Annuals are encouraged to seed in the less formal beds in our large garden.
We tend them, photograph them, and I draw and paint them. This is a colored pencil (Prismacolor) drawing of one of our seedling poppies. It was an odd form. Not exactly a single, nor a double and lacked the common cross markings in the throat.
Superstitions: Skull.
It was claimed in Ireland for many years that if a man took an oath on a skull and was lying as he did so, he would be struck dead soon thereafter.
* Maybe we should bring that back and make politicians swear on the skulls of those who lied and died. I bet there would be less lying thereafter.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGACG5jBcbo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Skylight from Dialogues in Paradise by Can Xue.
The light shrank back into two dots. A dark shadow brushed by, a clumsy night bird that shrieked and swooped toward the skylight, its huge wings tapping the roof fiercely, echoing like thunder.
While doodling, I was thinking of my characters Dipsy Diddle, Peggy Bark, Chubbsly and Markley and imagined another dog character to the group. Ladies, gents and cartoon lovers alike. Meet Twizzle "Twizzy" the Basset Blood Hound.
I haven't had time to draw in a long time because of school and other personal projects, but I recently finished this doodle. There's a color version of it that I'll upload tomorrow.
Joan Miró (1893-1983)
Miró always maintained a rigidly inflexible daily routine—both because he disliked being distracted from his work, and because he feared slipping back into the severe depression that had afflicted him as a young man, before he discovered painting. To help prevent a relapse, his routine always included vigorous exercise—boxing in Paris; jumping rope and Swedish gymnastics at a Barcelona gym; and running on the beach and swimming at Mont-roig, a seaside village where his family owned a farmhouse.
Miró hated for this routine to be interrupted by social or cultural events. As he told an American journalist, “Merde! I absolutely detest all openings and parties! They’re commercial, political, and everybody talks too much. They get on my tits!”
From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
2023, Ballpoint pen on 5” x 8” acid free Moleskine sketchbook paper, Adobe Photoshop. First sketchbook drawing of 2024! Based on a photo of a model in a makeup company advert.