waiting room

when it comes time for my annual check-up at the doctor, there are only two things that make me a little nervous.  the first is that horrifying moment when you have to stand on the scale and the nurse moves those clunky weights across the bars to the right......and keeps moving them to the right......and this year, even more to the right.  eeek!  every year i wear lightweight pants and take off my shoes before stepping on the scale, but it really doesn't seem to matter (maybe eating fewer pans of brownies would help.....). 

the other thing i'm not crazy about is all of the waiting......and the waiting.....and even more waiting!  i'm not a very patient patient!  but the moleskine journal in my purse was a lifesaver......you can sit and draw for hours in them.  and that's just about how much time i had the other day.....ugh.

hope you have lots of time this weekend to do the things you want to do!

{moleskine journal page created with a 2B and HB pencil}

inspiration monday

i can't think of anything more inspiring than getting together with my art buddies and spending the entire day playing with letters.....and this past saturday we did just that!  we talked, ate a bit of chocolate, laughed, and learned a lot about graphite.   our instructor was eliza holliday.....and if you're a letter geek like me, then you probably know her work, and you're probably already drooling over the thought of her gorgeous, gorgeous letterforms!  

eliza taught us a lot about shading and blending......

and then she encouraged us to really play for a while.
{this started out as a capital letter A......i'm not really sure what it is now, but i think he's kind of cute.....in a strange-creature-on-two-wheels kinda way.}

this was the best saturday i've spent in a long, long time!  many hugs to eliza and my sweet special art buddies for a fabulous day of graphite play!  and thank you mr. yellow papermate sharpwriter #2 automatic pencil for providing so much inspiration!!

you can see eliza's beautiful hand-lettered graphite book here!

creative comfort

sometimes i walk into my studio, and even with all of this "stuff" that i've accumulated over the years, i have no idea which direction to go in. so i do what i always end up doing.....grab my glasses, a mechanical pencil, and a pad of graph paper......and i start scribbling some letters. i've been fascinated with letterforms ever since i was a child when my mom taught me how to write my name. to me, they are the ultimate doodle, and i could sit for hours caught up in all of their shapes and sizes. these little alpha-happies are total chocolate-comfort......but in a no-fat version. :))

discover

one of my favorite things to do is sit in front of the tv at night and doodle on a piece of graph paper......all of those fabulous little squares wait so patiently to be filled! and you would think that with a studio full of supplies i would choose something interesting to doodle with, but i've discovered that i absolutely love using a plain ol' pencil! maybe one of these days i'll abandon my fascination for graphite and move on into the world of colored pencils.....but i have a feeling it's gonna be a slow transition!

happy weekend to you!

p.s. our sweet bloggy friend becky shander has been one of the featured artists this week over at crescendoh......congrats to you becky!!

shoe encore

my sweet daughter, melissa, put in a request for shoe note cards a while back...and here, finally, is the result.   i took four of my drawings from a few months ago to make this set.  of course, now i have all kinds of ideas for new shoe series...what i really need to figure out is how to squeeze three or four more hours into my day so that i can finish all of my projects!

urn

our drawing group met yesterday and stephanie gave us a beautiful still life arrangement to draw. my eye immediately went to this fabulous urn, so that's what i started with. of course, i got so caught up with the details of the urn that i didn't have time to draw the candle stick, books and fern that went with the grouping! oh well, my simple brain gave me permission to draw just this one item, so that's what i did. and i'm happy with that.

saddle oxford

you're probably getting tired of seeing shoes, but i couldn't leave my footwear series without including the simple, fabulous, classic saddle oxford. my challenge here was that i no longer own saddle oxfords, so i had to rely on a photo that i found online. to me, this drawing looks flatter, and maybe lacking a little "spark", probably because i wasn't able to see the actual shoe, only an image of one.  this turned out to be a great experiment...i didn't realize that drawing from a photo would make such a difference in the final outcome. perhaps i should go out and purchase a pair of saddle oxfords, draw them,  and then compare the two drawings.....just kidding, walther!

checkerboard vans

i noticed that i didn't have any "lace-up" shoes in my footwear collection yet, so i decided to visit walther's side of the closet and borrow his checkerboard vans.  those of you who know me well won't be surprised to hear that my favorite part of this drawing was shading in all of those little checkerboards!

date night

when i wear these shoes, it usually means that walther is taking me somewhere really special and really fun...which definitely puts this footwear on my top five list! i must be honest, though; i have more fun wearing these shoes than to draw them. i really struggled with the proportion, but i learned a lot in the process. and, i know that i've said before that i'm going to start using ink with these, but for some reason it just works better with pencil...

josef siebel shoes

here is the latest in my footwear series. these shoes are not only cute, but also very german and very comfortable.  i have really been enjoying working with pencil, even though i end up smearing graphite all over the place!  and, of course, my scanner has missed out on most of my light shading...so, i have some ideas rolling around in my head that involve using ink. i think it will be less messy than the pencil and hopefully be more "scanner friendly". we'll see how it goes...

train slippers

during a trip to japan a few years ago, walther and spencer were riding on the train, and spencer, while wearing his trendy slippers provided by japan rail, looked down and snapped a picture. it is still one of my all time favorite photos...and i knew that it would be a great addition to my drawn footwear series. so, spencie...here's to you kid! 

mary janes

it seems silly to get attached to a pair of shoes, but i must confess that i'm totally head-over-heels about my mary janes. i've probably walked around the world three times wearing these shoes...they have been with me during some of the greatest adventures of my life. so, when stephanie suggested that i continue on with my "footwear series", drawing my mary janes was a given. (sorry, again, for the poor scan - i'm still working on that!)

slippers, part deux

i just love it when i'm truly surprised by something...like how much i've been enjoying drawing these slippers. i think that i'll continue to use the pencil (versus ink or watercolor) because i really do love the results.  my only regret is that my scanner doesn't pick up on all of the subtleties in the shading...i'll have to work on that.

slippers

this is another pencil drawing that will go in the book that i'm making. i've been trying to work on my shading...it's very therapeutic and i love to hear the pencil scratching on the paper! my next step is to start incorporating some ink into my drawings. i feel like this is a slow process, and i'm flip-flopping around as i'm trying to "find my groove". with me, it's all about baby steps.

woven basket

i'm in the process of making a "design file" book that will include drawings of furniture and accessories for the home. this basket was drawn in pencil...i'm not sure whether or not to add watercolor, or just call it finished. i think that i'll wait until tomorrow to make that decision!

key to success

thank you, stephanie, for showing me how to draw.  you are an awesome teacher and i wish i could tell you just how much your insight and encouragement has meant to me!