Seven hours until 2007...

Now for the 10 things I will try to do less often...

The End Draweth Nigh

But before we go, I have to jump in the melee of resolution making. Today - 10 things I will do more often in 2007. Tomorrow - 10 things I will do less often. And at the beginning of the new year, I'll consider an art plan for the year. I know you are all hanging on the edge of your seat.

A Lot of Catching Up To Do

I started a new sketchbook on our trip to Stone Mountain. It's a 5x5 hand*book journal that I ordered a month or so ago, and have been saving until I finished my last Moleskine sketchbook. I'm liking it so far - the paper has more tooth (of course, everything has more tooth) that the Moleskine, and it accepts washes very well, although they do bleed through on occasion. So - here are my pages to catch up before the end of the year...

I. Mobile. Blogger. Now.

The remains of the day...

It's All Relative, you know.

Inspired by our trip to the American Museum of Science and Energy a few weeks back...






24"x24" Acrylic on stretched canvas.

Mojo Risin'

I don't know why I have this, but I found it while cleaning out a closet. You know who you are...

Always Learning

Well, we are back from lovely and warm winter's weekend at Stone Mountain, Georgia. We climbed the mountain, which is only a 1.4 mile trek, but the last little bit of it is challenging for the early elementary and the mid to late 30s crowd. But, we made it!! It was wonderful at the top, although gusty 35 mph winds kept us from staying too long on the day we climbed. The next day, after we rode the skylift up, was much nicer and we explored much longer. I'm still figuring out how to use the new camera, so the pics weren't as nice as I had hoped - some strange colors and weird focusing, but I'm getting it - slowly and surely...



This is the boys' and my feet at the geodetic marker on top of the mountain - 1873 feet above sea level. Not tall by most mountain standards - but certainly impressive considering the rest of the landscape surrounding it.



And...I did get some art done, too. I'll post up the final of this one later on!

Speaking of Pink...

This is in response to the gruesome boy toys on the previous page. I bought these lovely pink, orange, green, and sparkly gold ornaments this year...just for me...(I had to do something to balance out the Star Wars collection ornaments). I LOVE them, and have them (all glorious 8 of them) amongst the greenery on my mantle. I think I'm probably the only one in this house that likes them, but that's okay with me!

Also - just so you all know - this is the last page in my second Moleskine sketchbook. I bought my first one last year at this time, and after a hate/love relationship with it for a while, I finally grew to love it and become a little panicky when I didn't have it with me. So...the first went from December to May, the second from June to December. I've just gotten a new sketchbook - a 5" square hand*book journal that I will crack open tomorrow on our camping trip to Stone Mountain. I'm looking forward to trying a new paper and format - and interested to see if I like it as well as I ended up liking the Moleskine. I'm still working in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, so the style is not completely lost!

I'll post up some pics of the trip and the new book when I get back...after I take some pics with my NEW CAMERA...Merry Early Christmas to ME!

Boy Toys

I'm outnumbered by the boys in my house, and their toys end up all over the place. These two were left on the kitchen table this morning, as we made our way out the door to school, and they made me ponder the innate, inborn differences between boys and girls. Now, as a young girl, I was not exactly girly-girly. I played with my brother's GI Joe action figures and romped through the woods and creeks of my grandparents place. But I think I never would have touched something like these - they are just so grotesque and gruesome. For some reason, though, my little guys just think they are the coolest. Some things a girl just can't get.

I think I should go by something pink...

in large Moleskine sketchbook, ink and watercolor

Color Challenge

AlfredArt over at WetCanvas hosted the Weekly Drawing Event that started on Friday. He posted all black and white photos and challenged us to add the color ourselves. This is my answer to his challenge, using a photo of his dachshund, Cookie.


Still no camera - thank goodness for scanners. I'm still hoping to find the money to replace my busted up digital in the next month or two. Until then, my film SLR is loaded and ready to go for Christmas, and maybe I'll break out the video camera for a change. I'm having some digital camera withdrawal, though...

Nuclear Visionary

The boys and I went to the American Museum of Science and Energy today to check out the exhibits. Albert Einstein's image is everywhere. What a great face. I think I'll do a painting of it eventually. He had such kind, soulful eyes. Hard to imagine what he must have thought to see the destruction of nuclear warfare. Rambling thoughts on modern day science...much better than a drawing out of the Grossology exhibit. I refuse to draw snot, so you get Albert, instead.

TRAGEDY

Oh, Great. I actually managed to drop my camera one too many times. I heard glass breaking, and I suspect there is something broken internally as well as the external damage. I can't tell, though, because I can't make it go to image taking mode. Now - I will admit I've been wanting a new camera, but I had really hoped this one would make it through until I got it.

sob, snort, gurgle, sob.

I Do Sketch, Really.

