Bethany Violet

Illustration Friday - Contained

2009-01-18T23:49:00.010-05:00

For the theme "contained," I made this very simple and very quick sketch of a mime in a contained "box." When I first thought of the word contained, I thought of all the arbitrary restrictions we limit ourselves with such as, "I can't wear___", "so and so will say ____ if I do ____", "there's no way that I could ever achieve ____." That led me to think of a mime which illustrates that perception is reality. If we think that we are in a box, we are. If we think we can or can't do something, generally speaking, we're right. We contain ourselves as much or as little as we allow ourselves. That said, please excuse the craptastic, quickly done, and poorly lit photograph that I took of this super quick sketch. It caused a little loss of information in the translation. I will do better next time!

p.s. Apologies I.F. folks...as soon as I posted my entry, I realized that I had done last week's prompt and accidentally posted it to the "pale" submissions. That's what I get for not doing the prompt every week. ha! Please forgive! We can just say it's an illustration for pale...a mime's makeup is kind of pale, no? ;) :)

Some custom ordered pieces that I made during Christmas

2009-01-18T22:49:00.003-05:00

Aluminum Foil on Aluminum Foil

2008-10-07T21:53:00.003-05:00

I tried another experiment tonight drawing the same object from different angles on different materials. Since I was playing with aluminum foil, I drew the aluminum foil box. I didn't have a sharpee as I wanted, so I used a random felt tip pen that I had laying around. If I play with the foil again, like I think I will, I will definitely try the sharpee as I don't think a sharpee's ink would pool up on the metal as this pen did. The pink color was just my playing with some acrylic paint nearby. The pictures don't show the image well, but a cool aspect of the aluminum foil was its ability to be pressed into. All around the drawing of the foil, I "drew" squiggles that reminded me of foil sparking in a microwave (fyi - don't try that!). They catch the light in a cool way in person. Before starting, I attempted to crumple up a ball of aluminum foil, unfold it, and then draw on the interesting produced texture. The pen I had didn't work well on this, but I think that I will try it again with a regular sharpee as I think it has potential. The foil was very hard to photograph (especially at night!), but they look much better and are way clearer in the larger view as blogger has condensed the images down. Hope you enjoy my piddling and until soon. :)

Companion piece to the Brownie Camera experiment drawn on plywood w/ pen and acrylic paint

2008-10-07T16:13:00.006-05:00

So, after I drew the brownie camera that is in my last post, I thought it would be interesting to make a companion piece that would juxtapose the old style brownie camera with a new Canon Rebel Xti digital camera. The new drawing is drawn using pen and acrylic paint on plywood again. The coloring on this image isn't perfectly true and is more like the color of the brownie camera image. I think I'm going to keep pursuing this for awhile, by drawing different images on odd materials. I'll try to post soon, and we will see what develops!

Brownie Camera experiment drawn on plywood w/ pen and acrylic paint

2008-10-06T16:43:00.003-05:00

Sugar (sketch for Illustration Friday) and a picture of some birds that I painted in the corner of our living room

2008-10-03T16:47:00.010-05:00

too much sugar = crack for kids
Gotta' love those hyper kids. ;) :)

Here are the birds that I painted too. Since I've been focusing more on photography lately, I need to post more stuff that I've been doing un-photography related soon as I've gotten slack about posting again with different things going on. Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy.

some more plaques and a box + 2 others from before finished

2008-06-19T12:39:00.004-05:00

Here are two more frosted glass pieces that I've done. The love one and the deer are a bit larger than the previous ones and, unfortunately, I made another one this size but sold it before I got to take a picture of it. The pictures are a little dark, but the framing is silver and all of the ones from before and these now have one of the three ribbons shown. I used the red ribbon (as is on the love one), and green and purple polka dotted one (like is on the foliage one), and a green w/ white stitching one (as is on the deer). I tried to take some pics of a few more blue bottles I've also done, but since the pics didn't do them any kind of justice, I will try to re-shoot them and post them later. The quote on the box reads, "Dancing is the poetry of the soul". Hope you enjoy and 'til soon.

'humming'bird - "that kid" (everybody has known a kid like this or had them in their class)

2008-06-13T15:05:00.012-05:00

Here is a snapshot of an utterly stupid quick sketch that I did for for my first time doing Inspire Me Thursday. The theme this week was "hummingbirds." man...this is corny. lol please forgive. :)

Illustration Friday - Forgotten

2008-06-06T11:17:00.007-05:00

I don't really like how this sketch and her expression turned out (she was supposed to look like she was biting her lip not drooling! ha!), but I will post it for now anyway and hope you enjoy in spite of it. :)

bad snapshot of a sketch I did of a friend and me - I'm on the left

2008-04-24T18:57:00.003-05:00

etched window hangings in progress...

2008-03-31T15:41:00.005-05:00

foliage

girl looking at the ocean

pastoral scene

stargazing

abstract design

on the windowsill

2 snapshots of sketches for "Please Draw Me" Forum

2008-03-31T15:25:00.003-05:00

To try to get back into the practice of doing portraits, here are two sketches for the "Please Draw Me" forum that I've recently sketched.

frame I painted with my photography in it

2008-03-14T18:13:00.002-05:00

Illustration Friday - Heavy

2008-03-14T17:56:00.004-05:00

First when I heard of heavy, I thought of having a heavy heart, and then it somehow evolved into this so I offer up this little sketch for this week's theme.

buy a plaque similar to us to your specifications (color and subject matter) for $15-$20!

2008-03-07T18:16:00.007-05:00

Illustration Friday - Garden + one other quick sketch

2008-03-07T17:54:00.011-05:00

Ok...so I haven't posted in FOREVER. Since I haven't had access to a scanner in about a year, I haven't been posting my work, so please forgive. I made myself a promise to post the next thing I drew/made however good or not so good it may be so... here I go. I apologize in advance for the quality of the copy of my sketch as it is a snapshot and not a scan.

