IN PROGRESS...

I've been working on this big crocodile drawing and I'm really happy with how it's turning out. I just hope I can keep up the good work through the painting stage and do the drawing justice!

horse on driftwood

This has been sitting around my apartment for the past several weeks. Driftwood + wood cutting tools + pen + watercolors. Not sure if I should consider it a work in progress, leave it as is, or move on. It began as an impulsive act; I rifled through some of my old stuff, found a drawing I liked, slapped it on that driftwood and attacked it with my little used wood carving tools. The process was very enjoyable, but I'm still not sure how I feel about what's there (or not there).

past

Here's another assignment from my online class, well... part of it anyway. It was a three part assignment inspired by the past, present, and future - above is my piece inspired by the past. I haven't tackled the present or the future yet, should I read something into that you think? I've decided I'll finish up all parts of the assignments in my own time as I'm more satisfied with my work when I'm not worried about keeping up with the pace of the class. I'll get to it all eventually and learn something from each, I'm sure.

Which part of my past was this piece inspired by you say? Why the part of my past where I obsessively collected model horses of course! The horse in this piece is modeled after my first model, whom I called Red. I had fun playing with circle shapes as they've been in my head a lot lately. I'm also excited about the technique I used for the horse here, drawing directly onto a found image or texture. One of my recent goals has been to draw more, so I think this will be a good way to work it into my mixed media adventures. I wish there were more contrast in color/texture between the largest circle and the horse though, and maybe I want to see a little more of the blue shapes?

**edit** I think I like this crop better....

razor clam + barnacle

A couple tidal friends found their way into my new and still enormous sketch book. The first, as you can see because it's neatly labelled, is a razor clam - a Pacific razor clam, more specifically. Johnnie and I were watching Chopped one night and razor clams were in the chefs' baskets. I bragged about being familiar with razor clams as my family made what seemed to be several clam digging trips per year during my youth to Westport, Grayland and Ocean Shores beaches - but when the close up came the clams on TV appeared a bit...foreign. I think they must have been Atlantic razor clams. I was rattled but I quickly drew up this clam completely from memory to prove that I am, in fact, familiar with razor clams. Pacific razor clams. 

Next we have barnacles. Now, recently I took a stroll along the beach at Discovery Park with my friend Elliot when we happened upon a group of boulders half buried in the sand; normally they would've been underwater but they were exposed that day by a particularly low tide we'd come to see. The rocks were covered in barnacles and the barnacles were making that noise that they do - a chorus of light clicking, sucking and popping sounds, reminiscent of a bowl of rice krispies - when Elliot explained to me that barnacles gross him out. "GROSS!" he exclaimed over and over again. I don't remember why they gross him out but I made sure we looked at more barnacles during our walk back. These were drawn using an old timey Nat Geo image for reference whilst listening to "The Mollusk" by Ween.

crabsession

I've got a real thing for crabs right now. Is a problem?

I think not.

There's a new squid in town.

And she's a pipe cozy! That's right, a cushy knit sleeve for protecting your piece. The lovely Lily over at the Owl + the Bee also suggested using them as tampon pouches - a great idea!

I came up with these guys at least two years ago and they've finally made it into my shop - sounds about right for me. c; You can click on the pics above to peep the listing for each.  The pattern I came up with for them is inspired by an Otedama bag structure I came across in a Japanese knitting book.

I also made this fella for a custom order, his curly tents are pretty cool:


I actually really like making these to order, so bring on the custom requests! I'll get to sit and watch Crab Show while I knit. c:

snail lover

A sweet little snail lover to accompany our slug buddy.

Awwwe! Both slug + snail are linoleum block prints inspired by drawings I had made previously for my sweetie. This is the first time that I've used the carved negative space on the block for a textural effect and I really like it! I was also much more casual with the way I carved these two, I didn't over think the drawing-to-carving transition and just worked the block intuitively. I'm really happy with the result!

Both are available in my shop and so far have been a hit! Thanks guys!

slug buddy

He loves you.

And is for sale in my shop!

Back from an informal creative vacay...

Ah, boy! Is summer the most distracting, or what?! I haven't been here in ages! My apologies. It's just that in Seattle one mustn't miss one ounce of vitamin D or warm air while it's available. Luckily I haven't been completely unproductive, I've been stewin' on a few things and doodlin' here and there.

When I posted about my retired art journal back in May I got loads of love from all of you (thank you!thank you! and right back atcha!) so much so that I've decided to post images from my art journal more regularly. :D The idea has been rolling around in my head for some months now, I suppose I just needed a little push. Lets start off with an item I finished this evening, shall we?

...found images + watercolor + colored pencil + pen...

I just got a new computer (wee!) and I'm with out any CS, so the crop is wonky and I can't adjust levels, and so forth. Again, my apologies. Funny how I hated it before but now I miss it ever so much. Someone help me find...please! Anyhoo, I'm hoping to post an art journal item about once a week in no particular order, I'll be reaching back into the retired journal as well as posting what's current. Stay tuned! Tootles!!

Throwback.

When I was a youngster I collected model horses obsessively. At its peak my collection numbered 300+ holy moly!! Since then my collector nature has diffused itself -- I mainly stash art supplies, fabric and yarn...with a few digressions (a lot can fall into the category of art supply). For real though, I think my days of hardcore collecting are behind me, but that doesn't mean I can't dip my toes in the water. What I'm getting at here is this:

Isn't he just GORGEOUS!! Made by Karen of Song and Branch on Etsy. (Go check this shop out, you won't regret it! All sorts of animal buddies + more!) I am so in love. So in love my brain has stopped and I don't know where to go from here........ slippery slope! Now I won't do it all the time, but the thought of rewarding myself with one of these little buddies every now and again is mighty appealing.

vernal boxes

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.....white paint + crayons + fire + pretty papers + fingers + folding.....

chickmas

Mi madres flock. These chickens are just so damn cool. Every time I walked outside a mob would come rushing up to talk at me in their little chicken voices. Telling me who knows what, but I heard all about it! They have dinosaur eye-balls that are remarkably inquisitive and expressive! And, of course, they enjoy snacks. c:

 

 

 

The Angry Bunny Brigade

Rabbit, Horse, Boar, Ram, Rat, and Rooster are only half the Chinese Zodiac but they're still pretty cute...or irritated? A baby present for a friend.

Chick-Chick-Chick

This weekend Eric and I visited my parent's house and got to see all their chickens - WHEEE! Look at how awesome they are:


And here are the bebehs:


This little guy is my special buddy. They feel like kittens and make the most wonderful little peep-peep sounds. They'll even snuggle into your sweater and around your neck. Its the best.