Mustang Musings

More Leggings

2011-11-27T10:19:00.003-08:00

Another pair of too short leggings with holes in both knees.

This is the work in progress, the paper is my pattern for figuring out lengths and positioning.
I cut long strips from an old T-shirt and overlocked both edges with a rolled hem on the overlock machine using contrasting thread. These I cut into smaller strips which I sandwiched between two layers of fabric.
This is how I sew the patches on the knees. I use a sleeve board to pin the patch in place really well, then I turn the pants inside out and scrunch down from the waist to get at the knees.
Here is the finished product:

Legging resurrection

2011-11-27T10:14:00.003-08:00

I was going through my daughter's dresser and found several of these leggings that had become too short and had holes in the knees--but still fit her at the waist.

I've also confiscated a few of my son's T-shirts that have become too small and also have holes in them. So I cut circle ruffles from the T-shirt to apply to the leggings.
Here is the finished "new" pants with ruffles and a heart shaped patch.

Halloween costume: Medusa Headdress

2011-11-02T18:53:00.005-07:00

My daughter wanted to be Medusa for Halloween, so I made her a snake headdress. I used large gauge floral wire and some green fabric to make seven stuffed snakes. I sewed the wire to the seam allowance at the head of the snake before turning it so the wire was inside. Then I stuffed the snakes with polyfil and sewed the opening closed. I also sewed some of the fabric close to the wire.

I built a frame by wrapping more floral wire around my daughter's head--and leaving enough wire to adjust it later as the snake tails would add bulk. The photo shows how I would wrap the snake tails around the headband. But first I needed to paint them.
I painted them with acrylic paint mixed with a fabric paint medium. When the snakes were painted I set the paint by steaming them with steam from the iron.
I sewed on little beads for the eyes. The tongues are leather cord, cut at the end to make a split. (the tongues were inserted in the initial sewing)
And here it is, a dramatic Medusa headdress with snakes that can be adjusted. My daughter loved changing their positions.

Sweater make over

2011-10-30T13:09:00.004-07:00

I haven't posted in quite a while--but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy with creative things.

I had this chenille sweater, which while pretty, was also shapeless and a solid color. So I decided to make it fancy. I took it in at the waist to give it some shape, and then appliqued butterflies cut from a fleece print to it. Then I stitched down the applique with embroidery thread and added embroidered details. Below is the basted design on the back.
Design basted to sweater front.
Embroidery.
finished back.

Extreme Makeover: T-shirt

2011-08-28T17:35:00.003-07:00

I haven't been doing much 2-D work lately, but I have been working with fabric. When I went to the San Mateo County fair, I saw some t-shirts that had been re-styled and I thought, Oh I could do that with some of my old shirts. So I started with these two. One was from a school my kids no longer attend--back in Texas, but I like the design. The other was a sleeveless shirt. Just not as necessary in the San Francisco Bay Area as it was in Texas; I rarely find a good day to wear it. So I decided to combine the two.
I cut the design off the T-shirt, and put it on the sleeveless at an angle to add more interest. Then I cut sleeves from the body of the T-shirt. I edged the sleeves with a roll hem on the serger using a contrasting red thread to pick up the red in the design.
Then I stitched in the sleeves.
And Viola! a cute "new" shirt.

Fish Mobile

2011-08-04T17:16:00.005-07:00

The fish mobile is finally finished. I haven't been working on much flat artwork recently but I've been working on 3-D and clothing projects. This is one that I've been working on for a while, doing bits and pieces as I go along. My daughter has an ocean themed room--and got an idea for a fish mobile with ribbons on it to be like water. But I ended up making my own ribbons from fabric which came out more like seaweed, or jelly fish tendrils.

Here is a close up of the fabric and some of the beads.
This was the first layer put on the framework. I used a floral wreath framework, which has several layers of wire for support.
I started by creating the fish, one at a time over a few weeks. This was the final fish I made.

The orange fish was the first fish I made.

Illustration Friday: Gesture (and frustration)

2011-07-17T15:17:00.004-07:00

It started with a delightful book I'd made at a FABMO workshop. I'd layered in tissue paper in the book--and so I did a gesture drawing of my cat on the white page, and a line drawing on the tissue paper over that.

But then it got more complicated--I really liked the idea of the overlay, and I wanted to translate that to my blog post. And then I got frustrated. I didn't have the right tools to easily make an animated gif, and once I finally figured that out, I discovered that Blogger doesn't support animated gifs--and the only way to get them on there was a complicated work around which involved getting an account I don't already have...

So, reluctantly (and somewhat defiantly) I took my dear hubby's advice to take a break. When I came back I decided to try from a different angle--I would make a movie. So I did that. Started to make a post--and then wanted to add in the photo--and I couldn't get to the photo upload screen. So I saved the post to try a different browser--only when I pulled up the saved post: there was nothing there!

Big sigh that I finally got my post up--almost the way I want.

Garden

2011-07-13T09:28:00.004-07:00

I have garden envy. My mom has lived in the same house for 31 years. And in the course of that time she, (with my father’s help) has built up lovely gardens. She belongs to a garden club and they get together and discuss flowers, and living in the Southwest: drought.

I’ve moved five times in the past five years. I currently live in a rental house, with a postage stamp yard and mature landscaping. (more like a postage stamp with a house shaped hole in the middle…) But the yard includes some beautiful tree-sized rosebays that occlude the privacy fence. And earlier we had Pride of Madeira spiking up. And one tomato, and one zucchini valiantly struggle in pots on the driveway.

My husband has plans to build an aquaponics structure. It is like hydroponics plus fish. The funny thing is aquaponics doesn’t qualify as organic gardening, because the fish manure is fresh! But aside from a small scale experiment that was dismantled, once the roof overhang shadowed the window from the summer sun, this is still locked in his head.

But then inside my head is a garden too. I've planted ideas: some have grown, some have blossomed, and some have withered on the vine. New ideas flit in and land briefly, like a humming bird, and flit off again--not even disturbing the branch. Were they even there?

Illustration Friday: Remedy

2011-07-02T10:03:00.002-07:00

It has been quite a while since I responded to an Illustration Friday prompt. I had started waiting for inspiration, which wasn't coming. When I started doing IF, it was a sort of practice. I would do an illustration even if I didn't have inspiration. Then life got in the way.

So this week's topic "Remedy" reminded me of Rescue Remedy: a homeopathic treatment from flower essences. I'm still not sure where I stand on homeopathy, but there is something pleasant about the idea of essence.

I've been reading Karen Maezen Miller's book Hand Wash Cold: care instructions for an ordinary life. She is a Zen priest. And whenever I read about Zen, my ego starts getting uncomfortable. And all the work I've been doing around my identity becomes Important. But being reminded to stop judging helps me sigh a little and let go. And wouldn't my identity be more comfortable just living in my ordinary life?

Maybe I should start practicing something again, but maybe I should be practicing nothing.

More Patches

2011-06-04T15:17:00.003-07:00

This time my jeans were the ones to have a blowout. My cat likes to get in my lap. Sometimes she would tick my pant leg to let me know she was coming. But other times she would just jump; my arm would be in the way and she would miss--and then hang from my pant leg. After multiple cat leaps and washings the fabric just gave up. Which is why I needed patches on both sides. So I decided to go for a little story, involving playful cats, of course.

When I Remember Blue...

2011-05-16T14:08:00.005-07:00

When I remember blue I think about the Honda I had, and the blue boat that looked like the car was wearing a bike helmet.

From Twisted Stitches Monday Memory Meme prompt.

Illustration Friday: Beginning

2011-05-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

A some point, in the last few weeks, "Beginning" was an IF prompt. After I did this piece I thought it would make a nice post for beginning. Several weeks ago I got to see the Mosaic of Lod at the Legion of Honor Museum. (here) Dating back to about 300 AD, this mosaic is an early example in the annuals of art history. (Not the beginning of art by any stretch, but certainly something durable that left a record for a long time.)

