suspicious bunny

I keyed this off the little Goebbel figurine, but partway through, the drawing started expressing its own personality.

Tech pen on journal paper.

running across, over, down

The construction of running shoes is soooo complex! And colorful!

Tech pen and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

pepper and plastic

Soluble pen (a Pilot G2) and water on journal paper.

swoops and arches

This is a too-quick rendition of the rattan screen, but I love the lines of it, however wonky. Thin lines done with a #12 brush wiggle!

Those orange and black things are my propped-up feet.

W/c on Raffine all-media paper.

a keeper lamp

This is one lamp we've had for decades and I still like to look at it. Most of the others just provide light.

W/c and w/c pencil on Aquabee superdeluxe

poetry bubbles up

I was so relaxed lying on the acupuncture table yesterday afternoon. The calm felt wonderful after 4 weeks of suffering through an intensely horrible cold and then bronchitis.

In my new cough-free state, this haiku rose to the surface.

W/c and tech pen on (new to me) Raffine all-media paper. Love it!

holding on

This is smudgy because it's 4B mechanical pencil on Aquabee superdeluxe, then tossed in my bag. No fixative for miles/hours.

The whole time this student was reading her assignment, she held on to the edge of the table. Rocky reading?





Then at home I decided I couldn't stand the smudginess, so I painted her. She turned into Pumpkin Girl--too orange by the time I was done dipping into palette mud. Oh, well.

plumbing

We're renovating bathrooms, starting the planning at least. I feel the need to record the old fixtures before they go away.

Delta faucet, not the actual color, with a watery sink.

Pencil and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe

take off your claws

I went to an event where we walked an indoor labyrinth. Shoes to be taken off.

After I walked, I sat down along the wall and drew what one woman had been wearing. I was entertained that she stacked them.

Gel pen and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

sunny, not jaundiced

Morton's foot is the condition of having the second and, in my case, third toe, longer than the big toe. It's a good thing I never wanted to be a ballerina.

And those bony ankles!! Scary! They stick out like doorknobs.

W/c pencil and paint on journal paper.

letting it flow

In The Tao of Watercolor, Jeanne Carbonetti says of her students:
"One group loved to play with techniques, delighting in luscious washes, marveling at the glow of transparent color on white paper, and, of course, loving the flow. These people were all natural watercolorists (you can spot us in an instant--we're the ones who love the spills) . . ."

Yes, indeed!

W/c on Winsor & Newton paper

plant on a pedestal

Random imagining, randomly painted.

Doodling is cheap entertainment that soothes the soul and develops hand-eye coordination. Such a deal!

Tech pen and w/c on Bristol paper.

imagining mountains

Landscapes aren't my thing, but using 140# Arches calls me to layer and lift and do all that painterly stuff I don't really know how to do.

So the paper made purple mountains appear. And a house and pines. Maybe it's in Colorado, where we vacationed a lot when I was a child.

paintbox people

How many nationalities are in your family history? What if each one showed in a different hue on your body?

Just a thought.

Sharpie and w/c on 90# Canson paper.

super loose

Painting over water-soluble pen is the ultimate in unplanned flow.

Pilot pen and w/c on 90# w/c paper.

glass swan with stones

With a foot of snow falling today, this is the closest I could come to a summery feeling around here.

W/c on 90# Canson paper.

folded cat

I wonder if Origami originated from watching cats. I'm into color intensity here, only using the cat shape as an excuse for the piece.

W/c on Winsor & Newton paper.

dry brush

This started with layers of palette mud and sage green w/c--very dry brush on this thin journal paper paper.

I added a little sienna and yellow ochre colored pencil when I began to like the doodle enough to keep at it.

I'd have placed her on the page better if I'd known I was going to like how the texture came out. Her nose was almost lost in the spiral slots.

the blackest blacks

After drawing the item with normal shading, the amount of media (graphite) on the paper becomes hard to control with added water. It's very intense and dense when wet.

Water-soluble graphite pencil on Canson drawing paper

glowing glass

It started as a pear shape and turned into a piece of (imagined) glass sculpture. Will it roll down the slope and break?

W/c on W&N paper, sing paint straight from the tube with little water, done in wet on wet layers.

palette pools

I was idly blending w/c patches on the palette and it became this. Perhaps inspired by recent fabrics.

On Aquabee superdeluxe paper.

sketchy at best

Scanning a drawing in a spiralbound notebook usually means getting these blue-gray shadows. But in this case, like in the fan, something about them works for the image.

Tech pen and w/c on Cachet paper.

intense vs light

The Liquid Expresso pen flows quite nicely on Winsor & Newton w/c paper.

drawing small

I have trouble drawing things much smaller than they are. Fitting an 18" bear into 5" paper takes focus for me, besides all the other drawing elements.

Something new to practice for 2008, fitting more into less space.

Tech pen and w/c on journal paper

playing with hands

Foreshortening doesn't disguise the twisted way the third and fourth fingers turn in. Do everyone's do that?

I pinched that left thumbnail in a door in June. It took 6 months to grow out again. Worth commemorating with a drawing!

pencil on random paper

the bell on the deck

How it stacks up out there.

Water-soluble graphite and w/c on journal paper.

using none of these

In the kind of quick brush drawings I like to practice, I don't use any of these. Might as well draw them.

Brush marker and w/c on Cachet paper

a basic beginning

I practicing putting a mitred border on a square by doing this reversible hotpad. Simple rectangles, assembly and finishing skills.

I'm working on a 16x20 inch piece for the front door. I'm keeping my sewing projects small so the unfinished things don't stack up (like my knitting projects).

Call it a 2008 resolution.

unexpected joys

I've been awash in salt water, flushing out cold viruses. I imagined a shaker and this colorful thing showed up.

The color mixing on the paper (cadmium yellow and alizarin crimson) became the delight emerging from this loose process of a quick line and wash.

May 2008 bring health and unexpected joys to all of us!

Tech pen and w/c on Cachet paper.