the joy of orange

I've been drawing but dragging my feet on getting back to scanning and posting.

This morning in his nap Chaucer provided a scene of continuously shifting cat-scapes. This is just one.

Though I love the starkness of black and white, adding a punch of color finishes the piece for me.

Pencil and w/c on Aquabee SuperDeluxe

coming back to normality

It was such a great vacation, roaming small British villages and fields, off the web, away from all news nearly the whole time, and walking, walking miles every day.

I'm totally in love with pubs, canals and longboats, ancient stones, and great tea served everywhere with all the time in the world to linger, chat with Brits and plan our next excursion.

Adjusting to American mania is taking awhile. Plus we have over 1500 pictures to sort through.

This image is what came out today. W/c and tech pen on Aquabee superdeluxe.

glowing

Pitt pen on acryliced journal paper.

seeing figures

I tried out some griffin alkyd fast-drying oils, just experimenting with color.



Then I saw a figure in the top center. A person with wavy hair looking at us over a half-turned left shoulder. When I get home again, I'll see if I can bring her out.

And fix her nose.

scallops

Cleaning out my brush on paper turned into this, after multiple layers and sponging.

daubing relaxes the mind

Acrylic on that paper towel journal paper.

filling the page

In the online painting class, which I'm missing while we're in England, we paint backgrounds for journal pages--large multi-medium (as in Golden's acrylic mediums) pages.

Here I painted a page in the current journal with simple layers, then a sunflower appeared to reflect the golden aura.

one-eared cat

Pencil on journal paper, then tweaked to higher contrast in Gimp.

She is missing her regular company and meals while we're gone.

green tide rising

I put several layers on the page, then needed something to finish it off. The bear volunteered.

I bought him in Bath, England, in 1994. IRL, today I'm there, too. Tomorrow we go to Penzance.

Pitt pen on acrylic.

more tea

Assam is my favorite black tea. It entertains me that the Trader Joe assam has a rhinoceros on the box.

Does anyone know why?

Click to see it bigger. W/c, Pitt pen, acrylics on the paper towel paper. I'm liking it better.

work safe post

In life drawing workshop it's a luxury to draw people who hold still for 20 minutes at a time.

Most of my life drawings are too big to fit on the scanner. This one works.

Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

smo-oth surface

I painted several journal pages with acrylic. Makes a great surface for doodling.

Image inspired by an image in a book.

Pitt pen.

We're off to England today, for almost 2 weeks. London to Bath to Penzance, and back to London.

I've preposted here to keep the blog alive while I'm drawing British things.

Visual journaling

I always make a trip journal for every vacation. Pages for drawings, a record of events and sights, and a place to tape in paper momentos. I take double-sticky tape, not glue.

This is the cover for our trip to England; Acrylic layers and polymer medium.

I cut pages from a Superaquabee Deluxe sketchbook down to 6x9 inches, making 30 pages. Somethiung lightweight but sufficient to record the trip.

The a front cover is 140# watercolor paper; the back cover is a rigid board backing from an old sketchbook. Very sturdy as support for writing on the road/plane/bus/train.

I bound the pages with a plastic coil twisted into the holes. Simple for quick construction and ease of writing.

Entries start tomorrow!

cranked down

Eyelevel view of the umbrella crank.

Fountain pen and w/c in the journal.

journal page

I love this green tea. Actual flavor, not just pale water.

Above the Numi is a cryptic line: tea fell into water.

Thus a great beverage began.

Acrylic paint.

wild and alive

One of the pieces I did for the online painting class. Collage and layered acrylics.

Happy JUNE! Yay, summer!