With mosaics on my mind, I kept the fragments of the egg shells from our dyed Easter eggs: Easter being a celebration of beginnings (and endings that morph into beginnings.) The kids weren't interested in the project--so I did my own. Some sort of spiral seemed appropriate--and I wanted to use all the colors.

Illustration Friday: Journey, visual note taking

2011-04-17T08:54:00.006-07:00

I have read a lot lately about how the internet is rewiring our brains. There is fear or delight that we now consume information like butterflies: flitting from one nugget of info to the next without really going deeply into anything. The ones who are fearful lament how few take the time to journey through an entire book anymore.

While it does get harder with the demands of being a stay-at-home-mom who is homeschooling, I do still enjoy the journey through a whole book. (but I like being an information butterfly too.)

I've also been introduced to the concept of visual note taking, and thought I would give it a go for my notes on my most recent read In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise by George Prochnik.

So here is my first attempt at visual notes, and I've learned a few things. Like there is a skill to visual outlining that I don't have yet. The elements of composition such as size and contrast apply sort of like the Roman numerals and alphabet of written outlines. I made some of my images too big in comparison to the importance in the text. It is a very different form of illustration.

Abstract

2011-04-10T17:39:00.002-07:00

Just a little exploration of Sketchbook Pro on my iPad. I'm still trying to learn it since it is very different from working with Photoshop which is what I'm used to.

Illustration Friday: Duet

2011-04-10T17:36:00.003-07:00

The IF prompt a week ago was "Duet." I started working on this while the kids were at choir practice last week, but didn't manage to finish it until choir practice this week. This was done on my iPad with Sketchbook Pro.

Illustration Friday: Toy

2011-03-27T17:59:00.003-07:00

"It went zip when it went,

Bop when it stopped,

And whir when it stood still."

~from a song by Peter, Paul, and Mary

(Originally by Tom Paxton)

This week's topic is "toy." This song popped into my head when I read it. It is difficult to illustrate a mysterious object.

Illustration Friday: Cultivate

2011-03-20T16:30:00.002-07:00

This week's prompt is Cultivate. We are cultivating a lot of things around here, including scientific minds. DH is growing pea plants as part of an experiment and having the kids observe their growth.

Illustration Friday: Stir

2011-03-13T14:42:00.004-07:00

When things get all stirred up it takes a long time for anything to settle out. Which is why I've gone so long without posting. Homeschooling is harder than I thought, managing special needs is harder than I thought. Heck just getting this image off my iPad was harder than I thought.

This was also inspired by the Tsunami warning we had here a few days ago--that I didn't even know about until after the wave had "hit" California. Prayers for the people in Japan.

Dusty: the birth of an idea

2011-01-22T10:38:00.003-08:00

Meet Dusty, the copper wire dust bunny. This week's Illustration Friday's topic is "dusty."

The number one question a children's book author is asked on a school visit is: "Where do you get your ideas?" I'm sure other artists also field this question frequently. Here's a peek into how the idea for Dusty came to me.

My 10 year old son wants to learn how to solder so he can make sculptures. He got some large gauge copper wire and a soldering gun from my father for Christmas. The first attempt was a failure. So I went to Home Depot to look for materials that might be easier to solder, and found some stranded wire. I couldn’t buy a small chunk to play with; I had to buy the whole spool: 250 feet. So the question in my mind was “What other crafts can use this wire?”

Tuesday night I spent some time with my artist friends. Sarah had bought some miniature bottle for us to play with. Woody amazed us all by making a polymer clay rabbit that fit in the bottle. (My brain was now primed with rabbits.)

Wednesday night I had tap class. My instructor remarked that the janitorial team at the rec center wasn’t doing a good job, as she pointed out the large dust bunnies in the corner of the room. (rabbit reference number two.)

Friday, the Illustration Friday prompt came in: Dusty. Later I thought, “hmm, I could do a gesture drawing of a rabbit, it would look sort of like a dust bunny.”

This morning I walked past the spool of stranded wire. All the things that had been going on in my brain this week began to bump up against each other and snarl, like a dust bunny, in the corners of my mind. Then I knew what to do, make a wire sculpture of a dust bunny.

Practical Arts

2011-01-20T20:22:00.002-08:00

I was shocked to discover how long it has been since I last posted. Too much life going on I suppose. And my creative endeavors have been leaning towards more practical things, like patching pants. My son is very hard on pants. This pair somehow got a very long vertical rip in them--so I fixed it by putting in a tree. He is very happy with the tree with skull camo bark. (I am a little concerned because when I showed him the pants he said "Cool Mom! I'm going to have to rip my pants more often!" Not exactly what I was going for...)

Baker Face

2010-11-27T13:29:00.004-08:00

My husband made a turkey cake for Thanksgiving, and I posted the image on Facebook. My Dad saw it and noted that one of the marshmallows had a face. So I took the image of the face, blew it up and added some lines and shading in Photoshop to make a baker face. (this week's Illustration Friday topic was "Savour" maybe that inspired the food art.) Below is the photo of the cake he made. Can you find the face?

Sketchpad Pro and iPad

2010-11-22T10:28:00.004-08:00

My husband bought himself an iPad as an early Christmas present. (He's flying to Europe next week and wanted it for the plane ride.) I'd heard of the Sketchpad Pro app, and after some time trying to remember the correct app name he downloaded it for me. It's a powerful little drawing app. Hubby was amazed when he ran to the store for a few items and came back to find I'd completed this. "Wow! You did that fast." Well, the fact that the leaves were their own brush helped a great deal, and the mirroring option for doing the border.

It was kind of fun drawing with my finger, like finger painting with leaves...

Boganvia

2010-11-06T15:07:00.002-07:00

A long time since posting. LIFE (all caps!) We rented a house, moved in, and 11 days later the house was foreclosed. I know that this story has played out for countless renters around the country--but you never think it could happen to you for real. The terms of our lease were sketchy--when we insisted on a one year lease the landlord hand wrote "min 1 year" on the Month to Month lease paperwork he presented us with. So we have found a new house to rent, will be taking the Bank's offer of Cash for Keys and getting out of a location that is a litigation hotspot. (the former owners are suing the bank, and weird mail for many different people shows up in our mailbox.) But the house has a lovely garden with a boganvia bush in it--so something pretty to look at while we get ready to move again. But it is so hard to carve out time for art with all this going on.

Illustration Friday: Acrobat

2010-09-19T10:47:00.003-07:00

With all the complications going on in my life right now I've been finding it not just hard to fine time to put pencil to paper, but also difficult to find the mental energy.

Our cat is named "Tidbit" because she was very tiny when we got her, and we thought she was full grown. Turns out she misrepresented her age on her Humane Society application and she's become a much larger Tidbit. But she can still jump like anything. We play a game with her, or maybe she plays the game with us? At the kids' bedtime she runs into the bedrooms and I have to call her out, and then give her a treat. But I make her do tricks, like dancing or leaping in order to get her treat. She's quite the acro-cat.

Illustration Friday: Immovable

2010-08-29T11:55:00.002-07:00

The more I thought about explaining this image, the more tangled my thoughts became. I thought about how these old trees seem immovable, and in someways they are. But this image comes from what is called a "fairy ring." The mother tree was felled and shipped up to help build San Francisco in the 1800's. Daughter trees then grew up around the stump. So while the tree itself was moved, the spirit of the forest remained immovable. For now.

So then I thought about how art is immovable, in that it is a captured moment in time. But as I worked on this image I moved it around (it is 18 x 24) to get to the edges. And I realised that while the image itself may be immovable, our perspective and point of view aren't static. This drawing looks just fine rotated 90 degrees.

Is the world then in constant flux? Was Einstein right--it is all relative?

Illustration Friday: Atmosphere

2010-08-23T13:17:00.004-07:00

I'm trying to get back to drawing--but it has been hard. Many many changes. The most recent is that I will be homeschooling my son this year using a Virtual Academy. So I've joined a homeschooling group that has regular park days as a way to deal with the big "socialization" question. One of things I've noticed is that the atmosphere in a homeschooling group is very different. We meet in a park with a stream running through it. The kids usually spend some time on the play ground just getting oriented, but then they head off into the woods to explore the world around them. Getting wet and dirty is just part of the learning process.

