ffyrebird

Going Bananas

I love my children, but somedays they drive me bananas!!!

Daisy Joy

I just got back from visiting my mother on her first day in the hospice and decided that tonight's drawing should be one to lift the spirits.  Daisies are such simple flowers, but no other blossom is so cheery or joyful, IMHO.

Forsythia

The forsythia in our yard have just now started to blossom, just in time for the snow we have predicted for the weekend!!??!!

First Day of Spring

Finally, Spring is here!! It's hard to believe we had snow on the ground last week, it's so nice out today.  Nothing reminds me of Spring more than tulips so that had to be today's drawing.  I corrected the name of the pen I've used for the last three , it is a Pelikan 120 not a Pilot 120 as I had written previously.

Tulip Buds

I couldn't resist buying a pot of bright orange tulips with buds nearly ready to burst open!!

Ducks at Bass Pro and R2 Surfing

For the last lesson in Jane Lafazio's Watercolor on Location class we had to draw moving animals.  Our house is pet-less since we all have major allergies and it is till way too cold to go to the zoo, so I was stumped trying to figure out what to draw.  Luckily there is a nearby Bass Pro that has an indoors pool with fish and ducks.  I went at night and the lighting indoors was dimmer than I would have liked by the pool and I had trouble really seeing the details in the ducks' plumage.  That was probably a blessing in disguise since it forced me to keep the sketch really simple.  The ducks were in constant motion so this was a really challenging assignment-- but a lot of fun!!

 

When we came back home I wanted to get in my ink drawing for the day and was at a loss for what to draw.  R2 was surfing the web and I really need work on drawing people, soooooo he was my victim/model for today.  The smear on his elbow is where my fountain pen 'burped' on the page.  Vintage pens are nice and have flexible nibs the newer pens can't even begin to compare with, but they are unpredictable........

Fluffball and Tree

I don't have a clue what this bird plushie is suppossed to be. He reminds me of a cartoon dodo, bright yellow with wispy fluffs for a tail, topknot and assorted other bits and kinda goofy looking.

The kiddos wanted to play basketball before the next cold snap hit, so off we went to the park.  It was too chilly for me so I sat in the van and started sketching this tree.  They left a message for DH to meet them there after work so even though it got so dark I had to turn on the cab lights to finish up, they played on.  DH arrived and a friendly teen showed them how to turn on the giant lights over the court so they could keep on playing and exercising their dad.

Caffeine Hairstick, Split Tree

This caffeine topped hairstick was custom made by NightBlooming on Etsy.  I loove her work! I can't function without caffeine so when she did a few custom molecule topped hairsticks, naturally I requested one with a caffeine molecule topper. Just perfect for the tea guzzling, ex-chemist, mad scientist in me!!

It was so nice out today we went to the park.  The kiddos and DH played basketball and I walked the trail and sketched.  The crazy kiddos were in shorts and t-shirts, while I was bundled in cargos, and a hoodie with the hood up over my 180 earmuffs, LOL!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!! Today's drawings just had to be roses and hearts.  The direct pen sketch is even made with rose scented ink, LOL!  I looooove the smell of roses.  I rarely wear any other perfume except  Evelyn Rose perfume, it smells just like tea roses--divine. 

 

Ready for Spring

I bought some tulips today to get into spring mood.  Nice and cheery on my desk.........

 

Kiwi

Food that is getting to old or squishy to eat is fair game for drawing models.............

Mega Mutant Apple

We just had two buy a couple of these apples from Whole Foods.  They are as big as grapefuits!! One would definitely fill me up.

Snowing again...

The snow had just melted and now it is at it again!!  R1 and R2 are out shoveling the drive for DH.  Poor guy, he's been trying to get home for almost three hours!

Bruised Bananas

What a pair of bruised, banged up bananas.  Honestly, they didn't look so bad when we bought them.

Satsumo

I got this little guy at the store last night. Smells yummy, but he is pretty green.  Do Satsumos continue to ripen once picked??

