rumpled pillows

With a Cretacolor hard pastel, on Strathmore drawing paper.

charcoal, blended

I prefer the sharper lines of unblended charcoal, but it smears too badly. Blended and shaded with a stump.

On Strathmore drawing paper.

William Kentridge

I love the charcoal drawn animations by South African artist William Kentridge, as shown in the PBS series Art in the 21st Century. His episode is named, "Anything is Possible" target="_blank"." A portion is available at that link.

And the Russian phrase he uses in his art, "I am not me, the horse is not mine" is the quintessential guilty denial. Makes me smile.

In the journal.

new journal by ecosystem

I love the bright orange of this new volume, and the matte cover takes stamp ink very nicely.

Usually I just do colorful acrylic smears and streaks, but this cover called for stamping.

smudgy people

Last November I was in this Boston coffee shop. Another sketch found in the traveling sketchbook.

I loved the lineup of people and had time to draw all of them while my companions had snacks.

Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

smudgy cars

When the urge to draw hits, I am even driven to draw what's in front of me in the parking lot.

That's Eastern Mountain Sports.

Hard charcoal pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

smudgy travel sketches

I found a sketchbook I'd been carrying last November with sketches I hadn't posted.

A father and daughter in the airport. The large horizontal curving thing is a pillow piled on their suitcases.

Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

drawing crumples

Always a challenge, especially to my patience.

Disposable brush pen (from jetpens.com) on Strathmore drawing paper. I put a filler gray in the background with Gimp.

Conte pastel pencils

This was as much of him as I could fit on the scanner.

Dusty, but colorful. On 140# w/c paper.

essential equipment

We've gotten nearly 60 inches of snow so far this winter. I am getting good use out of my inexpensive Totes waterproof boots!

Pencil on 70# paper.

just before the fall

Waiting for software updates to finish, there's only the tipping router to draw.

Pencil on thin paper.

same old bear in the usual chair

Quick sketch of what I have painted. Because I can never practice quick sketching enough.

Water-soluble pen in the journal.

the perfect creativity . . .

. . . is to play seriously and work playfully:

A master in the art of living 

draws no sharp distinction 

between his work and his play; 

his labor and his leisure; 

his mind and his body; 

his education and his recreation. 

He hardly knows which is which. 

He simply pursues his vision of excellence 

through whatever he is doing, and 

leaves others to determine 

whether he is working or playing. 

To himself, he always appears to be 

doing both.

 
— Lawrence Pearsall Jacks

that one paw

Chaucer is the only cat I've seen who regularly sleeps with one of his front legs twisted back and under him, with only his paw out to be seen. Contortionist shoulders!

I did this with a somewhat dry gray marker, then painted him in.