Pencil sharpener

I only had time for a quick sketch of my pencil sharpener today.

Gaiwan

My friend Tara gave me this gaiwan for my birthday. I wanted to try sketching it because it's beautiful, but also because it held two great drawing challenges, a white object with reflected light, and the dreaded elliptical. The challenges were dizzying. I might go back into it to get some darker darks, but it's hard to know when to keep trying and when to just stop.

Goodbye summer

Goodbye tank top, goodbye summer.

Parisian bird

When I was painting the barrettes yesterday I kept thinking about how great the pink bird would look in bright blue hair. When I tried to capture it on paper I started daydreaming about Paris and my bird took off into the clouds.

A series is emerging, "Birds around the world". The rules are; birds only as objects (real ones don't sit still long enough), and only ones that reveal themselves through daily life. No racing around trying to find birds to draw. Drawings will be any size or medium, however that bird wants to be seen.

Paris flea

I wanted to try using gouache, and I found these fabulous barrettes to be perfect subjects. I discovered them years ago at a flea market in Paris.

British bird

I was reflecting on all that goes into a drawing while I sketched this bird.
1. There's the object, as it is.
2. There's the possibilities and limitations of the materials.
3. There's the possibilities and limitations of yourself. Your ability to see, the control and/or surrender of your hand, your experience with the materials, the time you have available, and your mood.
4. There's the idea. That thing you see in your mind (Your mind? Is that where you see it?) that is the combination of the object, the materials, and you. It's strong enough to create a whirl of desire to compel you to try to capture it, yet elusive enough to keep you from fully being able to do so.
5. There's Something Else. Something that makes the final image greater, or at least something other, than the sum of all the aforementioned parts.

Sayonara koi

It's the first day of my second year of graduate school and I have a knot in my stomach. It's not just because of school, but because I'm feeling protective of my new daily art practice. I don't want it to get snuffed out by the rigorous demands of academia. But my intent when I started this blog was to make art despite the obstacles, and this was the big one that I knew was coming. It will be an extra challenge now that I live in a house filled with objects shouting "Draw ME! Draw ME!"

There is a cream color in all the drawings of koi that doesn't seem to show up on the computer. It's so lovely, that cream color on newsprint, and helps to complete their form.

Konnichiwa Koi

Koi are so flirtatious. They play the gesture drawing game well by slowly emerging to the surface, then quickly darting away.

Sasebo Japanese garden

I wanted to try some quick sketching, so I went on a field trip to Albuquerque's lovely new Japanese garden. I had three rules; I had to draw as fast as I could, using only long strokes, and no erasing.

10 buck shell

When Louie went on a fishing trip to Tampa he asked what I'd like him to bring back for me. I told him to bring me a shell. I pictured him strolling along the beach, bending down to pick up a small shell, or even a shard of a shell, just to show that he'd thought of me. So I was surprised when he gave me this beautiful and extravagant shell. "Wow! you found this on the beach?" I said. "No", he responded, "I bought it from a vendor on the way to the boat, and it only cost 10 bucks!" That's my Louie.

I started with a detailed drawing but felt myself losing interest, so I loosened up to catch just the feeling of the shell.

Paper octopus

A red paper octopus from Japan. I wanted to try drawing on a different type of texture, so I gessoed the background first. I like the way the drawing itself sort of looks like it was made out of paper, like a collage. It was a challenge to draw all those folded paper legs!

The Virgin of Juquila

The Virgin of Juquila, made out of clay, from Oaxaca, Mexico. I felt a strong connection to Juquila when I was in Oaxaca, and found this statue all alone in a dusty corner of a shop that sold painted wooden animals and tin ornaments.

Garlic sketches

I started a drawing tonight that I couldn't finish in time to post, so I'm showing these preliminary sketches of "Lauren's garlic". Or, to be more precise, I started a drawing tonight that I needed to walk away from before I destroyed it for not being what I wanted it to be. The poor drawing is now facing the wall so I don't spend the rest of the evening being mean to both it and myself.

I love "Lauren's garlic" for the way it looks so loose and free, but I had to sketch it several times to capture that feeling. That's something I didn't have patience for twenty years ago. I hated drawing in college. I thought it was outdated and tedious, I was only interested in design. I learned to smear charcoal around in a way that made it look like something important was happening. But the underlying structure wasn't there. It wasn't there because I was a burst of passion and chaos, and I didn't have the focus and patience needed to find it. Structure, light and shadow, composition, and proportion, those are the things I'm trying to learn about now.

