great

"I really don't like to gripe, But there's a monster in pink stripes, And he's lifting our house up to the sky. It's like what Mama always said, That we would all reach such great heights, But I suspect that's not quite what she meant."

My last finished painting of 2020. A morning in the woodlands of Ystradfawr Nature Reserve near my home. This is the final result of one of my colour sketches - Spring on the Line. It sold to lady in a care home who's lost her mobility. I hope it gives her a bit of the great outdoors when she's sitting in her room.

This is part of an ongoing series. This time we pass through The Great Exhibition and meet the different characters there to view art or just to socialise and hang out.

My favorite way to eliminate the often paralyzing fear of "ruining" "good" paper is to just paint on any and all junk mail that comes into my house. Higher end catalogs are great for this, they don't use slick, thin paper (and even that gets used in collage or as a desk cover for other projects) and they're already bound for you. Just add marks! Carry it with you. Scan the pages you like. Cut it up later for making other art. It's "just" junk mail, so there is literally no pressure. I have HUNDREDS of these type of things and I run across them all the time, forgotten, in some old backpack or purse or drawer and it's a treasure to look through them again, and add new marks, paints and words.

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.

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.

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!

Have a great 4th of July and stay cool out there! Painting on matchbox with prismacolor doodles on black paper background.

"Man on the Train: Hey, are you a dreamer? Wiley: Yeah. Man on the Train: I haven’t seen too many around lately. Things have been tough lately for dreamers. They say dreaming is dead, no one does it anymore. It’s not dead it’s just that it’s been forgotten, removed from our language. Nobody teaches it so nobody knows it exists. The dreamer is banished to obscurity. Well, I’m trying to change all that, and I hope you are too. By dreaming, every day. Dreaming with our hands and dreaming with our minds. Our planet is facing the greatest problems it’s ever faced, ever. So whatever you do, don’t be bored, this is absolutely the most exciting time we could have possibly hoped to be alive. And things are just starting" - waking life (movie). ° So the other day I had a beautiful conversation about lucid dreaming with some friends. We shared amazing dream memories that we all had experienced and right the next day this sleeping beauty started showing up on a piece of paper. What about you, are you a dreamer? :) ♠️

Bearskullpine A new bigger version of my earlier drawing In the Finnish mythology killing of a bear was followed by a great feast in honour of the bear (peijaiset), where a substantial part of the celebrations consisted of convincing the bear's spirit that it had died accidentally and hadn't been murdered. Afterwards, the bear's skull was hung high upon a pine tree so its spirit could re-enter the heavens. The bones of the bear were then buried under the pine.

Practicing with my dip pen, not great paper but still kinda cute.

It's a perfect day to work on my new story. It's going great.

A little sketch, 3” by 5”, made better with a bit of cheap watercolour paint. I don’t know why, but I like this little scene. It isn’t a terribly brilliant sketch and I didnt paint it with great care, but still, i like it. And in the end, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. If you finish a little piece of art snd can say you like it even weeks and months later, then it is a winner for you.

This was drawn in Spiralty (a free Windows program) and colored in Photoshop. Great fun and very relaxing. I am definitely going to be making more mandalas during the rest of the pandemic.

One of my original pen and ink drawings. Drawn on an antique piece of paper. The piece measures 3″ Wide X 6″ Tall Signed and Titled. Comes packaged with care and a tracking number.

I was lucky to see severals Great Gray Owls in fields not so far from my home. That’s inspired of catch that feelin

The result is not as good as I imagined. But anyway I want to share it, because: - others may find it great, - art taste is subjective, - even if it's bad, you can receive a constructive critique or tips on how to improve it. Don't be afraid to share your failures. They push you forward. You can learn a lot from them.

A dew draped crabapple, nestled in the grass. Crayola crayon on some type of paper from the great ol dollar store.

Definitely doodling---This is my first mandela and it ranged from great fun to great frustration. It ended up a little "waby swaby," but I suppose that's in keeping. It's 12 inches across with 32 points. Drawn with a micron pen, then colored in markers (in whatever colors I happened to have) and has colored pencil shadows. I scanned it into PhotoShop and played with altering colors. Made a green one for my green-crazy friend and a subdued desaturated one for myself. It's quite printable on my oversized color laser printer---so ill be a fun "social distancing" poster gift for my friends. Each one with a personal color range.

The late great King Quinoa. During the lockdown I'm doing a series of cat portraits for Gatti di Roma in Rome. I've auctioned this and all proceeds went to the charity.

Love Ginna Zlatkis cat art, so I paid homage using watercolors and gouache. Great technique excercise

I'm an amateur just trying to get better. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I wanted to do something with some deep shading because I hadn't done it before and she turned out a tad bit creepier than I had intended but the outcome was good in the end. I really like how her hair came out because painting hair is the bane of my existence. I think she came out great.

Fanart of Ruby. I love this vocaloid a lot and she has a great design imo

The second set of pages from my trip to China last summer. Spent time in Beijing and Hong Kong and hiking/camping out on a portion the Great Wall. Truly amazing.

Teaching painting is a great task to ask of a person who doesn't paint. I do not paint. I teach the manipulation of media through experience. "Learn from doing!" I say. Monochromatic pastel exercises help my students to get a handle on the media. We explore value and composition and the handling of media. Sometimes happy accidents occur. This was my example to the teens on composition and value. It is a journey.

For Valentine's Day, I wanted to paint my husband and me. I think it turned out great. We'll print it and put it up somewhere in the house.