eat

A vibrant snail with a spiral shell is depicted in bright, contrasting colors, highlighting the snail’s lively hues.

sketch made with markers and ink

Riding into the summer

BEING GREEDY CHOKES ANANSI From Favorite Folktales around the world by Jane Yolen. One time, Anansi lived in a country that had a queen who was also a witch. And she decreed that whoever used the word five would fall down dead, because that was her secret name, and she didn’t want anyone using it. Now, Buh Anansi was a clever fellow, and a hungry one too. Things were especially bad because there was a famine, so Anansi made a little house for himself by the side of the river near where everyone came to get water. And when anybody came to get water, he would call out to them, “I beg you to tell me how many yam hills I have here. I can’t count very well.” So, one by one he thought they would come up and say, “One, two, three, four, five,” and they would fall down dead. Then Anansi would take them and corn them in his barrel and eat them, and that way he would have lots of food in hungry times and in times of plenty.

Digital illustration - Three friends travel to a picnic on a rainy day

Things have been so busy of late and my output has greatly reduced. However, I have returned to oil painting. I revisited this piece I started last year and put in a few more hours to finish it. The scene was from a few summers ago when I visited Pen Arthur forest for the first time. The piece takes me right back to that day when the late summer afternoon sunlight struggled to penetrate the canopy.

a new one

eye wide open

Getting into drawing more complicated things like glass, lots of fun stylising

Kangaroos, wallabies, and emus at the zoo with my Sharon Art Studio friend. So nice to create together again! This was from November, when the SF Zoo was still open. I'm really grateful we were able to go several times before it closed again.

It's a type of Gobbin '

Where do I begin with this one? This is a drawing of my dad and I; the picture was taken back in 2006, a happier time, I suppose. I don't commonly think about my dad, I don't necessarily think about how much I miss him or how I wish I could see him again, so it was odd for me to sit and look through old photos. I don't really know my dad; I do, but I don't. My dad was physically part of my life for 10 years, the second half of those were not the best. Mental illness, self medicating for years, debt, heroin, arguments, threats, uncertainty. I feel like I remember the negative more because I was older, my parents couldn't hide it from me like they used to. At the same time, when he was sober and stable, life was good. Life was great, things felt complete. So here I am, 6 years since he died. I don't want to say his image is fading, but I know less of who he was than I did before. I see the good from some (the ones who praise him, who act like he was a saint), and I see the bad from others (the one who felt the pain). I suppose I no longer see my view, my memories aren't there anymore. I don't necessarily feel sad, the anger has faded, and I can't say I'm happy. Maybe I'll figure it out one day, but, for now, it is what it is.

The leaf painted by using Watercolors & Splash Technique. It creates nice combo of colors to a Leaf. Dew Drops on top make em realistic. Dew drops show purest form of nature.

I've been experimenting with colour pallets and line width. Also trying to do LESS - my natural tendency is to add everything so cutting back is quite hard, but I think works better.

Please let me know what you think! I’m not sure abt the eye, the reference pic I’m using is low quality so I’m kinda improvising. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Today, Feb. 20, 2020, is Love Your Pet day. This drawing is part of a series of Sandwich Bag Art I've been doing since 2008.

Dragon design drawn with graphite.

...initially was going to replace the spiders meal for a banana (referring to the piece #Comedian created by artist #Maurizio_Cattelan)...but just could not do it. Had some good conversation about the concept, so hope it leads to more. Instead, it has lead me to explore some other ideas.

Another forest just a purplish color scheme and a few scenery changes tried to add some more detail to the trees

I'm a big fan of the Deathly Hallows films and the sober, dark air of the story.

This acrylic painting was developed from a spectacular photo that was gifted to me. As usually, I had to make some changes. The head was looking away. I created a model for what I needed and filled in details from research.

Exploring drawing with Procreate and the iPad.

We live in such a busy world. Everyone’s walking in a fast pace. But I think it’s okay to stop for a moment and breathe.

Our Dining Room is my favorite room in the house. Every family meal we eat at home happens there - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meal times are our sacred family time to share our day, our thoughts, our struggles, our successes, etc. We do have a breakfast area. But aside from homework, projects, or reading the newspaper, the breakfast area doesn't get much use unless needed for overflow from the dining room when we have visitors.

pen and pencil on paper

Here's my Coffee & Quotes Challenge... with the sleeve removed ;) I thought it would be fun to continue the doodle underneath the sleeve! To see submitted version, check out my 'Drawing Challenges'... this contest has been awesome, it combined 2 of my faves: DOODLES & COFFEE!

Street Style Helsinki. Living in the Nordic levels, like Finland, requires special attitude against cold winter weather. From a distance the sight felt like a giant rectangle on two thin sticks approaching scurry towards me.