shifting shades and planes

An abstract done in layers of gesso, w/c, charcoal, and other random media lying around! On 90# Canson.

The scan has brighter and slightly darker colors than the original.

An unusual piece (for me) in that it took several days to do while I waited for layers to dry and contemplated next moves. But it is more like the abstracts I admire than most of what I produce.

Happy New Year!

complacency

I have a clay giraffe who has such a satisfied, quirky expression. I toned the paper first, drew him, then blotched in more background.

The shape on the left was a bloom that I turned into a catlike figure.

Tech pen and w/c on 140# Fabriano Artistico.

lifting power

These paperwhite bulbs were below the rim of the bowl when I started them. They've all pushed down long sturdy roots, lifting themselves right out of the rocks, and beyond.

Experimenting on Saunders Waterford paper with w/c crayons and pencils.

imagining again

For once, one of my imagined guys has hair!

Quick sketch on Moleskine w/c paper.

I wish you a joyous, peaceful, healthy holiday!

Happy Christmas Eve!

It's been a tough December. May the return of longer days bring brighter Light for all of us.

Playing with paint on S. Waterford paper, experimenting with bloom. I added Sharpie and colored pencil on top, intensifying hue.

back, intermittently

Until the power outage, I'd only missed posting about 3 days since November 13, 2007. So now I start again, knocked down but not out by a major ice storm.

Doodling on 140# Saunders Waterford paper. My next year's goal is to work on better paper, opening up to more flexibility and techniques in layering and lifting.

It's a goal, nothing more.

W/c and tech pen.

re-empowered

Power is back, landline re-attached, cable restrung.

We can rejoin the modern world. I'm still digging out from the camping experience. But I'm glad to report that one can draw just fine with a headlamp shining on the paper.

They have to be mostly imagined things drawn, though! It's very dark outside the two-foot circle from the light.

Posting will restart after I've done some Christmas prep. And prepared for the 6-12 inches of snow that are forecast for tomorrow.

Ugh! New England winter! Don't tell me how pretty it is until you've coped with the cold, wet, dark parts.

still powerless

Finishing day 5 with no power. Learning to cook on a woodstove where there's little space, little heat regulation (too hot or not hot enough, basically), and hard to see by candlelight what's happening in the skillet.

But at least we're eating hot food!

Posted from the local library's internet connection.

lacking electricity

Quick post from the public wireless at the public library to say that we have no power at home. Blogging is blocked!

There are power lines down across streets all around us, 2 days after the storm. Our phone, electricity, and internet lines have been pulled off the house by 2 huge branches, now lying in the driveway.

We're sleeping on the floor by the woodstove and using candles after 4 pm dark. At least I can cook on the woodstove, using up food that's rapidly thawing and warming in the fridge.

The estimate is 3-7 days to get power back. But the malls and stores are open--not so many trees around there.

Posting will resume when power does.

trying out the paper

Experimenting with actual painterly skills (ha!) on 300# paper. I painted the objects while standing (plein air style, but inside).

Then after that paint had dried, I did the background fast strokes over and around the items. Radically poor technique, I know, and the wall is not this color.

But it was fun to try.

playing

Soluble pen and w/c in the Reflexion journal. Great paper for watermedia.

turned away

Chaucer held this position long enough that I could actually catch the contours. Not sure what he was doing back there; he wasn't moving!

graphite man

People emerge in my doodles. I have no idea who they are. But they're usually bald.

dabs and strokes

Caran d'Ache w/c crayons and w/c in the Reflexion journal.

imagined tree

Imagining rocks and a tree.

Tech pen and w/c iIn the Reflextion journal.

brush broom

This broom always makes me think of a woman in a full dress, half-sitting. It hangs on the back of our front door.

W/c brushes for the broom, colored pencil for the door, on Strathmore drawing paper.

tall thin buildings

A doodle, then I added color.






Fountain pen with Noodler's, and w/c in the Reflexion journal.

mixing the media

The pink and blue/green are w/c paint. The cat and floor are done with Art-Kure brush pen.

I used Prismacolor markers for the chair and pillow. Love the intensity and permanence; hate the paper penetration.

On Canson Sketchpaper.

300 lb cat

. . . meaning that I drew him on 300 lb. Arches.

I thoroughly wet the paper and drew a base sketch with w/c crayons. Lots of bleeding, so I waited for the paper to dry a lot, then layered in more crayon for more intense color.

My intent is to learn how different media act on this heavy paper--one small piece at a time.

soluble brush pen

Using an Art-Kure brush pen,then ve-ery carefully trying to wash color into the face from the soluble line.

In the Reflexion journal--great paper!

stuck

Flying home again, drawing on the plane. This is the imagined scene that emerged on the page.

After I drew it, I saw the metaphor for my Dad's existence in a nursing home--path to freedom blocked by immovable rocks.

local sight

Still life in a unhappy place where life is fading.

Drawing keeps me going.

color needed

The blankets weren't this bright, but I needed to add color to a drab, sad scene.

Same media as last post.

oxygen machine

In the nursing home there's things to draw that I don't see anywhere else.

Tech pen and w/c on Canson sketchbook paper.

for once, not a cat

We hung out with 4 dogs in Kansas. Two tiny bouncy ones I could never have captured, and 2 large ones.

