The Jersey Devil

Fall has come to New Jersey and so has an obsession with Halloween and the JERSEY DEVIL! Weird sounds and screeches woke me from a sound sleep last night. It got me wondering if it was my ole' pal JD, coming to check on this year's artwork for the Cranberry Festival Yearbook. Anyway, my files have been sent off to the printer and I should be getting a proof any day now. I thought I'd post the black and white version today, since I showed preliminary sketches here during the summer. I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful fall weather and hope to see some of you at the Apple Festival or Cranberry Festival this month!

2009 - The Jersey Devil at the White Horse Inn, Chatsworth, NJ

The End Has Come!

It is the last day of August and Sketching Everyday 2009 has officially come to an end. Today I'm posting a buffalo drawing from one of the photos I posted yesterday for our last challenge. This is my 92nd post to this summer's Drawing Everyday Project. Thanks to all of you who participated and sent feedback. It is always appreciated! I got some questions about sending in challenge drawings to me later on down the road. Of course, please do! Actually, I'm thinking that I'm this close to 100 straight days of drawing everyday, so I might just keep it up. We'll see how inspired I feel about it tomorrow. Either way, I know I will continue posting here from time to time, so please all stay in touch! Wishing You All Abundance, Always, Sandy

Pineapple Drawing

This beautiful Costa Rican super sweet pineapple is sitting on my kitchen table as a center piece at the moment. It looks so nice there, I almost hate to cut it. I thought I had a week or so to allow it to ripen more, but I just read the tag and it says on this particular type, the sugar pine, color does not indicate ripeness. The tag states that once the pineapple is harvested, they no longer mature and it should be consumed as soon as possible. Well, at least I got a pineapple sketch and it was pretty while it lasted!

I also got another challenge sketch this morning from Shaun Dore. He writes; "Here is my contribution to your challenge. I have not been sketching for long so I have a lot to learn. However, I really enjoyed preparing this today." Thanks Shaun. I see you were holding your pencil like a wand too. Good job!

Here today are the photos for this year's final sketching challenge.

Old Barn Drawing

Here's my old barn sketch for the current challenge. I'm also posting a sketch sent in by Lee Gates. Tomorrow I'll post the final challenge photo for 2009.

On a side note, Debbie Simpkins guessed 43 hidden images from the Cranberry festival drawing. She sent me a list and found things that I didn't even know were there! What fun! There are still a couple that you missed though Deb. You definitely get an A+ for effort!!

Another Drawing From The Chevy Dealers'

Another drawing from car salesman Al Miller's desk today. A little toy he keeps on his old fashioned (washing machine style) computer monitor. I still have one too. You can sure fit a lot of beanie babies up there! :-D We got the new van today and then both drove home in the pouring rain. I was driving the PTCruiser which I don't drive that much, so I tried something I had heard about online...I put my sunglasses on. It really helped to see. It definitely gave things more contrast.

Waiting Time is Drawing Time

This was drawn from a rubber duckie on Chevy car salesman, Al Miller's desk (856-461-4800) at Barlow Chevrolet in Delran, NJ today. I did it while I was waiting with Jerry as he sealed the deal on a brand spankin' new gorgeous Chevy van. I wanted to do the wash there too and had my trusty traveling sketching box, but didn't see a water source close by. I finished this in a couple of minutes when I got back to the studio.

2009 Cranberry Festival Hidden Images Artwork

There are over 40 hidden pictures in this drawing. How many can you find?

2009 Cranberry Festival Artwork

These pencil drawings of the Jersey Devil and the White Horse Inn were traced onto watercolor paper and are ready for color. Every year I do one large piece and two or three smaller watercolor originals. These are most likely already sold to my eager Jersey Devil art collectors.

Jersey Devil and The White Horse Inn

Every year for the past seven, I have created a Jersey Devil cover art for the Chatsworth Cranberry Festival. The summer has flown by and now it's time to start thinking of the fall and the good ole' JD. I like to get things done for the festival by Sept. 1st, so this week it will be my priority. Last summer, I also did a "hidden pictures " contest based on the cover art that was a big hit. Keep tuned for progress on this project throughout the week. Here is my preliminary "concept drawing". It's not very pretty, technically speaking, but I am very excited about this theme because the festival's proceeds go to restoring this Pine Barren town's icon, "The White Horse Inn".

Maple Sugar Shack Drawing

Here's my sketch for today of an old maple sugar shack up in Vermont. I'm also posting three photos from Vermont for this week's drawing challenge. I hope someone will give it a try!

Another Finished Hummingbird Sketch

It's Raining Hummingbirds!

We've got a storm brewing here and the hummers are going wacky! Here's the first two steps of my six step technique done tonight from my favorite telephoto hummingbird shot.