Winter wicker

As we have yet more snow this morning, a drawing of yesterday's winter sun and wicker provides hope that we'll make it through this seasonal darkness.

Tech pen and w/c on Cachet drawing paper.

the other constant model

Like a hand that's always close by to draw, so are my keys (and assorted additions).

Tech pen and w/c on Canson drawing paper.

the best weapon

Mix 1/4 teaspoon in a cup of warm water. Tilt your head sideways and down toward a sink. Pour the water in one nostril, let it drain out the other.

Guaranteed to wash out villains/virus/allergens/invaders.

This Neti pot is our family's major weapon against colds. Use it several times a day the minute you feel that first "cold" sensation in your nose.

Tech pen and w/c in the journal.

shadows of empty

An empty laundry basket is a joy to behold. But it's very hard to draw all the holes and to paint the shadows!

Tech pen and w/c on Bristol Board.

newfangled cool thing

Can you guess what this is? Very complicated looking, works great! A Christmas present like no other.

I drew it, then went looking for an internet link to show the shape more clearly. I found the same image, many places, exactly matching how I'd drawn the one sitting beside me. Clearly its best angle! I'd taken off the foil cutter, though--that black horizontal thing toward the bottom of the vertical post.

Tech pen and pastel on Canson drawing paper

bunny with attitude

I drew a little Goebbel figurine that belonged to my mother. I have an unexpected number of rabbit figures around--they multiply!

Tech pen and w/c on Aquabee stuff.

more Santas

First posted on this blog back in Christmas, 2005. A tradition on the tree.

In a Moleskine sketchbook.

on the tree

I drew and posted this back in Christmas of 2005. He's on the tree again this year.

Drawn in a Moleskine sketchbook.

Have a joyous Christmas Eve!

a trio of uglies

In an adventurous moment at the grocery store, I bought these.

Clockwise from the top: a batata, jicama, and a rutabaga. (Just noticed that the names all have a lot of a's.)

Now I have to do something with them. They're not pretty, maybe they will taste good.

enduring the snow

When the world outside is piled high with white cold stuff, it's best to stay in with your eyes closed.

Chaucer says, I'm sleeping until dinner is served!

the creature that mixes

I borrowed this mixer, so decided to draw it before it goes home.

As soon as I scanned it, I saw the animal hunched over the food bowl. He has an arched back, holds the bowl with both paws, and dips in a long tongue. See him?

Tech pen, pastel and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe. (Pastel for yellow so I didn't have to try to control water when filling in the background).

aerial view, maybe

Process: acrylic applied by dragging it on with a stiff card, black ink drawn on top, scanned and blue added digitally.

Now I think it's a map of an island (I know islands aren't shaped like that, but see the white surf?) with a strange tribal symbol added.

Gimping around

W/c on 140# Arches, then warped and inserted black pixels with Gimp.

A thing to do on a snowed-in day: learning digital possibilities.

extreme decorating

The lamp is wonky, but it's only an excuse to create wild walls and intense colors.

Tech pen and w/c on Canson drawing paper.

the machine that frees us

A quick impression (don't look for specific structural accuracy) of our 8-horse Ariens. It makes a narrow path through the blanketed, wintery white world.

Much cheaper to feed and house than 8 horses.

Tech pen and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe

leaf motif

In The Artful Journal, I love the brilliant abstracts that have ink drawings added.

This is a super simple attempt. I couldn't think of anything I *wanted* to add in ink.

W/c and tech pen on 140# Arches paper, then digitally warped to make the ink more interesting.

gesso and ink

I gessoed the paper, then did a quick drawing with an Art-Kure ink brush. Loose, indeed.

Cut out of a larger piece of paper, then put on a digital green. Don't know enough about Gimp to do something more interesting yet with a selected outline.

another container

Finally, a thermos that doesn't spill, no matter how it falls in my bag. The real colors are silver and black. I love the simple push-button access to hot tea.

With an overwhelmingly white and cold brown world out the window (big snow), I'm adding color and warmth in all the places I can.

Ink and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

manganese spray

The spray that goes in the wood stove. One squirt per log, keeps the chimney glaze away.

Ink and w/c on journal paper.

man in bookstore

This man stayed still an incredibly long time without moving at all. Finally, a model who holds a pose!

Color added at home.

Tech pen and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

intense eyes

Inserting a quick cat face in the journal. Just to capture those green eyes.

Tech pen and w/c.

grape pear

Try playing with the flow of watersoluble ink. It's a dance of lead-and-follow with paper quality, fluid dynamics, the need to control, and the need to judge results.

There's so much mindstuff going on with a simple process: Draw pear, brush on water, see what happens.

Noodler's ink on Aquabee superdeluxe

smudging and shading

Using simple value changes to indicate shape, using HB pencil and lots of rubbing with a stump, makes a drawn face more realistic.

I slow-draw an imagined face to practice the basics of head structure. But I miss the drama and impact of less realistic methods.

Drawing this reminds me of where my first love is. In color and bold line!