Joggles class lesson 4

While doing lesson four, I learned a very inportant lesson-- if you are going to draw and paint while holding your subject, have everything ready before you start.  To get the flower at the angle I wanted for the drawing I had to hold it in my left hand.  I forgot to get my paints out so I had to put the flower down to get them.  When I picked up the flower again to paint it, everthing was wonky!  I turned it round and round and never really captured the same view so I just improvised.

Sketchbook and Watercolor: Journal Style Class

I recently joined a wonderful class at Joggles led by Jane LaFazio called Sketchbook and Watercolor: Journal Style.  I joined up around week two of the six week class and have rushed to catch up.  The class is so much fun and Instructive.  I highly recommend it to everyone!!!!

There is a public Flickr group for this class, so I think it is ok to post my work from the class here on my blog also. I'll just put up the finished results and not go into the lesson part---ya gotta take the class to get the goodies.

Lesson 1

 

Lesson 2

 

Lesson 3

2010 EDinM #16

 

My second oldest son, R2, had been out with me getting in a bit of driving practice and when we got home we found this little guy in our driveway.  I got out to shoo the bunny off the drive so he could pull the van in.  Mr. bunny really wasn't very afraid of me.  He just hopped off a few feet into some grass under the maple tree from my last post.  He seemed pretty content to sit there watching us watch him.  This was too good to pass up.  My son has been playing with a new lens for his camera and so he took a few pics of the bunny for me.  I think it was fun to combine our hobbies and draw from one of his photos.

2010 EDinM #14, #15

I didn't get to post yesterday, so I'm doubling up today.  This is the courthouse tower on the city square just around the corner from where I found the log cabin I drew for the twelfth.  I only did the tower because it was impossible to get a place where I could park long enough to draw and see the whole courthouse.  When I found a decent place to park, it had buildings blocking the body of the courthouse.  Actually, it was no big deal as I was just interested in the clock tower really.  

We planted Japanese Maples (I think) in our front yard a few years ago and either I am really unobservant or this is the first year for them to make seeds.  I found a little green whirligig seed pod on the drive today.  I'm pretty sure we've never had them before from our trees, but when I looked at our little tree it had tons on it.  I plucked one off the tree, along with a leaf, to draw tonight.  I wonder if a tree has to be so old or big to make the little seed pods??

Volunteer echinacea

A few years back I planted a little corner garden full of plants that would attract butterflies and birds.  A birdfeeder was nearby and some millet and other seeds got loose in the patch and grew into monsters so eventually we mowed the patch down.  This year a few hardy volunteer echinacea plants and sunflowers are  reminders of where the garden was.

EDinM 11

 Another installment of catch up sketchs.........

This is my Mother's Day rose from DH.  I love odd colored roses, so he found this striped one for me.

EDinM 9

 Catching up........

 

EDinM7

I was playing around in my journal with an old Conklin crescent fountain pen.  I love using the old vintage pens, they are full of character and the nibs are nice and flexy.

EDinM 6

 I went to my youngest son's baseball practice this afternoon and saw this little tree over by the shelter house.  I decided to play with my brushpen and do a quick sketch of it.  A fun way to spend a practice.

EDinM5

 Just a quickie for Day 5 since I'm double posting today........

EDinM4

 We had this odd bird stop by our feeders a few weeks ago.  He was the size and shape of a blackbird, but with an orange-yellow hood and white eyes on his wings where the red would be on a red-wing blackbird.  We took tons of photos and dug out the bird books.  It turns out he was a yellow headed blackbird passing through on his way north.  I finally got around to doing his drawing in my journal for todays EDinM entry.

EDinM 3

 I'm not so thrilled with this watercolor and ink daffodil, I should have scanned it before adding the background.  Live and learn........

EDinM2

Day 2 for Every Day in May.  I saw this sweet mourning dove perched on one of my deck posts and decided to sketch it for today's entry.  As soon as I grabbed a notebook and pencil and started to draw it flew off!  I finished from memory, something I definitely need practice at.  When the kiddos saw this sketch and I told them that it was for EDinM, the first words out of their mouths were "What, no chibis?"  Maybe there will be manga later in the month, but for now I'm just experimenting and playing.