This turned out to be an odd quick little sketch that I did today for Illustration Friday with some random colored pencils and pens I had nearby. Since the topic is garden, the first thought that came to my mind was not of flowers and such, but, for some reason, all I could think about was my kindergarteners all struggling to raise their hand and how similar to a garden they are both in appearance and concept. Before they even know what I'm going to ask them, like flowers in a garden, they spring their hands up, struggle with all their might to get their hand the highest, and beg to be called on. One day I'll ask them to do a jig and see if they keep raising their hands before they know what I'm going to ask! ha Unfortunately (since this is a snapshot and not a scan) some of my lines were lost, but I hope you enjoyed this odd little illustration anyhow!

Because I had this other quick sketch with me when I took this shot, I thought I'd share it also. It's not really supposed to be me but is just a little cartoon I made in response to how I feel some days towards 4th graders. Utterly silly, but hope you enjoy nonetheless. I've also posted (in another post) some plaques that I've painted; I will try to post some more of my work and handmade goods soon though, and, until we cross paths again, may everything be better than good.

couple of edm challenges and a little random doodling

2007-04-20T16:00:00.001-05:00

I know I'm bad about scanning in my sketches sometimes, but here are a couple that were based off of the edm challenges.

The one above is for the cell phone as well as the clock challenges as I constantly seem to use it to tell the time while I'm at work. "It's five o'clock somewhere" is always a good thought on a Friday!

Though not a childhood toy, here's the only toy that I had in view when I drew this. He is a frog that sits beside my tissue box near my desk at school that my grandmother-in-law gave me. Though this little guy might not be the prettiest frog to grace the internet, some of the kids at school like him as he has a tennis ball as his body so that when you drop him he acts like the frog he is and bounces.

This is just a really random sketch that I had with me when I scanned the other two in so I thought I'd scan it anyway. The odd shaped thing is a piece of styrofoam that I cut while playing with the Styro Cutter and seeing what it would do.

fiber-y goodness

2007-04-20T07:39:00.001-05:00

After finally getting these on my computer, I thought I would post a couple of my slightly older (last 2 or 3 years) fiber based pieces. To read a little more about each or to see a little bit of my other (non fiber related) work, you can check them out on my flickr set. Just click on the thumbnail of the piece in question to read.

p.s. please forgive the slightly grainy images as for some reason they look grainier here than on my flickr! ~BVHS

Trying to build up my portfolio...that's where you come in:)

2007-04-09T13:24:00.001-05:00

Hey all. I finally got my camera a couple of weeks ago so I am trying to build my portfolio up. I am still trying to learn the ropes of the camera itself so...that means I need practice! If you would like pictures of yourself, your pet, your children, your great Aunt Ethel...I'm open...please message me and we can get together a time and a place. That goes if you want casual pictures, photos of you in your prom/formal wear, you and your husband/wife/significant other, a group, or something else all together. If your band or a band you know of is playing that would appreciate the photographs or if you know of any other events that would need photographing (weddings, parties, etc.) please message me, and I'd love to do it.

It really would be a win/win situation because you would get photographs for a song, and I would be able to build up my portfolio also. I would be shooting with a Canon Rebel DSLR XTi.

variations of the girl theme

2007-03-13T14:39:00.000-05:00

Same girl, only a little different from a coupla' weeks ago in sketchbook... I may finish at a later date though. I will be doing some bottles this week too so as always...take care till we meet again and hopefully will talk with you again soon.

squee - Canon Rebel love

2007-03-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

I think I'm going to be able to order my camera finally this week! *looks forward in anticipation of harrassing everyone by constantly taking their pictures haha*

random linocut

2007-03-08T17:11:00.001-05:00

In class today, since my 8th graders were gone to Washington, DC, I did this little linocut as an example for my high school class who are doing these. The girl is based loosely on the woman in the Sprout sketch for IF that I drew awhile back. I'm not overall pleased with them, but I thought I'd still post them before I add anymore to them and the other ones that I printed before playing with the color and papers a bit more to show them some more ways they might could start experimenting. Until then here's the goodies...

first edm post

2007-03-08T16:41:00.001-05:00

Hey all. This is my first edm post and I'm looking forward to meeting some of you! For some reason I've always liked sketchbook drawings to pile up on the page so I've included the challenge for a pair of scissors, a tool (the Speedball carving knife), a clock (or a corner of one!), a drink (Sun Drop on my desk), and an electrical plug. Though the scan looks ok on my home computer other than being a little less bright than the original, when I was at school it was kind of faded looking so if it is so on your computer, please forgive.

God bless and till soon, Bethany

Illustration Friday - Sprout

2007-02-08T15:28:00.002-05:00

Being out of work sick this past Monday, I drew this little sketch in my journal for this week's Illustration Friday representing the word sprout. I was thinking of the baby that was "sprouting" in her which reminded me of this verse from Proverbs.

Before I ended up drawing the girl at the top for the illustration, I was thinking of posting these two little pieces that I'd done before while playing. These were done as examples for a class I teach. The first one was mainly me playing with the fabric and alluded to "my roots," and the second one is a drawing of a few opposites that could both equally describe me. I thought you might like to see them though they aren't directly related to IF prompt for this week.

Wesley and Fred in sketchbook

2007-01-30T22:44:00.000-05:00

I intended on posting this little sketch of my husband, Wesley, and our mule, Fred, the other day when I posted the other couple of sketches, but I accidentally forgot to so...I'll share it now instead.

edit: I didn't have the original with me when I was scanning, just the photocopy, but I'll be able to scan in the original later.

addition 3/13/07

Here is a scan of the actual sketch and not the scan of the photocopy.