Turtle, turtle

You will of course remember that line from the great cinematic classic, The Master of Disguise. For some reason I get that line stuck in my head and I can't stop saying it. Apparently I can't stop drawing or painting turtles either. I tried to scan this booger and I think I broke the scanner so I took a little picture. I find many faults now that I'm looking at it on the screen and feel that it will be reworked in the very near future, but for now he's going to swim around here. This guy is in acrylic paint and colored pencils on canvas paper.

Downtime...

Drew this the other day at Mara's while waiting for her to finish giving my niece a cognitive test and an achievement test, which took approximately 5 hours, and watching Australia. I wish I had something to post that accurately portrayed the madness that is this weekend. Crazy, crazy family. Off to get ready for the wedding...

Pen and ink, colored pencils

...and more Sea Creatures...

So yesterday I says to myself, let's draw a fish skeleton. WORST IDEA EVER. Still, once you get invested into a drawing so time draining, you have to forge on. I used a picture from The Anatomy of the Sea by Dr. David Ponsonby and Professor Georges Dussart. I regret to say my study is not very faithful to their careful work. And then to add insult to injury I decided it would be a good idea to float some color over the drawing. Oh and hey, how about some spots. Poor, poor fish to be mocked so. But he was a stoic chap, never complained at all. Maybe he was a clown fish. At any rate, he is now.

Although the process was brutal I keep thinking that surely a bird skeleton couldn't be too much more difficult...

Great Creatures of the Sea

They read a passage this morning in church from Psalms 148.  One verse in particular caught my attention, verse 7. "Praise the Lord from the earth you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, " and I began to think that all of nature does praise the Lord. Humans, who were given free choice, are the only one of God's creations that don't as a rule. 

Guess I had sea creatures on the brain this afternoon.  This was meant to be a moon jellyfish.  As I was drawing it I kept thinking it looked like a lampshade and old curtains and then I began to think of my hometown where we are venturing to this week. I thought of all the powdery old ladies from from childhood and I began to think of this old girl here in the same way. I don't know what color jellyfish are. Doesn't matter. This one wears lime-colored chiffon and white cotton gloves. She smells of lemon verbena and rosewater and she makes THE BEST pecan pie you've ever tasted. Also she will pinch your head off if she is close enough and you are talking during church. I think I'll call her the church lady. And I mean that in the best possible way.

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This is drawn in my watercolor moleskine, (I also added a little watercolor wash and a quick swipe with colored pencils) which you can see is somewhat oddly shaped and difficult to deal with, especially to scan. But there was another old grand dame in that book so I decided they would be great companions. These are definitely not girls to be trifled with. A couple of sea creatures have made appearance in this sketchbook as a matter of fact.

No work for me this week! Yippe! I'd like to do a couple more drawings before we head out of town on Wednesday but I have given myself an absolute "no schedule" rule for this week, so maybe I'll get something else posted and then again maybe I'll see you in a couple of weeks.

Have a blessed, wonderful week. I am overflowing with gratitude today. And that is a GOOD THING!

(I love those little fish. I draw them all the time. Poor things are always being put in harm's way.)

A Little Green...

Green ballpoint and colored pencils. Happy St. Pat's Day!

Taking Inventory

I have now equalled the number of canvases I painted last year. One. Just finished. You can even see where there are still patches of wet paint, on an otherwise poor quality photo. Sorry for the shine. But let's be honest here, I barely know what I'm doing. I certainly don't know how to photograph paintings. Call it Taking Inventory, you know like the next time I loose my marbles I can remember what they looked like. I can also remember a feeling of peace. FYI - the very last marble is Peace. Very important marble to have in your bag of marbles. Also love is represented, and anger, and fear, and hope, etc. 

How do you like those...marbles?

Ok, so this is what I've done for most of my weekend. Several of the nights during the week as well. It's amazing how calm and peaceful you can feel sitting hunched over a paintbrush for hours on end. I've thought many, many grand thoughts and I've thought nothing at all. I've listened to music and prayed and thought about every person in my life. Lucky thing about this hobby. You don't get great legs like you do when you play tennis but you can get reacquainted with yourself and that is a GOOD thing.

So, no new sketches. Just this old thing. Mind you, it's not finished (two marbles haven't even been started) and I've had A LOT of frustrating moments. But I just walk away and go watch an episode of Deadliest Warrior or something with Carsen and eventually I wander back into my room and go about trying to fix whatever looks so wrong. Funny thing, I've started to think of each of these marbles as different character traits. Did I mention I've spent a lot of time alone locked up in my room?

Shout out to Pop for helping me hang a shelf (feel free to read that as doing all the work while I stood beside him him holding out the screws). That alone inspired me to start organizing the "studio" again and I managed to clear out enough room for Carsen to sit at the counter and work on his screenplay while I painted tonight and we listened to his new Reliant K cd. Spending time with your kid gathering your marbles = nice evening. Really nice. I highly recommend it.

Here's hoping this peaceful feeling lasts all week. And for you as well.

Trying to Gather my Marbles...

I have marbles on the mind. And pirates. And frogs and turtles. And birds. And not much time or energy to put any of these mental pictures onto paper. Truth is I've been in the doldrums for most of the last two months. I need to draw. Need to remember how nice it feels to make silly pictures.

Here is a quick watercolor of marbles. I am trying to teach myself transparency and man, am I having trouble. Please don't look too carefully. I'm no good with watercolors, the paper warped horribly and I don't even think the marbles are round anymore. But that's the only new piece I have to post other than this silly drawing from my desk calendar at work:

That's Rigoberto the Squid-Armed Pirate. I hesitate to publish it because my sister said it looked like the tentacles were coming out of his pants. Well! They're not, ok?! Just a rough sketch, ok? Sheesh! If Rigoberto lives on, he will be posed in a more appropriate fashion in the future. Promise.

I am also being pulled back toward a former fixation, birds. Don't ask why. I can't stand the little buggers in real life but I am fascinated with their feathers and form. As soon as I finish the big marble painting I started a couple of weeks ago (and then abandoned), I'm headed for the birds (and turtles, I think). Here are some old studies from sketchbooks.

Have a fabulous, lovely weekend!