Foot Cookie

Spike & Sushi.

2010-11-21T17:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Mike,

Thanks for letting me draw your doggies. Sorry it took so long.

They need a little more work before I send them to you, but I think I've almost got all the fuzz in.

Chickadee

2010-09-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Thought the chickadee should get some face time since I've been blabbing about him so much.

Here's what I have learned about birds: they have too many feathers.

Japanese Maple

2010-09-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

I'm very tired of drawing plants.

Today has a strange, discombobulated feel to it. We ended up home at loose ends, and the sky has gone from bright to cloudy. I love Autumn and the special energy that happens in the air at this time of year.

This afternoon, despite the plant-weariness, I decided to try the maple leaves. They weren't very fun, but strangely fulfilling. It reminded me of an early art class where the instructor was trying to get us to draw what we saw rather than what we thought we saw. We were disallowed from looking at the paper and told to let our eye travel along the edge of what we were drawing - slowly - so that our pencil could reflect every change, and keep up.

This only happened a little bit here. It's easy to let our minds make patterns. They really want to. It did come somewhere close to what I imagine meditation might feel like though. There's a point where the chatter stops and it feels nice.

Then the chickadee came down and announced that it wanted sunflower seeds so I gave him some. He and his little friend popped right over and ate them.

My husband came out and I told him what happened with the birds, saying, "I didn't realize they could think things through like that. Their little brains seem too small."

And my husband said, "They are. They can only do simple math."

Geranium

2010-09-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Shoes.

2010-09-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

Keeper.

2010-09-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for letting me draw your dog. It was fun.

Blacktip Pup.

2010-09-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

Second pass at this picture. That hand is at a weird angle so it ends up looking like a mannequin/robot. A hint of a hand seems to be O.K. The shark was better last time though.

C'est la vie.

Blacktip Shark

2010-09-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

The Blacktip Shark is pretty. I'll definitely do a few more of these.

Shark.

2010-09-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Having a tough time finding subject matter again. Also finding it strangely difficult to keep the image confined in the space.

I think I'm going to do sharks for a while. Then maybe octopus, then jellyfish, then eels or crabs.

No promises, but it sounds fun right now.

Tote bag & chair.

2010-08-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

I don't hate it. I don't love it either though.

You've missed a few. Part of being in the habit of doing this every day (or pretty close to) is that mistakes are made. Sometimes fatal mistakes.

That's good.

When this blog started, I was going to post everything - whether it sucked or not. But then I thought that taking pride in the output is a good thing. Nobody wants to look at pictures that blow (I know, make up my mind, which is it?), just like nobody wants to read a dull story or watch a terrible movie.

And so standards are set further. This doesn't meet them, but it will do. I guess this is the line.

feet.

2010-08-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

So. When I named this thing I really didn't anticipate the focus on feet. I always liked drawing them, but didn't think about it much. Plus, have you looked up what "foot cookie" is a term for? Pretty gross. I didn't know that either.

Last night, I was tucked up on the couch and saw my feet criss-crossed and it looked kind of neat, so we replicated today. That's right. I said I looked at my own feet, then used the word "neat" and then referred to myself in the plural. You can leave now and there won't be any hard feelings. I understand.

But if you're a foot person, hey - today's your lucky day.

Mine too. I really, really like this one.

There's a signature here because Lance said there should be.

Birch leaves.

2010-08-25T17:18:00.001-07:00

I was not enthusiastic about the Birch leaves. I originally tried drawing an abandoned bucket of sidewalk chalk...but come on. It went like this: cylinder, cylinder, cylinder, cylinder...you get the picture.

So, because this is becoming a habit, when four-o-clock rolls around I'm out, examining little pieces of this or that on the ground. Scanning what I usually overlook to find something interesting in the mundane.

I came back to this little twig that fell from the Birch out back and decided to give it a go. The second time around, I fell in love with its delicate leaf edges and little-bitty stalks. An unexpected bit of fun. Everything was so tiny I had to get even more fussy and OCD than usual with keeping the pencil sharp and such.

Just the way I like it.

leg.

2010-08-23T16:25:00.001-07:00

We're seriously hurting for subject matter around here.

