100% for IF

This drawing was 100% spontaneous

horizon for if

You won't find this little guy in the zoo!

superstition for IF

Silas distinctly remembered his mother saying that a bird's dropping on your head is good luck.

(Pen & ink on a luggage tag)

The Blues for Illustration Friday

Momentum for IF

I've been watching nature's momentum, as she tip toes towards broken blooms and falling leaves.

our little visitor

This week, we are looking after a friend's kitten while she and her husband are away on holiday.

This is little Claudia sleeping against Paul's hand. I haven't got her colouring right, but it is a first attempt. When she's awake, she's a hyperactive bundle of cute playfulness and mischief. We think our Jakey wants to play with her, but our other cat Lottie, is not at all pleased and is staying well away. Below are some pictures of Claudia in the flesh. The one of her in our kitchen shows just how tiny she is!!





















To see her sneaking up on Jakey, go here.

the cat and the moon

moon mandalas

dark moon dreaming

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crescent moon emerging

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moon child rising

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dark moon falling

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The changing faces of the moon...and a happy event that my moon mandalas coincide with this week's illustration friday topic...

earth's poem

nature
earth's poem
for those who care to listen

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I hadn't realised that I'd been away from my blog for over a week. Stuff happens...like spending the entire weekend reading the very last ever Harry Potter book (it's fantastic and that's all I'm saying).

After inhabiting Harry's world so intensely, I felt the best way to bring me back to reality was to do some zen drawing. So I sat down to draw this leaf. It blew onto our doorstep one day and I knew I had to draw it. Doing so was the first time since I started the zen drawing thing that I felt I really understood what it's about. I finished the drawing in two separate sittings of about 2 hours each. I felt like I really connected with the contours of the leaf, I could feel its curves and see the shadows collecting on its surface. Not surprisingly, I really enjoyed it, I felt like I was drawing with my whole self, even my heart. It was also an immensely rewarding lesson on the value of slowing down and being patient.

It also helped me to understand something I've been reading and contemplating. It comes from Robert Henri's The Art Spirit, which I picked up for guidance after my painting struggles. And oh what a treasure it is! Here's just one illuminating thought from it:-

"The object of painting a picture is not to make a picture - however unreasonable this may sound. The picture, if a picture results, is a by-product and may be useful, valuable, interesting as a sign of what has past. The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence...These results, however crude, become dear to the artist who made them because they are records of the states of being which he has enjoyed and which he would regain. They are likewise interesting to others because they are to some extent readable and reveal the possibilities of greater existence." (from The Art Spirit, emphasis his)

...which is kind of similar to the state of being present and mindful, in zen seeing and drawing, and made me see the value of paying attention, of not just seeing but also feeling what I'm drawing with my whole being, something that I should be doing every time I sit down to draw or paint, and not just during the month of trying out zen drawing.

Anyway, The Art Spirit is full of wonderfully encouraging, wise and inspiring insights. It feels like a gift to have discovered it just when I'm struggling so much with painting...don't you just love it when stuff like that happens?

Jakey makes a discovery...

...while messing around with Paul's sunglasses over the weekend:-

"I is cool!!"

secret dream for IF and "red"

Rejection is what you make it. You can let it defeat you; you can use it to sow the seeds of bitterness, hatred, revenge and destruction, or you can use it to nurture a secret dream that will one day blossom. You can let it kill you, or you can let it make you stronger. The choice is yours.

Acrylic on black card

cat dreaming suit

Where do cats go when they have their dreaming suits on?

Pastels & ink in a book of fairytales

paradise is in your point of view

"To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour."

- William Blake, from Auguries of Innocence

cats are better than cars

The ghost of my dead cat came back this week specifically to impart this message, so it must be true. He even gave his reasons which I have listed above. So there you go. Who am I to argue with the ghost of my beloved Caesar McTavish?

Citrus

Yes, this is one from the archives but let's face it, I ain't gonna draw a better lemon than this one!!

While my neighbours partied loudly...

I painted this for my Mum's birthday. Not having painted or drawn much in the last 10 days or so, I think I am out of practice. But somehow I think she'll forgive me.

Polar Dancing

Cicely wasn't sure she had the figure for it, but this polar dancing was all the rage with the younger penguins these days. The thong however was definitely a mistake.

Even Fortune gets caught in the rain...

So this is an ink and watercolour version of a 16th Century ink drawing that I found on the internet, researching images of fortune. The original drawing (the bottom one, in case you hadn't figured that out!) caught my eye because of the exquisite line work. I'm afraid my version of Fortune makes her look like she's just been splashed by a passing car, or rather a carriage, running over a puddle. But I reckon even Fortune has days like this, hence the title of this post.

At first I was intimidated by the original drawing and wasn't sure about attempting to copy it, but then again, I love a challenge and will try anything I haven't done before. In many ways, it was a pleasure to copy because the line work was so good, and I learned a lot from doing it. The drawing has at times been attributed to Durer, which is an error. The artist was a German engraver known as Master MZ.

Landscapes with green (playing with gouache)