Illustration Friday: Artificial

2010-07-31T11:33:00.002-07:00

So here's a question. I did this using ZeFrank's Scribbler tool. I drew a scribble using my touch pad (represented by the stronger lines) and then I ran the scribbler tool, stopped the scribbler tool, adjusted colors, transparency, scribbliness, and ran the tool again. I repeated this process until it looked done to me. The machine generated the image (and it wasn't even my machine, just some anonymous server somewhere out there) but I controlled the machine. Is it art? Is it artificial art?

So my thoughts about art are constantly evolving. When I was younger, representational art seemed more "artsy" to me. But when I realized that no matter how well you render that orange in your still life--while you can eat the model, you can't eat the image. All art has an ARTificial quality to it. So then I began to think that stylized art had more art to it, than camera precise rendering, which has more technique to it.

More Nature Art

2010-07-19T20:57:00.002-07:00

This weekend I went back to the shell beach along the bay to do more nature art. (IF still didn't inspire me) I found a piece of charred driftwood and liked the contrast between the black and the white was interesting. It was also interesting to think about the contrast of fire and nature. Near where I was there are three acres that were accidentally burned by a couple of pre-teens.

Nature Art

2010-07-11T14:32:00.003-07:00

I watched a documentary on Andrew Goldsworthy the other night and was inspired. I took my daughter to the San Francisco Bay this morning and we did nature art by the shore. Here are my two pieces. (more photos here )

Family Art: Seals

2010-07-11T14:09:00.003-07:00

We took a family vacation to San Diego. In the San Diego airport there was a painting that had been done by various artists of a single scene, and it gave me the idea to do one of our from our trip. I divided a photo into 12 sections and assigned various family members a square to copy as they saw fit. Here is the original photo.

Illustration Friday: Trail

2010-06-06T20:18:00.003-07:00

This banana slug represents trail in several ways. The first is the slime trail that slugs and snails leave behind as they go about their business. The second is that we found this banana slug, (and 29 of his cousins) on along the trail on a hike in the Purisma Redwoods. And finally my own personal trail, where after living in many states, I've ended up 11 miles from where I was born. (Apparently I was less than pleased meeting a banana slug as a young baby!)

Illustration Friday: Equipment

2010-05-16T16:41:00.002-07:00

Just a quick sketch--since I haven't posted in a while. This is my husband with his SCUBA equipment.

Illustration Friday: Linked

2010-04-10T19:56:00.003-07:00

It has been quite a while since I posted--Life getting in the way.
So the most obvious link going on here is the tractor linked to the trailer. But this image links through time and generations too. I took my kids to visit my parents over Easter--so you have the Grandpa-grand kids link. But this link runs even deeper because MY grandpa build this tractor and trailer from scratch! Imagine being able to make a tractor.
This is my photo-base style.

Illustration Friday: Perspective

2010-02-27T09:17:00.002-08:00

An unusual perspective: the Guide Chicken. I was teaching one point perspective to a group of third graders. While I was talking about guide lines, I lost their attention. So I started talking about chickens instead. When I mentioned "guide chicken" their attention returned. "What's a guide chicken?" Well that is an illustration challenge, what would a guide chicken look like. (more importantly what would a guide chicken do? Not as loyal or as smart as a dog...)

Illustration Friday: Propagate

2010-02-20T15:51:00.002-08:00

It's been a while since I posted an IF. And when I read this one, I thought no way to create an appropriate children's illustration without using bunnies. So I wasn't going to do it until I walked into my son's room and saw the pile of paper airplanes accumulating there. Paper airplanes certainly have been propagating around here lately!

Illustration Friday: Clumsy

2010-01-24T10:19:00.002-08:00

We went to Pier 39 in San Francisco yesterday, and the kids went through Magowan's Infinite Mirror Maze. That is definitely a place where you don't want to be clumsy. Magowan himself said that teenagers have a blast, especially if they have a clumsy friend.
This is my traced photo technique. Photo by Alexander Hanlin.
He kept getting turned around, and leading his sister out the entrance--but they finally manged to get through with the "one hand on the wall" suggestion.

Illustration Friday: (Rock'n thru the) Wilderness

2010-01-17T21:58:00.002-08:00

"Rocket through the wilderness" ~ B52's

The line from Roam came into my head with this topic. We now have Rock Band 2 and both kids can play it. (This wasn't the case with the original Rock Band game.) But I also thought about childhood being a type of wilderness--roaming through uncharted territory before gaining adulthood. And how quickly the landscape changes.

Illustration Friday: Confined

2010-01-10T20:08:00.003-08:00

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium this weekend, and while I was peering into a tank with baby giant clams, I thought of the IF topic: confined. How more confined could an animal be than stuck to a rock waiting for dinner to float by? (not to mention being stuck on a rock inside a tank.)

Illustration Friday: Pioneer

2009-12-27T09:20:00.005-08:00

"Pioneer" brings up many images, but I thought about the umbrella style seeds of the wild artichoke. Brave little seeds leaping off the mother plant and going where the wind carries them. Earlier this month I went with my son's class to the San Mateo County History Museum where I learned that artichokes were Italian imports, brought to California in the mid 1800's. The first farms were in Half Moon bay.
Pioneers are the people who go before and pave the way for the rest of us. This image is based on a photograph of my mother and me sniffing a wild artichoke plant near my house. (I also used this technique on Music.) I put down a field of black on a layer in Photoshop--and erase out the positive image. I use a copy of the background over the black layer with reduced opacity to guide me. Then I convert the background color to watercolor using filters.
I like to trace from photographs--but it feels like cheating. But I was heartened by an article in Smithsonian Magazine about Norman Rockwell. He also used photographs as the basis of his paintings (and also felt like it was cheating.)
Norman Rockwell, my mother: artists who have come before me and paved the way.

Illustration Friday: Hatch

2009-12-16T14:17:00.002-08:00

It's been a while, but time this time of year is difficult. I had the line drawing for this image from a postcard project I was working on.

But this one fit the topic. So I added some color.

Illustration Friday: Music

2009-11-22T17:40:00.002-08:00

I'm working on creativity in my studies. And wondered what your creative process is in terms of coming up with ideas? Also, is artistic creativity different from problem solving creativity?

My creative process for IF usually goes like this. I get the email and ponder the word briefly. A few images may come up--sometimes they don't. I will spend a few minutes actively thinking about it. Usually the first thing to come up is the most obvious, for this one it was a musical score. So I try to get a few more. I then try to forget about it for a while. Often I don't think about it again until the next day--sometimes in the morning just as I'm waking up images will float into my head. I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want when I start sketching. But when I head to the computer sometimes other ideas crop up while I'm working. (on this one I did it from a photo but didn't want the photo background of people's legs and the idea for the background lines came while I was working on the background."

Illustration Friday: Unbalanced

2009-11-16T13:37:00.002-08:00

As an artist I found this a challenging topic! How do you illustrate "unbalanced" and maintain an aesthetic sensibility?
So I thought about balance. The tree pose is one of the fundamental balance poses in Yoga. But I also thought about the unbalance of thought. I'm working with how to teach creativity in my graduate degree and I feel constantly unbalanced as I try to reconcile typical academic requirements with creative ones.

Illustration Friday: Blur

2009-11-08T15:01:00.002-08:00

Follow that kitten shaped blur! We are adopting a cat from the Humane Society. She is two years old but is tiny and fast--sort of a perma kitten. (I also used the motion blur filter in Photoshop to do this one.)

Illustration Friday: Fast

2009-11-08T14:57:00.003-08:00

Ironically it took me this long to post my efforts for the topic from two weeks ago: fast. I did this while flying home from Colorado after visiting for my SIL's baby shower. (Her baby was born on Halloween!) I didn't get to finish it the way I had invisioned--but I kind of like it like this.

