manganese spray

The spray that goes in the wood stove. One squirt per log, keeps the chimney glaze away.

Ink and w/c on journal paper.

man in bookstore

This man stayed still an incredibly long time without moving at all. Finally, a model who holds a pose!

Color added at home.

Tech pen and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

intense eyes

Inserting a quick cat face in the journal. Just to capture those green eyes.

Tech pen and w/c.

grape pear

Try playing with the flow of watersoluble ink. It's a dance of lead-and-follow with paper quality, fluid dynamics, the need to control, and the need to judge results.

There's so much mindstuff going on with a simple process: Draw pear, brush on water, see what happens.

Noodler's ink on Aquabee superdeluxe

smudging and shading

Using simple value changes to indicate shape, using HB pencil and lots of rubbing with a stump, makes a drawn face more realistic.

I slow-draw an imagined face to practice the basics of head structure. But I miss the drama and impact of less realistic methods.

Drawing this reminds me of where my first love is. In color and bold line!

HB pencil on Canson drawing paper.

imagining rocks

Playing with the palette's mud pools works well for earth tones.

W/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

finding the hidden cat

The cover of this journal was
too silver and commercial.
So I put on a layer of cheese cloth,
then daubed acrylic on it. I had no
matte medium so used glossy.










While scanning to put up this post, I did a closeup of the cheesecloth detail.








I found this face! An unexpected cat has emerged onto the cover. That eye highlight is not something I added; it's part of the original cover.

















Finding these oddities and funny surprises is (almost) the whole reason I work so spontaneously.
The Universe sends out these playmates to join the game.

blue hand freedom

Painting things unexpected colors is my a constant pleasure. I'm cheap to entertain!

Noodler's ink and w/c on Aquabee superdeluxe.

failing to blend in

Inspired by Natalie Goldberg's "A Writer Paints Her World"," I had to create a checkerboard floor for the rainbow cat.

Pencil, w/c on Bristol board (for a change)

post and vine

Randomly creating an image, doing another vine entwined post.

It was afterwards that I looked at this and thought a therapist would have a good time analyzing the solid, heavy rocks and mountains, a solid, straight post, and the more fragile, tangled vine that doesn't touch the post. Hmmmm.

Random media, too. W/c pencil, pen and w/c to intensify the colors when the w/c pencil was so anemic, on Aquabee superdeluxe.

radiant cat

When I saw the rainbow-colored flat lizards on a Planet Earth episode, I had to paint Chaucer in a new way.

W/c on Aquabee superdeluxe

Queen Fendichio

We adopted Fen in her middle age from our daughter's friend when the girl moved to a non-pet residence.

Fendichio answers to both her formal name (invented by the previous owner) and her nickname. She usually sits in this upright position on her end of the sofa, folds of weighty flesh holding her in place.

Pencil and w/c on Moleskine w/c paper.

the thing that's everywhere

Dunkin' Donuts saturates our streets and strip malls and every available corner. So what else was there to draw when I waited in the car?

I never noticed, though, that they have no large name sign on this particular one.

(Can you tell I never go in one?)

Pen on Moleskine w/c paper, painted later at home.

beet juice swirl

After I worked with burgundy fabric all day yesterday, I was struck by the exact same color in the beet juice. The bubbles are olive oil.

Process: beets and oil on glass.