Making Waiting Less Painful

A while ago I FINALLY learned the beauty and value of taking a sketch book with me.  Everywhere.  And pencils. And pens. And watercolor brushes.  And paint. And paper towels.  It adds up to a significant bundle, but I have this delightful bag that I've repurposed to carry all sorts of art supplies, and today it came in handy!

I had to wait for some piano movers, and they had to drive a ways, so it took awhile... and so I painted this little drawing.  I probably did the drawing over a  year ago, but today I inked it and then painted it.

Waiting isn't so awful after all!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

When someone calls you and offers you a temporary, side job for the summer, of course you take it!  But that means there's very little sketching, or drawing, or inking, or painting going on.  I did, however, enjoy one delightful afternoon at a friend's cabin, sitting by the stream, drawing his leaning bird house.

This is in my travel sketchbook, and you can even see the seam in the page.  It was a bit of a rush job, because those clouds were growing dark.  But it was a FABULOUS way to spend an afternoon!

COLOR!!!

This morning it was drippy, rainy, gray, cloudy, dismal....ech.  So I added COLOR, and it was a fabulous way to spend the morning!!

Playing

I went for a brief hike with a friend last week, and we sat down on the edge of this small... pond... lake... collection of water.  The sun couldn't figure out if it wanted to shine, and the wind couldn't figure out if it wanted to blow.  Despite the confusion in the weather, it was a delightful morning!!

This started off just pencil.  But a couple of days later I added the ink and watercolor from memory.  Which is why it says it's "my interpretation!"  Not going for accuracy here!

A Few Ink Sketches

These are the only ink sketches I produced out of two weeks worth of travel.  I'm actually quite pleased, because normally I would be tempted to just take pictures and not do any sketching at all!

The top one isn't anyone in particular.  I was just having fun with circles and curves.

Basically that's what all of these are:  me just having fun!

Just Killing Time

Today I found myself by Garden of the Gods with time to kill.  What a shame!  Did I have my moleskine?  Did I have my pencil?  Did I have my pen?  I only struck out on the pencil, but I can draw with ink!  Maybe  not as accurately as I'd like, but it's still fun!

It was a delightful way to spend 40 minutes!

Just a Touch of Red

Every once in awhile I'll be working on an inked drawing, and I just CAN'T STICK WITH ONLY ONE COLOR !  Noooooooo!!  Can't do it!!  So, I had to add some red.

From My Sketchbook

Is this an hibiscus?  You know, one of those bulbs that you can buy at Christmas time from Home Depot.  It grows this long green stalk, and then BANG!  BANG!  BANG!  BANG!  Out pop 4 or 5 beautiful red blooms. Magnificent.

I had this all drawn out in ink, ready to be "decorated" with doodles...but no!  I couldn't ignore all that fabulous red!  So I pulled out my colored pencils and pretended to be in 1st grade again.  Color inside the lines, class!

ADDITION:  I've been informed that this is an AMARYLIS!  I have no idea what an hibiscus looks like!

Window Box

I just drew this tonight.  My fine point pens are slowly going the way of the dodo, so this was drawn with a pen with a much bigger nib.  Details are tough with a big pen point!  This makes me want some roses on my kitchen table...they smell so wonderful!

Polly and Murphy

It's hard to believe that I started drawing these funky ink drawings almost a year ago.  I still have a plethora of them to post here!

This is Murphy at the zoo several years ago.  There's a delightful bird exhibit where you can really get in and enjoy the birds...that is, if you don't mind the white souvenirs they leave on your shoulders!

I painted two oil paintings today (aach!!), but they're still wet, so they won't photograph well.  I'll post pics next week sometime.

Murphy's Foot

Branching out from hands...!

This is Murphy's foot.  Even in the dead of winter he walks around the house bare foot, which makes me crazy.  Brrr!!

Happy Anniversary to me!

This is day 365 of my blogging adventure.  Tomorrow I start the second year.  So....did I draw more?  Did I paint more?  Did I learn from my mistakes?  Boy, I hope so!

