Drawing of leaves and nuts from the Marri tree, found in the Southwest region of Western Australia. This majority of trees that surround my property are the Marri from the Myrtaceae family is endemic to this area. They grow upwards of 40 metres and are a favourite food to the protected Red-tailed Black Cockatoo.
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
Initiate of the Order of the Saints of the Scrapyard. All members of the order are entitled to the scrap of the mechs they fell (with the pieces they decline to use or take with them being tithed). To join the ranks proper, an initiate must fell an enemy pilot and bring their mech to heel (often by detonating the cockpit and going from there)). Initiates are given little more than a fusion engine (that may double as a shaped charge (or a death sentence depending on their luck)), a kinetic energy recycler (and shield for it to power), a small pile of scraps to build the rest of their sled, and a book of prayers for the scrapyard saints. Most will not graduate their initiation, ending their short stint as little more than ash on the breeze.
I've been going through my sketches, both completed and incomplete, and found a drawing of a young Sumatran Tiger that I began working on around two years ago, but never completed. I'm actually relieved that I didn't draw it earlier, as it has allowed me to gain more experience in illustrating this stunning creature, which is unfortunately a species at risk of extinction.
A few facts about the Sumatran Tigers...
The Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae*, the smallest tiger subspecies, is critically endangered and stands as the final surviving species of island tigers. Poaching poses a significant danger to Sumatran tigers as hunters target them for their skin, bones, and canines. Additionally, habitat loss caused by oil palm, coffee, and acacia plantations, further endangers these big cats by reducing their prey availability and pushing them closer to human habitations.
It is estimated that there are fewer than 400 mature individual tigers in Sumatra in isolated pockets of protected land. Three of the protected areas are classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites but all are in danger of losing this status due to threats from poaching, illegal logging, agricultural encroachment, and planned road building. It is for these reasons the Sumatran tiger is classified in the most severe IUCN status: Critically endangered.
Description: The Sumatran tiger is the smallest and darkest tiger subspecies and tends to be more bearded and maned than the other subspecies. Male tigers can expect to reach somewhere in the region of 120kg and 8ft from head to tail vs females who average 91kg and 7ft length.
Breeding: Female tigers are sexually mature at about 3 or 4 years of age, and males at about 4 to 5 years. Mating may occur any time during the year, but it most frequently takes place from November to April. The information was obtained from conservewildcats.org. Thank you.
#indonesia #criticallyendangered #sumatrantiger #amateurartist #tigerdrawing #tigersketch #tigercub #sketchadayapp #october2024
(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper) A simple drawing to show how iconic zombies have become, and how they're lazily added to anything these days - Just like chips.
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
"All those I think who have lived as literary men,—working daily as literary labourers,—will agree with me that three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write.
...
"I always began my task by reading the work of the day before, an operation which would take me half an hour, and which consisted chiefly in weighing with my ear the sound of the words and phrases.…
This division of time allowed me to produce over ten pages of an ordinary novel volume a day, and if kept up through ten months, would have given as its results three novels of three volumes each in the year..."
From Daily rituals by Mason Currey
#dailyrituals #inktober #anthonyTrollope @masoncurrey
"You flee my dream come the morning
Your scent - berries tart, lilac sweet
To dream of raven locks entwisted, stormy
Of violet eyes, glistening as you weep"
(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper) The fifth, and last, of these small CBA images, and even an artist can find better things to do when they get bored of doing artwork, but don't worry, they always return to it.
The forest nearby is full of baby banksias growing in poor gravelly/sandy soil which they do better in. The little one was growing on the edge of a gravel road.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
Toulouse-Lautrec drank constantly and slept little. After a long night of drawing and binge-drinking, he would often wake early to print lithographs, then head to a café for lunch and several glasses of wine. Returning to his studio, he would take a nap to sleep off the wine, then paint until the late afternoon, when it was time for aperitifs.
