hard to draw it without making it look like a necklace. But all in all, I really love this drawing.

I did it!! I posted a slideshow. I'm so proud of myself. It only took me an hour and a half to figure it out lol. this is my drawing EmmaLee as a work in progress. Enjoy1

Ahh, my panda. i really fell in love with this drawing while I was finishing it. I wish I'd gotten a better photo of it....oh well. This was actually drawn before I started using good supplies, so the whole thing is done with a mechanical pencil. Lol I swear, the drawing really is square; the photo just warped it.

This is one of my few pastel drawings. I drew this one in 2007, when I was experimenting with pastels a lot. I really wasn't aiming for accuracy in color or form, and I wanted kind of a loose, flowy feel. I think I ended up doing three tiger drawings but one got coffee spilled on it lol. I'll post the other one sometime. I really liked how loose you can be with pastels, and still get a nice result. I still don't have a lot of knowledge about mixing color and blending shades, but I guess it's a good thing I'm not striving for perfection, huh?

Snoooow! There's over a foot of accumulation here. I'm thinking of possibly drawing a snow scene....lol in my "spare time". wouldn't it be cool to draw a tree with icicles on it? what a challenge! Maybe I'll take a few snapshots now and save the actual drawing for when it's warm.

Oh this was a fun one. I did this as a Christmas present for my friend EmmaLee. I wanted to show how naturally beautiful she is. Drawing her eyes was probably my favorite part. It was also a challenge, because I wanted to get the likeness exactly right. In the end, I was really satisfied with it. This was one of the first times I had used something other than mechanical pencils. I used a box of Derwent Graphic pencils for this. I was really nervous at first, but as the drawing prgressed, I started to get more comfortable. Now I'm really hooked on good pencils. I don't think I'm ever going to go back to my old mechanical ones.

First things first. Welcome to my blog! I'm Trtl. I'll try to post one of my drawings at least every other day. New, old, stunning, ugly; ya never know. I might have some new drawings within the month, but in the meantime, I have plenty of older ones to choose from.

Upcoming works in progress:

Ella's Umbrella series, Pt. 2

Scenes from the Living Word



Also, if you have any requests, I do portraits on demand. Prices are negotiable. If you send me your photo, chances are I can draw it for you.