A matter of time.
When we first got the kittens, I didn't want them.  It was a summer project.  But then the stray cat mom cat died, and we had the 5 kittens.  I thought I would find homes for all the kittens, but apparently it is REALLY hard to find homes for kittens, which is shocking because they are so dang cute!  And apparently there are a lot of too cute kittens, too many.  So we ended up keeping them, well 4 of them. A good friend took the only girl kitten.  And thus the flying cat boys entered our tribe.  And I swore I wasn't going to be one of those people making art about cats.  At least if I did, it would be a long, long time. 

But I already have.  And this morning's sketch is of Pumpkin who is always an inspiration to me.  I think cats are such interesting animals and have such interesting shapes.  And when I draw a cat from memory, it usually takes such a different look.  But looking at a cat's REAL shapes, really cool!  Here is pumpkin lying on his back.  I love the simplicity of the line drawing, one of my favorites!

Torn paper and ink, #3

Here's another in the series of my new journal.  Having fun with tearing the paper in ever shrinking sizes.  Nuts!

Tearing Paper

Found myself in a paper store and knew I wanted a new moleskin journal and a pen.  Then drifted over to the paper selection.  Not surprisingly, I was drawn to bright colors, so I bought some, and a glue stick.  I spent the next chunk of a day just tearing and pasting.  Then I drew with the pen on the first one.  I had so much fun, and was really drawn to the qualities of paper that it can make shapes like these by tearing.  You can't tear fabric and get these shapes.  Many more possibilities to explore!

Sweet Kitty?
...or so it would seem.  We call this pose the "Venus Hand Trap".  So soft and innocent as you reach in to stroke his soft belly.  Then, faster than you can blink an eye, the trap has SPRUNG! Your hand is trapped inside a kicking ball of claws.  B E W A R E!!  ;)

Drawn in Faber Castell artist pens, colored in Derwent watercolor pencils and Niji waterbrushes.

Trace and Fill

I used the paintbrush to trace the lines of the photograph in white. Then I used the selection color tool, selected one of a range of colors inside the area, and then the paint bucket to fill the area. It was simple. I had my doubts though. After filling the first sections of the flower and losing all the exquisite detail that mother nature provided, I was sure this exercise would look hideous. But it doesn't. I persevered and really like the overall effect. The colors, the lines, the shapes....all pretty.  And, from a quilting perspective, I can totally see this as a quilt.  The quilting lines could stay simple to the concept, or you could pick darker threads and add the subtle shading that the flower started with.

Gladiola

Wouldn't it be cool to be able to paint a flower like this? It is so beautiful! My style of art isn't realism though. I find beauty in lots of places and consistently am drawn to clean lines and nice colors, very graphic in style. I think I might try to play with an image like this in Photoshop and perhaps draw on top of it, fill it in completely, and then "disappear" the photo all together. I think it would be fun to play with it on real paper too, with pencils and maybe watercolor...dreaming until I get my cast off. At least the photography is fun to look at as well. ps. can't really hold a camera yet, so I am sort of cheating by posting this old photo. Enjoy!

starry nights
on real paper...with triangle shaped crayons between my ring finger and middle finger (right handed), my first post accident attempt.  it looks a bit sketchy to me.  ha, ha! i overpainted with dilute watercolor. it took a couple of days to complete- but it's a start.
this is also inspired by google art project.  i have been browsing the museums in my spare time.  van gogh, always a favorite.  i love that you can zoom in so close to the paintings, and see the brushstrokes. i miss being able to drive. i am happy that i can make coffee by myself-unassisted.  i am adapting.