This is Scampi, who decided she didn't want to stay there long enough for more detail.

Pen on canson sketchpaper.

immersed in paint

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for many things--good health, caring family and friends, a job, and few debts.

And for lots of art supplies that keep me afloat through the ups and downs of today's challenges.

W/c rolled with a brayer over Strathmore drawing paper. Words added by writing with the mouse in Gimp, because I want to use the painting for a book cover.

forced to imagine

Having drawn all the people I could see from my tiny seat, I was forced to draw an imagined picture.

This is what came out--still life with ice cube tray and peering child. I have no explanation for this weirdness.

Tech pen on canson sketchpaper.

things nearby

Having drawn the 2 people I could see, my husband's sleeve was next.

Brush pen (with soluble ink), edges washed, on canson sketchpaper.

seat 16c

He had big ears, but in one of these, I may have emphasized it too much. There was a large shadow of it on his head.

Getting that skull shape was a challenge. Hair helps the artist!

Colored pencil; then pen and w/c, on the canson.

I draw what I see

In the cramped seat of a 737, there's not much of a view.

Brush pen on canson drawing paper.

waiting and sleeping

For once I found a sleeping person to draw. But I drew super fast anyway, sure he was going to move any second. Wall color added later.

Copic brush pen on canson drawing paper.

waiting for plane

We flew to Kansas to visit the elderly relatives before the holidays. Lots of drawing happened. Here's a 4-min capture of a woman in the airport.

Loved those argyle socks!

Copic multiliner brush pen on Canson drawing paper.

more scraping

After I daubed and scraped paint, I intensified some of the areas with colored pencil.

These pieces make good book covers, or to glue on the front of sketchbooks. Good for using up paint left on the palette, too.

Aquabee Superdeluxe paper.

scraped and striped

Daubs of paint, then scraped down the page, then up, with a credit card. I filled in some empty spaces with black w/c pencil, then dissolved it.

No point, just experimenting.

On Aquabee Superdeluxe

waiting

All my waiting time isn't nearly long enough now that I'm drawing the scene around me.

The waiting area at the art museum, until my friend comes.

Tech pen in the Raffine sketchbook.

pencil and Gimp

Drawn from my car while I was listening to the radio. This tree had a lot of very pale green fungus growing on it. Quite scabrous.

I tweaked the wash with digital paint.

Pencil on Raffine sketchbook paper

Remember . . .

For when you're feeling doubtful.

parking lot posts

The view out the car window.

For when you think there's nothing interesting to draw :-)

Fountain pen and w/c on Aquabee Superdeluxe

and again

Tech pen and w/c in the journal

starting in the middle

When I doodle, I always start in the middle of the paper. It gives me the most freedom to go any direction.

Just to fill the page is enough, sometimes. This reminds me of a blue zinnia.

sheer glow

Wallowing in color.

W/c on Moleskine w/c paper.

cat

Grabbing the stretched neck, as he listens to a distant sound.

Fountain pen and w/c in the journal.

two-handed wash

I drew blindly and fast with a clear wax crayon. Then dipped a lefthand brush in red, a righthand brush in blue, and swished simultaneously.

In the Reflexion journal.

and more fungi

They're buried under fallen leaves now. The woods paths are totally covered with bronze, gold, scarlet, yellow, and yes, brown leaves.

last of the yard work

Lots of leaves to rake, and we've done bags and bags already.

A quick standing drawing of the wheelbarrow, for no particular reason.

Tech pen and w/c in the journal--great sketch paper!

basking in the hope

A wonderful, profound, exciting, challenging new path lies ahead with President Obama.

May we do what we need to, change what we need to, give what we need to, to make this world work better for all of us.

This is HUGE. Let's make it happen!

Finally!

For those of us who had to wait allll the way to November 4, finally we can vote!

It's been such a long road to this day. May we go forward with new plans and solutions to all those problems littering the landscape.

And could we possibly simplify and ease the whole election process for next time?!!!

Colored pencil and w/c on 90# w/c paper.

Edited to add today's voting experience:

A bit of background: Dixville Notch, NH, has 21 registered voters this year. They vote at 12:01 am of election day and the count is broadcast immediately.

Republicans (in this R. state) *always* win, usually by a large majority.

Today Obama took it, 15 to 6. The earth just quaked!

And for my own voting experience: A long line (maybe 200) for the polls that opened at 6 am. We got there at 6:05, moved fast, and being in the Q-Z check-in line helped. My husband and I were done in 20 min.

We vote on paper ballots that are fed into a counting machine. The location had 12 extra booths over the normal number of 12.

new travel paints

The lightest, smallest palette yet! A friend of a friend sent us both these palettes made with strips of Peerless Watercolor Paints.

These are color-saturated strips put into a folded cardstock cover. Perfect for dabbing a bit of color into a journal sketch.

I've only played with them a bit, but am delighted to try this as a super-light purse palette.

If you haven't voted already, tomorrow is THE DAY!! Finally, our chance to move past the religious-right's tyranny of fear and ideological division!

photo, not scanned

The piece is so big I had to take a photo instead of scanning it. The lighting and the vague blue don't help the painting in any way!

W/c on 140# w/c paper.

back to cozy

On Thursday 30s and a cold wind meant I started the first fire of the season.

The cats love the woodstove warmth. Chaucer moved right in with the firewood.