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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.

Wear a mask. Stay inside!

If it wasn't enough that Ernest Shacletons ship Endurance was crushed by the ice in Antarctika’s, some kind of weird Space Weather phenomenon appeared into the sky(drawing tip:if your drawing looks flat and dull , try to transforming it something different ).

Somehow, the red sky seemed just right for the happy yellow flower.

Here is a sneak peaks of my submission to the Home Sweet Home Challenge. I loved this challenge because it forced me to do something I never would have, which gave me happy surprises as I worked through it.

Illustration for Howling Wolf song ”I Aint Superstitious”

Did you ever have a page in your sketchbook that was so bad and so embarrassing that you tore it out and chucked it? This was one of those pages that made me cringed every time I came to it. So today I said to myself, "ENOUGH!" and ripped it out of my moleskine. But something wouldn't let me throw it in the can. Now, I'm not one of those artists that can't bring himself to throw away any of his stuff because each and every piece, good or bad holds some kind of sentimentality or sense of importance. This particular page was a result of a crappy angst filled day and stuff poured out of me. For some reason, it felt like I was throwing away some piece of my soul. There were parts that were overworked and others that were painfully too personal. So I decided to cut it up and put it back together in no particular order, however it seemed best. As I was pasting the pieces down it occurred to me that this had a comic book feel so I scanned the final and added the black borders in photoshop which I really dug. I like that it is cryptic and jumbled up like my brain can so often be. This reminded me of the awesome @johnhendrix who said something in his book, Drawing Is Magic that stuck with me. He said, "Don't worry about doing anything wrong. If you're hoping your sketchbook turns into a glossy display of only your best drawings, you are not carrying a sketchbook, you are carrying a portfolio." In other words, explore, take chances, loosen up and have fun. Try your best to go at it like an uninhibited child. In so doing, you will stretch as an artist by avoiding repetition and predictability. We all know how to do what we already know. To sum up, I created a bad page, and whether or not I was able to fix it, it expanded me. So, follow your pencil, pen, or whatever and let them take you to places you never imagined when you started. Then, maybe you will end up staring happily at the final and with childlike wonder, say, "man, where did that come from?"

Wee watercolour sketch of Donkey Orchids from the forest near Greenbushes.

I told my boys, "That's you, you and you." They paused for a moment, pointed at the hot dog, and asked, "Well... Who's that?" ... "That's your baby sister." -- Ink and watercolor on 5x5 Arches cold press.

Little monster takes a ride with some sentient flowers.

this pattern is for the spoonflower shibori challenge.

When I was planning this pattern I really wanted it to have a dark background. I built it in photoshop using hand drawn marker flowers but when I try to place them on a dark background it looks ridiculous!

loving the bright winter sunshine but thinking about summer flowers.

Stuck on Duckling Outpost, some might say it is a drag, but with luck maybe we'll get to fly the Duckling Kingdom flag!

These are a few random pieces from the last few weeks.

more autumn florals

Today’s adventure took us to the KC City Market to sketch. We rode the streetcar to have lunch and draw. These are my sketches for the day.

Title: Never Forget. A quick piece I made today. I wanted to go abstract so the viewer can put their own meaning into the piece, but each paint stroke I made I had September 11th in mind. Digitally painted with watercolor in Rebelle 5 on a simple white canvas and sent over to PS.

Based on a photo I took when I was there a few weeks ago. Bic pen in my sketchbook

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.

This shriveling half onion has been in my dirty fridge for a week.

This comic came out of a conversation I’m having with a friend. We both found it fascinating that so many comedians and creatives come from broken and dark places. Robin Williams said, “I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.”

Little watercolor horses, they were fun to draw and paint and each seems to have it's own personality. Some look a little too much like a donkey though. lol

I was fortunate enough to to take my sketchbook class to observe medical students dissect donor cadavers. These donors gave there bodies to science to further our knowledge of the human anatomy and to train our future doctors. We worked alongside the med students and anatomy fellows. It was a humbling and fascinating experience.

It's Weinerman Sam with his weiner schnitzel fam, Putting sausages to bed like a good fam-i-ly man. Doing ev'ry thing he can just to get them into bed, For a restful night of sleep in a warm bun made of bread.

i took a landscape course; our project was a mystic, foggy landscape. I went a bit different adding in the figure looking out to the island

Nori and the Stranger watch a hazy morning sunrise as they walk along the western shores of the Sea of Rhun.