Wet on wet

At this point, I think I need WAY more practice with wet on wet techniques. It's something that I admire most about watercolor artists ... to be loose and yet suggest a whole background scene ... something I admittedly suck at! I'm fighting (yeah, really, literally fighting) my tight tendencies. I haven't used any masking fluid so I'm trying to get around the mamane leaves and flowers. I found out quite quickly that I can't do wet on wet on the entire painting at once because it dries too fast so I'm painting in logical sections, which seems to be working. Catch 22 tho' because I lose the looseness I long for. So yes, I feel challenged ... but at the same time, I feel very much like I'm finding myself ... like I'm getting to meet the artist that's inside and this is our first introduction.

Getting started

The Hawaiian flora is spectacular and I really don't have a good reason why I don't spend more time painting it. It really is a curious thing, especially because I have spent the majority of my life getting acquainted with some of the rarest plant species on Earth, Or, maybe in my mind it's just impossible to replicate that kind of beauty in a static medium ... or I haven't yet figured how. So, I'll give it a try and do my best to map out a painting of mamane (Sophora chrysophylla), a Hawaiian endemic plant that grows nearby. It's in the pea family so I'll have fun painting those yellow flowers and gnarly pods.

Now: With the wind blowing through the hapu`u (tree ferns, Cibotium glaucum) outside and Dax snoring at my feet, I can barely hear apapane chirping through my window. I'm feeling a little nervous because I haven't painted seriously in a long while. I just hope that mamane gods are with me.

JKPP: Kevin Henry

scratchboard, 2.5"x3.5" ($20 USD)

Another addition to the Julia Kay's Portrait Party. This was the first time I've ever tried scratchboard and OMG, it was so much fun! This is another artcard of Kevin Henry, another member of the portrait party. Couldn't quite get the detail I was going for but I finally realized that the idea is not photorealism! If you want to check out my Flickr page, it's here.

I have a long way to go to capture a person's likeness. It's super challenging, faces, I mean and I feel pretty good if it sort of looks like him/her. Sometimes I wonder what Henry must think of this. "Good God woman, you made me look like an old man!" or "Damn, my nostrils aren't that big ... are they?" But, I hope that my art, no matter how much I need to improve, will honor the person in some way and the subject will know that by trying to capture their likeness and essence, I welcome them into my life and brain ... because for a short time, they reside there. I mean, how many other people are gonna spend THAT much time staring at your left ear?!

Pugilicious!

watercolor, 7.5"x9" ($100 USD)

I couldn't resist painting this little guy because he was just too cute. And admittedly, I had more time so decided to paint a little larger this round. I was even able to bust out my larger paint brushes that had been neglected for so long.

I don't know about you but now I want one!

And about being creative ... I sure wish I could share with you what I feel inside when I paint or draw. It's like my insides are doing a happy dance and I get all jiggly inside. I forget to eat and just smile. I catch myself sometimes ... smiling, I mean, as if everything is right with the world.

Small format artcards

`Akala, Hawaiian raspberry, watercolor, 2.5"x3.5" ($20 USD)

Chicken in a window, pigma micron .005 and watercolor, 2.5" x 3.5" (Not for Sale)

Marmalade in the sun, watercolor, 2.5"x3.5" ($20 USD)

Water lilies, pigma micron pen .005 and watercolor, 2.5"x3.5" ($20 USD)

These little drawings and paintings remind me that I need to slow down, because I seem to be able to carve only bits and pieces of my day to do something I love. These take relatively little time to do and I can finish one in a couple hours, or less.

I mean, I love my job. I really do and I work with amazing people and I know I'm destined to be a botanist and conservationist. It's my life's work and I can't imagine a better mission ... but it does take its toll. Perhaps everyone in this middle age stage goes through this. Busy with kids, work, obligations, etc. Maybe it's just important to know what you love and fix our busy lives to keep doing the fun stuff along with all the harder stuff. Celebrate the bright spots, you know?

Duck in watercolor

Watercolor, 2.5"x3.5" (NOT FOR SALE; matted prints available $15 USD)

I love Duck, my silkie chicken. I hatched her in my incubator and "hand-raised" her. She was a squidgy little thing that barely made it while in the incubator but she's a survivor, being the only one of four eggs that hatched. She's a beauty now and quickly becoming the queen of the coop. 

I really enjoyed painting this watercolor of Duck The paining is tiny, the size of a baseball card, but I think I was able to capture her very cute face (yes, I'm officially smitten and won't balk if you call me a chicken lady). The red stamp in the corner, while kind of crooked, is my family name in Japanese. I'm quite liking the look of it and am considering stamping all of my works with it. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by!

Marine Barbaroux

Graphite, 2.5"x3.5" art card ($15 USD)

Tiny graphite drawing of Marine Barbaroux (Miss Embe) for Julia Kay's Portrait Party. Picking up the pencil after many months is like welcoming home an old friend. I do believe that a pencil and paper will be my friends for life.

