Back soon

I am away for awhile.

There have been some recen bereavements in my family that have taken me away from both drawing and blogging.

I hope to be back soon.

EDM 241 - The view from my kitchen window

This is the view, including the window frame. I'm not sure hwo successful this is because I sat on a chair which meant my eyelevel was a bit below the window frame. I actually could not see the ground - only the window box plants, the large fir trees across the sidewalk and part of the Co-op parking lot across the street. That's a truck parked in the loading zone.

And yes, the poplar tree on the left (the one with the messed up branch!) does have yellow leaves on it. Although we've had record high temperatures for this time of year, the nights are quite cool, and these trees are very sensitive due to an aphid infestation. Summer is going out with a bang this year.

I drew this in my Moleskine sketch journal using my new dip pens. I've been experimenting with trying to draw more quickly, and the dip pens seem to lend themselves to that - making quick, sharp lines, or long smooth ones. And it makes a very cool noise on the page. This particular pen (which was a bonus pen with the Speedball kit that I bought) has a very thin nib, that actually scratched the surface of the paper. So while I'm not sure that I like the final result, I really liked the process. Color was added with Pentel Brush pens and watercolor pencils.

EDM 166 - Draw a Fish

After several medical tests earlier this week, I think I am about to be diagnosed with borderline high blood pressure. So goodbye to alcohol, salty snacks, ham and cheese sandwiches, and those extra 20 pounds. I will learn to love brown rice, bulgar, beans, and the varied species drawn here. I will swap fish for sausage (apparently it's better to die of mercury posioning than heart failure). Seriously, if I do everything the doctors tell me, I should live forever! And I'd also be perfect (and we all know how much fun perfect people are!) I wonder how many people can actually be the perfect patient - the one who only eats the right things, exercises the right way and never misses a workout, has no vices or weaknesses, practices perfect preventive hygiene. It seems to be an impossibly high standard to achieve. The whole thing has made me feel very self-indulgent and ashamed of myself for enjoying some of the finer things in life - like a medium rare steak and margarita. And I admit, I'm a little resentful of that. However, I'm hopeful that within a few months, I can again enjoy those occasional treats without guilt (or with only a little guilt).

These fish were drawn with my new dip pen and ink, a medium I've never used before but I think I like it. It takes a bit of practice to get a smooth line, but I like the effect. I colored them in with watercolors pencils, as this Robert Bateman sketchbook doesn't like water very much. The saying came from a T-shirt I saw.

EDM 239 - The gorilla that scared me

When I was about 4 years old, I went to the circus for the first time. The ringmaster wheeled out an enormous cage with a gorilla in it. The gorilla roared and beat it's chest and shook the bars of the cage. When the ringmaster turned his back on the cage to tell us all how fierce and dangerous this particular gorilla was, the gorilla shook the cage furiously and broke open the door. He bounded off the stage and into the stands, roaring and howling. Further and further he came, closer to where I was. I wanted to leave, tugging on the adults' hands, pleading to go. But they wouldn't move. Closer and closer the danger came. I burst into tears and shrieked. The child-eating monster came right in front of me, reached up its hands - and ripped its own head off!!

That's a cruel joke to play on a small child. I'm sure the man in the gorilla suit thought that by proving he wasn't a real gorilla, I would be comforted. But for many years, I was haunted by nightmares of gorillas pulling their heads off.

This is watercolor pencils in Aquabee journal.