scribbly city

Somehow adding a moon turned a row of boxes into a town. Then little boxes became windows.

Randomness forms patterns eventually.

Pen and w/c in a sketchbook.

more green

I pasted some profiles on another green background, plus scraps. Acrylic and brush pen mostly.

In the journal. The point is to add a burst of color, nothing more.

filling pages

Random acrylic sweeps, then fast brush pen sketches.

I darkened the backgrounds around the drawn items at the end.

In the journal.

scrunched against the coil

It's clear there was no planning here, either in placement or paint.

She gamely smiles anyway. Valiant Lizzie.

In a sketchbook.

another day, another perspective

Getting to know all angles of the new model.

Graphite on 90# paper, with lightstruck scan.

my new doll

I never played with dolls as a child. As my archived drawings show, my longtime companion was a teddy bear.

But as I roam flea markets and shops now, I look for interesting things to draw. This cloth doll wanted to be a life model.

Her hair is dark red yarn, so she may be Lizzie (for alizarin crimson).

For some reason she's crowded up against the binding of the journal.

Pencil.

start out with a real mailbox

The real mailbox with a setting not quite like it is.

Pen, w/c but an acrylic sky, for no particular reason.

I like putting a pale blue background behind all sorts of objects that I draw. It creates a limitless beyond for expanding the view.

In the Reflexion journal.

drawing breakfast

I like to eat hot food while it's still hot, so I only draw cold meals. This is leftover salad for breakfast since it was already a hot humid day.

Pencil and w/c in the Reflexion journal,

painted pothos

Drawing with w/c, same plant as before.

In the journal.

penciled pothos

I seldom draw plants up close. All those similar leaves and intricate overlaps are boring to me. But once in a while I give it a try.

Listening to Leonard Cohen's music helped.  Hallelujah!

Pencil and w/c in the journal.

penned people

Cross-hatching shadows on people seems so harsh compared to pencil. But I like the non-smudge, sharp definition.

I keep practicing so that shadows look less like whiskers. Haven't figured out that secret yet.

Fountain pen and stamp in the journal.

sketching people

I don't know how other sketchers capture a likeness, but for me it's all about speed.

Getting down a nose, hairline, and chin before they move makes all the difference in recognizability. (Is that a word?)

Pencil in the Reflexion journal. Great paper for all media!

inspired by a circus

We went to see Cirque du Soleil's latest show OVO. Super show, ama-zing skills, great costumes and the bug theme worked great to enhance the circus acts.

So in starting my next journal volume, I used a Reflexion notebook that has a white linen cover for painting.

I had a need to paint an insect. No known species.

Acrylic paint. The background is a dark sap green, not black.

sloppy but fun

I drew my keys in watersoluble ink, then later used up some acrylic paint to color them in.

Last step was to wash w/c over the whole thing, which dissolved the original line. It makes the items look like they're starting to dissolve.

Most of what I carry on a keyring are not keys. Clip, store ID tags, a screwdriver and a little light.

In the journal.

using oil paint

I'm four weeks into a life drawing class where I'm trying oil paint.

Big learning curve! Such opaque gloppy stuff compared to the loose flow of transparent watercolors!

But I'm starting to like its layering qualities.

This is a cropped part of painting number one. On gessoed 300# watercolor paper.

S stamps and grids

Acrylic paint, w/c and stamping with the StazOn pads. They print well on acrylic gloss.

Journal page.

filling journal pages

Collage and stamping. Journal page.

grids and flowers

These grid stamps are from a Martha Stewart line.

Journal page

pulling out the rubber stamps

I have boxes of rubber stamps from art projects 15 years ago, so I'm pulling them out again.

Acrylic first, the red smears. It acted as a resist on this non-sized paper. Then w/c and stamp pad ink.

Journal page