Sunday, January 26, 2014

Going forward


A couple of weeks ago my bff kitty Shmoopie left us to go to the Other Side. She was just shy of 19 years old. We shared a lot of ups, and a lot of downs in those years. She and her brother Bosco were just wee little kitties running around the property next door to my old place in San Francisco all those years ago. I had a loose board in my fence, and lured them into my yard with food and yummy treats. I can still see, in my mind's eye, Shmoopie coming up my back stairs into the house the first time. Its amazing how fast that many years can whiz by.


She was galloping around, making her funny throaty roaring noise right up until the day before she got sick. She had one bad day, and a trip to the vet confirmed kidney failure. Usually she bounced back (sometimes a little slowly) from things, but this time I'm sure she just decided it was time to go.
Of course I miss her more than I can say, but also? its OK. She had the best life, and I know she's happy. 

It rained the day she died (it hasn't rained here for eons), and the next day we had fog. I'm sure she went back to SF and brought it here for me, because she knows how much I love it. 

This was the last picture I took of her this last Christmas. I love how the bright lights surround her. I like to think she's somewhere with bright lights now, too.



And life goes on. I've been a little off my game, but am slowly getting back in the swing of things. I have some 'real work', which is nice, and which I of course can't show (yet). 

I've started this little experiment to try out some new paper - Arches Hot Press watercolor paper. I've been in such a rut with Stonehenge, and have heard good things about this. I also want to do more watercolors again, so thought this might be a good paper for that as well. I have tons of Arches Cold Press, which is lovely for watercolors, but way too texture-y for my taste for colored pencils. 
This is 140lb, which is thin enough to see through on a light box. That's essential!

What is this? haha yeah, its a little cryptic, isn't it. Well, it will reveal itself in the next update, hopefully. Maybe you can guess (if you're an artist, you probably can). 


I'm using Polychromo colored pencils for this. I can tell the paper doesn't have as much tooth, and won't be able to take as many layers as Stonehenge would, but I'm liking it so far.


Oh! I almost forgot. A new little fur friend has joined the household. He found our cat door and started coming in to eat the week before Shmoopie left. He's from across the street - the house with people who, let's just say, in my opinion (and yours too, if you could see and hear what I do), should not have pets. He obviously decided this was a waaaaaaaay nicer home, and just moved himself in. 
I have since found out he's 9 months old, neutered, and has had his shots. They don't care that he's mine now, so we're good. I've kind of named him Pepper, but am also leaving it open for something else to sound 'more right'. He's a sweetie. 


And this has happened more than once now - just before one kitty is about to leave, a new one shows up. Things to ponder ...

Friday, January 10, 2014

Blueberry Muffins


I finally finished these. I did the wrappers first, then waited a good long while to come back and do the muffins. Everyone thought they were going to be cupcakes!




Everyone always draws the perfect muffin (or cupcake, or whatever). I have to be different sometimes. So I thought it would be fun to do them in a different way.




These were small muffins, and came in a sort of tub, with a lot of them all kind of squished together. So many of them were very un-perfect, so that gave me the idea to make that my point of view.



 I purposely did the ones that were a little off, or staged them in an unusual way.



I think these would be a fun grouping, framed, on a wall.
They're each about 5.5" square, and were done with Polychromo colored pencils on Stonehenge paper.

Last time I said I was going to do something Downton Abbey-inspired. And I will! I just had to get these off the board first.

We are officially having a drought now, boo. That means water rationing, starting as soon as next week maybe. We'll be in for it this summer, for sure.

Saturday, January 04, 2014

Mochi Balls



Here's the finished Mochi Ball drawing that I barely had a hint of drawn in the last post.

I bought a little package of these at my favorite Japanese store (Oto's Marketplace) while shopping for my kitties' bonito fish flakes, on a whim. I love all the Japanese snack foods, but because I don't read Japanese, am usually mystified as to what some of them are. Some are pretty easy to identify, like most type of rice crackers, but I've had a few surprises when I've bought something that I thought was going to be sweet, then it turned out to be fishy or seaweedy! Or the other way 'round.

Anyway, these caught my eye and I thought they'd be a fun drawing. I wanted to do something different with the arrangement, and played with all sorts of geometric shapes before I ended up with this. I love how artfully arranged those little veggies and pickled things are in Bento boxes, or just about any Japanese meal I've been served, actually. It just naturally seemed right to do something 'organized' with these. The "rack 'em up" layout doesn't really have anything at all to do with anything Japanese, but it made me smile so I went with it.




I also came to a realization, or decision, that this is what I like to do - line things up in a pattern. Unless I'm doing a 'one thing alone' composition. So now I'm going to consciously do this with all my food drawings, at least for a while.

This is 8" x 10", drawn with Polychromo colored pencils on Stonehenge paper. I'll have prints in the etsy shop in the next day or two.


Downton Abbey starts up again tomorrow night! I will be all tucked in with my tea and scone or biscuit or mince tart or something suitably British, with a kitty or two snuggled in, drinking it all in - its been a long wait! I've been reading my "Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey" book, so feel very 'in the know' about how they film it. I just read (not in the book) that Paul Giamatti will be making an appearance, in the Christmas (last) episode. I love him, and look forward to seeing how he mixes in with the Downton crowd. I so enjoyed the HBO mini series "John Adams" from a few years back, in which he played the lead role (and won an Emmy). The Times seems to think he was miscast, but what do they know? I thought he was brilliant.

On that note - I'm going to pack up my pencils, clean my board and get organized for the next project. I think it may be something Downton-themed ...


Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Hello 2014

Another new year! I confess I'm always glad when the calendar flips over to a clean slate, and "the holidays" are in the rear view mirror. Don't get me wrong - I love all the over-eating and baking and decorating and presents and good cheer and all, but I'm also relieved when everything goes back to normal! 

So, a little something old to share first. Remember when I was doing these muffin cups? There are four of them, all a little 'off' (meaning, not the traditional "standing straight up with a perfect muffin inside" take on this subject).






I did the muffin cups, then put them aside and moved on to something else (that happens a lot), and am now getting back to finishing up the blueberry muffins themselves. Good thing I took good reference, because the 'live models' are long gone! And they were delicious.

I haven't signed this yet because I'll wait until I have all four done, then do some tweaking to make sure they're all on the same level of finish. 



And now an all new piece. These are Mochi Balls, which are a Japanese/Hawaiian peanut candy treat. They come in the funnest colors, and are a traditional Japanese new year's thing. Well, sort of. Actually, Mochi cakes are the traditional Japanese new year's treat, and are a very different thing than these little peanut candies. But they're not as much fun to draw. Mochi cakes are basically a soft, rice cake kind of thing (forgive me, my dear Japanese friends for not explaining this well). These Mochi Balls are peanuts, coated in some combination of sugar + seaweed, sesame, coconut oil, and soy sauce. Some of them (which I haven't started to color yet) remind me of dinosaur eggs! You'll see, as I get into this more.




2014 is going to be busy, I can feel it. There are already 'real' projects on the board, as well as big plans for some self-generated projects I've had on a back burner for way too long. I can't wait to get started on them all!

We are officially having a drought here this year. They say 2013 was the driest year in recorded history! We've seen no rain for weeks, which is nice for the kitties, who love to lay in a sunny window or out on the back porch. My next door neighbor and I are planning a "new fence" project to be done in the next few weeks, which normally would have to wait until Spring. Of course we'll be paying for this at some point with water rationing, and whatever other ecological bad things have occurred because of the dry winter. But for now I'm selfishly enjoying the cool, dry sunny days.

I hope this new year is a good one for all of you!