Illustration Friday: Flying

2009-10-11T16:57:00.004-07:00

This week's topic brought up a seasonally appropriate topic: bats! There is a large colony of Mexican free tail bats under the McNeil bridge in Round Rock, TX. At dusk thousands of bats leave the bridge to go out and feed. They look like dark ribbons in the sky.

Illustration Friday: Pattern

2009-09-26T21:25:00.004-07:00

An oldie but goodie. This one was very much about the patterns. I visited Egypt in 1992 and took the photo below of the Al Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo. A couple years later I noticed how the negative space in the photo looks like the head of a veiled woman. That led to the painting. (The patterns themselves were inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey--another place I visited in '92)
Also my mom in on vacation in Egypt right now--visiting many of the same sites I went to--so I've got Egypt on the brain.

Illustration Friday: Infinity

2009-09-20T21:56:00.002-07:00

Just a quick sketch--to keep me in the loop! I had to do a Basic Skills Builder course this past week and bring my reading comprehension, grammar and statistics skills up to par. The reading and writing stuff was actually fine, I just missed a few APA style specific things. They like commas where fiction doesn't need them. And I hadn't done statistics type stuff in 20 years. At that point asking for the mean is just plain mean. So all those symbols were floating around in my head.
I'm also struggling with finding a problem. Actually not with finding one, but with narrowing a multitude of large scale problems down into one specific, can be addressed in a Graduate program, problem... Complicated stuff that feels like infinite mental gymnastics.
On top of this sprinkle a little Art in Action training course, and then teaching my first kindergarten Art in Action class. It was a busy week.

Illustration Friday: Strong

2009-09-07T12:18:00.003-07:00

It is amazing to me how wind can push water into strong powerful waves. I watched it happen in micro scale in a pool along the shore of the bay the other day. The wind was blowing lengthwise to the pool, on the windward side there were little tiny ripples, but at the other end were wavelets that were 4 times the size of the ripples.

Illustration Friday: Magnify

2009-08-30T12:17:00.003-07:00

My focus will be changing. Next week I start online classes for my Masters in Instructional Design at Western Governors University. Long complicated story on how I came to this decision, the short of it is that it is time for a number of social, economic and personal reasons. When you start down a path like this you never quite know where you will end up--but it is my hope that I can use this training to further the mainstreaming of art education, and expand the horizon's of educational media. (I have more hope after Arne Duncan's letter to educators about arts being a core subject.)
I also hope that I can maintain a relatively regular presence on my blog with IF illustrations, but I don't know how much time I will have. A big thanks to all my friends out there for your support so far.

Illustration Friday: Caution Executive Control Malfunction

2009-08-24T09:26:00.002-07:00

I just read Dr. Adam Cox, Ph.D's book No Mind Left Behind. He describes executive control as eight essential brain skills, attention being only one of them. (the terms ADHD and executive control dysfunction are often interchanged but Dr. Cox puts forth that executive control is much more complex than attention and hyperactivity.) But attention is the one I will focus on. There are three faucets to attention: length of time, scope or boundaries, and depth or concentration. I think these three things are important to note in designing illustrations as well. How long will someone need to look at it to understand? What elements do they need to notice? How much of the information will be needed later? (an important consideration in a picture book.)

How does my illustration meet these three questions?

Illustration Friday: Wrapped

2009-08-16T18:55:00.003-07:00

Ansein feared something had gone horribly wrong with his embalming.

Not sure how to explain this one--just one of those random thoughts.

My son wanted to do an IF too, the image below is his version of "Wrapped."

Illustration Friday: Impatience

2009-08-09T08:31:00.003-07:00

I think we all suffer from this one. It is so hard to let things grow in their own time. It is even harder when there is no visible progress.

There is a tree I see in the mornings. It is about 20 or 30 feet tall and it has morning glory vines growing on it all the way to the top. It is an amazing sight festooned in bright purple flowers.

Illustration Friday: Modify (Storyboard)

2009-08-01T14:03:00.004-07:00

This is more about process than finished art. I'd been working on a set of postcards, (which I've become completely stalled on for a number of reasons.) I started my postcard series with a storyboard because I wanted them to tell a story. I then taped the storyboard up on the wall to serve as my inspiration. In the way these things go--I lost motivation on the project, but the storyboard never came down off the wall (piece of paper on the left.) Yesterday my daughter (age 5) asked for large paper and those pastel things. (I like to use oil pastels when I'm thinking because they prevent me from focusing on detail too quickly.) And she proceeded to do the "story paper" as she called it on the right. A modification of my own. My storyboard has a large image for the overall mood and color of the story and then rectangles mark out the scenes. She dutifully copied the number and location of my rectangles (including the one I'd crossed out!) and inserted her own story which involves a cat with wings, a flying horse (like mine) her babies and moose with wings--that even she is not sure what he's doing there. (I find it fascinating that the moose anomaly shows up in the "extra" 7th square.) She also went on to point out to me that she put the sun in the same place I did and that she did the grass the way I did it. The large yellow spots are dog pee.

Illustration Friday: Idle

2009-07-26T14:33:00.002-07:00

I'm now going to be idle and leave this one as a black and white. But I like it this way.

Illustration Friday: Tango

2009-07-18T17:10:00.003-07:00

I missed last week because I couldn't connect with the topic, and because life around here has been a lot like the Tango. There are steps and music that must be followed. And there is a passionate debate going on. Sometimes I struggle to move my way, sometimes I am just dragged along. But there is a stability that keeps the couple dancing.

Illustration Friday: Shaky

2009-07-05T19:44:00.002-07:00

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend! Many people enjoyed fireworks displays around the country that left many dogs feeling more than a little bit shaky.
I've been noticing successful night scenes that use a lot of color--so thought I would try.

Illustration Friday: Worn

2009-06-29T17:01:00.003-07:00

It was very hot this weekend and swimsuits were worn most of the day. (I know, a bit of a stretch.)

Illustration Friday: Drifting

2009-06-24T22:08:00.003-07:00

Driving along the coast into San Francisco we saw a whole fleet of hang gliders drifting along. I was amazed because there didn't seem to be a hill high enough to launch them. But then where I come from hang gliders jump off the 10,000 foot high mountain and cruise down into the foothills at 5,000 feet. I guess sea level and sea breezes make a difference in lift.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

2009-06-13T19:47:00.002-07:00

Amazing how a new born foal is able to unfold his legs and run with his mother within an hour, while it takes us humans 12 months or so to learn to walk.

Mustangs: A living legacy

2009-06-13T15:04:00.007-07:00

I took a four day horseback pack trip in the Inyo National forest lead by Craig London of Rock Creek Pack Station. It was an amazing four days in high sierra desert seeing wild horses in small family groups and larger herds.

June 5, 2009
Of course an exciting trip like this would be fraught with travel complications. My husband, who would be looking after the kids for the six days I would be gone (four for the trip and two days of travel on either end.) Got called on a business trip to E3 at the last minute. He arrived home Friday morning at 10:15. At 10:30 I was on the road heading east towards Benton Hot Springs where I would spend the night at a B and B there.

I had a good book on CD, plenty of snacks and a sandwich. I was a bit confused when computerized signs for Tioga pass through Yosemite said, “Closed. Due to snow.” The website said the pass had opened May 19th. But I figured these signs might be more up to date and headed for Sonora pass—which the green signs indicated was open. I was a little nervous when I saw some signs saying “Chains required.” Having never used the chains in TX they didn’t make the move. But even though it was a little foggy there was no sign of snow or any other precipitation. I drove on, and on and on. I’d been winding through pine forests for about two hours when I came to the big “Road Closed” gates shut over the road (and still no sign of snow.) I panicked. When I turned around my GPS wanted me to make a U turn and go back. I stopped into a little mountain general store where they told me that the pass over Hwy 4 was also closed! But they said I could take 88, up by Lake Tahoe.

