Precious Baseball

Only one precious week of baseball left!

Blue Bonnet

Experimenting tonight and ended up with something looking totally old school...as in the 19th century!  Not sure how it happened, but I don't try to question where my things begin or end...sometimes you don't want to be too inquisitive about mystery.

Oil, Enamel, Ink

Red Dot

Hmm.  Still using my phone to take pictures, putting into Instagram and posting to Facebook and then snipping onto my hard drive and then reposting to my blog.  Gotta get that camera working correctly!  I humbly say, I think my art work isn't showing off to the best of its ability with my roundabout posting approach.  I'll get back to it.  Although, I do notice I have a lot less hits from a certain area in the world now that my images aren't as sharp as the camera would present... hmm.

Anyway, this portrait actually has a much more vibrant, apple green in it than this picture would suggest, and I think a lot more detail.  Nevertheless, here is "Red Dot" as I can best represent her at the moment.

First Step Over and Over Again

Fretter

Here's a bit of a surrealistic piece.  I've had it hanging out with me for about 5 months.  Am I done with it?  I don't know.  I stare at it, think I'll flush out the guitar and its frets more, and then think I don't want to touch it.  It just isn't communicating with me well...or maybe it's already told me its enough.

Fretter

Everyday People

Everyday People

I posted this on Facebook first and then a FB friend put a link to Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" (oh, yes, way before the Black-Eyed Peas (though I love that version as well.)  I told her, and I'll tell you, that it is one of my favorite songs ever (along with "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin"), and it was used to such good effect in the movie, "Definitely, Maybe" although it was a favorite of mine waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before that!

Everyday People

If you're interested, I found the entire "Definitely, Maybe film on YouTube in sped-up French! Voila!

Retro Gold Digger

Retro Gold Digger

11" x 14" Mixed Media

Moving Inward

Moving Inward

So many changes in life.  So much stays the same.

Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert, and the Most Perfect Weather Ever

Oh, today was one of the most beautiful days on record. It's fall, it's 80 degree, with NO humidity and just gentle breezes.  Oh, my words are so lackluster here.  Please suffice it to say, that I kept thinking all day long and until the sun set, this is one of the most perfect days the Midwest has ever known.  I felt like I floated when I walked, it was so gentle and easy, the warm blowing air cocooning over me. So you can get my drift, here's a little picture of the colors around me--our neighbor's tree across the street.

See what I mean?  Look at those leaves and the color of that sky!  Heaven.

Now here also is heaven.  The book, "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I had it on pre-order from amazon and I received it 2 weeks ago.  I was on vacation that week and read almost all of it, but saved and savored the last bit for today.  Please get it.  It talks of the perseverance in practicing whatever art we want to follow regardless of any outside acclaim.  She talks of having faith in your path and SO MUCH more.  I love you Elizabeth Gilbert!!  I could quote every line in the book.  In fact, I have so many pages dog-eared and underlined and starred it's ridiculous.  Seriously, this tome is one of the best books on creativity I have ever read.

Here's a drawing I did on the inside cover while I was pondering over some of E. G.'s words.

Sebastian's Wife Insisted He Dress Like A Chicken

At first Sebastian thought his wife's request to dress like a chicken for Halloween was an indicator of her tongue-in-cheek quirk.  However, when she emerged from her boudoir dressed like the KFC Colonel with a glint in her eye, an uneasy feeling spread through him.  Was this the beginning of some "Gone Girl" nightmare?  He was removing this beak mask and making a run for it.

Goddess - SOLD

Goddess

Oh, That's Just My Goiter

"Oh, that's just my goiter.  Pay it no mind."

I was off work for a glorious week, and it was so lovely out.  I had all sorts of cleaning and organizational plans, but the fall weather was so heavenly.  I mainly sat outside reveling in the warm sunshine, rustling trees, chirping birds and squirrels, and pure blue skies.  I read, I thought, and I gazed up into the sky.

At one point, I looked up and saw a face floating by in the clouds above.  I grabbed my journal (always by my side) and did a quick contour drawing.  (Ya' know, when you just look at the object and not at your paper?)  When I looked down, I didn't have quite the image I had seen above, but rather this fellow.  He looked like he had a goiter.  Hilarious!  And that's how this drawing came to be.  The end.

Cupcake on A Mission

Cupcake on A Mission

Incite 3: The Art of Storytelling - North Light Books

On Friday I received quite a gift!  I have an illustration and blurb in the North Light Books publication called Incite 3:  The Act of Storytelling (Incite:  The Best of Mixed Media)

(edited by Tonia Jenny), and it's available through amazon.com  or www.northlightshop.com.  I found out in December 2014 that I was included and now here it is!