I really do - see! I've been away from my sketchbook for a couple of weeks, with travel, migraines and malaise preventing me from opening it much. But I'm back now, with this sketch of a fine rooster in my large Moleskine sketchbook. I just love roosters...I really don't know why. I'm not exactly a country-kitsch kind of girl. I like modern, clean lines...sparse furnishings...space-age technology...and roosters. Go figure.

Complete!

My last postcard is done!! 24 in all, over a year - I'll be mailing the last 6 out today or tomorrow, depending on when I feel like going to the post office!

Here's the latest one - a chimp from our local zoo. Watercolor and ink on 140 lb watercolor paper...



Also - if you want to see the other 23 (like you don't have anything better to do) click here and you can view them all in one spot!

Dreams

Have you ever stood at the edge and thought about taking that scary first step into a new thing? Did you take it or did you step back, reconsider, and stay in the safe zone?

My favorite poem growing up was "The Road Not Taken," by Robert Frost. I'm afraid I've taken the well travelled path far too many times, but every now and then that one with the grass growing up between the ruts beckons...



16"x48" acrylic on canvas

1. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20

Rarity

I'm going to warn you at the start - I'm waxing a bit sentimental today...if you're not in the mood - go visit the Malaperts or something - they are never sentimental...

Linda and I headed out to Barnes and Noble last night to sketch and chat and get into as much trouble as two semi-middle aged women can get into (I had a double chocolate cupcake...wicked wild, man). We found some unwitting victims to sketch and, as usual, completely lost track of time until Linda's DH called to see if we had been picked up by the police or something. Anyhow - it just started me thinking how fortunate it is that we met and that we actually have so many things in common - STARTING with art. I mean - I've met some artists that I would NEVER want to hang out with - but here we are, maybe 5 miles apart in residence, 9 or so years apart in age (I won't say who has the greater of those years), completely different career paths and places in life, and yet we can spend 3 hours sitting in the Barnes and Noble Bookstore coffee-shop and have it feel like maybe 30 minutes. That's rare, people - friends are hard to come by in this age of computer-generated EVERYTHING - real live flesh and blood friends, anyway. Especially those that you meet later in life.

Okay - sentimentality over with - here's the sketches:




and look what my friend Linda made for me - our family is taking a 2 week long trip out west right after Memorial Day 2007, and this is my travel journal!!!! Yay!!!

Where the Echoes Stop

Where the Echoes Stop
by Erwin Raphael McManus

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Far past where sound has abandoned thought.
Where silence reigns over redundancy.
Where once well said is more than enough.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where words must be born to be heard.
Where speech is a gift and not a curse.
Where there is more of the unique and less of the mundane.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where meaning is rescued from noise…
Where conviction replaces thoughtless repetition…
Where what everyone is saying surrenders to what needs to be said.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where the shouting of the masses falls silent to the whisper of the one…
Where the voice of the majority submits to the voice of reason…
Where “they” do not exist; but “we” do.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where substance overthrows the superficial…
Where courage conquers compliance and conformity…
Where words do not travel farther than the person who speaks them.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where I only say what I believe.
Where I only repeat what changes me.
Where empty words finally rest in peace.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.

“Be still and know that I am God…” -Psalm 46:10a

All the Colors of Fall

For more autumn color - click on my Flickr badge - just over there in the right hand sidebar. Or don't, if you don't want to. This is a completely free-choice kind of blog.

COLOR!

I've been on hiatus, checking out the peak of Autumn color in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We camped out for 3 nights (one of them VERY rainy) and took in the sights - saw 5 (yes, 5!) black bears - 3 adult and 2 cubs, a number of deer, chipmunks and squirrels. One deer wandered very near our campsite this morning, and we watched one squirrel repair it's nest right above our tent site, too. I'll be back with more sketches and paintings soon!

Adrian

Adrian. Cool cat, honors student, current football star, upcoming basketball star. Calls my youngest "rat" and I don't know why - but the young one LOVES it. Quickish study in pencil in large Moleskine sketchbook.

All but one...Done!

My part of the WetCanvas Postcard project is almost finished. I ran out of the postcard sized watercolor block I've been using, so I'll have to go make a Jerry's run before I can be completely done. I really like the format - 5x7 is a nice size to experiment with different things.

This card is based on a Moleskine sketch from a few days ago. Watercolor and Inktense pencils.

A lionfish from a photo I took at the Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN. Watercolor.

Watercolor. Pig from a reference photo on this past weekend's WDE at WetCanvas. Poem is "The Pig" by Roald Dahl. What a twisted soul his was. But in a really good way, you understand...

Really strange cow. Not sure what all happened here. Watercolor and Inktense pencils, Ink, White Sharpie poster pen. What happens when good hatching goes bad. Really, really bad. But the nose is GREAT. (I say that with all awe and wonder - not pride...please don't get me wrong.)

A watercolor based on a photo I took of my niece, Anna Marie, at the beach. This looks nothing like her. It is BASED on a photo...