So I did. I was able to get across on 88 and pulled into the Benton Hot Springs B&B at 10:30 pm. A six hour trip that took 12. Thank goodness it was a really good book on CD! I’d had about 15 minutes of cell phone coverage on the other side of the mountain where I was able to tell the B&B I would be late, and tell my husband what was going on. I didn’t have cell service again for 5 days. Amazing how we get dependant on these things.

June 6, 2009
The pack station met us early Saturday morning on the patio of the B&B. There were nine guests: seven women and two men. Three of us were named Heather. Later in the trip one of the men, the ESL instructor, declared he’d changed his name. We should now refer to him as “Heather 4.” So H-2 and I decided everyone needed a Heather name. She was traveling with her mother. Mom could be “Heather Maker.” The Norwegian Actress in the tent next to mine and across from Heather’s was “Heather Neighbor.” The Korean sailing instructor with his camera always out: “Heather Photographer.” The guitar teacher who labeled herself as a “Quazi-vegetarian” would be “Quazi Heather.” The third Heather was traveling with her cousin: “Heather Cousin.” And of course there was “Heather Cook” for the camp cook, and “Heather Wrangler” (except there were several wranglers—so we had to have Heather Leader and Heather Follower.” And Cody the dog got to stay Cody.

We caravanned our cars out to River Spring, where horses were waiting for us in a lava rock corral. After piling our dunnage: duffle bags, sleeping bags and the like; on a tarp for loading in a 4-wheel drive truck, we were assigned our horses. I was on Mud: a beautiful tri-color pinto, with “metabolism issues,” that was like riding a sofa and walked about as fast as one. With my competitive trail riding training—where you were docked points for riding too close to the horse in front of you, riding in the nose to tail pack string was a strange experience. But there are mountain lions in those hills waiting for stragglers. Better to be safe, even though mountain lions rarely take on an adult horse. The lions are the reason the horse herds in this area are so special and the subject of numerous studies. With natural predation the populations are stable and are not managed with round ups the way other herds are.

There were two wild horses just up the hill from where we were parked. They were very hard to spot, blending into the hillside and moving slowly up the hill. But with some instruction, “there right by the power pole, not the one on top of the hill, the other one.” We were able to see them. As we rode along the ridge above the jeep road wending our way towards camp we had our first dismount and sneak through the bushes drill. We rode in silence. Human voices alarm the horses and send them into flight mode. There are some lead mares old enough to remember a time when Mustangers were rounding them up and a person on horseback means danger. For the younger ones, voices are not part of their known environment. The wild horse MO is run first, ask questions later. So we had to pay attention to a series of hand signals from the wranglers. That first attempt was rocky—as was the rest of the terrain. None of us knew the special knots to tie the horses to the trees—so by the time the wranglers had tied up the horses and we started clattering across the rocks, the horses we’d hoped to see were long gone.

But down in Adobe Valley, under the high voltage power lines running off into the distance, was a set of brown dots. It might have been the power line herd. We ate lunch, which had traveled along with us on back of a mule, and watched the dots through our binoculars elated. Day one and we had seen horses.

The camp at Pizona was a huge surprise. A giant mess tent stood over an organized kitchen and camp cook already at work on our gourmet dinner: chicken burritos with two types of cheese, salad, Indian beans and corn, marinated beef and some kind of potatoes. Set just off from this were the showers—with hot water! A hot water tank was rigged to a propane cylinder and plumbed with hoses to two PVC and tarp shelters each with a garden sprinkler attached overhead. And the privies, while nominally a big hole in the ground, had tarp shelters around them, and a big wooden box with a seat. Not bad for roughing it. Even more surprising was the evening lecture. This was a UCLA Extension class. Craig is a vet with connections to the UC system. A white tarp was hung at the end of the mess tent. And with the help of a small generator, laptop and projector we got a PowerPoint presentation. Many of the photos had been taken by a Czech woman, named Ivana, who joined us on day two. So we learned about the multiple organizations with authority over this region, The Montgomery Pass Wild Horse Range. It spans two states and multiple agencies—there is a group that was formed to have a consistent management policy for these horses. We also learned about the basic structure of wild horse bands, what sort of terrain they prefer and some history of the area.

The Pack Station provided the tents. We each got our own “two person” Coleman job. (Except for those who brought their own tents.) I was a little worried about my tent since it had quite a bit of water inside it when I was setting up my gear. But it rained twice since we’d gotten into camp—and they said a few of the packed tents had accidentally been left out. My tent stood up well and I stayed dry even though it often rained in the late afternoon or at night for the whole trip. Craig passed out extra sleeping bags, and rain ponchos when we’d laid out our dunnage. It was needed. At the 7000 to 8000 feet altitude it got down into the 20s at night. But with my sleeping bag inside the extra I was quite toasty each night.

June 7, 2009
I was relieved last night when Craig said he’d made some horse changes and I was assigned to a horse named Tex. Mud was pretty, but I feared for my legs if I’d had to kick him the entire day. These horses go out pretty much on back-to-back trips. Tex had been carrying riders out from camp as I was riding Mud in. So Craig rotates the riding list to rest horses at certain times. It was also a relief that I got to ride Tex for the rest of the expedition so I didn’t have to get used to a new horse each time.

After a pancake breakfast, we rode out about 8:30 along Pizona creek. Not too far out from camp we spotted a family group, a stallion, mare and young foal, slipping over the next hill. Then we rode for quite a while in silence. Taking in the smell of the sagebrush, the dry caliche dirt and the warm sun on the black volcanic rock. We’d just remounted after a leg stretch and squat in the bushes potty break when Collin, the wrangler in the lead made the dismount sign. We crept through the sagebrush on foot to the edge of the hill we’d been on. Three faces with up pricked ears stared back at us, barely visible above the tall sage. Another family group with foal, (or was it the same one as before? So hard to tell.) They watched us watching them for a few moments and then turned to lope across the short valley and over the next hill. They behaved a lot more like deer than I’d expected from wild horses. Really hard to spot, standing stock still and then easing back into the background with little fan fare.

Lunch was on a hill of black rock overlooking a valley. There were petroglyphs on the rock. One looked like an alien with three legs wearing a space helmet. We’d seen some other with squiggly figures on an outcropping that seemed to also have a mountain lion den. Tex was about 16 hands (over 5 feet at the shoulder), which gets much taller after lunch when you’ve been in the saddle all morning. I was maneuvering him to a rock for mounting when I stepped off and went sprawling in the dirt. My knee stung and I figured I’d bumped it on a rock. It wasn’t until I was in the saddle that I noticed there was a hole in my pants that was starting to turn red. I dismounted so I could take off my gaiter and roll up my pant leg. I called for a band-aid and Kaylin, another wrangler, was right there with one. I was a little worried my knee might swell in the night—but the bump stayed on the surface.

June 8, 2009
Ivana came in last night. Two other wranglers left to go take care of a horse at the pack station, which is across the valley. She’s been here for ten years or so, studying the mustangs. I thought Craig knew an incredible amount about tracking and finding the horses in all that wild open country. But Ivana made him look like a novice. She was very no nonsense with blond hair swept back and an eastern European accent. She showed us a horse skeleton in the lower Pizona spring area. All part of the cycle.
She talked about which bands she’d seen where, and where she thought horses might be today and then we set off in our silent pack string. We rode through an old Mustanger trap. Old fence was still there along the canyon walls and the logs used as a gate were piled under a tree.

Round about lunchtime she spotted a band of five horses. We’d gotten much better at our dismount, tie up and sneak through the bushes routine. The horses were aware of our presence and were about a quarter of a mile off. The stallion trotted out towards us about half that distance—just to see what we were. Then he trotted back and the herd slowly moved along the flat and over a low hill. So we got to watch them for a long time. At first Ivana thought it was a bachelor herd: a group of young stallions that will band together after being expelled by their parents. But after watching the behavior she decided it was a stallion with mares. A bachelor group will “elect” a nominal leader—but all of them would exhibit curiosity about us and approach somewhat when they have no foals or mares to protect. In this case the stallion came out alone and went back lowering his head and laying back his ears at the lead mare to give her the signal to move on.