Seriously.

lady.

2010-08-21T15:37:00.001-07:00

Today I went to the Art Museum for this sketch thing they were doing there. This is from a photograph that was hanging in the gallery.

It was fun to break the routine of flipping through books or looking for cats or plants.

cat.

2010-08-19T15:01:00.001-07:00

This is dammy. She's not so smart, but she has the cutest eyes I ever saw. Too bad they're closed here.

We fell apart in the ear department. I need to learn how to capture the fuzz.

Mouse.

2010-08-18T21:20:00.001-07:00

Keys.

2010-08-17T17:56:00.001-07:00

Oh my god, the keys were actually fun.

Color me shocked.

Fuschia.

2010-08-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

These never get old.

Yes they do.

P.S. Thanks to the chickens for rejuvenating my interest in this thing. Even though the fuschias are feeling tired, it was fun and nice to draw today.

Fence.

2010-06-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

This is part of our fence. It was originally installed in 1966 or so and has a cool basket-weave structure. It seems about as sturdy as it is private, but it must be sturdier because it's still here.

Bathead.

2010-06-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

A day of meh.

2010-06-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

Three of the seven sketches I did today.

feet.

2010-06-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my feet.

Houseplant.

2010-06-05T15:59:00.001-07:00

2010-06-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

Five-minute sketch. A step in the right direction. I need to let go a bit in general and stop being so fussy. When it flows, it's the best feeling in the world. When I get all clenched up, it stops being fun and starts being stressful. Kind of counterproductive.

Broken Feather

2010-06-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

Hello. I am a trend-whore.

Drawing feathers is fun though. I can see why everybody's doing it.

Flower

2010-06-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

I forget what these are called, but they're my favorites. Right now we have a few plants blooming. This one's red and dark purple, but the one in front is pink and white. It looks good enough to eat.

Fly.

2009-10-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

So here's the nice thing about this blog - I now have decent paper and pencils and am ready to draw. Also, because I have the materials, I'm more inclined to if the opportunity arises. Recently I did a little poster contest thing (bragging rights only), and drew the fly and fish for that. It was such a treat to have an excuse, a reason even, to sit down and draw something. I got all fussy and micro-managy with this one...just how I like it. I wish I could be looser and more fanciful, and maybe someday I will be, but right now, and for the past however many decades I've been doing this, I want things to look uber-accurate. Here I let go and let my inner detail-nerd flag fly. I still feel like realism is just a parlor-trick, but it sure feels nice. So yay.

Fish

2009-10-01T21:08:00.001-07:00

Bug. 4/12/09

2009-04-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

4/7/09. Cross River Gorilla

2009-04-09T13:40:00.001-07:00

4/6/09. Bee

2009-04-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

Still on "B" I guess.

I lost the pencil.

2009-03-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in a giant field.

Totally not kidding.

Scanner's still in the closet

2009-03-19T00:55:00.000-07:00

But I'm doing a digital illustration now, which started as a sketch, but I won't post here because that's one I probably care if people steal.

I did buy a little book though. AND a pencil, so I'm all set ya know.

Promises promises...

Update.

2009-02-12T20:27:00.001-08:00

I'm still doing this, but I put the scanner in the closet and it's a pain.

Sincerely,

Lisa.

2/1/09. Blue Crab.

2009-02-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

I know. I cheated. "Blue" Crab is not exactly a "B" animal. But I've liked crabs for a while. I used to have hermit crabs as a kid and got to the point where I knew their structure and could draw them from memory. The leg joints are interesting.

Part of this experiment is getting enough experience to know which path I want to travel down, and to get comfortable/reacquainted with the medium.

I reverted to pencil here, and realize that, although pen is nice, and can reproduce well, there's nothing like the feeling of graphite on paper. There's just something about it. There's a tight feeling at the base of my throat. It's like falling in love.

Melodrama...

1/30/09. Armadillo.

2009-02-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

We're on the right track with the animal thing. Finding items of interest in the house wasn't really working out. I like to draw things that are alive. Preferably when they're right in front of me. But...in absence of that, a photo of a living thing is better than a piece of furniture that exists in my realm of vision.

