Merry Christmas from The Bosbyshell's

Here is a snap shot of our lives in 2009. Allen, who is 13, has added his comments in italic.

Wil had eye surgery to remove his cataracts in February. He has 20/20 vision for the first time in his life and only needs reading glasses (since he is so old). Papa can see better so now I have to clean more. Great . . .

Allen is the troop guide for Boy Scout Troop 1. He earned his Star rank and was inducted into the Order of the Arrow. Wil is still the scoutmaster. They hiked Grandfather Mountain (it rained), Table Rock (more rain), Cowpens Battle field (15°), and the Uwharrie trail (12 miles). My favorite part was messing with the knives and fire.

Maura branched out from quilting to designing jewelry and recycling clothing. She will donate over $150 to charities this year from her sales. Maura plans to sell jewelry on the internet in 2010.

The Art Institute of Charlotte granted Wil its first sabbatical this summer, and he began a new series of large scale figure drawings. He chronicled the series in a blog: www.bosbyshellart.blogspot.com.

In 2009, we exploded into the digital age! “Exploded” is taking it way too far! My parents are so not cutting edge. Wil also posted videos of his art technique demonstrations on Youtube. And all three of us have Facebook pages - friend us!

Maura still teaches fashion marketing and Wil graphic design at the Art Institute of Charlotte. Allen still studies languages and is now selecting a high school for next year!

We wish you and your family the best for 2010 and a joyous Christmas!

Your Friends, Wil, Maura and Allen Bosbyshell
mbosbyshell@aol.com
www.bosbyshellart.com
704-527-8231

Highlight Drawing 2 with Charcoal

I began a new sketch to determine my method for adding highlights to my series of drawings. I am using charcoal on this one. I like it right from the start! The blending is going very well; much better than color pencil. I think: Should I stop here? I keep going.



Here I am working on the highlights on the rock and beginning to add some dark values with pencil. I have decided to use the color of the paper as the middle gray value.

At this point I darkened the shadows and increased the brightness of the highlights. Still no outlines. I am thinking about that.

Now I am erasing and blending both the pencil shadows and the white charcoal highlights. This is the same pose as my very first drawing in the series which I began in June of this year. I have made some different decisions at this point. I added the pony tail; I left it off the first time. I have five values at this stage in the drawing: the gray paper, two highlights and two shadow values.

Hightlight Drawing 1 Complete

This drawing is finished. I did it to work out the highlights. I used color pencil on this one, but it does not erase or blend well. I did a major change to the head today. I decreased the height from the ear to the top of the head and increased the space behind the ear. I also elongated the neck and shortened the chin. I am happy with the rock with the highlights.