Later around the campfire Ivana was explaining this exchange and how important the horse’s ears are in communication. She gave a detailed description of different horse expressions and then she said, as matter of fact as the rest of it, “when they put their heads together they are communicating telepathically.” I sat there a little stunned.
One man asked, “How can you prove that?”
Ivana said, “I’ve done it with them.”
Well how can you argue with that? I’ve certainly had moments with my horses that felt telepathic. And I’ve been around alternative horse practitioners that it wouldn’t have surprised me a bit if they said this. But to have Ivana say it with her scientific air and eastern European accent was a bit of a shock.

June 9, 2009
This morning we packed our bags and placed our dunnage on the tarp to be loaded on the truck and then got on our horses. Ivana took us out looking for the power line herd. But when we got in the hills near the power lines, before they run through Adobe Valley, there was little sign of horses. The tracks I saw looked old to me and Ivana said something about the horses not having passed over the ridge in at least a day. She also said the tracks she saw were heading the opposite direction. I guess they’d gone over the ridge but not come back yet.

So she showed us another skeleton. This one had been out for over a year and the scavengers had scattered it quite a bit. The skull was up under a tree while the pelvis and half the jawbone was out in the open. The teeth on the skull and jaw indicated that the horse was quite old when it died, and because it didn’t have the wolf teeth that it was a mare. If the wild horses survive to adulthood they then live quite long lives. About 60% of the foals are killed by mountain lions.

We then saw some horses way across the valley. Again little tiny dots I could barely distinguish as having a horse shape with my binoculars. But at least we’d spotted horses. We could say we saw horses every day.

We rode parallel to the ridge for a while and then stopped. Ivana crept ahead to the edge of the ridge and then motioned us forward. Down below in the River Springs was a herd of 18 horses. We got our lunches and sat and watched them. Three young stallions had a play fight, rearing up and pawing at each other. Some of the horses were taking naps others were grazing. There were also two horses in the River Springs area that were far away from the main group. We were able to watch this herd as we rode back to our parked cars. The herd moved out into the greener area around the springs and came upon one of the lone horses. There was some squealing we could hear and the stallion reared up and then turned and kicked his heels at the lone horse, which then turned and moved away. I guess that lone horse was one of the younger stallions that’d been turned out and was still following the herd at a distance.

It was disappointing to come around the bend and see our cars glinting in the dusty air. The trip was over. But my camera and memory banks were full.

June 10, 2009The passes were open and I had a lovely drive home through Yosemite National Park. Stunning scenery so different from the high desert I’d been in and the bay flats I returned to.
More photos are on my Picasa Album.

Illustration Friday: Adapt

2009-06-01T09:24:00.003-07:00

The subject is less about Adapting (although the sea and the shore are constantly adapting to each other as the tides come and go.) But the process of this one does talk about adapting. I didn't do last week's prompt--and I could feel myself veering away from this one as well. A slippery slope of adjusting to not doing art. So rather than start with a thought, that I then translate into an image, and then plan on the paper as a drawing, etc. I started with the word and how it makes me feel. I chose a watercolor crayon from my box at random and with my eyes closed sketched a few lines. When I opened my eyes the wave was there. So from there I decided it was a shore scene. Which I guess does talk about me and my process of adapting to my new home nearer the ocean when I've been land locked the rest of my life.

Illustration Friday: Contagious

2009-05-20T08:47:00.002-07:00

Wanting to keep it positive I thought of laughter. What can be more contagious than laughter, especially if it is transmitted by big brother tickles?

I had a color issue with this one. I was using a cool purple for the shadows and it didn't give the right mood. So I warmed up the shadows and the background.

Illustration Friday: Parade

2009-05-10T15:41:00.003-07:00

Well lots of images come up for Parade, but I pulled from personal experience on this one. I was the Torrance County (NM) 4-H Horse show/Rodeo Queen in the mid 80's. In one of the county parades for some reason they put me right in front of the Honda Gold Wing club. Needless to say my horse was not thrilled about having all those gunning motorcycles behind him. But that wasn't as bad, in his mind, as the State Fair Parade with the clown carrying a big cluster of balloons.

And just for grins heres a photo of Nifty and I all decked out right before a parade.

Illustration Friday: Hierarchy

2009-05-05T10:58:00.003-07:00

All I can say is not all work is portfolio worthy... I realised I have a lot of kids and animals, but not a lot of characters. So I need to practice. This is the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. She's the top of the heap in the card hierarchy in the story.

Illustration Friday: Theatre

2009-04-27T12:50:00.003-07:00

I've been struggling with some artist's block, so I returned to traditional media for this. Brush and ink colored with watercolor pencils. You just can't get that wet in wet action from a computer. I really liked the way it looked in black and white too with just the ink and wash.

Art in Action: Wang Yuan-Ch'i

2009-04-24T17:22:00.004-07:00

Today's Art in Action lesson was from the Chinese landscape artist Wang Yuan-Ch'i: Pavilion with Distant Mountain. Today I had a full class of third graders--which went fine. (I usually have half of a combined 2nd/3rd grade class, but today had both sets of 3rd graders from two combo classes. ) The art part of the lesson was about Chinese brushwork--which is something I've studied a little. I have a chop (a stone stamp with my name in Chinese) that I had made when I was in Hong Kong (on Semester at Sea.) The kids thought it was great that I let each of them stamp my chop on their painting to give it an authentic feel.
Shown here is my demo painting (on the right) and my daughter's (who tags along and does the lesson too.)(on the left--I got it correct this time.) My daughter decided to put a lion in her Chinese landscape.

Illustration Friday: Fleeting Space Commander

2009-04-10T11:30:00.004-07:00

I think he may have lost his fleet. So this is a little different, a costume design inspired by Mark Mitchell's How to be a Children's Book Illustrator online class. (Don't ask why an illustration class resulted in a costume design--it's complicated.)
I spent many years in Theatrical costuming--a little blaster from my past. Just a fleeting moment...

Illustration Friday: Poise (Art in Action)

2009-03-27T13:57:00.005-08:00

A deviation from what I've been working on. I volunteer for Art in Action at my son's school. And my five year old daughter tags along with me. So she does the projects too. Today's lesson was based on Albert Bierstadt's Buffalo Trail. It was about drawing trees and forest animals. The image on the left is my demo, and the image on the right is my daughter's work. Besides the obvious comment on it taking a certain amount of poise to stand up in front of a group of third graders and talk to them about a painting that was created 140 years ago, I'm going to mention the amount of poise it takes to create art in a classroom setting. I take a lot of the creative process for granted. I hadn't really thought about the performance pressure to try something new in front of your peers. It takes a great deal of poise to put something down on paper while others are watching. As simple as my trees are, the kids were wowed as I took the oil pastel to the blank white paper and made a tree. I made sure to point out my out of scale rabbit--that seemed to relax them a little. "See even I can make mistakes. Yes it is okay that your table mate is painting with her sponge like that."

My daughter on the other hand, had no problem laying her drawing down boldly.

Illustration Friday: Subtract

2009-03-23T09:05:00.002-08:00

I thought this topic would be really hard, but then I started thinking about subtractive art processes. My process is subtractive. I start with a black field and then erase to reveal the image. Sculpture is a subtractive process. And sculpture led me to thinking about classical sculpture with all the missing arms and heads because many of the statues were found in trash heaps and had been damaged by time and wars and whatnot. (Which leads me to the theme for the Lenten period at my church: Beauty in Brokenness. With the metaphor being beach glass, how it is something once broken that has become beautiful again.) How many of these broken statues grace our museums in places of honor? Time to try once again to let go of the Perfectionism demon. There is beauty in mistakes.

Illustration Friday: Legendary

2009-03-15T17:07:00.008-08:00

(I've been working on another project--so I'm posting an older work.) This is Quan Yin a legendary Goddess of Mercy. A legend is, in a way, a stylized story. It has been repeated and honed over the years. But I've noticed we are all interested in stories, and the stories behind things. (like the prevelence of DVD extras--even if some survey I took claims that watching them counts towards being a geek.)

