A rainy yet bright weekend.

Today's demonstration for the store went well, and lots of my favorite customers stopped in for a bit of shopping & good chat. Now I'm home and must publicly thank the mister for all the stuff he did today (far more than I usually do on my days off...) he vacuumed and straightened the living room, he did dishes, AND homemade mac & cheese was ready EXACTLY as I walked in, I kid you not, the buzzer went off as I opened the door. I am a grateful girl.

So I'm well fed, feeling good, free of headache (at last!) and ready to do some painting. There are two pieces I haven't even set to canvas yet, and I have a month and a half before the Open Studio Tour.
Nothing like a good deadline...

And perhaps tomorrow, if his weekly challenge project is going well, the mister will be helping me complete more of the on-line portfolio. Well, aren't I just linking like mad?

lag time

Ugg.... it's been a not-so-productive week, but I've been sketching here and there. Mostly sitting huddled in front of the tv not feeling so grand. At least I've got Farscape to keep me company, thank you Andre & Carol! The Jim Henson workshop creatures are of course very inspiring. Also I found Claire Nouvian's "The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss" at the library. Have I yet mentioned how lucky we are to have at two fabulous libraries to choose from? So, I haven't been putting out (har har) but I've been taking in.

Perhaps there will be a good sketch to post by Sunday.

Darius & Filbert

Having gotten up with Arkonbey this morning, I was able to do a fair amount of painting today, and it's only 3pm. This is one of those rare pieces, perhaps the first since MECA, where I've had to use perspective lines & vanishing points. Despite this, the wall-hanging is still misbehaving. Once the pattern is blocked in a bit more it will show the forced perspective, but that bottom edge is driving me nuts.

For Cleo

Just a short while before Easter I mentioned to my friend that I had "fallen victim to a fresh sticky bun the size of a baby's head." (It was absolutely delicious, for the record.)
She said how that put her in mind of a bun coming after me with "at least fangs, possibly brass knuckles, maybe even a knife. Those cinnamon buns are a hot tempered bunch."

So here are a few sketches for her. I can't decide which to go with, so if she has a preference, that'll be the one.

(click on image to view larger, of course)


I am particularly enjoying the gold bling walnuts on the fully-decked out bun here on the bottom.

Still a frog. In the forest.

This latest sketch was fun, but working in color shows just how much I really have to consider about the value range. (As to the dead-centered red mushroom cap, well, it's just a test. There is more to the picture than shown.) Also, I think I'm going to show more underside of the mushroom umbrella. The piece which started this whole ball rolling was all about the underside, not the top. I'm happy with those sunbeams though.

more of frog in the forest!

Tonight, I'm resting my achy self, and the tv came through beautifully: I got to watch Great Perfomances' Peter & the Wolf stop-motion animation. Fantastic!

Following are some sketches from Wednesday & Thursday. I'm starting to get a bit better at trees. Real trees have So! Many! Branches! But I'm loving my simple little #2 pencil, it has worked it's little heart out. All the fancy pencils are grumbling in disgust.

what, it's spring already? Been hibernating...

Starting the morning off at 18 deg.F, this afternoon's 30 deg.F feels positively balmy. Maybe it's really warmer than that. Either way, there are small signs of spring, including robins all over the place, and a flock of geese headed back north today.

Here's some sketchbook stuff from the last few weeks:

1.) Our giant housemates, Darius & Filbert, in a quick sketch for a painting I want to do, and a reference photo from today.


2.) Going through a sketchbook from last year and drawing on one of the painted-over pages inspired this next series of sketches (I plan on doing this one fairly big which will be a challenge for me... so many trees!)


3.) A late-night sketch of our dining room (from memory as I was on the couch.) I liked how it turned out so I took the walnut ink to it, and now I like it even more.


4.) Last but not least: This is the oldest page of sketches, done while house-sitting for Mom. The colors are a bit overworked, but there are some good parts. Colored pencil & walnut ink. Done while on the phone and/or watching tv so I was sort of paying attention re: accuracy.