Missing My Dearie

I'm away from home visiting my sister, who is now the proud mother of an adorable little girl; but I am away from my husband David for a whole month, and I miss him so much. Awhile back I came into our room to go to bed and the lights were all off, and David had a flashlight and laserpointer and his camera out. We had fun making pictures and messages with them. This is my best one. I miss you David.

Stitching

If you've been wondering what Kristin has been working on the last few days, here's the answer. A baby mobile for my niece who will arrive in this world any day now! I'll post a picture of the mobile when it's done and hanging above the crib. Hopefully I can do that before I post the picture of my niece, but we'll see.

A Sketch for Today

A wedding crasher of sorts

The Proof

Well, I'm alive and here's the proof. I (and my husband) have been busy getting his greencard and then moving his things down from Canada. Boy is that ever a chore. But now it is over and we are living happily ever after. And I'm starting a new painting too.



And for a big bonus for waiting so long for this post, here's David and me in a cave!

Reading by Catlight

David and I going to be moving in a little bit. I've run out of watercolor paper, and I don't get any more until we are moved, so I am reduced to using leftover scraps. I am literally "reduced", this piece of paper was only 3 1/4 by 6 inches. But that's a good thing I suppose, as it's not really the time to start a big new project right before moving. Soon we'll be settled in, and I think there will be a nice fat order going out to Dick Blick then.

I went for a walk in the woods today, and as always there were many nice surprises waiting for me.

This frog reminded me of an Easter egg the way he was hidden in the grass.

Cherry Blossoms the sequel

Here it is all finished up. Now I'm going out for a walk.

tofu

I love Pieter Bruegel and I also love tofu. I think Bruegel must have loved tofu too, don't you think?

Cherry Blossom

I'm working on this painting for a friend. She got married (a little while ago, I hate to admit), and I had promised her a long time ago that on the event of her marriage, she would receive from me a painting. I'm about half-way through painting it at this point. I was going to post it when I finished it, but my dear father (yes you), one of my biggest but most impatient fans, is always asking me when I will post something new and always complaining about what a long time ago it was that I last posted, so consider this a special sneak preview curtesy of dad!

Springtimey Goodness

I'm trying to soak in as much springtime as possible before it leaves.

Kokeshi up close

Here are some better photos of my doll. Kokeshi are traditionally painted with a few spare lines for the face, and floral patterns on the body. I really love the way the Japanese kokeshi look, but I wanted to do something that would reflect some of my heritage too, so I gave mine a hispanic flair.

Kokeshi

I'm excited to be part of the exhibit KOKESHI: From Folk Art to Art Toy. A kokeshi is a traditional Japanese doll made from wood and painted. I'm just waiting for my kokeshi to completely dry, then I'll put her together and post her picture. There will be a lot of wonderful artists participating, and I was so pleased to be asked to create my own kokeshi. The show will open July 11, 2009 at the Japanese American National Museum. For more information about the show, visit the website.

A Nest

I found this nest on the ground today. I was walking past when a bird flew up only a few feet from me, and I thought that since it waited until the last second to fly away, it must have been guarding a nest, and it was. I didn't get a good look at the bird, but it had a brown back and was about the size of a robin. I think it might have been some kind of thrush, but since these eggs aren't blue, maybe it is sitting on brown-headed cowbird eggs. Does anybody know whose eggs these are?

May 21 I saw the bird today and it is a brown thrasher. Just to let you know.

Skull

David and I found this skull when we were walking in the woods. I did a little lookyloo on the internet and we're pretty sure it once belonged to a raccoon. Because bones have a relatively smooth and uniform surface texture, but very complex planes and angles, I find them really fun to sketch.

Spring in Ontario

I'm in Ontario right now as my husband is acquiring his greencard. It's a frustratingly long process, but I'm very glad I'm here to enjoy the springtime. Spring is absolutely my favorite time of year, and usually it seems like it's over in an eyeblink, but it seems to last longer here in Canada.
The trilliums are very beautiful in Ontario, and there are so many! We've seen lots of red ones too.
These baby robins were sleeping peacefully when I took this picture from David's shoulders. Their mother watched us the whole time.

Hooray for May

Happy May Day to everyone! And my NPR calendar illustration is all done.

The Portrait Party

Awhile back I put my name on the list for the portrait party (link), and then I got kinda busy and had to say no to a lot of nice people wanting to trade portraits. But then I wasn't busy for a little while so when Furia (whose portrait you see above) asked, I said "Sure!" But, of course, then I got really busy again, so he's had to wait a really long time for his portrait. Anyhow, here it is finally. Thanks for being patient, Furia!

