Office orchid

The District Manager at the State office I work in has an awesome green thumb and he often decorates our office with the orchids he grows. They are always SO beautiful! As I stepped out of the office on Friday, I took a picture of these gorgeous flowers with my handy camera, thinking if I had time, I would paint it and post it to bring in the New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! See you next year!

Illustration Friday - Horizon ... and Fact #2

When I heard about the new Illustration Friday topic, this incident came to mind so I'll share it as my second random fact. A few years ago, while fishing off the island of Molokai, all we could see on the horizon were choppy waves and of course we couldn't see any fish. Then suddenly, the area around our boat turned crystal clear at the exact moment a humungous manta ray swam under our very tiny fishing boat. Needless to say, I had a "little" freak out.

Merry Christmas!

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Birthday Kate!

This is a little something something that I made for a dear friend Kate (Kathleen Rietz - Artist) who is celebrating her 40th birthday today (12/24). It's a drawing of Sunshine, her little pup that loves her like something fierce. Happy Birthday Kate!

Check out her website too ... I assure you will be treated with incredible illustrations!

Random fact #1

Ok, I've been meaning to post 7 random facts about me for at least a couple months now, thanks to Sharon (Flat sound of wooden clogs) and Robyn (Have dogs, will travel) who tagged me back in October. Talk about procrastination! LOL. I honestly am not a very interesting person so coming up with a couple is hard enough!

So, I'll start slow and share this one fact: One of my absolute favorite movies is Star Wars. Ok, I admit it, it's my favorite. I have fond memories of sitting with my father who kept uttering, "Wow!" through the whole movie. Back then, lines wrapped around the theaters like never before. There was no such thing as the computer graphics of today ... those space fight scenes were different scenes spliced together! It is pure genius and a movie worthy of all the "Wows!" ever uttered. :) Do you remember the first time you saw the movie?

This postcard is on its way to an awesome art blogger, generous gifter, and fellow Star Wars fan.

Prayer

"God has created us to love and to be loved, and this is the beginning of prayer; to know that He loves me, that I have been created for greater things." Mother Teresa

Buddha on black

I haven't worked on colored paper since my Freshman college art class way back in the 80s! So, this was a fun and exciting drawing for me. I have been dying to try out this 5.6mm Cretacolor white charcoal lead and feeling a bit adventurous today, visited my neighborhood art store and found this great Strathmore Artagain black paper. This is 6"X9", drawn from a stock photo from istockphoto [dot] com.

ATC Giveaway!!

#1: Reed's Bay, Big Island, Hawaii


#2: Wailoa State Park, Big Island, Hawaii


#3: Ironworks Building, Bay Front, Big Island, Hawaii

TIS THE SEASON OF GIVING!

In the spirit of giving ... and to follow up with Steve Loya's (Go Flying Turtle) own giveway in which I won a beautifully created ATC (and perhaps some other things (?)) by Steve ... I'd like to offer three ATCs (above) that I created to the first three visitors that leave a comment. And to carry the tradition, I only ask that the winners hold a similar giveaway of art-related pieces that they've created, sometime soon.

These three Artist Trading Cards or ATCs are just 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. I began drawing with these cards because they were small, quick to do, and jogged my long-lost creativity from its slumber. I did these cards earlier this year and it feels good to be able to give them to folks that might enjoy them rather than have them sit in a box next to my computer. I will give out the cards in the order I receive the comments (e.g., #1 for the first person to comment, #2 for the second, etc.). I'll contact the winners by email. Thanks everyone and good luck!

Get lost! (Everyday Matters Challenge #139: Draw something with a handle)

Tonight, I got lost in this drawing. I used my Pigma Micron 005 so it took a little longer than usual but it was a nice distraction. I might work on it some more later but I'll stop for now.

Illustration Friday: Little things

A collection of leaves and debris is a little thing worth stopping for and taking a second look.

Work shoes (Everyday Matters Challenge #103: Exercise equipment)

Another quick sketch of my other pair of boots. If I were to draw a pair of work boots daily, I would have enough sketches for a week and a half!

I'm not much of a gym person but I am a hiker and admittedly, this is my favorite form of exercise.

Nifty gadget

What is a niftier gadget than a ratcheting pipe cutter? Maybe an iPhone, but not much else.

Toilets and miracles

This must be the season of miracles. My miracle happened last Monday, after my toilet blew out. I took my toilet apart, thinking I would replace the parts myself. Well, as you noticed from my last post, I really needed help because I couldn't take this dang piece off the toilet tank (I drew it so you'd know which part I mean). It was so tight on there that I couldn't budge it at all. I tried everything and I got close to cracking the tank. I called all the plumbers in town, but no one returned my call. I felt pretty dejected and quite helpless. It is quite a serious matter when you only have one bathroom.

Then, I heard a car horn toot in my driveway. This strong-looking fellow with very kind eyes drove by the house and noticed that I have a cast iron tub in my garage and stopped to ask if I'd consider selling or refurbishing it because he does that sort of thing. I wasn't ready to refurbish it yet but we talked and I found out he's a plumber guy! I sheepishly asked if he'd take a look at my toilet and of course he said, "Sure!" After applying his plumbing know-how and with some difficulty, he got the part off!

What a wonderful thing to happen on the exact day, the exact minute, I needed help! Just before he left, A.J. (Angel James, as I call him) mentioned that he drives by my house often and never noticed the tub before, but he did that day. :)