DC - eye contact

Starting - continuing - to say farewell to old friends now; making eye contact, for sure. 

'My Swedish Friend' - pigma pen and prismacolor pencil in 5x7 moleskine

The drawing challenge from friend Renilde this time, on the theme 'eye contact'.  Have a look at Renilde's excellent Stroke of the Brush place for more takes on the subject.

rOy g biv

I don't mind admitting it: although I'm a gal who never met a color I didn't love, orange is a favorite of mine.  This month, the search for Roy G. Biv focuses the spotlight on orange in all its juicy, lusciousness.

HURRAY!

 

Going through our accumulated treasures as I packed boxes this afternoon, I ran across a few of my favorite orange possessions.

I made this beaded pin when I was working on a detail for the Forest Service, living in a motel in San Dimas, California years ago. 

Our daughter got this tiny ring in a box of cracker jack when she was a little girl.  Made me smile, finding it again today.

Who knows where this orange feather came from, or even if it is actually a real color or dyed...

Mr. Pumpkin was found at a shop on Ballard's Market Street one rainy Saturday afternoon in autumn.  And who doesn't love the combo of chocolate and orange, exemplified by the iconic Tootsie Roll Pop?

You can find many more seekers of Orange over at Jennifer's place.  Thanks, Julie and Jennifer, for the hosting the fun!

Off Schedule but On Task

This moving deal is not for sissies.  

My studio is going into boxes and dresser drawers for the barge to Seattle.

Among other things, disruption and dismantling of familiar spaces has me off my usual schedule of posting and visiting around Blogland.

Flossy's studio bed is tucked under the oak table which will remain behind in this place.

I am grateful for the fact that my dear friend and artist accomplice Pia will be making this beloved room her studio.

Things I am leaving behind for Pia accumulate in one corner.

I have been working in this room for 15 years.

Today Pia and I are going to be collaborating on our wearable art pieces, working together in what is now, briefly, OUR studio.

My Sea Altar wearable art creation, waiting for the finishing touches.  The runway is Saturday night.

Have you made any major moves lately?

Moving is emotional, exciting, complicated and full of opportunities for simplification.  

Bear with me, Gentle Readers, as I remain (for now) on task, but off schedule.

I believe that as stellar and fabulous as life here has been, the best is yet to come!

Scene, Recently #35

It has been very cold for a couple of weeks.  The slough is frozen.  

Yesterday, a bit of snow.

Winter is back.

Daily Project - DC

Hurrah for the beautiful and talented Stefanie who presented this week's drawing challenge, Daily Project. 

'Elephant Hawk Moth' - pencil in 5x7 moleskine

I have needed to begin a portfolio for my eventual application to the natural science illustration certificate program I am interested in applying for this spring.

'Arctiid Moth' - pencil in 5x7 moleskine

For Stefanie's challenge, I checked a beautiful book of butterfly photographs out from our library and did a sketch of one each day during my evening drawing session. 

'Costa Rican Glasswing' - pencil in 5x7 moleskine

Each night I was more comfortable drawing from the photographs, concentrating on the details of each creature...

'Common Blue' - pencil in 5x7 moleskine

...shape of wings, body proportion, wing veining, antennae.

'Luna Moth' - pencil in 5x7 moleskine

The work was so relaxing, and made a good start on my portfolio.  

I can't wait to see what the other participating artists did with their week.  To see for yourself, visit Stefanie's whimsical place.

Daily Drawing

The winter has returned to us in the form of excruciating blue skies, plummeted temperatures, and a thick diamond sparkling of hoar frost on the ground.  We went out to the Blind River Rapids trail this afternoon and caught the sun on its way down at about 3:30.

As I mentioned last post, my art-making is curtailed to the sketchbook and the camera right now, but I have a plethora of projects steeping in my mind, ready to start in a new space in a new place next month.  I feel a bit like this drawing which showed up a couple of nights ago:

"Free-fall" - pigma pen and prismacolor pencil in 5x7 Moleskine

photography, instagram and keeping a sharp eye

I have always liked taking pictures as a hobby– first as a child with a little Kodak Brownie camera, moving on to my Dad’s hand-me-down Minolta SLR, going digital with my beloved Cannon Powershot in recent years.    

fungus on a downed limb out the road today

And although I enjoy shooting, photography never interested me much on gallery walls; at least it never did until I shared studio space for a couple of years with a class-A photographer friend, Brenda Kleinfelder.  We were lucky enough to travel to Manhattan years ago, where we spent many memorable hours museum-hopping together.  There she introduced me to the likes of Weegee, Sally Mann, and Diane Arbus to name just a few.

One thing that attracted me to the idea of blogging was the excuse it provided to take lots and lots of photographs.  As you have probably noted, this blog is (usually) heavy on images, light on text.  A picture is truly worth a thousand words as I see it.  Just have a look at Denis Shelby’s outstanding street photography, or the work of Rick White in Japan, Christi on Lopez... the list goes on and on!

Annton’s recent post about her love affair with Instagram resonated with me.  I picked up the habit a little over a year ago, posting photos taken on my phone-camera and following a variety of other Instagramers.  My little Iphone camera actually takes better pix than my Cannon.

During these stressed out days of packing up both house and studio, photography (plus drawing of course) is an effective way to maintain my visual acuity until I can get back to my dyes and brushes again.

The thing that's important to know is that you never know. You're always sort of feeling your way.
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"The thing that's important to know is that you never know. You're always sort of feeling your way". -Diane Arbus