The Hiker

Super Sculpey with oil paint, approx. 6 in. tall ($85 USD)

Tried my hand sculpting with oven-bake clay and been having a blast! This sculpture was inspired by my hope to set off on new adventures this year. I have a feeling it's going to be a great year!

Exilio Cosmico

3.5" x 2.5", watercolor ($30 USD)

A 2.5" x 3.5" portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party. Thought I might try a single color. Still working on the likeness but I'm getting more and more comfortable with painting faces (it's a big step because I used to avoid drawing people like the plague!) ... just one more drawing on the path to greater accuracy. :) This is Exilio Cosmico, a member of the Portrait Party. :)

Marmalade

Pigma micron 005 pen on Clearprint vellum, 5"x7"

This furball has my heart. He sheds like a husky. He is missing a lot of teeth. He loves to sleep on my head. And, I love him to bits! 

This is my pen drawing of Mr. Marmalade on vellum in my new Clearprint vellum notebook (6"x8"). It's a great surface to draw on and am loving it too!

Dax, my new love

2.5"x3.5", watercolor (NOT FOR SALE, matted prints available $15 USD)

Dax is the new guy in my life. :) He's 3 years old and loves balls and anything to chew. He's super sweet. I'm in love. Kanoe, his older canine "sister" and Marmalade the feline head of the household beg to differ but I know he's growing on them! :D

This is a little artcard I made with transparent and a little bit of opaque watercolor.

`A`ali`i

`a`ali`i, graphite pencil (NOT FOR SALE)

For friends. :) `A`ali`i is a native Hawaiian plant that produces beautiful pinkish-green to red to purplish fruit and grows in the Volcano area and elsewhere. It's one of my favorite plants.

Oil lamp

charcoal and colored pencils

Stuart from Scotland

white charcoal on recycled brown paper (Big Black Bee brand)

If you haven't checked out France Belleville-Van Stone's newly published book, "Sketch! The Non-Artist's Guide to Inspiration, Technique and Drawing Daily Life," you really must!

I admit that life has gotten a bit hectic this past year and it seems my art has gone by the wayside ... Eeek! I haven't posted anything for almost a year! However, France reminds us that it takes very little to get started and there are a zillion things around us that can inspire us to draw and she even provides helpful hints, from A to Z, on what we can sketch. She inspired me to get back to what I love to do so here is my drawing of Stuart from Scotland (scr1bbl3s at the Julia Kay Portrait Party) and I am glad to say I am back! :D Thanks France!

Little one

Graphite: 2B. 6B; 2.5" x 3.5"

I am SO SO SO lucky to live in an artist/biologist community! Our annual Volcano Art Sale is on this weekend and various artists have opened their homes and studios for us to view and buy amazing artwork ranging from fine art to ceramics, carvings, jewelry, etc. I was so inspired I decided to pick up my pencil this afternoon and got creative myself. :) This is a drawing of my friend's son, when he was a bit younger. It's one of my favorite pics of him.

Onions

watercolor, 7.5"x8.5"

I took a picture of some freshly picked onions during a trip to New Mexico while on our mainland trip for the Agricultural Leadership Program and have always meant to paint it. It took a few years but I'm glad to have finally done it. I haven't been painting or drawing much lately because work has gotten so busy, filling my weekends, but this reminded me that we need to make time for the things that make us happy ... and centered too.

Marmalade

Artcard, 2.5" x 3.5", watercolor and Pigma micron .005 pen

I have a feeling I will be drawing Marmalade a lot. He's my only subject that lies still for me. :)

JKPP: Mark B.

Transparent watercolor, ~7"x 10" ($50 USD)

Watercolor of Mark B. over at Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. It's a slightly bigger format than the other JKPP portraits I've been doing lately but it was a lot of fun using bigger brushes. It's good to switch it up once in awhile, no?

Day 7: Smilax melastomifolia (hoi kuahiwi)

Just a quickie of a hoi kuahiwi plant I bought at the Volcano Farmer's Market. I can't wait to plant it in my yard, which is really just a part of a native Hawaiian wet forest. :). One thing nice about our Hawaiian greenbriar is that it doesn't have thorns! Over the course of time, the thorny ancestor that arrived in the islands eventually lost its thorns in the absence of large herbivores. That's why a lot of folks call our Hawaiian forests "benign". We don't have the prickly and poisonous vegetation found elsewhere ... unless they're recent introductions.

Can't wait to color this drawing!

Day 6: Sole pepper

Here is my thought on green peppers: They are the ugly ducklings of the vegetable world. Leave them on the bush, wait a long while and the boring pepper will eventually turn into a luscious red, sweet, and rather expensive pepper worthy of the prettiest salad.

This sweet red pepper is destined for the dinner plate!