So I started doing the animal a to z thing and started with the obvious choice of armadillo.

1/26/09. Drawer Pull

2009-01-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

Drawer Pull.

Bo-ring.

After this I have a plan. Animals...A to Z...

1/25/09. Moth

2009-01-25T17:01:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to draw a moth. Five minutes in, I was in love with moths. 20 minutes in I was in hate with them.

It's O.K. A little fussy. I am enjoying the Micron pens quite a bit though.

1/21/09. Lame cup from Gourmet Magazine.

2009-01-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

The cat stopped sleeping in my room. I had to resort to magazines, and don't like it.

But...it's better to draw something than nothing at all.

1/15/09. Cat #3

2009-01-16T00:23:00.000-08:00

So apparently I have standards now. This was my third sketch of the evening.

Sonofa.

1/14/09. Chair.

2009-01-14T22:13:00.000-08:00

Here's one of those crazy old, handcrafted chairs I was telling you about.

This was fun to do. Maybe there will be a chair series.

No promises.

1/13/09. Wee One

2009-01-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

The baby kitty - who is neither a baby, nor a kitty - thinks he can sleep anywhere he likes. He also is very fidgety.

1/11/09. Handbag.

2009-01-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

I guess we're getting somewhere. Working in pen here, and also taking on longer and more detailed tasks. Thought this one was heading into the crapper halfway through, but I ended up satisfied with the final drawing.

1/10/09. Finger & Hand

2009-01-11T20:43:00.001-08:00

1/8/09. Cat #2

2009-01-09T10:07:00.001-08:00

So after all that you get another cat.

But this time...in pen....

1/7/09. Dragon Slipper

2009-01-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

The hunt for interesting subject matter is becoming more difficult. I think it's a matter of how I see things. I'm going to have to force it. Maybe just grab things at random or have my kids pick something for me.

Oooh! Maybe I'll go alphabetical. If I have my kids pick things I'll be doing Star Wars action figures for the next four months. Anyway, suggestions are welcome. If I get a reader suggestion I'll do it. Unless it's dirty. Unless the dirtiness is dirt.

So this is my son's dragon slipper. The first drawing wasn't that fun. It felt a little fussy. I did another one after that was much more fun and took just a few minutes.

In the end I like the first one better, but it still stalls in places.

1/6/09. Perfume Bottle.

2009-01-06T20:16:00.000-08:00

I was so pleased with the foot and the cookie. Tonight I wandered around for a while - looking for something that grabbed me. It was rough. I think part of it is that chairs are scary. We have a bunch of them, some in the 200-year-old range, so they're technically really interesting with all of their hand-crafted nuance-y business...but also really complicated with the crazy shadows they throw and whatnot. Maybe soon.

Interesting development is that I find that I shut myself off from ideas at an almost subconscious level if I feel they are beyond my skill range. This is to change.

1/5/09. Foot Cookie.

2009-01-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Can't draw plants forever you know...

1/4/09. Tropical holiday.

2009-01-06T13:30:00.001-08:00

This is the Christmas plant. My Father-in-Law picked up two of these for house. It doesn't look very Christmas-y here, but it's red and green. Trust me.

It's tricky finding something that isn't furniture or a cat to sketch.

Overall, I'm happy that on the second drawing, there's more of a flow. This was much more fun. I want to leave pencil soon and switch to pen.

1/2/09. Cat paramour

2009-01-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

As you can tell, my plan to draw something every day has not quite panned out. I am chalking it up to not being in the habit yet. I don't carve out time to sketch and only remember right before bed. Which is when this was done.

This is our little cat Shnelly. She is laying on my husband, who she is deeply involved with. Right now they're just friends, but she would like it to be more. She thinks I don't know.

Anyway...I am rusty as hell. This took forever and was full of starts and stops. If the past is any indicator, once I get used to jamming these out, they'll fly and will be more interesting.

You'll still probably see a lot of cats though.

Introduction

2009-01-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is a project I started on my other blog. I really love it, but it needs it's own focus I think. Things are getting kind of jumbly over there.

My plan is to do a drawing a day (or as close as I can muster...to either the schedule or the drawing), and see where that takes me creatively and stylistically.