So here's the story behind my painting. It is the ink resist version of a sketch I did while traveling. In 1992 I participated in Semester at Sea. One of the countries I visited was Taiwan. I took a trip to the National Palace Museum where I saw a beautiful carving of Quan Yin. Back on the ship I did a watercolor sketch related to the carving.

Also in Taiwan, some friends and I went to Lion's Head Mountain where we encountered a statue garden that was full of identical Quan Yins. Opening our umbrellas, and posing with one hand up in the gesture of mercy and the other pouring the waters of life from our water bottles, we had another friend photograph us.

So that's my legendary encounter with Quan Yin.

Illustration Friday: Instinct

2009-02-20T17:34:00.003-08:00

This started as a watercolor pencil sketch a few days ago. The kids and I went to a park, and of course they wolfed down their lunches and headed for the playground while I still had half a sandwich left. Then my daughter came running up telling me my son was stuck. I set my sandwich down and went to go investigate. I pulled my son down from the bow of the playground ship and returned to my picnic table to find a flock of seagulls dismantling my sandwich! Now there were a few misguided seagulls in Colorado that were very stand offish and never more brazen than the squirrels. Squirrels will at least give you a few minutes before they invade your lunch. I have to get used to a whole new set of wildlife picnic rules now that I live very close to water in California. This flock of seagulls had a leader with killer pirate instincts that knew to hone in on my sandwich and steal the ham first!

Illustration Friday: Celebrate

2009-02-17T15:02:00.003-08:00

For some reason Mardi Gras seems to be the epitome of celebration (even though I've never participated in one...) I'm not quite happy with my color--it is more muted than I wanted it to be. I've included the black and white version because I think it looks good that way too.

Illustration Friday: Time

2009-02-11T14:25:00.006-08:00

The physics of Time are always an issue in speculative fiction--and in this post you will be traveling backwards (and forwards) in time as I explain my process. Because the subject and the process both involved time. On Friday the IF email showed up in my email: Time. So I started as I do by thinking about it and waiting for images to come. That evening, it was raining and the kids were bouncing off the walls so we hunted down a McDonald's with a playland. As we watched the kids play I told my husband, "Illustration Friday this week is Time."
"Oh." He said, "How are you going to do that?"
Hubby looked at his watch, "Five minutes!" He called out as our daughter went flying by. Then he chuckled, "That's the true theory of relativity; five minutes lasts as long as they are getting along."

But it gave me an idea. And I thought it would be so cute to use goats so I could have the pun about "five minutes, kids." But I couldn't get the goats to do what I wanted and I couldn't get the composition to come together.

So I reverted to a playground. The whole composition is from memory. So the boy on the right has some proportion problems. My husband pointed them out last night. I said, "I know, but I'm not going back and fixing it." Because at this point I'd been working on this for a long TIME. And I'm feeling a time crunch over my other life obligations as well.

Illustration Friday: Flawed

2009-02-02T19:53:00.005-08:00

This one was flawed in the design process. I usually read the prompt sometime on Friday (when it is sent out-hence the name). Then I let it drift to the subconcious side of my brain and just roll around there stirring up images. However this time the word must've gotten buried too deep because I somehow started thinking the word was "Faulty." Maybe that has something to do with living on the San Andreas fault now. Anyway the image started forming and I read the word again just to make sure and found out it wasn't what I thought! But by that time I was enamoured of my little fossil with problems and went ahead anyway.

Not really much in the sketch phase here. I did a quick sketch of the bones and scanned it in.

Then I went to the computer and drew some straightish lines and the mountains. Using computer magic I cut the lines and moved them up and down in relation to each other. I captured the lines of my sketch and put it over the background lines--cutting it apart and rearranging it in its corresponding areas. I then did my erasing away from a black field routine to get the contour lines. I made some custom brushes to simplify the hatching and stippling and then applied color. Simple--right?

Illustration Friday: Climbing

2009-01-24T11:13:00.009-08:00

My son started gymnastics classes this week. The gym we go to can best be described as controlled chaos. It it chock full of young athletes and coaches and a wide array of activities. While my son was in class the area nearest to where I was sitting had a climbing rope and I watch a young girl climbing using just her arms. (She was climbing with straight legs but I thought the legs in motion made the illustration more dynamic) I didn't have my sketch book out during class, so I had to do my sketch from memory. The first sketch I did ended up looking too old, so I redid it. The proportions are better on this second one-but I think her head might be a little too big still.

Art in Action

2009-01-22T15:02:00.003-08:00

I taught my first Art in Action class as a parent volunteer today. It was amazing. Part of the 3rd grade program, the lesson used Vermeer's Milk Maid for discussion and I talked to the kids about color, tints and shades and how shading makes paintings have a 3-D appearance. Then I demonstrated and they did a simple 6 color color wheel. It really brought me back to how exciting simple color mixing can be. I take "yellow and red make orange" so much for granted. To watch the kids faces light up as the two colors swirled together and made another color was so gratifying. And when they did it themselves they chuckled with delight. I guess for them it was like performing magic--"I can MAKE orange!"

Illustration Friday: Pale

2009-01-18T17:11:00.004-08:00

My first inclination about Pale was the Moon--but I did the moon last week. Then the sea anemones we saw at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tidal pools last weekend came to mind. They had pale tendrils that were almost see through.

I returned to a favorite style here the fake ink resist and worked directly from a photo. In the past I've traced the photo and then worked from the tracing, but this time I decided to work directly from the photo. I used the photo as my top layer and set the opacity at about 75%. The next layer down was my black layer and I erased out the shapes I wanted (with a custom made brush that leaves the jagged edges.)

So this is my photo I was working from.

Illustration Friday: Contained

2009-01-14T15:21:00.007-08:00

As I was contemplating the topic on my early morning walk, I watched the moon set and thought of a song from my childhood about Meekins and Morkins. (by Sandy and Caroline Paton) These two guys saw the moon set and thought they could catch it, they try and fail all week and in the end,

"Said Meekins to Morkins 'I'm beginin' to feel
we can't catch the moon 'cause the moon isn't real.'
'It's a myth!' they both shouted, let's head for home soon,
which they did by the light of the mythical moon.

So that brought me to the idea of something that can only be contained in imagery.

I had some conversations with my Dad to get the artists for this song--since the words came from that nebulous childhood memory bank. And in the process he asked me a very interesting question. He was reading Douglas Adams The Salmon of Doubt and mentioned the idea that the song Do-Re-Mi from Sound of Music was completed with a placeholder. (that "la a note to follow so" was a phrase that was meant to be changed but never was.) Then my Dad asked if I'd ever done something like that visually. Put in a squiggle or shape that stood in for something undecided in the finished piece and then neglect to finish it. I'm not sure, but it really got me thinking. So I've included my sketch here--just to show some process. I would say that the placeholder phenomenon was more likely to occur in my traditional work than my digital as the sketch gets hidden in my digital process. But do any of you use placeholders? Have any of them inadvertently made it into your finished work?

Illustration Friday: Resolve

2009-01-03T19:00:00.003-08:00

I have to admit the first thought that went through my head for Resolve was carpet cleaner! But I was unsure how to illustrate that, so the idea that never quite gelled for last week came back and I found that it worked for this topic as well. The herons around here show a great deal of resolve, quietly waiting, staring intently into the water ready to strike an unsuspecting fish. I've watched them watching the water, hoping to catch them in action, but ultimately they have more patience than I do.

Happy New Year. I tried to think about my own resolutions--but with my life so recently turned topsy turvy I don't think I need to introduce anything else new. So I will just keep on learning my new location, looking for local friends, and getting the kids involved in activities.

Illustration Friday: Voices

2008-12-23T16:41:00.002-08:00

Not exactly sure how this one came to be--definitely a right brain process. Voices brought up howling coyotes, and choirs and the season brought up angels.

Kreativ Blogger Award

2008-12-14T13:44:00.004-08:00

So I've seen other blogs getting awards and this is the first time I've gotten one! Thanks to theartofpuro for choosing me.