(One of his inventions was the Maiden Blush, a combination of absinthe, mandarin, bitters, red wine, and champagne. He wanted the sensation, he said, of “a peacock’s tail in the mouth.”)
From Daily rituals by Mason Currey
#dailyrituals #inktober #henriToulouseLautrec @masoncurrey
Journey presents a surrealist setting where a man is rowing his boat through a wondrous landscape, surrounded by buildings and stones with strange symbols and runes. A bright heavenly light illuminates the traveller's origin while a stark contrast is made with the vibrant blue light, from behind the walls, of this mysterious sunken building. This artwork is for sale on inkywinky.com.au
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“I cannot imagine life without work as really comfortable,” Freud wrote to a friend in 1910. With his wife, Martha, to efficiently manage the household—she laid out Freud’s clothes, chose his handkerchiefs, and even put toothpaste on his toothbrush—the founder of psychoanalysis was able to maintain a single-minded devotion to his work throughout his long career.
Freud’s long workdays were mitigated by two luxuries. First, there were his beloved cigars, which he smoked continually, going through as many as twenty a day from his mid-twenties until near the end of his life, despite several warnings from doctors and the increasingly dire health problems that dogged him throughout his later years. (When his seventeen-year-old nephew once refused a cigarette, Freud told him,
From Daily rituals by Mason Currey
#dailyrituals #inktober #sigmundFreud @masoncurrey
(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper) The central image is small because it is that small (about 4cm). It's the first of five which represents that point every artist gets to where they say to themselves: "I really CAN'T BE ARSED doing this!" and casually knock out anything. I thought it was apt for the "encouraging" nature of Inktober ;P
Jane Austen (1775–1817)
Austen never lived alone and had little expectation of solitude in her daily life. Her final home, a cottage in the village of Chawton, England, was no exception: she lived there with her mother, her sister, a close friend, and three servants, and there was a steady stream of visitors, often unannounced.
...
Austen wrote in the family sitting room, “subject to all kinds of casual interruptions,” her nephew recalled. She was careful that her occupation should not be suspected by servants, or visitors, or any persons beyond her own family party. She wrote upon small sheets of paper which could easily be put away, or covered with a piece of blotting paper. There was, between the front door and the offices, a swing door which creaked when it was opened; but she objected to having this little inconvenience remedied, because it gave her notice when anyone was coming.
“Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton & doses of rhubarb.”
From Daily rituals by Mason Currey
#dailyrituals #inktober #janeAusten @masoncurrey
Benjamin Franklin (Part 2)
The plan worked, up to a point. After following the course several times in a row, he found it necessary to go through just one course in a year, and then one every few years. But the virtue of order—“Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time”—appears to have eluded his grasp. Franklin was not naturally inclined to keep his papers and other possessions organized, and he found the effort so vexing that he almost quit in frustration.
This timetable was formulated before Franklin adopted a favorite habit of his later years—his daily “air bath.” At the time, baths in cold water were considered a tonic, but Franklin believed the cold was too much of a shock to the system. He wrote in a letter: I have found it much more agreeable to my constitution to bathe in another element, I mean cold air. With this view I rise early almost every morning, and sit in my chamber without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing. This practice is not in the least painful, but on the contrary, agreeable; and if I return to bed afterwards, before I dress myself, as sometimes happens, I make a supplement to my night’s rest, of one or two hours of the most pleasing sleep that can be imagined.
From Daily rituals by Mason Currey
#daulyrituals #inktober #benjaminfranklin @masoncurrey
(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper) You have to be very careful what names you give your fantasy creations. They might sound right in your own mind, but others will read them very differently. For example: He's a Kakka-Du Knight. They're known to roam the galaxy, righting wrongs and bringing peace and justice to the far reaches of space, because that's what the Kakka-Du do!
(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper) "HumanAI" meaning taking the role of a basic AI and drawing a picture from a prompt, but not getting the result intended. From the image, you might be able to guess what was requested ;P
