quote pages

When drawing on my abstract backgrounds doesn't feel right, words can always fill in.

These remind me not to look back at old plans that no longer serve me, but to make new ones.

Color is pastels; letters are brush pen.

join the connection

There's a connect-the-people effort at www.lost.eu/190a4 to see how many people we can connect across the globe. Don't know what it means or what it proves, but check it out if you're curious.

macro cat

Under the lamplight those fine hairs really stand out.

Bath bear

Not a bear to take a bath with.

I bought this wooden bear in Bath on my first trip to England in 1994. I didn't at all do his black wooden eyes right. Clearly this subject needs to be a repeated model, in a variety of media.

Sketch-and-wash pencil with w/c added on Stonehenge paper.

green leather

Just to keep the drawing going, a pencil attempt in the Moleskine sketchbook. (Watercolor pencils for darkest areas, then swished wider.)

Not good highlights or accurate color, but any practice is better than none, I say.

Looking for spring

I wish I could have caught Chaucer's curiosity and batting at the longest flower stalk, but this after-position will have to do. The flower survived.

Badly skipping gel pen and w/c on extra smooth journal paper.

Another cutup

With all the storm-related activity, I've only done fast paintings and drawings in my journal as the pages get filled.

Spirals of darkest blue and red indicate the maelstrom passing through. Pasted on a clear sky w/c background.

and then there's the tree

Can't tell what damage it did, doesn't appear to be too awful. We were lucky with this one!

Note how it goes all the way over the ridge line to the front. And it is rooted beyond the backside of the shed. Nothing like a tall tree!

There are branches smashed up against the deck door. No breakage there, most fortunately.

After the power comes back

Turns out that it's a big project to get back to normal, once the electricity comes back.

When we turned the furnace on, the bedrooms didn't get warm. Had to call my all-time favorite plumber who ended up sawing holes in room to find and fix broken pipes. Agh.

Much cleaning of freezer/refrigerator, much folding of quilts and bedding from sleeping in the family room by the woodstove, and much moving and stacking of piles so the pipes could be replaced. Double agh.

And it continues tomorrow. Insulation needed, wall patching, and, oh, yes--heat in the bedrooms (without waterfalls in the living room).

Yayyyy!

We're empowered! There's a furnace problem upstairs, but at least we have lights and hot water!!

It's two degrees outside, so it's still scary out there. With web access, though, blogging may proceed.

Winter finally hit

Ice storm, power outages, falling trees. We're cooking on a woodstove, sleeping on the floor beside it, and playing pioneer for a couple days (I hope).

At least today I can post this note from work.

rockin' again

Straight lines and accurate perspective on even something as simple as this is such a challenge, somehow. Slick, bowing paper in the notebook brings out every tremble.

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook.

We see it daily

Close enough to see the dust on the number keys, in spite of daily keying.

Rippley sky

A sky pic that looks like the painted background, inked figure style I've been aiming for. Nature does it better!

Seeing things

I'm painting backgrounds to be drawn on with India ink. It's all a spontaneous, see-what-happens experiment.

But in this case, after I saw the red figure standing in a blue doorway, I didn't want to add more.

W/c on 140# paper.

Blue mug

Macro views enthrall me.

city scrap

Random playing on a tiny scrap of bristol paper. These are the ones I like to glue on blank pages ahead in my journal for colorful accents.

freaky mug

My mother had a phrase: It's so ugly, it's cute. This mug qualifies.

I've had it for years, just found it on a shelf. The gray is a shiny glaze; the face is unglazed clay.

Tech pen and w/c in a new 5.5 x 5.5 sketchbook by Handbook.

During a phone call

The layers that developed while I listened.

Color-surround added later. Gel pen on the back of an envelope.

Earthquake

Had a great trip to visit relatives, home again to play with paint.

I pasted this quickie into my journal. It reminds me of sedimentary layers shifted by an earthquake.

May our new year NOT be quaked! I wish you a happy, healthy, peaceful 2007.

W/c on bristol paper.