Help

Not all offers of help are welcome.

Mask

Might

The best part of Friday morning is receiving the new IF topic and running through all the ideas that just might work. Even if you don't post it till Thursday evening.

Thanksgiving

Penny was a bit different than the other kids at school, but that came in handy at Thanksgiving time.

Clear

Smoke

Alice and the Caterpillar

Wind(blown)

Okay, I don't like to post twice on the same topic, but the right idea just came along a bit late.

Wind

Collections

Most people collect something, it would be fun to see what others have in their collections. Sylvia Studio Friday

I started looking around the house and realized I have way too many collections...not collectibles, but rocks I've picked up on vacation with no universal significance and fortunes from Chinese restaurants (only the good ones) and creamer jugs from secondhand stores and children's books. Here are a handful of them.

Buttons and fortunes next to the boxes they live in.


Scarves and things that resemble bird eggs (wooden shaker egg, rock from a beach in southern Spain, acorn from a burr oak).

Ghost

Autumn Inspiration

This week's Studio Friday topic is what inspires us about fall. For me, autumn is cooler weather, hot chocolate, revived gardens, the end of the basil in the garden (lots of pesto to be made), and fall asters, which explode in this amazing glowing lavender for a couple of weeks. There are tons of bees and butterflies flitting around right now. In fact, the weather is so perfect right now that I can't type another word of this entry...

Smitten

Stanley could not keep his eyes off the gal at the next table.

Fear

This Studio Friday's topic is about fear. Some days nothing is scarier to me as an artist than a blank spread of pages in a moleskine bound notebook or a full 30"X 22" page of 300lb watercolor paper. There's something about putting down the first line or first splash of color that can just stop me cold if I let it, especially when it's in a notebook that I can't tear from or on a large scale page...something about failing in noticeable way. Which is why it's best to dive right in and skip that first line and start on the second. I've started sketching in ink with little to no pencil beforehand and being okay with the looser style and "happy accidents."

Trouble

Well, posted this a little late, but I actually sketched it following last Friday night's gubernatorial debate here in Texas. It was painful watching these candidates start many of their responses with their campaign slogans and "when I'm governor", only to be deflated by the pointed questions of the panel.

Stick it to the...board!

Studio Friday topic this week: It would be interesting to see the variety of bulletin/memory boards in our studios. What is pinned to them? Photos? Notes? Reminders? Ideas for future projects?



Well, rather than a bulletin board I have a bunch of bulldog clips hung on nails over my worktable. These hold articles on artists, illustrator postcards, pithy sayings, everyday reminders, and assorted eye candy. I am forever collecting magazine pages and visuals to rotate in.

Quiet

Phobia

I have a phobia of birds at close range. The phobia lessened last spring after my dog and I were attacked by the neighborhood mockingbird bully on a regular basis (I think it sensed my dog was a lover not a fighter). Anyway, you can only have a creature that small dive at you so many times before you realize the utter ridiculousness of it. So, here we are, a la the Hitchcock classic.

Farm

Safe

Run

Walter had mixed feelings about being in the lane next to Chester. On the upside, he would run his fastest race ever. On the downside, he could be lunch.

Match

Joey had expected "Krazy Beast" Hopkins to be a bit...taller.

Play

The critics found Raymond's portrayal of Chancellor Claws quite mousy.

Opposites

SF: Studio Sidekicks

Well, my cat's shown up in my other Studio Friday postings already, as she likes to "help out" a lot when I'm working. So, here is my other sidekick, my 75 lb shadow, Lloyd. He's never far from where I am and makes a great model (on the other hand, trying to sketch a young cat is like...trying to pin a wave upon the sand, very tough).

Sacrifice

"And while the Boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the little Rabbit lay among the old picture-books in the corner behind the fowl-house, and he felt very lonely." Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

This week's Illustration Friday topic brought to mind the story of a toy rabbit's quest to be Real...there's a happy ending, but only after a sacrifice. Below is another verrsion, but the rabbit may look a little too bitter.

SF: View from above

For this week's Studio Friday topic, here are the views from above my workspaces, onscreen and off.

Skyline

SF: "7 layer salad"

How great is it that the Studio Friday challenge includes the word 'playtime'? Especially as I was playing around yesterday with layering negative space in watercolors as background. There are seven layers of blues and purples (including the foundation wet in wet abstract). I'm still working out how to paint this way, but it's fun in the meantime.

Stickier

Sweet dreams are made of these...

Sticky

Edmundo had been in some tight jams before, but this was certainly a sticky situation.

Rain

So, I'm a big fan of rain during the long Texas summer, but for some reason these came out a little blue. I suppose into every life a little rain must fall.

Dance

"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Jungle

a barrel o' trouble (click image for big trouble)

SF: Favorite Art Supplies

Thanks for the welcome last week! I really don't know how to pick favorites among art supplies (it's cyclical), though finetip black waterproof pens and watercolor paints and brushes are what I use right now. But they are all eyecandy. Note what happens to supplies when they come out of the bucket (bottom left).

Portrait

This is a combination of a watercolor I did several months back while trying to study faces and an ink drawing from today. I suppose the job of a portraitist is to be true to the subject while capturing the best angle/features/etc.

SF: Studio Space

I've never participated in Studio Friday before, but I love the idea of creative individuals sharing a glimpse of the area in which their art begins.

The main infringement (pictured here preparing to attack some paintbrushes) on my workspace is due to the lack of door. My studio (aka the former dining area) has a decent amount of physical space and lots of good northern light, but kitten-proofing all projects and tools takes away some momentum.

IMT: Word Art

The tree roots in the Hoh rain forest (Olympic National Forest) remind me of the structure of the heart.
Is it wrong to paint a tree on paper, made from trees, then photoshop it back into its natural setting?

Cake

a different sort of cupcake topper

IMT: Abstract

"Fish Dreams of Flying"

This is the first time I've submitted for Inspire Me Thursday, but I couldn't pass up the topic. Turns out that it's tough to go from figurative to abstract. I think this is in the middle ground, but here it is.

Sorry

Angels and Devils

Don't we all have a little of both?

Fat

The moon, my bowl, and other round things.

Under the Sea

"The barnacles which encrust the side
of the wave, cannot hide
there for the submerged shafts of the
sun,
split like spun glass, move themselves with spotlight swiftness
into the crevices---
in and out, illuminating
the
turquoise sea
of bodies. The water drives a wedge
of iron through the iron edge
of the cliff; whereupon the stars,
pink
rice-grains, ink-
bespattered jelly-fish, crabs like green
lilies, and submarine
toadstools, slide each on the other."
---Marianne Moore

Spotted

At a friend's wedding, someone took a photo as the couple were leaving the building, and the light caught the metallic confetti just so. This "fairy" blessing is my spotted submission.