Fun Stuff
One World One Heart
MsKitty has insisted that she participate in this year’s “One World One Heart” Blogging Event. We (MsKitty and I) will give away the two Art Trading Cards on this post to two separate bloggers.*
I have closed this posting to comments. I will select the winners from the comments already received.
I think One World One Heart is a wonderful idea. I will honor those who have posted comments. Winners will be posted on 15 February.
I apologize. To my friends and followers, you may be baffled, confused or disappointed. Please understand, I've been blogging to the point of not painting. I need to back off, take a break, re-orient to my artistic goals and remember what I'm doing.
Thank you for understanding.
Posted in Blog Giveaway, Fun Stuff | 
Tags: ATC, Blogging Giveaway Event, MsKitty, One World One Heart | 
57 Comments »
Moon Goddess – Happy Halloween
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It's the "Moon Goddess" annual appearance on this blog. "Moon Goddess" was inspired by the long nosed bats of the Southwest and Mexico. They're plant pollinators. And they are much prettier than the photo on Wikipedia, but at least the information is OK/fine. If you'd like to see some great photos of bats, go to Bat Conservation International and look at their photo gallery. They have a lesser leaf nose bat pollinating a saguaro.
In my college days I had the honor to work with bats in the wild. They are wonderful, beautiful animals. OK, some of them have some pretty bizarre looking faces. But, how do we look to them? Their wings are amazingly soft and elastic. It was a joy working with them.
Speaking of bats, the only time I won a prize in a Halloween costume party was when I dressed up as a brown bat. Anyway, Happy Halloween!
Posted in Colored Pencil, Fun Stuff, Miscellaneous Thoughts | Tags: bats, fun, halloween, long nosed bats | 2 Comments »
Frog’s Quest to Help Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
I thought I’d get acquainted with Frog a minute. MsKitty needed some private time…um…
“So Frog, I understand you’re a Dendrobates pumilo frog”.
“A what? If you say so.”
“Its stamped on your stomach. Plus, I looked it up; and you’re also known as Oophaga pumilio or a Strawberry Poison frog from Central America;”.
“Hmmph; can’t believe everything you read.”
“I like your red and bluish purple color.”
“Don’t like your color; people are sort of drab.”
“Good point”.
“So, I thought you had some trees in the Pacific Northwest, where are they?”
“You’re at the beach; head up to the Olympic National Park and we have grand trees in our temperate rainforest. What are you doing this far North? Isn’t it a bit cold”.
“I’m on a quest to help save the rare and endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus that lives in Cascadia”.
“The WHAT?”
“I found it on the web! And, everybody knows that everything on the web is true. And, the tree octopus is an amphibian just like me! Sasquatch told me so!”
And with that, Frog continued his journey….we only hope he doesn’t freeze while he searches for the rare and endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.?
Ok…… imagined conversation with a frog can be a little bit weird. I wanted to have another go at working with the frog, so here we are. It’s all about learning and stretching my imagination muscles!
This is about watercolor…and having fun!
Exercises!
This morning I’m having fun challenging myself with composition exercises. I’m arranging shapes, looking for balance and visual interest. The cool thing is there are lots of correct answers; the only incorrect answer is not trying!
This exercise is from Mr. Miles Batt’s book “The Complete Guide to Creative Watercolor”. Interestingly enough, hmmm, he starts out with composition exercises. The point was to take some shapes and arrange them and then see…and look! And arrange some more to get a feel for the different ways to balance a composition.
I think this kind of thinking is fun; my mind becomes totally engaged!
Drawings from Diamond Lake, Oregon
These are the final drawings I did about the places we went on our recent trip. I worked on "Still Life with Toy Pony" while we were camping. One thing about working from inside your (my) head is that I can work on the drawing anywhere.
Diamond Lake is near Crater Lake in Southern Oregon. We went to Diamond Lake after visiting Ashland and Medford for the second time. The day before we left Ashland and Medford, a strong wind storm had come through, spreading forest fires. When we arrived at Diamond Lake, we saw the billowing smoke from a forest fire in the direction we were planning to go, along the North Umpqua River. Two fires in different regions of this area combined and made a huge fire. Eventually, we had to scrap our idea of camping and hiking because of the fire.
The first drawing was of some trees and rocks along the shore of Diamond Lake. The second is of my "impression" of the area. There were several small aspen mixed in with the fir. Plus, lots of butterflies. The swirls allude to the wind, fire, and cycle of life.
