Sketching in the Park

This last weekend David and I went to Pioneer Park to have lunch and sketch or read or whatever. There are the most amazing trees at Pioneer Park; they have wonderfully gnarled and exposed roots. I wanted to draw them from close up, but we sat too far away. Oh brother. We'll have to go back.

David graciously let me sketch him, and held relatively still too. I thought he looked a bit like a communist in this one (he is a Canadian after all, haha), and we decided it was the combination of the way his hat and collar looked. So we thought the sickle, hammer, and star would be a nice finishing touch.
Do you think he looks a little like a cow in this one? I do.

Cat

Awhile back I had some fun making these drawings of a cat. Yesterday my boyfriend came across them on the computer and thought I should post them, so here they are.

Toxoplasmosis

Bidding has opened on Toxoplasmosis! It is a lovely watercolor diptych, and it's hot off the desk.
Bid on E-bay

Thunderstorm

Bo Peep

Illustration Friday: Hide (Tiger Girl)

Posted this yesterday, but I thought it would work very well for this week's Illustration Friday theme: hide. Tiger hide. So just a sketch this week.

Procrastination Station

And now back to work.

Leda and the Swan

More sketching fun. I think that when I have a deadline approaching, I tend to sketch more often and more elaborately, as a procrastination technique. I don't know if that is good or bad.

Illustration Friday: Communication

A little interspecies communication for this week's Illustration Friday topic.

Miss Muffet

A sketch of Miss Muffet. Nursery rhymes provide such a fun way to sharpen skills, and a great channel for doodling away nervous energy.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

A sketch of the infamously contrary Mary of gardening fame.

Red Riding Hoodie is Completed

Little Red Riding Hoodie is all painted. In a way, I like the little sketch better; it always seems to turn out that way. There is something about the pencil lines, their scratchiness, the way they are bold and subtle at the same time when they are enlarged, that simply doesn't come across in the painted version.

Illustration Friday: Sprout

Red Riding Hoodie

A little sketch of Red Riding Hood(ie) for a watercolor.

Hair Sketches

Some sketches I did today on the theme of extreme hairdoes. Maybe I will make these into a triptych of watercolors sometime.

Tub Cats

Lester loved to hang out in the tub all day. Sometimes Noreen (my other cat) would join him.

After I finished the painting and was looking at it and feeling pretty good about it and especially about how the knobs turned out, I realized I had forgotten the spigot. I think my train of thought was, I especially like the faucet. Wait! There is no faucet! How annoying is that? Oh well. One small caveat: this painting is inspired by my cats, but my bathroom does not necessarily look this grimy.

Illustration Friday: Red

Here is my piece for this week's topic on Illustration Friday: red. It's been very cold the last couple of days, and this is pretty much what I look like when I go out.

New Painting

So, my boyfriend has been gone to Canada for a little while now, and I've been busily painting in all my free time. Here is my latest watercolor.

Goodbye Lester

My cat Lester died recently. He was a lovely, delicate and immensely stupid black cat who liked to eat anything-my paint, lint, and unfortunately string, which is what ultimately did him in. I painted this picture of him the day after he died. Goodbye Lester, you will be missed.

Happy Christmas Eve