I am presently unnerved by my inability to think creatively, abstractly, and un-joan-like. This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Twist" and it has twisted my brain to no end. How more concrete can one get than a lime twist? Oy vey. I need a drink. :)
I am going to let this sit here and perhaps create a new IF illustration later. Hmmm ... I wonder if that drink will help loosen my noggin'.
Hair ... faces ... proportion ... all challenging. You know, people are definitely not like plants, where one can fudge a leaf ... maybe add one or remove one for drama. But people? No way! move half a millimeter to the left or right and you go from something looking realistic to picasso-esque. Alas, practice makes perfect ... and I'm practicing.
Oh, and thanks for thinking it, but no, this is not a self portrait. Heh :)
This is a quick sketch of a childhood doll that I keep in my hope chest. It's rather cute (in an ugly sort of way) but she says funny things when you pull on the string. She's just about 5 inches tall but has a pretty big presence. Her repertoire is:
"Guess what? I'm brilliant!"
"I'm going to have a tantrum!"
"Maybe I'll let you play with me."
"I'm going to be president."
"Nahhhnananahhhhnah!"
"I'm a perfect child!"
Hahaha, she cracks me up!
This morning was spent clearing out my mother's room. She passed away last October and I have, on occasion, attempted to remove the reminders but I never get very far. It's difficult.
But this morning, I decided this was the day that I was going to do it! But as you can see, I didn't get very far again. I got distracted when I decided to commit to paper a little rememberance.
I found my mom's sewing box. In it are little reminders of her. She was a seamstress here in town for many years. She sewed all our clothes until jeans became popular and then she gave up and let us buy store-bought clothes. I remember being happy about that. But also feeling a little guilty because I know she felt great pride in sewing. I think it made her a little sad to know we were growing up and in the process, growing independent.
This is my tribute to my Mom, filled with colors that remind me of her.
I've always loved botanical paintings. This was my first attempt at it several years ago. I don't think I have as much patience anymore. :) You will notice I didn't use acid free illustration board. Now I know.
I am deeply honored to have been selected by Mariana Musa to receive the Thinking Blogger Award. I was feeling a bit verklempt because I'm sure you all know I'm one of Mariana's biggest fans and really, the honor should be reversed. Thanks Mariana!
One of the very first blogs I ever visited is Liz's Woolgathering, at the suggestion of her brother. Liz fills the pages of her sketchbook with daily musings and delicately painted artwork. It was at her site that I discovered a culture of artists brought together by the sheer joy of drawing and painting. It felt like coming home! Thanks for that inspiration Liz!
Maria is also very deserving of this award. It was on her blog Keep on Keepin' on that I found a woman who enjoys painting as much as I do! Her writings are always accompanied by wonderful drawings of people and things around her. I love the glimpses of her life that she shares with everyone every single day.
Anita Davies hails from the UK and in her wonderfully British humor, shares her beautiful artwork and witty writings. My favorite is her location sketchbook that she fills with wonderful images of the UK. More illustrations can be found at her website.
The participation rules are simple:
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative gold version if silver doesn't fit your blog).
The yellow things in my house (minus the trash can). Oops, late for work. Toodles!
In an effort to find something yellow in my house for the next Everyday Matters challenge, I realized I don't have many yellow things in my house! So, I pulled together what I could find: some Canola oil, my Dad's old wire splicer thingy, some overripe apple bananas, and a toothbrush I use for watercolor splatter. LOL. Oh, and a rubbish can but how interesting can that be? I already transferred the image to watercolor paper and will try to find time tomorrow to tackle a new painting.
I had this partially done begonia painting in my collection for months because I didn't like where it was going, but I couldn't bring myself to toss it. So I decided I would rework it and maybe give it a new life. It still needs some work but at least it's not in the trash! My profound thought is this: old drawings are kind of like people, sometimes it's worth taking a another look and giving them a second chance.
I found this feather at Wailoa State Park, not far from a couple feeding ducks. The white feather against green grass and weeds seemed a really nice contrast. Perhaps I'll consider doing this one in watercolor later. I'm submitting this for my Everyday Matters challenge #63, go on a nature walk and draw something you find.
Still got a long way to go ... but slowly getting there! Happy early Father's Day to all you Dad's out there!
While walking along a path at Wailoa State Park, I found myself drawn to this single feather. This is the beginnings of a drawing of that little thing that stopped me in my tracks. You will see that the process is pretty organic for me. I just add things as I go along, keeping in mind what I'd like to achieve. I'm curious how this is going to end.
I just completed a quick painting of my cat on my quite messy bed. Mamo, which means yellow in Hawaiian, has yellow eyes. She's the one that sleeps on my pillow when I'm at work.
I thought ... if I were a suit, what color would I be? Would I be brown? `Cuz sometimes it's nice to just fit in. Would I be black? No, that's too somber. I think if I were a suit, I'd be a pink polka-dotted bright blue suit with purple stripes! Which suit would you be?
Sharks creep me out! I once came face to face with three very large sharks while snorkeling along the coral reef of Ant Atoll off Pohnpei (Micronesia). So, I bought this souvenir from an artisan in Kapingamarangi Village to commemorate my survival (it has real sharks teeth in it). Ok, ok, they told me that the sharks don't bite people there but I'm not convinced they told the sharks that!
A lighter? $0.59. An emergency blanket? $5.35. A helicopter on standby to pick you up from the mountains because you couldn't make it back to camp before nightfall? $750 an hour. A headlamp that would have allowed you to make it back to camp and bypass all this nonsense? PRICELESS!
Ribbons of pahoehoe lava rock and `ohi`a tree shadows make for an interesting Saturday morning subject. I just completed this near Kipuka Pua`ulu (Bird Park) at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The original focus of the drawing was of two grass plants ... then I realized the shadows were much more interesting so changed the drawing midstream.
Aroma of strong coffee on a cold morning ... sipping liquid energy ... for the big day ahead. Ahhhh!
Not quite done ...
You probably noticed I exaggerated the perspective of the cup a bit more. Ugh, I really need to fix the ellipse of the cover! :)
Creating a drawing with a graphite pencil is like magic ... where a blank sheet of white paper is transformed into a glimpse into a 3-D world.
I think there are a lot of people out there that totally understand where I'm coming from ... the wonderful aroma of strong coffee permeating the car during the long drive to work. Aaaaah!
Cats are really hard for me to draw. They always turn out looking like devil cats, as you can see. :). I figured practice, in all we do, makes perfect. So, I'm sharing my not-so-perfect studies in the hopes we can all see improvement over time.
I found Kanoe lying at her favorite spot on the couch. She always looks so peaceful. Here she is watching me as she slowly drifts off to sleep.
Wailoa State Park ... children feeding ducks ... fishermen in tiny boats hoping for a catch ... calm, cool water beckoning a dip.
Notice a lot of my drawings have been of airports lately? This is the first guy I've seen in a suit at our local airport ... like ever! He was smartly dressed in a black suit but he caught my eye ... because his hair tweaked to the side, like he just woke up. The other drawing is of my computer pack. It was my best friend for two days.
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