AED.27

A Lithops Faerie sketch.



I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. We spent the day with a friend and her family. It was a very nice time and Daya had a blast.

AED.26

Quick kitty sketches.

AED.25

Here is a little zentangle that wonders what is in store for the future.

AED.24

Here is the Prickly Pear Faerie. Click the image to enlarge and view the detail.

Watercolor
11 x 14



I like watercolor. I like what it can do and how it feels, but my first love is still oil paint. :)

AED.23/Cactus Monday

I am so happy to now be part of Cactus Monday!!

Here is the pencil sketch for the Prickly Pear Faerie. She will be very fun to paint.

AED.22

How deeply unfortunate for the Stape. G* Faerie that she attracts legions of flies. I'll definitely have to add some in the painting.

It stands to reason that she's a little weird.

She'll look good painted, I think.



Also, I found *fingerpaint bubble bath* in the drugstore yesterday!!! This stuff is so fun I might even use it.



PS My bathtub is clean but never ever looks it cause it's at least 50 years old. I have tried everything believe me. One day I will have a beautiful new shiny claw foot bathtub. Until then we make due with what we have.

*Stapelia Gigantea

AED.21

Here is a pencil sketch of a Tea Faerie. I did not ink her because 1) I am reallly tired and must test out my new lime-scented bubble bath as soon as possible and 2) I decided to transfer her to watercolor paper at some point and paint her. She'll definitely go through some much-needed edits in the process.



Most probably there are more of these faeries to come, each based on a different plant. Tea had to come first because frankly I'm obsessed with it. Perhaps a stapeliad faerie comes next...I wonder what she looks like?

AED.20

A Zentangle Faerie!
:)

AED.19

I have a bad headache...so here is a little zentangle circle thingie.

AED.18

How come no one told me how wonderful and FUN these zentangle thingies are???



Here are a few pics from Daya's third birthday:

AED.17

My cat is as lazy and sleepy as I am. Quick ink sketch. I just can't focus on amything requiring...errr...focus.

AED.16

Here is a simple black and white drawing. It was very relaxing to do.



Daya's party went very well. I'll post pics tomorrow.

AED.15

Today's offering is a cake. Tomorrow I am having a very small party for Daya's third (!) birthday. Have been cleaning and running errands. There is a lot left to do. I am very tired. The big question is whether to drink a few cups of tea and keep plugging on or get a little sleep now and wake up at oh-god-thirty in the morning.

Caffeine will most probably win. And since Daya is always up early I'll have to wake up at oh-god-thirty whether I want to or not.

So anyhow I just finished Daya's cake. Here it is- more fun with fondant. I bought the Dora image at the cake and baking supply store on 22nd street. If you've never been there you HAVE to go it's so awesome. In fact you should come to NYC just to go there.





I also made a huge mess in my kitchen, and of course I do not feel like cleaning it. Any volunteers would be greatly appreciated. In fact, if you come over right now and clean my kitchen I will make out with you for real.

AED.14

Crown Chakra
Oil Pastel



Well, the chakras are done. Perhaps now I'll stop being so predictable!

Serena, to asnwer your question...it's sort of a meditation. I get the image the same way I would any concept I want to illustrate. I focus on what I am trying to depict, relax my mind, and let the image come.

Daya's birthday is on Sunday and I have to clean my apartment and make a cake. She'll be three...amazing.

AED.13

Third Eye Chakra
Oil Pastel

AED.12

Throat Chakra
Oil Pastel

AED.11

Heart Chakra
Oil Pastel

AED.10

Solar Plexus Chakra
Oil Pastel

AED.9

Sacral Chakra
Oil Pastel

7 Random Facts

Soulbrush tagged me.

So here goes:

1) I had a pet skunk named Truffle when I was a kid. He was really cool except we had to re-home him because he refused to be litter box trained. The person who took him in had the same problem. The third person kept him outside and I heard some years later that he only lived for a year or 2 more after that.

2) I deeply love all kinds of tea and do NOT like coffee. Not even coffee ice cream with chocolate syrup on it.

3) When I get mad at someone for being obnoxious I am the one who feels bad for getting mad at them.

4) I don't believe in canned pasta (with the exception of emergency rations).

5) I still believe in Unicorns.

6) I dearly hope that my daughter and I will be close friends when she is an adult. I never had a good relationship with my mother, can't see that I will in the future, and I don't want my child to feel the lack that I have always felt.

7) I'm still mad that Crayola retired Lemon Yellow and Green-Blue crayons.

AED.8

Root Chakra
Oil Pastel



Julie:
The stapeliad sketch from yesterday was done with a Micron pen tip size 005.

AED.7

Quick ink sketch.

AED.6

Today I went to New Jersey to see a client. The foliage was spectacular, and I wish I had my camera with me.

This is a quick sketch in oil pastel.

AED.5

Oil Pastels

AED.4

Anatomy study after Burne Hogarth.

Cat

I'm not sure exactly how but I managed to change my camera settings. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

AED.3

I'm calling it finished. And reminding myself that it's a sketch, not an oil painting!

AED.2

This is a little sketch of a color garden and it isn't finished. I'll probably need one more session with it.

It's watercolor though I should have used gouache and prob will tomorrow.



