variations on a theme

more sketching

i’m learning to accept my style.

i’m learning to embrace my style.

i’m learning to like my style.

i’m learning to love my style.

sketchbook challenge, con't

working on shading, depth and perspective. (I have a long way to go, lol)

caution! zentangles may be addictive!

highly prized, christmas cactus

this is my christmas cactus. it’s a cutting from my mother’s plant which was from a cutting from her mother’s plant. we’ve had it since 1998 when my mom died.



the kids nicknamed her ‘grandma’. (and we think my mother’s spirit resides in the plant!)

highly prized (con’t)

i might have to give up my membership in the feminist club by saying this, but……



i really do prize my mixer! i like to bake!

CAKE!!!!!

heart-tangle

sometimes you just need to veg out and color!

i was working something out in my head while i did this. i can see where i was deeply concentrating and then when i came to a conclusion. it gets much looser when i finally settled it in my mind.

it’s like an artful EEG! lol

(mostly) girl faces

i bought some ‘flesh’ color copic markers.

i thought i’d practice some female faces. i know i need more practice, but…..my inner critic is being kind today and i think they’re not too bad!

i like how they all become what they want to be. each one has a definite personality!

sea of flowers

this is what i’ve been working on the past few days. a few for Etsy and a few for the first ever Art Quilters Unlimited quilt show this weekend. husband says all lined up like this it reminds him of a coral reef full of anemones and sea urchins.



I like that!

the sketchbook challenge, continued

i am finding this month’s topic somewhat difficult. 'highly prized' brings to mind many things that i can’t really sketch. some are mere ideas not things.

and i think the whole idea is to sketch ‘things’. to learn how to see.

so i am sketching things around me that i see.

we sprang a leak

or is it sprung a leak?

anyway, our slab built house has sprung a leak under the slab.

in order to keep the water from undermining the foundation until we can re-plumb the whole house, we have to turn the water off at the outside spigot.


no big deal really, just an inconvenience. but it’s like when you have a sore throat. you never really notice how many times a day you swallow until you have a sore throat.


same thing with running water. you never really notice how many times a day you go to turn on the water till it’s not there.


or how many times a day you wash your hands. i’m beginning to seriously suspect i might be OCD when it comes to washing my hands!


so this is how my day goes: get up and get dressed to go outside to turn on the water to take a shower to get dressed (kind of redundant, huh?)


after showering, go outside and turn off water.


for the rest of the day find things to do around the house that don’t require water. go to the sink and turn on the faucet forgetting that that water is off approximately 30 times a day.


now don’t get me wrong, it’s a minor inconvenience compared to the really serious woes of the world. but i have a new found respect for our foremothers who had to carry their water from farther away than the kitchen sink.

the sketchbook challenge, week one

what i have learned in one short week of the sketchbook challenge:

• i do not like working in a book, journal, or anything attached.      i prefer the freedom of the single sheet.

• practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more.

• i’m not very good (yet) at rendering living things (i.e. cats, realistic birds, body parts like hands and feet, lol.)

·        i like drawing commercial products, brightly colored, or not.(i must be channeling andy warhol.)

• and of course there’s ----practice, practice, practice!!!

• finally……… I like it!

my father’s new year resolutions

my father made the best new year resolutions. killer resolutions. no fail resolutions.

and he kept
every
single
one!
the best one was the year he resolved not to wear aluminum pants during electrical storms.
yep, no fail resolutions.
i think this year mine will be not to walk my cow down main street on sunday. yea, i think i’ll have a shot at that one!

happy new year to one and all and i hope you keep all your resolutions!

mayonnaise is my crack

i think that says it all!

i know it bothers me, i know i’ll suffer, i know it’s going to hurt, i know it’s not good for me. i know all this, and yet…….

when that ham sandwich is calling my name i just can’t help myself. it tastes so good!

embracing the pink

i hate pink. at least i thought i did.

i grew up the only girl child in the family, so naturally i was graced with pink, well, everything.

my room was pink, the carpet was pink, the bed was pink, my sheets were pink, i had a huge stuffed poodle that was pink, my clothes were pink.

did i mention my room was pink?

ah, my room. my room was wallpapered in a very busy pink floral pattern. and in her own ‘pre martha stewart’ way my mother coordinated everything in the room.

the bedspread matched the wallpaper, as did the dust ruffle, as did the curtains. she even wallpapered the chest of drawers, the switch plate and the waste paper basket.

did i exagerate?

after growing up in this pink nightmare let’s just say i rejected pink with a capital R.


for the longest time i got great satisfaction from stating that i hated pink. then one day a funny thing happened. i bought a bottle of fuchsia paint.

and i fell in love with pink!

i now embrace the pink. in the most tasteful way of course!

( we also bought a pink house, my poor husband!)

'highly prized'

sketch of great grandma's blue glass beads

the sketchbook challenge

the sketchbook challenge started january 1.

this month’s theme is ‘highly prized’. my ideas are far outreaching my abilities and then i realized that is one of the things i prize.

i prize my tenacity. to keep trying no matter how bad my drawings come out!

hahahahaha!

evolution of the red flowers

it’s like candy, i can't stop

i now have:

96 different color markers
22 pigma pens in various colors and point sizes
21 gel pens, regular and glitter
8 distinctive kinds of white pens (still haven’t found one that i truly like)
and an army of pencils

i don’t know, what do you think? too much?

santa was very very good to me!