HB pencil on Canson drawing paper.

imagining rocks

Playing with the palette's mud pools works well for earth tones.

W/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

finding the hidden cat

The cover of this journal was
too silver and commercial.
So I put on a layer of cheese cloth,
then daubed acrylic on it. I had no
matte medium so used glossy.










While scanning to put up this post, I did a closeup of the cheesecloth detail.








I found this face! An unexpected cat has emerged onto the cover. That eye highlight is not something I added; it's part of the original cover.

















Finding these oddities and funny surprises is (almost) the whole reason I work so spontaneously.
The Universe sends out these playmates to join the game.

blue hand freedom

Painting things unexpected colors is my a constant pleasure. I'm cheap to entertain!

Noodler's ink and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

failing to blend in

Inspired by Natalie Goldberg's "A Writer Paints Her World"," I had to create a checkerboard floor for the rainbow cat.

Pencil, w/c on Bristol board (for a change)

post and vine

Randomly creating an image, doing another vine entwined post.

It was afterwards that I looked at this and thought a therapist would have a good time analyzing the solid, heavy rocks and mountains, a solid, straight post, and the more fragile, tangled vine that doesn't touch the post. Hmmmm.

Random media, too. W/c pencil, pen and w/c to intensify the colors when the w/c pencil was so anemic, on Aquabee superdeluxe.

radiant cat

When I saw the rainbow-colored flat lizards on a Planet Earth episode, I had to paint Chaucer in a new way.

W/c on Aquabee superdeluxe

Queen Fendichio

We adopted Fen in her middle age from our daughter's friend when the girl moved to a non-pet residence.

Fendichio answers to both her formal name (invented by the previous owner) and her nickname. She usually sits in this upright position on her end of the sofa, folds of weighty flesh holding her in place.

Pencil and w/c on Moleskine w/c paper.

the thing that's everywhere

Dunkin' Donuts saturates our streets and strip malls and every available corner. So what else was there to draw when I waited in the car?

I never noticed, though, that they have no large name sign on this particular one.

(Can you tell I never go in one?)

Pen on Moleskine w/c paper, painted later at home.

beet juice swirl

After I worked with burgundy fabric all day yesterday, I was struck by the exact same color in the beet juice. The bubbles are olive oil.

Process: beets and oil on glass.

open for delightful surprises

Drawing direct with a brush in watercolor is a huge challenge for me. I draw the frontmost things first, then wait for areas to dry and fill in behind them.

Not conventional painting technique, but that's partly why I call mine drawing. The media is secondary to my approach to the paper.

W/c on Strathmore drawing paper.

model ever present

When you have a minute, draw what's nearby.

Proportions not great, but the model doesn't complain when I make her more plump than she is.

Pen and w/c on Moleskine w/c paper.

Loving watercolor's flow

Dabbling with all colors in the mini-paintbox and making it yummy.














The pear and the closeup. In my world, pears *are* these colors.



W/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

I stopped by the woods

Drawing the inside of the car door against the woods background.

One of my goals was to capture the difference between the view through the open window and the window, plus the various values in the door form.

Pen and w/c on Moleskine w/c paper.

Gimped again

Playing with pure color and digital effects. This one has been shifted through a random number of functions. This seemed a good place to stop.

The "Van Gogh" function is defined as "special effects no one understands." But all it seemed to do was blur out the pixels. Rejected as boring, which Van Gogh certainly wasn't.

W/c on 140# paper, originally.

Chart of pears

Idly painting pear shapes, I tried using w/c with almost no water--layering it like oils, though scans don't show the subtleties. Then I did a pastel one on lined journal paper. Shading is entirely imaginary.

Learning another Gimp skill seemed useful, so these are cropped from sketchbook pages and placed in a grid. Love Gimp!

making a random mess work

I was throwing ink and color on the Aquabee paper, idly making buildings and roofs, then tried some old masking fluid for a possible moon. Accidentally dribbled where a moon wouldn't be, too.

The fluid wouldn't rub off at all. But then the smears formed a face! So I continued to swoosh on paint, blur ink lines and make a royal mess.

But now I like the mood, the eccentricity, and the green moon man!

Listening to the Inner Creative

I'm reading "Finding Your Visual Voice" by Dakota Mitchell and have learned how to describe my favorite one. Imaginary, inner-sourced (instead of exterior reality), and emphasizing color over all other elements.

When I sing in that tune, I love the process and sometimes even the product. Like finding your place in the choir but not having to share the music.

W/c on Aquabee superdeluxe

Happy Feast Day!!

(Random color and form doodle with no relation to holiday, food, or sense).

Ink, w/c, and pen on Aquabee superdeluxe.

digital tweaking

I randomly striped a journal page with a range of colors using Art-Kure watercolor-ink brushes. It wasn't until later that I thought of scanning and playing with Gimp filters to do something with that page.

Under the original image are 3 of the things I turned it into. Fabric designs come to mind.

Gimp 2.4--love it!