Zoomed in shot of "Pattern Interrupt". 2020. Size: 32" x 40" / Micron pens on archival museum board. This piece was all drawn freehand - no rulers or measuring tools were used to create this artwork.
Artwork on "the other side" - playing with the bleed-through from the watercolor and intuitiviely allowing the shapes to arise. Created using watercolor, coffee, ink, graphic pens and unipen
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.
I printed my black and white zentangle drawing on marker paper and colored it with alcohol markers. At first it was a bit to garish with too much contrast, so I painted a warm grey over the whole piece. That gave me what I was looking for. Of course, THEN I completely undermined that with making a bunch of wild colored ones (two shown here) by playing with them in Photoshop. I shall be using this (along with my Zentangle koi posted la while back) for printing blank cards that we sell for charitable (mostly foodbanks) organizations.
It's crazy to think that 6 years have already flown by since I first moved onto the Xcel gymnastics team, let alone the fact that I've spent 15 years of my life as a gymnast. Tomorrow, August 6th, 2021, marks my last day as a gymnast on the team since I'm officially a college student. I've genuinely been dreading this day, but it's not the ending I expected...in an oddly good way. I know no one expected to spend the past year in a pandemic, and I definitely didn't think gym would shift so much in the following months, but here we are. Gymnastics has taught me more than I ever imagined it could, and my coaches (especially one of them) have become two of the people I'm closest with, words can't describe how grateful I am for everything. This 'ending' doesn't feel like an end, more so a closing to this chapter. Honestly, my love for the sport has only grown, and it feels like I'm finally figuring it all out. So, although my final practice as a team member is tomorrow, my journey is not over yet. "Goodbyes are the hardest part, and this ending has been something I’ve been dreading, although I know it’s time to let go. I’d like to say this isn’t a permanent goodbye to you or the sport, it’s more of a natural conclusion. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you’ve done for me and managed to teach me in this short amount of time, I couldn’t have asked for anyone, or anything, better. Thank you most of all for helping me achieve my dreams and for helping me get to a point in which I can say I’m proud of my journey.
All that’s left to say is I care about you, I love you, and take care."
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.
My new original character, Elena, Queen of the oceans. I loved working on her and this color palette is my favorite! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TUgrM8uaio
Oh boy, markers (NOT a go-to), least favorite color, and a subject that isn’t on my radar. This was a hard one what with 3 negatives going for it. But, hey, it’s a challenge, right?
Choosing a subject came first….we have a house full of Indonesian masks and sculptures. (My husband studied gamelon music in Indonesia.) Garuda, the “mount” of Vishnu and popular with Balinese artists seemed a good choice, esp. since he can be green, red, yellow or orange.
I rarely choose yellow/orange for anything---artwork, décor, clothing...though I do have a soft spot for sunflowers.
First I drew a bunch of images based on one of our wooden Garuda sculptures and then made a simplified marking pen outline and colored it with markers.
These are watercolor and pencil and ink drawings. They are 5 of 10 images of my hand from a child's board book from which I peeled the laminated pages and exposed the underlying cardboard. I have always struggled with a very large Port Wine Stain birthmark, and periodically make art about that, this one of two books this year.
A bit of a departure from my usual style. I wanted to try something a bit messy, fast, and loose. The scene is an ancient woodland in Pembrokeshire called Tŷ Canol, an atmospheric place and full of inspiration for artworks. Pen and watercolour in Seawhite sketchbook.
I suppose this was just a tester/practice piece? My first actual still life from observation and my first time actually using charcoal (yes, I've never truly used charcoal before. Charcoal and pastels are two things I avoid. Their looseness and freeness scare me, considering how rigid I can be). Not sure how to feel about this one. I'm my worst critic, and I've known that for a long time now. There's a lot of practice and progress to be made, but it turned out half-way decent.
Pencil drawing I did a number of years ago. Self portrait of myself with my mare, Chia. Graphite on bristol board. Took probably about 40 hours. This particular piece is sold.
Pen and ink drawing. This was the original which I reworked digitally for an EP cover, business card and sticker. Search up Three Word Stories band if you want to see the final artwork... (I may upload it here at some point ;))
