new piece for the door

Back in the early 90s I made hangings for the front door in big, 6-squares-to-the-inch cross-stitch. Bold colors and simple shapes, easily visible from the street but with some interesting elements for closer viewing.

Many have faded from years of seasonal use. Embroidery thread is not light fast over 20 years.

I declare it's time for a new set of door pieces. This is the new one just finished for the winter snow season.

11x14, acrylic on canvas board.

fill the pages

With word(s) and paint!

Acrylic in the journal.

catching that turn in the head

Standing over him, a perspective I can rarely get.

Pen and w/c pencil in the journal.

trying architecture

I rarely draw buildings, but here's an attempt at a local house.

Pencil on 90# paper.

Bear dresses up for the holiday

Red velvet ribbon for Christmas. Merry Happy!

Pencil on 90# paper.

sometimes it just works.

I drew a lot of Chaucers on a page; this one turned out so cute! I have to admit, it just happened, I'm now sure how.

Ink in a waterbrush, on 90# paper.

the model creates his own setup

Chaucer liked that spot and stayed there long enough for me to do a quick sketch, PLUS photo! Now that's accommodating.

Yes, I do have 2 monitors, 2 keyboards, 2 speakers, and the real and sketched cats attached to one laptop.

Charcoal pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

stacked bears

Pencil on 90# paper.

Poor Lizzie--revealed

Lizzie is embarrassed that I'm revealing that she has no hair on the back of her head. I guess she has a cross-wise mohawk.

And she has a twist of string for dangling from high places. Embarrassing, indeed.

daily things

A bit wonky, pencil on 90# paper. I use these everyday--the best salt shaker for flow and the best peppergrinder of 4 that we have.

the knitted results

The self-striping yarn makes such an easy patterning for quick knits. Five hats going to cold heads!

his poor neck

I make Bear take all sorts of dangerous and virtigo-causing postures for my drawing practice.

Pencil on 90# paper.

knitting gifts

This is my fifth hat knitted in the last 7 days, for donation to the College donation collection, given to people with cold heads and no hats.

My quick, basic pattern is to cast 55 stitches of a bulky yarn on size 11 needles. Knit 3, purl 2 around and around until the tube measures 6-7 inches tall. Then decrease quickly (essentially forming a flattish disk that forms the top of the hat/bowl) until there are 6 stitches left. Pull a tail of yarn through those 6 to tighten the top and you're done!

I try on the hat as I'm decreasing at the top to make sure it's fitting right. I can make a hat in about 3 hours, depending on what else I'm doing while I knit (talk, watch TV, stir a pot).

Pencil, in the journal.

the yelling player

A pose the model in life drawing could never hold, so you know I drew this from a photo (in the newspaper). He has black paint on his cheeks; those aren't shadows.

Pencil on 90# paper.

sideways bear

He's so obliging about any pose.

Pencil in the journal, across the gutter, fixed a bit with Gimp.

from a lower angle

Drawing the bear above me. Pencil in the journal.

grocery bag Lizzie

Charcoal pencil on a piece of brown paper bag.

contortionist cat

With his trademark back-up-turned front leg. He was beside me on the sofa and I had to catch it fast.

Ballpoint pen and colored pencil for the yellow background. In the journal.

crosslegged sketcher

Pen on 140# w/c paper.

Booboo becomes a model

I found this bear from my daughter's left-behind animal collection. Perfect to add to my model repertoire! We called him BooBoo.

W/c on Strathmore drawing paper.

they're always close by for drawing

Back to scanning finally, with better-working software! I'm far beyond this journal volume with the see-through paper that doesn't help the scan quality.

Pencil.

clown doll again

Quick pencil drawing, then I painted him in.

On Strathmore drawing paper.

the square-cornered cat

I stood and drew him in this position, hoping he wouldn't change shape before I was done.

Pen in the journal.

Lizzie wants equal time

As it says, a Pilot pen, in the journal.

on the teeter-totter

Found this clown doll in a box, perfect for drawing!

Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

interior scene

I started on one end of the sofa and was happy with how the proportions worked out and the scene is true to life with no preplanning. All this practice must be paying off!

Pen in the journal (bit of see-through writing for texture).

little floweretts

Catching the vegies.

Pen and w/c in the journal. The writing as texture doesn't work here!

3 pillows and a cat-shaped one

The writing shows through, but I consider that more texture.

Pencil and w/c in the journal.

the standard passenger

Flying is just getting there (if you're lucky); not as fun as it used to be 25 years ago.

Pen and w/c in the journal.

things you see in airports

This guy held his phone this way through the whole long call. Long enough for me to catch the position in a sketch.

Pen, in the journal

Back to Windows Scanning Wizard--bah!

a 4-hour layover

gives lots of sketching time. Pen and w/c in the journal, last month.

Simple scan, which is too simple. Can't brighten out the writing that shows through.

OHare, last month

Fiddling with scanning software again. This is with Simple Scan when my Xsane still isn't working.

Pen and a dab of color, in the journal.

flying collage

Filling a page; acrylics and ink. In the journal

catching up with cat and paw

After a week of drawing and digging out of tree debris after the storm, I went to scan and post. The new version of Linux has completely blocked my xsane software and any scanning progress.

So I'm limping along with Windows camera wizard and trying to catch up anyway I can.

W/c and pen in the journal.

stretched wide

Got my scanner software going! So I came back to this post and reposted a Xsane-scan instead of Windows Scanner Wizard. A lot more sensitivity to detail.

I was so focused on the details of cat/pillow and coat folds that I didn't realize how wide I was making the middle. So I left it and now the image looks like a TV shot that's stretched to fit a widescreen.

Pencil in the journal.

empowered again

Six days after the freak snowstorm of October, when we got a foot of heavy wet snow, we have power again! And most of the snow has melted.

This is a sketch I did back in 2006, which is the best I have in my archives for illustration of the event. While Blogger has been auto-posting for me, I've been drawing, but scanning and posting were impossible.

Life can now resume as normal, except for a LOT of broken trees to clean up in our yard.

curled cat 1

The hunched curl against winter.

Ink and w/c in the journal.

For the day of ones (11/1/11)

Acrylics and stamping, in the journal.

foreshortened bear

Knocked flat by a herd of trick-or-treaters.

Ink and w/c in the journal.

the two main models

Ink and w/c, then ink spray.

In the journal.

October snow on the pumpkin

I drew a cat face on this pumpkin and set it out about 3 weeks ago. Last night we had our first snow. Barely an inch, but wa-ay too early, even for NH!

More is forecast for tomorrow.

the big 6B graphite

I used a watercolor portrait as the model for trying out the very thick graphite stick. On 140# w/c paper.

Pasted into the journal.

patterning helps

A quick sketch of what was in front of me got better when I invented the pattern for the book. Note to self on how to enliven a dull piece.

warping again

Using the grow and shrink elements of Gimp's warp filter to make the lines flow differently, changing shapes of the color patches.

Acrylics and stamping in the journal.

feet on orange chair

One of the last warmish days on the deck.

All the colors are invented.

I started with colored Sarasa 0.7 mm ballpoints, acrylic paint added.In the journal.

growing roses

I had collaged these dark roses onto the page, scanned the piece, and it needed something more. Instead of going back to the original, I "grew" the roses with the warping filter in Gimp. Better!

Acrylics in the journal.

Herzog's Wheel of Time

I paused this video on Buddhists when I saw this monk. Some faces just have to be drawn.

Charcoal in the journal.

sunflowers

Doodling while watching a piece on Van Gogh's famous painting.

Watercolor and acrylic on 140# paper.