I am honored to say this is the third North Light Books publication I have been blessed to be included in.  Here's a link to those other books if you are interested.

Here's a picture of the cover:

Bluesman

Painted on the inside of an old j.crew box with one paint color.

Eyeteeth

I'm a little out of order with my posts, but I love this one so much, I'm going to send it out sooner than later.  (My poor blog, I'll be back with you soon.  The last 2 months has left me with little time for you.  I will change that soon!)

Here you go.  I've got oil, acrylic, ink, glitter, dried paint, watercolor pencil, packing slip (!), everything in this baby.  I love her!

She Was Willing to Give Up Her Eyeteeth to Go After Her Dream.

Elena and Her New Fall Fashion

Elena couldn't wait to move forward with the new fall fashion.

I don't think my picture is reflecting these colors accurately.  They are lighter and actually the red dots are metallic.  I adhered thin tissue all around the figure in the dress.  The purse, too, is covered with metallic-dotted tissue over a split pea-green paint.  There is also metallic powder pigment in her dress.  I'll try for a better picture in the next few days with a new camera and try to replace this baby to more accurately match its true colors.

Pistil and Stamen Happiness

Here's one for any of you botanists out there.  It's still technically summer for another week so I thought I had better get this remnant in before it's seasonally inappropriate.

Pistil & Stamen Happiness:  

The realization that as a "Perfect Flower," you never need a blind date

(There's three of those fertile flower critters in there. (-:)

And for those of you who are thinking, what the h-e-double-toothpick is she talking about?  A perfect flower has both male and female parts, a stamen and pistil, respectively, and they can pollinate themselves!

An "imperfect flower" only has a female part (pistil) or male part (stamen--the pollen-producing reproductive organ) and needs the wind or someone knocking into it or a bee or some other insect to cross-pollinate/fertilize it.  Life, so interesting, no?

Vegetarian Pacifist

"Could you just pretend to gouge me?  I'm a vegetarian pacifist."

She Didn't Like Anyone or Anything Telling Her No

She didn't like anyone or ANYTHING telling her no.

Oil, Gouache

Although She Loved Her Cowboy... (Marshmallow Teeth)

Although she loved her cowboy, all his campfire s'mores were turning her teeth into marshmallows.

Ah, ha, ha!  I spent a long time on this one with all it's little details.  It was worth it though...it cracks me up even when I look at it! 

Now of course, I have to include something from the king...

Elvis, "Burning Love"

Iggy Pop

Godfather of Punk, '80's Style

Iggy Pop

Watercolor and Ink

I was up until 5:30 a.m. last night.  I have been so busy lately and have been away from making art for too long.  I ended up drawing three pictures yesterday, and this one was in the wee hours of the morning.  I was watching Reese Witherspoon in, "WILD" based on Cheryl Strayed's amazing book of the same name.  That movie, and Reece's acting in it, are so incredible.  

I wanted to savor the silence of the night, after non-stop rushing for two weeks.  I want to dive into time, roll around in it's murky silence.  I  had two dogs on the couch with me, both of my hands slowly petting each as I thought about life.  Around 3, I felt compelled to profile another wild human. I love the angles of Iggy's face, just as I love the lines of old people.  So many interesting planes and angles and shadows that youthful faces just don't contain.  I like the deviation from the norm, the lines of life that make someone interesting within and without, making me want to know their stories.  I have one more day to be able to have the heavenly gift of time unfolding without a schedule.  I'll have to be back on one soon enough.

P.S. By the way, here's a link to The NY Times' ArtsBeat article on Cheryl Strayed.  In it, a critic says her book had a "punk spirit!"   O.K., I swear to you, I only saw this right now, the morning after I painted this.  She was successful to the nth degree conveying that punk feeling, because after watching it, I was left with that same feeling and let it come through me as a painting of the great Iggy.

Rocket Man Was Having Second Thoughts

Rocket Man was starting to have 2nd thoughts, 

although he could feel his wife's concern even more keenly than his own.

As I was making this, I kept hearing Elton John's classic playing in my head.  Never get tired of this song.

Elton John "Rocket Man"

Don't Look Back, Look Forward

When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward...

George C. Marshall

Watercolor, oil, ink

Square Jaw, Red Hair, Blue Suit

Here's a broody fellow for you.  What could he be thinking?  I must match my jacket to my eye color?  I have the squarest jaw in the world?  I am a virile vibrancy of masculinity?  Something to ponder...