IF: Hatch

Not my favourite piece, but Bean loves dinosaurs!  It's been busy around here getting ready for the holidays.  Maybe Santa will bring a dinosaur toy?

IF: Entangled

Mutually entangled.  :)

IF: Music

I got to try my sister-in-law's koto once, and it was so cool.

The koto is a Japanese zither with 13 strings, and can be heard in traditional Japanese music.  :)

IF: Unbalanced

Made it just in time for this week! This one was super fun to paint.

IF: Blur

I swear, I see funny things too when I'm not wearing my glasses...

IF: Fast

I was rather SLOW to do this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Fast", because I have been sick!

Little guy pays for his curiosity - even macaques get nervous at the speed of ziplines in the trees.  ;)

Gouache doodles

Now I'm playing around with gouache on watercolour paper.  Sometimes it's hard to commit to a medium, isn't it!

 

IF: Frozen

Frozen musical instruments!  I don't like the cold, but I'll make the most of it.

Run Bike & Wagon

Back in April, a friend commissioned me to draw two pieces for her son's bedroom.  I finally completed them last week!  Procrastination is a frightening thing.  I'm pretty happy with the end result, however, so I hope the wait was worth it.

 

 

The bike has no pedals, because it is a "run bike", a relatively new invention for toddlers to develop their sense of balance and, theoretically, skip the training wheel phase.  Our own Bean wants nothing to do with bicycles and things with wheels, but the 2-year-old boy for whom I drew this picture is very skilled on his run bike, zipping down the sidewalk at top speeds!

IF: Flying

I'm playing around with textures this week.  I usually end up gluing my fingers together when I attempt real, tactile collage, so moving pieces around digitally is a lot less clumsy!

IF: Germs

Washing hands frequently will keep you safe from germs!
(I can't wait until Bean can reach the sink by herself.)

Sharing

My writer friend heard that I was feeling stuck for ideas this week, and gave me the prompt: "sharing, in a rainy setting."  The prompt was exactly what I needed!  Done digitally, using Painter.

IF: Pattern

Here is my Illustration Friday piece for this week.  I am completely in love with my new Painter software! 

I attempted a husky puppy this time around but the little guy just ended up looking like a grey shiba inu..  Hehe!

IF: Infinite

Another Illustration Friday piece!  I am having a blast with these.. Can you tell?  :)  Thank you for the continuous comments of encouragement, they are very much appreciated!  This drawing was done in pastel and coloured pencil.

My dog, a shiba inu, celebrated her 4th birthday on Sunday.  (That's why there's a shiba in the picture!)

Come and Play

This picture was drawn last week for 09-09-09 - my husband showed me a website that invited people to celebrate the connection we all have to one another, especially on that particular day.  So, I chose to share my love of drawing, and was inspired by the theme of connecting with others. 

If my more frequent blog posts aren't an indication, I am finding that listening to my heart is helping me overcome my major creative blocks lately.  I'm remembering the joy of drawing for fun, and can get over my fear of the 'blank page' a little more easily when I think about sharing this joy with other people.  So, I thank you.

Kids in Pencil

I'm really having fun drawing in pencil lately!  I go rather light, using 2H, HB, and B pencils.  These were drawn on cream-coloured paper.

IF: Welcome

I was playing around in Painter 11 for this one.  I went up a steep learning curve this weekend! Hopefully next time I will be a little more familiar with the workspace. 

Hooray for three Illustration Friday submissions in a row!

Jeyo

My daughter loves to have red Jell-O as her dessert.  She pronounces it, "Jeyo."  Done in acrylic on canvas paper.

My Bundled Baby Bear

I started this drawing in May, and forgot about it until I found it in my pad of pastel paper.  I just needed to fill in the pink stripe on the girl's dress and the background.  I'm having fun playing around on coloured paper.

IF: Strong

I thought I'd try another submission this week to Illustration Friday.  I had fun last week, and am super grateful for the encouraging comments I received.  :)  This one was painted in gouache.

Little Snooze

The children are back in my drawings again!  They're so fun to draw.  My daughter thinks that they are all portraits of her, even when I draw boys.  Of course, though, they are all inspired by her. 

Sketch of a girl

A classmate in university observed, "girls always draw girls, and guys always draw guys."  I totally agree.  Girls and women come very naturally for me when I'm doodling.  

IF: Magnify

Being brave!  This is my very first submission to Illustration Friday.  I have been a long-time fan, and I really admire the artists who submit to the site each week.  So, yeah.  I'm being brave.

The topic for this week is Magnify.  I don't think I've drawn fairies in at least ten years.  It was fun!

Forgotten Pages

I recently found a sketchbook that I had started back in January, but only coloured in a few pages, then got sidetracked with something else. I liked two particular pages, so I thought I'd share them here!


I've been spending my summer doodling in my sketchbook. I feel very stuck with painting on canvas, but I'm happy to be scribbling away. My daughter recently turned two, and enjoys scribbling also. :)

A Confession About Scribbles

In case you didn't know, my art process is slowww. I keep thinking that I am suffering from a creative block, and that I'll become more prolific once I overcome said block. However, I've been trying to master my process for over a decade and a half, and so far, um, still "blocked"! I'm starting to think that for me, personally, art just doesn't work that way. My inner painter does what she wants, when she wants, and however she wants it done!

Any form of discipline or schedule causes my inspiration to flee almost instantly. Seriously, I've tried. Oh lord, have I tried. I love reading about drawing or sketching every day, working out a system to create a sketches of a finished piece, then following through the blueprint to get to a beautiful finished work of art. I get rather excited when I hear about a discipline of painting for even a few minutes per day. But deep down, I know there's very little I can do to control my painting.

I believe that my painting practice is an act of faith. I show up to a blank sheet of paper or palette, dive in, and hope that something comes out that fills my heart with joy, and is possibly something nice to look at - but that would be a bonus. Many days, most days, it is just scribbles. I'm not kidding. Scribbles that look like I was wondering if my pen was running out of ink, then realized that I'm drawing with a pencil. Scribbles that looked like I was working out some anger while arguing with someone on the phone. Scribbles and streaks and swirls. Swirls of madness, more like.

The other day, I was doodling with my 1-year-old daughter's crayons. These scribbles turned out okay, but still, they are what they are:


Thus, I have a confession to make. Instances where my paintbrush behaves, where form meets colour, where passion meets expression, are very occasional at best. I have a nice, satisfactory painting streak once every few months. I am coming clean with this confession so that you as a reader don't lose complete faith in this blog, and can be there with me to rejoice when my muse actually comes back after a very long drought. Maybe I can even get your help in praying with me so that I figure out this process thing eventually, like, before I leave this earth.

Thank you for your support. :)

Pastel Drawings

Here are a few more children drawn in pastel and coloured pencil. Blending is fun!!

A Softer Medium

This past week I've been playing around with coloured pencil. These children started appearing in my sketchbook, so I'm trying to find a medium that suits them. Here are a few 'experiments' in technique.

Painting: Lime Dreams

Mixed media, 10 x 10 canvas, 2009.

At last! Something completed for 2009! This is a sister piece to "Strawberries."

Sketching

There has been another natural lull in my creative productivity. I've been quietly trying to coax some ideas out into my little sketchbook. My muse clearly does not want to oblige any sort of blogging schedule!

Thank you for your patience.