Biscuit & Smudge

I'd like to introduce Biscuit and Smudge, the real life grownup cats who inspired the new children's book titled "Biscuit, Smudge and the Fisherman".

This is a delightful story about how two kittens who as tiny creatures and brothers were taken too early from their mother. They are left abandoned to face a threatening environment. The kittens encounter many challenges before the story ends happily.

Kevin Maloney, the talented writer who created this tale, asked me if I would be willing to illustrate his story.

Not only was I delighted with reading the kittens' saga, but I was inspired by Kevin, who himself has overcome many obstacles in his life, like Biscuit and Smudge. Since he was a child Kevin was diagnosed with an expressive language delay disability and dyslexia. Despite having developmental disabilities, Kevin has persevered, and with gratitude for those who have helped along the way, pursued his passion for creating stories.

Maloney not only wrote the story, but drew 25 pencil sketch thumbnails for the story which I will interpret with gouache and ink to create images for the text.

A Love Story- a playful tale

Everyone loves a love story, especially when it's an unlikely match, like the one between Banana and Pear.

But who could resist his appeal? And even though she was a Bartlett and he was from south of the border, they became an inseparable pair.

That is until that fateful night when the paring knife stepped in. She was pickled when he lost his skin!

If this tale leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, read on to be shaken even more.

After much turbulence, Banana and Pear were smoothly blended, but left behind a little Ginger.

(Any resemblance to a true incidence is purely coincidental.)

After doing a 20 minute pencil sketch of the two lovers, this story appeared in my mind. It should be read by candlelight to set the proper mood.

What do you see when you look at a pear?

What do you see when you look at a pear?

The pear for this sketch came from Argentina. Before I drew it, I held it in my hands, closed my eyes and sat quietly running my finger tips around the shape; feeling the smooth skin, the curves that dipped and bulged, the woody stem at the narrow end of the pear.

Than with eyes still closed, I held the pear to my heart and transferred the image that I experienced by touching the pear, into an image that I "saw" in my heart. I saw within the pear the seed that I knew to be in its center, and the fleshy fruit surrounding the seed. Than in my imagination, I took the pear back to the tree in Argentina where it had grown. A vast pear grove spread out before me on a sunny hill in the foothills of some mountains in Argentina. There was a breeze rustling the leaves of the tree as the pickers were gathering the fruit from the trees and placing them gently into baskets. Than going back in time I saw the pear as a blossom on the tree before it grew from its seed into a fruit. Going back further still I reversed time as the tree transformed in stages from a mature tree into a young sapling, and finally into a seed that was planted into a pot of soil by a pear farmer, whose vision it was to grow an orchard of pear trees brimming with fruit for the picking.

After 5 minutes of this visualization, I was ready to pick up my pencil and sketch my pear in front of me. The first thing that I drew were the seeds that I couldn't see, and from there I "fleshed" out the pear shape, the shadow and the negative space around it. For 10 minutes I sketched this traveler from Argentina which had transformed through many processes and been touched by many hands before it came to my hands. It's odd shape among the pile of pears in the grocery store caught my eye. Before I saw it, there was already a pear in my mind waiting to be discovered-so now it has come to fruition.

What do you see when you look at a pear?

Vertical Stripes are so Slimming

Pencil sketch

Trying out some colors

Vertical Stripes are so Slimming

From pencil sketch to finished watercolor, the process is shown here in 3 illustrated steps.

Eminently-word drawing of the day

Eminently: to a high degree; very.

Flip flops are eminently more popular in the summer than high heeled shoes.
Where would we be without them?

Coloquy-word drawing of the day

Today's word is "coloquy"- conversation;dialogue.
This was an inspiration from a visit with a dear freind, Ellen who stopped on her way back home to Vermont.

FESTER: A word drawing-daily drawing

Miriam Webster Dictionary sends me the word for the day in a daily e-mail.
Today's word is "fester".
So I thought it would be fun to draw the word of the day to see how that would look in a quick sketch.

Using pencil and then color marker for highlighting, this sketch was completed in 15 minutes.

A daily drawing-almost everyday

Here is a corner of my studio with my supplies and paint containers.

This quick pencil study has a sense of rhythm to me while it warms my heart to focus on art supplies, the tools for bringing thoughts and ideas into a physical plane.

A daily drawing-almost but not always

Summer is the time for the freshest fruits and vegetables,  which also make great subjects for a daily sketch.  Here is another pencil sketch, this time I used my left hand, my non dominant hand.  This banana and apple behaved well for their 10 minute drawing, as I wanted them to look their best.

A daily drawing

So as to explore the essence of a cup, I sketched with a #2 pencil for 3 minutes with my eyes closed.  Can you see the "cupness" here.  I was quite delighted with the results, this is a fun way to loosen up on your drawing.  I tried to "see" the cup and feel it with my mind's eye.

A daily drawing

This is a 10 minute sketch, where I hoped to capture the essence of the coffee cup, along with the grain of the wood table that it is perched upon.

It's a loose, playful pencil sketch blending the feel of the plays of lights and darks.

A daily drawing

There have been many artists who have taken on the challenge of producing a daily painting or drawing.  I think it's a great way to stay fresh, to improve skills and stay on top of the practice of making art.  In our busy lives, there are many responsibilities, distractions and activities that can get in the way of an artist's practice.

So I've decided to jump into the challenge, and commit to a daily drawing or painting for the purpose of an exercise in study of a process.  To begin, my commitment will be to draw or paint for a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 15 minutes a day.  I plan to explore a similar topic for several days in a row.  
As a humble beginning, which may lead to larger projects, I am starting with a 10 minute pencil sketch of my morning coffee mug.