Cambodian spice jar

Did you know that black pepper from Cambodia is considered to be some of the finest pepper in the world? That before the war of the Khmer Rouge no self-respecting chef in Paris would be caught without it in his restaurant?

I bought this little spice jar filled with black pepper in Siem Reap. One of my favorite memories is enjoying the crunchy burst of the black peppercorns in my pasta while gazing at the silhouettes of Buddhist temples from a covered balcony in the rain.

Scrub brush

I just couldn't resist the shape of this scrub brush.

Celebration

The grand finale of birthday week led to this collaborative drawing with Louie's six year old granddaughter, Paige.

Spearmint

A sketch of my new spearmint plant.

Little Carrot Cake

Louie bought me this little carrot cake yesterday, perfect for two. I sketched quickly so we could eat it.

You may now receive new entries automatically by subscribing with your email address at the upper right. I'm still tinkering (struggling) with technical details. When I viewed the blog on Louie's computer it looked SO different, the background looked very dark and it was hard to read. I'll try to address that soon. Next hurdle, selling on ebay!

Jai Hanuman

Today is my birthday. I'm taking the day off and have posted a drawing I did a few months ago. It is of Hanuman the monkey god, son of the Wind, the breath. It is through the breath that the individual soul and God unite. That is why in times that seem impossible to bear someone will always tell you "Remember to breathe". I almost lost my life in a fire years ago so birthdays are extra special. For those key breaths that kept me here, Jai Hanuman.

Antan's cake

It's birthday week! There are a lot of important birthdays this week and I'm so lucky, my nephew David made me this awesome cake out of legos. He used the flame from one of his race cars for the candle. Very cool. And he started first grade this week. I'm so proud of you David!

I forgot to mention that yesterday's elephant is from the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It's an amazing place that rescues elephants from street begging, logging and tourist trekking. The mahouts (elephant trainers) are refugees from Burma. One of the highlights of my life was helping to wash the elephants in the river. The elephant I drew is made of wood and was carved by one of the mahouts.

Going forth

Last night I was in a frozen terror about this whole blog thing. "You mean I have to do this every day?! And the WHOLE WORLD can see?!" It wasn't quite butterflies that were in my stomach, it was elephants. Carol told us how much her work progressed through painting daily, how she would get so frustrated she started having breakthroughs. That convinced me. I've drawn more in the past week than I have in years. So I'm going forth, even though daydreaming about drawing every day is a lot easier than actually doing it.

Lauren's garlic

If you ever get to Middlebury, Vermont you must stop into the Foote Street Farm Stand. It's owned by my dear friend Lauren. One of my favorite summer memories was hanging out with her and washing piles and piles of this garlic. Actually, she washed and I ate blackberries. Be sure to try anything she bakes, and her hot chocolate is some of the best you'll ever have. She says the secret is her homemade fudge sauce.

Mamaw's doll

My grandmother left me this china doll many years ago and I just rediscovered it while rummaging through my mother's attic. I used colored pencils on hot press watercolor paper. The problem was that the paper was quickly saturated so I couldn't get good darks or lights, and with colored pencils there's no way to erase mistakes. Because of that I couldn't put in the highlights that would make her look like a porcelain doll, and I couldn't back track on marks that I later discovered weren't in the right place.

While I'm disappointed with the way the drawing turned out, it was a good learning experience. Finding peace between what you actually created and what you wanted it to be. Kind of like life.

Guatemalen Bird

This is a ceramic candle holder from Guatemala. I bought it on the first day of my painting class with Carol Marine in Santa Fe. Carol is a wonderfully talented artist and teacher, and the inspiration for my creating this blog.

It is drawn with pastel pencil on velour paper, neither of which I've used before. One of my many intentions for this daily practice is to try materials that are new to me, and return to things long forgotten. Another tool I'm learning to use is a digital camera. This week's struggle is getting the photo to actually look like the artwork!

Khmer Ganesha

Okay. I'm doing this. In honor of the launch of this blog I've drawn Ganesha. He who, amongst many other things, removes obstacles. That is my intention here, to move through, around, alongside the many obstacles to art making.

This Ganesha is made of stone, 12th or 13th century Khmer. While drawing it I felt a distinct signal to STOP. "But why? I'm not done yet.", I thought. But that is why. This drawing is a rough draft, but complete. A reminder that I don't have to have everything perfectly figured out before I start this blog. I just need to start.