This is fun; I almost feel like I am back in college with assignments. Except that the all-nighters are optional and I have a day job. And a kid.

Ode to My Pencil Box

Not being the most organized person in the world, I pick and choose what I'm obsessive about when it comes to keeping order. For instance, I require a clean desk at work with everything in its place. I do prefer order to chaos but it's always been a challenge at home.

Another thing that falls under "must be perfectly organized at all times" is my pencil box. I am rather fond of my pencil box. You see, I've had it for over 13 years- since my first year in college. I was so excited to get it, and I remember having to wait a few weeks to make the purchse (something about being broke...).

Through the years it hasn't changed much. (Although I used to keep a little vial of Walnut ink in there and I can't find it! I wish I could!) The google eyes that used to be on the front came off years ago and it's collected a lot of art-grime that I have never been able to clean off (though not for lack of trying).

Here is the grand tour of my pencil box:



I keep lots of stuff in there, all perfectly arranged so it will still close.

Most notable things are:
*The usual assortment of graphite pencils, both regular and water-soluable
*A pastel pencil I have had since I was 9 years old. (From a General's Drawing Set)
*Ink pens and a brush or two
*An Altoids box for pencil shavings. (Got the idea from my high school art teacher. And it fits perfectly!!)
*A pretty Black Goldstone rock (because I like it- pictured in close-up above)
*Xacto knife and blades
*A dry point needle
*Bamboo pens, more assorted loose charcoal and graphite
*A few different kinds of erasers
*A white moonstone, a blending cloth I've had in there since college, a purple die, and a cross stone.

What's in your pencil box?

AED.1

One of the things I would like to get out of this month of art every day is to start working regularly in my sketchbook again. It's been a long time since I kept one, and I know they are indespensible to any artist.

Starting sketchbooks (and journals!) is very difficult for me. Once I've worked in a book for a while, I get to "know" it but that aquaintance period is difficult. So I thought to start with a dedication.

Here is Athena, who I have loved since I was a small child. She is a goddess of wisdom and war, but also the arts.



Actually I started drawing daily a few days ago and it feels really good. A lot of insecurities surrounding my art and creativity and surfacing, and most of it is my belief that I'm not as good as I should be because I haven't put the time and effort into my craft. I need to build a current portfolio.

I always had a wish that I needed to make art like I have to breathe- but over the years I've had difficulty finding that fire of inspiration.

Serena, thanks for being my friend during this journey. It's great to have some moral support.

:)

New Year

My intention for the new year:


May you also be blessed with happiness.


Daya was a faerie. It suited her very well. Please note that the almost-three year old is bigger than I am.


And my cat says hi. One day I will learn how to focus my camera properly for close-ups.

Happy Halloween/Samhain!

Yesterday, Chris posted a ficticious scary story and invited readers to post their scary stories in the comments section. I was going to write my scary story there but felt it might be better placed here.

This is a true story, from my deep dark past. After you read it I think you'll understand why I never tell it.

Some years ago I was involved with the Pagan scene here in NYC. I was in what I guess you'd call a coven. That in itself was not scary- liken it to very small religious services. A lot of it was a good experience and I learned a lot. But I digress.

During that period I was also on a couple Pagan-oriented email lists. I think it was still eGroups at the time. (Remember eGroups?) Well, on one of the lists I got into a small tiff with a girl who was into some questionable stuff. (demons I think?) She got mad at me (why I can't recall) and threatened to "show me" (paraphrased). I didn't think too much about it- perhaps at most I thoguht I'd have a strange dream. But I didn't.

***pause for some background details***

At the time I lived in a basement apartment in a private house. The windows were small and high up near my ceiling. My bed was positioned in a corner so that my head was near one of the windows.

The girl I got into the tiff with lived across the country somewhere. She was not on the east coast.

***resume story****
This happened over a weekend because I was sleeping in. The next morning I was fast asleep and i heard a voice outside my window. It was a male voice, very deep and oddly, very beautiful. Something about it, though, "carried through the air" wrong. (I don't know how else to describe it.)

My blinds were down but I could tell that it was bright and sunny outside. Anyhow I couldn't really make out what the voice was saying, being half asleep and all, but as I came to full awaremess it was saying things like "You don't believe in me I'll show you." I don't recall anything else it said except for it's threat to "piss on my head". Which meant it knew where I was in the apartment without ever having been inside or seeing through a window. I was really freaked out and so did the only thing one can do in that kind of circumstance- I prayed.

And it worked. Immediately. The person/thing went away.

I tried calling the police but my phone was dead. I quickly got dressed and my very freaked out landlady was at the front door of the house. She said she had called me twice and left 2 messages on my machine. I never did get them. The incident also blew out the power supply on my computer. (That really pissed me off.) I asked what the man looked like- she said he had longish blonde hair, was walking funny and had a bottle in his hand. They had never seen him before. I told them I had no idea who it was and it wasn't a friend of mine. I don't think they believed me but nothing more ever happened.

My phone started working again and I bought a new power supply for the computer. I also slept at my friends' place the following night. For over a month I slept with the lights on.

Remind me sometime to tell you about the stuff that was happening in my apartment right before Daya was born when my ex was completely loco.

I'm off to Target now! Happy Halloween, love and kisses!