So here's the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog

2. Link back to the person who nominated you

3. Pass it on to five other bloggers you admire.

The blogs I'm chosing are:

Three Ravens Press

CG Young

Sarah Ackerley

Ooh La La Design Studio

The Enigma

Illustration Friday: Rambunctious

2008-12-13T19:21:00.004-08:00

Now that we live in an apartment and no longer have a back yard, all of us have to learn how to navigate the dog parks. Our dogs have never had any interest in chasing balls--but it turns out they love chasing dogs who chase balls. They were a little rambunctious in their pursuit of other dogs. Gonna have to learn some dog-etiquette.

(I'm back with my digital drawing, because I found my husband's wacom unpacking a box, and he said he no longer needs one at work! yippee!)

Illustration Friday: Balloon

2008-11-30T10:01:00.002-08:00

So this image came to me from the multiple orchards we passed on our way through CA. I had a lot of technical trouble with this one. My Wacom tablet did not make the transfer--(sniff!) and my scanner isn't here yet--so I had to do all the drawing with my touch pad--agh!

California or Bust

2008-11-28T14:22:00.004-08:00

So this is a photo of my little car hitched to the Uhaul trailer. It doesn't quite look like the sketch I did a while back for IF Packed. But then you can't see the inside! We had four people, two dogs and a cat stuffed in there.
(The tree swing is in the moving truck--but unfortunately the tree wouldn't fit and had to stay in the yard.)

Illustration Friday: Wise

2008-11-10T19:33:00.003-08:00

Just a quick sketch for this one. Moving takes a toll on the blog. So this week's topic is Wise and it reminded me of this owl face I keep seeing in the texture on the ceiling above my bed. I figured I'd better capture him before I leave the house. The move is less than two weeks away. The blog will be low on the priority list.

Update on my last entry. The neighbor and I have started talking again and things are much better. I guess there is some wisdom there in getting over stumbling blocks.

Illustration Friday: Repair

2008-10-24T15:00:00.003-07:00

I've found myself in the curious position of not talking to my neighbor. Our kids had a fight, some things were said and now neither of us wants to come forward with an apology. Having somehow missed this stage as a teenager I'm at a loss for what to do. And with moving soon wonder if it will ever be repaired at all?

Illustration Friday: Late

2008-10-19T17:27:00.006-07:00

Luckily this hasn't happened at our house (yet...)

Illustration Friday: String

2008-10-13T14:20:00.005-07:00

A third grade science experiment involving string theory.

For some reason "String theory" was the first thing that came to mind when I read the topic. But not really understanding what string theory is, I had no concrete visual for it. Then I thought what would a kid think string theory was? A theory about what happens when your sister trips over string of course.

I think the composition is working, but I'm not all that happy with the color. (But didn't want to do it again...)

Illustration Friday: Packed

2008-09-28T19:12:00.004-07:00

This one seems to go with what I've been focusing on lately. (and how cool is it that Sarah suggested the topic?) How am I going to consolidate all this stuff? I've been giving away, and become quite familiar with the posting screen on Craigslist... But as a certified (certifiable?) pack rat all this has been difficult for me.

Illustration Friday: Clique

2008-09-23T12:13:00.003-07:00

Pepperrock wasn't very concerned with what the other horses thought.

I've had horses on the brain this week. As part of preparing for a move to California (where my husband found another job) my 23 year old BLM Mustang (whom I had for 19 years) has graduated to another family. He now has a little boy to adore him. And since he now lives in the pasture that is their backyard--he will be loved on a daily basis instead of a sporadic weekly one. (I just couldn't see dragging the poor horse 2000 miles so he could live even farther away from me than he does now.) This photo of Oberon was taken just a couple weeks ago.

I struggled with color on this one. I got a new computer and haven't figured out how to calibrate the monitor the way I need it to be.

Watercolor Wednesday: Dancing

2008-09-13T13:05:00.003-07:00

This was my Watercolor Wednesday entry this week.

Illustration Friday: Clutter

2008-09-07T13:42:00.007-07:00

Boy did this topic come at an appropriate time! The foundation fixing involved rolling the carpet back so they could jackhammer 5 large holes in the floor and drive these big pipes into the ground, and then fill the holes back in with cement. Naturally furniture got moved which displaced a lot of clutter from its natural habitat...

However my daughter's room looks like this on a normal basis, regardless of what is happening downstairs. While I was in there sketching she came in and said, "Mom, what are you doing?"

"Drawing."

With her four year old hands on her hips, "I don't want you to draw in here."

"Why?"

"Because. I don't want you to get pen on the floor."

I can't decide if I like the black and white or colored version better. The color makes things look more cluttered, but I did it quick because with everything else going on I haven't had much time.

Illustration Friday: Routine

2008-08-25T09:51:00.004-07:00

Routine was difficult. Especially right now when the family routine is all shaken up. But opportunities are presenting themselves in the form of interviews and tentative offers. And the foundation guys are coming tomorrow to put some piers under the sagging spots.

Eventually I thought about one of my routines which is riding my mustang about once a week. Sometimes I take my daughter out and let her ride him (under close supervision...) However it's beginning to look like the family will be relocating, and I'm not sure my 23 year old horse will be able to take another cross country trip. This horse has traveled from Nevada to New Mexico to Colorado to Texas.

I tried to push myself outside of my routine color choices--but I'm not sure I'm happy with what I came up with.

Illustration Friday: Detach

2008-08-16T17:57:00.002-07:00

I believe in synchronicity, but still I was quite amazed when I saw that this week's topic was detach. My husband got laid off from his job this week, and at the same time the house we just bought is sinking causing cracks in the walls and stuck doors. So I've been working on being detached from imaginary scenarios produced by worry and just trying to deal with the facts. We will get the house fixed so we can sell it if we need to relocate--or if he finds a job here it will be fixed for us.

Watercolor Wednesdays: Triple Billy Goats

2008-08-15T12:40:00.003-07:00

The Watercolor Wednesday theme this week is Triplets, last week it was Three Billy Goats Gruff so I combined them.

Illustration Friday: Sail

2008-08-10T14:00:00.003-07:00

“Erreck, erreck,” croaked Bandi Boodle Boo

as the ship glided through the South China Sea.
With a kind look the helmsman said, “Chin up my friend.

You have not heard them all.”

I'd been wanting to try coloring a sketch from my book Bandi Boodle Boo Learns to Cock-A-Doodle-Doo in this style I've been working on and this week's topic was perfect. My story is about a rooster who learns to crow by sailing around the world and hearing roosters crow in different languages.
Thanks to my Inklings friends who helped me sort out some of the composition problems!

Illustration Friday: Poof

2008-08-03T19:03:00.003-07:00

POOF!

Molly wondered if the magic math wand had been a wise wish.

I realised I was habitually using the portrait format, so I tried to push myself out into a full spread landscape format.

Illustration Friday: Canned

2008-07-27T12:42:00.003-07:00

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

The topic just seemed to call for it. What was interesting about doing this was that my still life skills have gotten a little rusty. I thought how hard could it be to draw a can that isn't moving--but those angles can be sneaky.

Illustration Friday: Enough

2008-07-20T17:49:00.004-07:00

When it comes to cookies, my family can never get enough. (I must say that getting my kids to pose for this one wasn't difficult...)

I'm not sure about the dog. It adds to the story but seems to take away something from the composition. So here is it with no dog. Thoughts?

Illustration Friday: Foggy

2008-07-15T17:49:00.003-07:00

While the painting process went pretty quick for this one, getting the idea to come in out of the mist was more difficult. At first I thought of the fog that is often and element in Chinese watercolors. And then I thought of this wonderful red pagoda on top of Lion's Head Mountain and the way the departing mist left dew on the residence of this huge spider there. (Many years ago some friends and I climbed to the top of Lion's Head Mountain, in Taiwan, and spent the night there.)
It was fun to get my old favorites the watercolors and bamboo brushes out after working on the computer so much.