i had not painted with watercolors for some time until recently. i started here with watercolor spirals and swirls and the rest grew from that. if feels good to hold a paintbrush in my hand again.
happy 70th birthday to my dear mother!
today jesse and i went to federal way to celebrate my mother's 70th. my twin sister is in town so she was there too. my sister made lasagna, including a little gluten free one for me. i brought gluten free brownies which everyone seemed to like! a good time was had by all.
this is the little watercolor I painted for my mother, it's 5 x 5". she took one look at it and said "oh, this [these colors] would make a good painted warp! she does a lot of painted warps, wool and silk. she's a weaver. i am sure this would make a gorgeous painted warp and i can't wait to see it!
i'm just loving this color scheme i have been working in lately - though i admit it is pretty autumnal! i did do some watercolor this week - and in a very different color scheme - which i will share with you soon. and my knitting as of late has also been in a very different color scheme - shades of green, blue, and purple. in my head thus far are color schemes of pink and green for knitting and possibly sewing. and brown and blue seems to want to make a debut someplace, i think via textiles, but one never does know for certain. i have some monster ideas i my head too, but i am not entirely certain yet what colors they want to be. i am a fan of the friendly monster - possibly having watched too much sesame street as a child. hm. i think i need to rewatch the dark crystal.
I used to have a pet hedgehog named Igle. He was grumpy and adorable. Having a hedgehog for a pet is a lot like having an irritable old man for a pet. It helps if you are used to rejection. But they are cute, no one can deny that, even right after they step on a shed spine.
anyway this little guy is on etsy.
Pen and ink on paper.
last night i got out my water colors for the 1st time in months, I literally had to dust them off. So, what do you think I should paint?
well i certainly had a busy day at work. it is nice to be home. the sun is out, i have music. i am doing to draw. i wish life slowed down more often! some people crave the wild life but not me. give me a book and a cup of tea.
this little mouse child is on etsy.
Yesterday Jesse stopped by the Mediterranean Fantasy Festival in West Seattle. It was awesome! Next year I will maybe go back and spend more time. It is not really Jesse's thing. But the music, dancing, costumes, and people watching were fantastic! Inspired me in many ways!
this is a drawing i did inspired by a recent trip to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industy. The featured exhibition right now is about Albert Einstein. This piece is 8.5 x 11 inches and is pen and ink. Swimming through Albert's imagination are: fish, flowers, trees, spirals, swirls, things without names, they might be quarks or gravitrons or something else with a long name in german. You just never know. this piece is on etsy.
i am glad it is Friday. my mind/body connection has not been at its best this week. we seem to have hit the peak of summer a week or 2 ago and are sliding over into what will be, i hope, a long Indian Summer. it's cold and cloudy right now but i am hoping for some afternoon sun. it sure helps my mood!
i love to draw. i could draw all day, every day. well, i'd take some breaks for snacks, walks, naps, and reading. sometimes i draw at home, sometimes at work on breaks, sometimes at restaurants, sometimes in the park. sometimes i plan out my drawings a bit, but not too much. lots of times i just start to draw and they evolve. i might guide them a bit, but then i might not. sometimes i use photos as reference material and sometimes not. i don't usually draw from life. i guess i probably should but it's more relaxing to draw things from my imagination (also then no one can tell me they i did not capture the essense of the thing, whatever it was.) sometimes i draw in silence. sometimes i listen to music or audio books. sometimes i have a documentary on in the background, but i pay the most attention to my drawings. my hands and arms do get stiff and sore, so i do some stretching.
i have piles of drawings. some are on etsy, some are just hanging out. sometimes i give them as gifts. sometimes i frame them and hang them on the wall. sometimes they just drift around my condo.
it was a pretty nice weekend other than the bits where i did not feel well. which includes today. i would love a nap right now, but it is not meant to be. anyway, saturday i did feel ok. we went out to pancakes and then walked around ballard some. i had a nap and later we went out for icecream and watched some Twin Peaks. Sunday I had art time, and also did some much needed chores! i worked on some more pen and ink drawings and some knitting! i also had a massage. that was good. today I am feeling under the weather, though, and it's also cloudy and grey on top ot it!
this colorful dryad lightens things up a bit, though, and she's on .
fortunately i am feeling much better than yesterday. rest and vitamin water. not sure what we will do today.. it's nice out and not going to be too hot...
this something from my sketch book that has been evolving this week...
needless to say, i am sure we can all agree there is an appeal to weird creepy sea-creatures who glide along the seabed hoovering up tiny invertebrates with their cunning little mouths. i have just described a skate. these flat kite-like creatures are referred to as "batoids". would you want to meet one in a dark alley?
actually they are harmless to man, unless they haunt out dreams, swimming in and out like ghostly shadows.
this painting is 10 x 10 inches, 3/4" deep, and is available for sale on etsy. Enjoy!
here is some art, as promised! this is one of my most recent pen and ink drawings, inspired by the Albert Einstein exhibit we saw at OMSI. i am not sure where the fish are from, my imagination is as strange as Albert's maybe. If you don't know much about Albert beyond e=mc2, you might want to learn more. Albert was also quite a humanitarian and was involved in the zionist movement. he also played the violin and had a great sense of humor.
last weekend Jesse and I went to Portland. This is a poster i saw in a window, it comes from Tangible Worldwide. I have an abiding fondness for yetis and their kinfolk!
when we were in Portland, we explored China Town and the Pearl District, went to Powells Bookstore, went to Pony Club Gallery, where I got someTheo Ellsworth prints (YAY!) and went to the Saturday Market, The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for the Albert Einstein exhibit, and Washington Park Zoo!. Well, I am tired just typing all of that but it was fun!