YAY!

My Moo cards have arrived - and they are way cool. They look great, they feel great...what a brilliant partnership Flickr has with them!

EDM #63 - Draw items from a nature walk.

I picked these up the other day while walking, and it occurred to me that they might be amongst the items in a challenge...and I was right! So - after many moons of missing out on challenges - here's one done...and in grid-fashion, to boot!

I also carved a new signature stamp out of speedball soft block and tried it out on this page. Whaddya think of it?

Happy Autumn, everyone!

Moleskine large sketchbook, Micron 01 black pen and Derwent Inktense (except on berries - W&N watercolors on that)

Moleskine Pachyderm

Another watercolor for the Weekend Drawing Event at WetCanvas! I'm off the hosting hook this week, but I still managed to squeeze one little painting in. This is in the large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. Watercolors and micron pen.

I'm Hanging Out a Shingle

Finally, after years and years of expensive higher education, soul-searching, wandering on and off paths, and driving otherwise sane people completely bonkers with my angst and anxiety, I HAVE FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP!

Actually, what I have discovered is that it’s something I’ve been doing for a very long time, but I’ve never been paid for it, and now I’m going to have to develop a fee schedule. You see – most of my life, I’ve just thought I was a bossy, know-it-all, opinionated and rather dispassionate woman. What I’ve recently found out however, is that I am a natural-born LIFE-COACH!!

Have you been hearing this term more and more often, like I have? Every where I turn, I hear “life-coach,” “relationship-coach,” or “spirituality-coach.” First of all – there’s the “-coach” thing – but we’ll have to save that for another day. Right now, we need to cover the whole concept of a “life-coach.”

Apparently, our whole society has gotten so whacked out, that we need to pay people to be what our friends, family, and clergy used to be. Whatever happened to calling your parents when you had a major life decision to make? What about calling your life-long friend that has seen you through every heartbreak and triumph? Has anyone ever heard of calling your pastor (priest/rabbi) when you need some solid advice? No? Okay – well, it is time I stepped in.

As a public service, I’ll be stepping up and offering my services at a reduced rate for the month of October. For a very reasonable $400/hour, you can contact me and I’ll tell you what to do in any situation. Starting in November, the rate will be $650/hour, so act now! Just to gain some trust from the general public, here are a few freebies…

1. If your boyfriend treats you badly, cheats on you and lies around instead of working, DON’T MARRY HIM. You can’t change him, you’ll only make yourself miserable. There are plenty of nice men out there – raise your standards.
2. When your children won’t listen to you because they are too busy playing their video games or watching TV, take away the video games and the TV. You are the boss. They are not. You don’t have to be their best friend, just their parent. They don’t have to like you. Did you like your parents when you were their age? Were they right anyway? Use your head!
   
3. Give something to your community. There are a whole lot of people out there who have way less than you do. It doesn’t take much to make a whole lot of difference. Talk to people like they matter, regardless of their station in life. You’ll be amazed at how it changes your life.
   
4. Pray. A lot.
   
5. Call your mom, if she’s living. She knows more than you do.
   
   No kidding…you can trust me…I’m a Professional.
   

watercolor in large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Postcards from the Precipice

Well, I couldn't say, from the "edge," now could I? I don't want Carrie Fisher coming to kick me tail. I was watching "Return of the Jedi" yesterday with my Star Wars obsessed children, and was she buff in that movie, or what? I know it's been over 20 years since it was released, but she still kind of scares me.

That has absolutely nothing to do with these images, by the way. Sorry if you were trying to work out the connection. I signed up for a postcard exchange back in January, and I've fallen a bit behind, so I spent the day playing catch-up. I finished 6 (yes, count 'em - 6) postcards today. Each of these is 5x7 inches, watercolor on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper.

Watercolor Moleskine

The Weekly Drawing Event is in full swing over at WetCanvas, so go check it out, if you haven't already. Here's my offering so far - all done in the large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

Hosting Once Again

It's my turn to host the Weekly Drawing Event over at WetCanvas! This was so much fun back in March, and I'm looking forward to it again. Come by and check it out - choose an image and create some art. It's fun, it's inspirational, and best of all...it's FREE!! Click here to see the images I've chosen from my personal collection!

And if you are interested, here's how the whole thing works. You'll have to sign up at WetCanvas if you don't have an account - but it's a great place to be, and registration is free!

Field Trips Galore

Well, our family outing was like a field trip, right? The folks over at the EDM Yahoo group have been talking about sketching in grids alot. I've done that off and on since I began keeping a regular sketchbook, and find that it helps take away the fear of the blank page quite a bit. I thought I'd summarize the family field trip to the aquarium and the school field trip to the zoo with a couple of grids.

I think the cuttlefish was flipping me the bird.

black Pitt pen in Moleskine sketchbook