Garden Varieties #8...Done!

Garden Varieties #8
Original Drawing, Boogie Board Tablet

As promised, here is the completed version of yesterday's Boogie Board drawing Garden Varieties #8.

I must admit that I did not take a good photo of the completed drawing (and I pushed that "erase" button too soon!) So I compensated by doing far more tweaking of the image on my desktop in Adobe Photoshop Elements than usual. I am hoping that the end justifies the means.

Now, to answer this question from a few readers:

Will prints of your Boogie Board drawings be available?

This week I started printing out the completed Boogie Board drawings onto different rice papers. I like printing on rice paper because of the natural color and the texture of the paper. It makes each print truly unique, since the surface of the paper is varied and takes the ink differently each time.

Since the rice papers are a natural color rather than white, the final colors in the prints are varied. Some look just great, and other prints are less striking. So I am in the "Artist's Proof" stage of production. I'll let you know when the prints will be ready for purchase, perhaps by next week. Thank you for asking!

To all my readers, thank you for taking a moment to read this post. I very much appreciate it. Enjoy a nice weekend.
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Text and image ©2012 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

Garden Varieties #8 WIP

Garden Varieties #8 (WIP) / Boogie Board Drawing

Today I thought I would share with my dear friends and readers a Boogie Board drawing in progress.

The image you see with this post shows Garden Varieties #8 after I drew the basic lines for the drawing and started to rough in the lighter areas. (I was at my car dealership getting an oil change, and took my Boogie Board tablet along.)

Once I got home, I photographed the unfinished drawing on the Boogie Board, transferred it to my desktop computer, and did a little "prep work" on the image to enhance the image readability for today's post. I increased the contrast and saturation, removed dust specks, and put the black border around it.

I am posting this WIP (work in progress) as a visual illustration to answer the following question from an artist friend about the Boogie Board tablet:

Does the Boogie Board have a range of colors?
No. The blank surface of the Boogie Board is a blackish color. When you write or draw on it, those areas become a lighter color, sort of a greenish gray, depending on the light. So it's like doing a white line drawing on a black background.

When you want to clear the Boogie Board tablet, you press the round "erase" button at the top. The Boogie Board flashes for an instant and the working surface goes blank, back to the blackish color.

The variation of greens seen on my Boogie Board drawings is the result of changes I make to the drawing images (increasing the exposure, contrast, tone, and color temperature) after I transferred the drawing to my computer desktop.

Of course, if you have an image manipulation program like Adobe Photoshop on your computer, you could do all sorts of color alterations to the drawing once it is transferred to your computer desktop.

Tomorrow I'll post the finished version of this drawing so you can see how it turned out.

Thanks for taking a moment to read this post. See you tomorrow!

PS: And, oh yes, I changed the look of my blog page. You are welcome to comment on that, too.
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Text and image ©2012 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

So, What is a Boogie Board Tablet?

Boogie Board 8.5 LCD Writing Tablet (with Garden Varieties #7 drawing)

Several of my readers and artist friends have emailed me questions about the Boogie Board tablet that I've been using to draw with for the past few weeks. So, in today's post, I thought I'd start off by sharing some basic information.

The official name of this eWriter is the Boogie Board 8.5 LCD Writing Tablet, developed by Kent Displays of Ohio and sold through iMPROV Electronics. You can see the different Boogie Board models (and in pretty colors, too!) at http://www.iMPROVelectronics.com/us/en/

Today's post shows a picture of the Boogie Board I am using, sold under the Brookstone label, that I first saw "in the flesh" at my local Staples office supply store.

The Boogie Board tablet is thin and very light, weighing only 5.6 ounces—much lighter than most paper sketchbooks—and comfortable to hold when drawing. The writing/drawing surface measures about 7" x 5", a nice standard size familiar to artists.

The writing/drawing surface is smooth with a kind of semi-matte finish that the stylus just glides across with ease—having less resistance than pencil on paper. The tablet is pressure sensitive, so you can vary the line weight as you draw.

Pictured to the right of the Boogie Board is the dense plastic grey stylus which comes with this tablet. It's about 5" long and fits nicely in a slot at the top of the Boogie Board tablet. Also pictured are the rubber tipped paint erasers that I used on my last drawing, Garden Varieties #7.

I like drawing on the Boogie Board tablet because I can carry it around with me anywhere. It doesn't require electrical charging or being plugged in, and drawing on it is a spontaneous process—there's no going back, re-doing, deleting, or erasing a line or "mistake" while drawing. You just keep working until the drawing is finished—good or bad—and then do another one! I find the Boogie Board tablet a great device for drawing practice, which is exactly why I bought it.

Which brings me to these two questions from readers:

You make these beautiful concoctions and then erase them? and

How do you get the drawing from the Boogie Board to your blog?

I photograph the drawing on the Boogie Board with my digital camera, transfer the image to my computer, and save it to my hard disk. Then I use image software to even out the color, sharpen the edges, and resize it for uploading to my blog.

There is a new Boogie Board tablet that has a "SAVE" feature, designed to store up to 200 pages (or drawings) and made to connect to your computer. It's called the Boogie Board RIP (for "Record Image. Preserve.") You can see that device, too, at the website noted above.


Thanks for your interest. I hope you are enjoying a good week. 
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Text and image ©2012 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

Boogie Board Drawing #7

Garden Varieties #7

Original Drawing • Boogie Board Tablet

Here it is, the end of the week already; and I have another Boogie Board drawing to share with you.

This drawing is a bit different from the previous ones, as I added a few new tools to work with on the Boogie Board—in particular, a set of rubber tipped paint erasers—tools I usually use for painting!

Using these implements allowed me to more quickly fill in areas than just using the Boogie Board stylus and gives the drawing a different texture, which I like.

Along with many nice comments about the new Boogie Board drawings I posted over the past week, I've received a few questions, too. In my next blog entry, I'll post answers and a few photos to answer those inquiries.

Thank you for your interest. Have a great weekend!
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Text and image ©2012 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

The Power of Art

Garden Varieties #6

Original Drawing, Boogie Board Tablet

 

"I believe our memories have a much better idea

about what is art than our eyes do...."  

 —William F. Reese

Many thanks to those readers who left nice comments or emailed me kind remarks about the Boogie Board tablet drawings posted last week. I appreciate your enthusiasm and encouragement!

Today I would like to share one email in particular. It's from my sister, writing about my drawing and connecting it to memories of her daughter Emily, who is all grown up now and will be married next Saturday. 

"When Emily was little, there were no houses at the end of our block—it was all woods and weeds. We used to take a walk in the early mornings during warm weather to see a cluster of morning glories in full bloom. We would go to "see the colors" and count how many there were altogether and how many of each color.

"A few years ago sewer lines were put in and the land at the end of the block was "developed". There are now several homes lining the cul de sac. The other morning I took a walk and looked for the morning glories, but they were gone. Yet in my mind's eye I saw a little girl with a head of wild yellow curls bending over a thicket of blooms, marveling at the beauty of the colors and carefully counting, "1, 2, 3 blue ones, Mama!" (the blue ones were her favorite).

"Your drawing reminds me of those sweet moments shared so very long ago. There is a certain irony that your drawing, like the morning glories, is only temporary. I find that sad somehow, but I am thankful you shared it with me, if only for moment."

Thanks for taking a look. Have a wonderful day.

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Text and image ©2012 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.