NPR!

I'm back! I was very excited to be asked to submit a sketch for National Public Radio's 2010 calendar, and even more excited to have it accepted. This is my sketch, and when it is a finished painting, I'll share that with you on the blog. I love NPR so much, and so I'm super-pleased to be able to do a project with them. If you don't listen to NPR, start! You might get hooked.

Here's a peace offering for my delinquency lately. I'm working really hard on a project right now, and that's why I've been gone, but my project is finished on March 19. You know in Apollo 13 when they're about to go around the moon and radio contact will be broken, they say ", see you on the other side." Well, see you on the other side.

Nekomata?

This little video has been blazing its way around the net recently, and I know this is my sketchblog and all, but I loved this sooooo much I had to post it here. Also, I think these people might soon have a Nekomata on their hands.

A Lady

I'm reading The Portrait of a Lady right now, so I suppose this sketch was inspired by the character of Isabel, although strictly speaking it is not supposed to be an illustration of her.

One Hundred

Yay, today my blog turns one hundred posts old!

This sketch isn't supposed to represent that fact, it's just the sketch of the day. And I think it also works for this week's Illustration Friday theme, "climbing." Although maybe it is more like ascending. I used to participate in I.F. all the time, but haven't for awhile, and it occurred to me that as long as I'm doing a sketch-a-day thing, I might as well do something for Illustration Friday while I'm at it.

Two of My Favorite People

I made this little picture for my sister and brother-in-law's Christmas letter. They are happy newlyweds, and are off to a great start at the family tradition of sending out the Christmas letter by tax time.

Happy New Year!

Yesterday was Chinese New Year. So today I am ringing in the year of the ox with, what else, a sketch of an ox.

Bunnies!

Chess Sharks

(Damie, this is what I was sketching when I was on the phone with you today.)

Nekomata

I read about this interesting folklore monster of Japan called a nekomata. It is a cat that has been allowed to grow too large, and so has gained terrible powers. Its tail splits into two, and it can walk on its hind legs and speak as a human; it can even grow to five feet tall. A nekomata can light fireballs in your house, and I'm pretty sure it ought to do this with its forked tail, sparkplug like. So if you have any fat cats, watch out.

Sketch Day Fourteen

A little island paradise.

Day of the Triffid

Any science fiction fans out there may recognize this as a triffid. I just finished reading Day of the Triffids, which was wonderful by the way, and thought I'd draw one for today.

ce n'est pas un titre

I'm running out of things to say about the sketches. Maybe I'll think of something better later, or then again maybe I'll just start posting sans text.

Jessie asked if this sketch has to do with a story, and yes, it kind of does, in a second-hand way. The story of Abraham and Isaac has been a very popular theme throughout the history of art, I suppose partly because it is very dramatic. So I guess this sketch uses that imagery, although it obviously isn't really about Abraham or Isaac. Here are some links to past depictions of this story by Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Brunelleschi, and Chagall. There are many, many more out there.

Sketch Day Eleven

If you can't think of anything to draw that makes sense, well then draw something that doesn't make sense.

Day Ten

It's a little late this evening, but it's here.

Sketch Day Nine

I love houseplants.

Back on the Hook

Well, I thought I was off the hook today because our internet was down, but whadya know it popped back up again!

Orly?

Sooo, this is a total cheat, because I did not sketch this today, but David made me post something. He said I absolutely had to. Oh, he's a meanie all right ;) I was busy painting though, so don't get on my case too much.

The Birds

Today we have some birds blowing bubbles, as you can see. What you cannot see, however, is the rest of this two page spread, which I am even now turning into an oil painting. Probably the biggest reason I didn't post the rest of the sketch is that it is rough, and kind of hard to tell what's going on, but also I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Sketch Day Five

This, I think, is a soda fountain for unusual people.

Sketch Day Four

Here are some little beasts for our fourth sketch-day. As you can see, the little guy in the middle is probably a cousin of the wild things, and I suppose the rest are his second or third cousins.

By the way, I've updated my website with my most recent artwork (which I've been featuring on the blog).

Golden Fish

Well, I finally finished this piece. It is sort of a companion to Red Bird, which I posted earlier.

For Cindy

Lions, tigers and bears! Cindy, my friend, said she wanted to see some bears here, so I drew the one, but nothing else was coming to me, so then I drew the lion, and then of course I had to draw the tiger. Maybe there will be more bears later, we'll see. Lots of animals so far. I guess I just like animals.