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