To all of you who bother to check this blog...thank you!  There's this odd motivating feeling knowing that people check in here from time to time, and I want there to be something new for them to look at.  And several of you comment - either here, or by e-mail, or on facebook - and it's a courage-booster.

You build me up.

More From My Sketchbook

 

I've had some time to doodle lately...which is both good and bad.  The first drawing was delightful...it was a quiet evening, just hanging out, enjoying a nice fire, and doodling!  The SECOND though...whew!!  I was stuck in the orthodontists office for 2 stinking hours!  Of course, I wasn't the one suffering with my mouth stretched open...that was Murphy.  But I had nothing to do, and the magazines make me want to poke my eyes out.


So I drew!  Looking out the ortho's window is a lovely view of Pikes Peak.  I even threw in the window frame and the curtains for good measure!

A Page From My Sketchbook

Unless you're really good, and really fast, I don't see how you can draw a dog from life...that is, when they're awake.  So, since I'm neither really good nor fast, I sketch our dogs when they're ASLEEP.  Lovely, still models!

Experimenting

...with color!

This drawing pretty much consumed my day.  Which is no big deal, considering that there's a good 12" of snow, with more falling.  We're not going anywhere!

I drew the inked lines first, and then decided to play around with color.  I have this lovely set of fine point markers that I used to fill in between the black lines.  I can't decide if I like it or not.  It's definitely vibrant!

This bird feeder was made for us by our friend, Jim.  The top tier holds water, and the bottom two hold seed.  Only the small birds can fit, which is the point.  The grosbeaks and the stellar jays are bird seed HOGS, so this keeps them away.  To be perfectly honest, though...I can't really handle the thought of the grosbeaks and stellar jays going HUNGRY...besides the fact that they're absolutely STUNNING to look at!....so we have a standard feeder that they can fit into!

...and a little redemption?!

I know, I know.  I wasn't going to do anything to the snowflakes.  I was sick of the snowflakes.  I thought there was  no hope for the snowflakes.

I guess I was wrong, because this is MUCH better!  Still in-accurate in the science world, but much easier to look at!

Failure!

This is a failure on so many levels!

I started out to draw snowflakes, but then realized that I don't know the snowflake law.  I think they can only have a certain number of points.  So I'm pretty sure my snowflakes are all wrong. 

Then, I didn't use a straight-edge of any sort, so my lines are certainly less than accurate. 

Then, I didn't realize how much the blue would over-power the purple. 

Then I discovered half-way into the blue that the pen was less than desirable.  The little tip had pushed up into the body of the  pen too much, and it required me to hold the pen absolutely upright to get any ink out of it.  Which gave me significant hand cramps.  Which led to me LONGING to just FINISH THIS ALREADY!  So the blue lines are less than straight, and less than uniform, and generally sloppy.

It has occurred to me that I could possibly save this drawing by going in and darkening up the purple lines.  But I'm really, really, really sick of snowflakes right now.  And that has nothing to do with the weather!

So there you have it!  Happy winter, anyways!

Warm and Cozy

Those of you who know me know that I sort of have orangutan arms.  Getting sleeves long enough (and keeping them long enough after multiple washes!) requires some effort.  So, of course, my definition of warm and cozy includes having my cuffs come down past my wrists!

I started this in the middle of a 2-hour meeting and finished it at home in front of a wonderful fire in the wood-burning stove.  I have a friend who chews me out for drawing in my moleskine, saying that I can never mat and frame this!  But I suppose the truth is that I draw these for the value it gives to my spirit, not for selling. 

Leopold

I'm pretty sure this guy's name is Leopold.  He just looks like a Leopold to me.  He lives at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  I drew this last night while watching a presidential debate.  Clearly I needed a healthy distraction!  I guess this is what a giraffe might look like if giraffes got tattoos!

Christmas Gifts

How do you decide which print to give to someone for Christmas?  I have a whole stash, and as I thumbed through it trying to pick one it dawned on me...sometimes I don't really KNOW my friends.  Isn't that pathetic?!  There are those beautiful times when I'm really paying attention, and THEN I KNOW.  But in the waxing and waning of life, it's easy to NOT pay attention.  So, when gift time rolls around, I find myself bereft of ideas!

I hope they like it!