At least I have an excuse for not posting for a month...we moved. I hate moving, especially twice in a year. But the new house is big(ish) and airy and very private. It has lovely tropical plants all the way around and a hot tub on the back lanai. My room is much bigger, so I have room for my computer and a drawing table. Now I have no excuse not to get something done. I'm not finished sorting and arranging, much less finding everything I need. A lot of stuff is in plastic bins in the garage, so it's going to take a while.
The house is painted in several colors...the slate blue is lovely and soothing, but the egg-yolk yellow and acid green have got to go! We were hoping to have it done before we moved in, but there's so much delay and complications in buying a house that we weren't even sure about it until about a week before our move date. Nearly every room in the house has one wall painted green or yellow, and the colors are so gaudy and (as my friend Trish said) "contentious."
Here's my room before I moved in. The yellow and green don't look nearly as bad in the picture as they do in real life. That ceiling fan is great, though; keeps the room nice and cool without air conditioning. Outside the huge window is the back lanai with palms and heliconias.

The Year of Doing Nothing

I've been in Hawai'i over a year, and I feel like I've done nothing all year. I made a few little items here and there, sewed some clothes for my sister, but I haven't done any drawing (not much, anyway). I'm hoping this will be followed by the Year of Doing Much...I'd like to design and sew some clothes, do a lot of drawing, some printmaking, maybe some painting and papermaking, make jewelry and beadwork, and a lot of other things.
After working at a job for 3 years before I moved back to Hawai'i, where I had to do a lot of stuff all day, I felt like my creative juices were being depleted. At home I didn't have the time or energy to do much. Now I have no excuse, since my main job is to stay at home with my mother, do the grocery shopping and some cooking, take my mom out for her errands, and generally be a housewife (bizarre!).
There will be some big changes soon (stay tuned) and I'm hoping to find inspiration in the changes and my surroundings. Plus I have got to get really serious about making money from my art - online or wherever. If any of my readers has suggestions about how to promote my art online, I'd love to hear it. If anyone would like to be my agent, I'd like that too.

Same Subject, Different Media

After posting the drawing of the pot with the draped cloth, I realized that a watercolor version has been sitting in the living room for nearly a year. So here it is. This one is 6" x 4".

Little Drawing

This little colored pencil drawing is about 4 x 5.5 inches, done on a scrap of mat board. I think it's about 20 years old, but I did several versions. Sometimes I like to do the same drawing over and over just to see what variations will occur.

Poppy Shadow

This is from a series of flowers I did in pastel. They were about 24"x30", and I discovered working on these that I did not like to work big. I prefer doing small works. But I do love this image.

My Favorite Etchings

Miss Otis Regrets
Pears In Snow
After all these years, these are still my favorites. I think they must be at least 20 years old; I've printed them in different colors, sold a fair amount of them, and "Miss Otis" won a few printmaking and small works awards. They are about the size of playing cards, the results of some experimenting I was doing with open-bite etching.

Autumn

Woman in a Veil

Scribble

These remind me of the handwriting exercises I had to do in Catholic School when we were learning to write in script.

Girl in a Hat Redux

A fashion drawing done in Illustrator, inspired by the sketch below.

Girl in a Hat

Fashion Drawings

A sampling of various styles of fashion drawings, from my old portfolios.

Day of the week confusion

Since my sister has days off from teaching, we've been hanging out and doing stuff, and now I'm thoroughly confused about the day of the week. I'm days behind in posting; last post was Monday, and today is Thursday, I believe, so I need to post at least 3 images.
1. Sunglass girls - a theme I've been doing for years. I have zillions of doodles and sketches of people with sunglasses.
2. Reclining nude - I guess I've mentioned before that this is a favorite theme of mine, and also my favorite way to be: nude and reclining.
3. This is an African mask I saw in a museum or perhaps in a book. It must have been during my scientific illustration period, with the attention to detail and even the texture of the wood. I love doing scientific illustration and replicating something with the accuracy of a photograph. Actually, one of the advantages of illustration over photography is that details can often be shown more accurately in a drawing.

Kiss Kiss, Blush Blush

I did this digital illustration about 10 years ago for a client - I don't remember the client or whether it was ever published, but it did get me some jobs designing labels for makeup and perfume.

A simple motif to be used in an allover pattern. We generally call this paisley, but the motif comes from India, where it is considered a stylized mango. When fabrics were first imported from India to the UK, large woven scarves with this motif became very popular. A weaving company in Paisley, Scotland began to produce them in wool, and soon the scarves were known as Paisleys. Eventually, the Indian mango motif came to be known as paisley.

Pears Again

Pears, pears and more pears...

Paper Doll

An idea for a Hawaiian-style paper doll...when I was very little, 6 or 7 years old, I had stacks and stacks of paper dolls, and I loved designing new clothes for them. I would trace the doll on paper, then draw an outfit, and color it with crayons or paint. By the time I was in 6th grade, everyone thought I would be a clothing designer. I did a lot of custom design and dressmaking (beginning at age 14), but I never worked for a clothing company, or put out my own line. I took detours into other creative areas, and now that I'm back in Hawai'i I would like to start designing clothes again.

Musicians

These silhouettes were the basis of several designs - I used them on a painted gourd series, and a miniature etching series. There's also a drummer and a piano player sketch somewhere...

Where to find my art for sale

I have added links on the sidebar to my shop on Etsy. Fine Art For the Fridge magnets: each thin flexible magnet frame holds an individual work of art, an original etching, printed by the artist (me). Most are 2"x2.5", some are 2"x2". I hope to be adding more soon, and some of my bigger prints (not as magnets).
I also have some of my couched gold embroidered pins. Each one takes about ten hours to complete; they are embroidered on velveteen, then stretched over a form to keep its shape. The back is covered with a small piece of leather holding the pin in place. These are all I have, and I don't know if I will do any more, unless someone has a specific request.
And there are fabric dolls - they are made entirely of worn, torn, faded cotton. There is no sewing, they are made completely braided, tied and/or wrapped. They are happy in your pocket, on a shelf, or sitting in a window.
If anything else on my blog interests you, just ask in comments if it's available. Most of the prints I post are still available for reasonable prices.

Swim Shorts

Another fashion drawing - I like the idea of wearing longer shorts for swimming. Many of us would rather not show our thighs and butts just because we are going in the water. Personally, I'd like a long sleeve/long pants combo so I wouldn't have to worry about the sun either!

Pencrazy

I don't usually fill an entire page of a sketchbook, but I'm pretty sure this was the result of buying a new pen...apparently a brushpen. I was fiddling with it, trying to find the various ways to use it, and in the top left corner it says "pencrazy" (upside down).
Maybe I should buy some new pens, or drag out some I haven't used in a while. It always inspires me to draw, or at least doodle. I have a glass pen with a nib like a swirly ice cream cone. You dip it in ink and it draws for a very long time. I guess it would help if I had a table just for drawing.

More than one...

While trying to organize my files, I discovered that I posted a couple of works that I had already posted in earlier entries. So today, I'm posting a few to catch up. This swirl was a sketch for a repeat textile pattern. One of these days I might finish it.

Below, another sleeping girl, along with my life motto: "when in doubt, get horizontal."

Another little ink on mat board - color added digitally.

3 Pears X 2

Pears - a classic theme; two versions of a similar motif. I'm posting 2 today because it's technically Monday and I missed posting anything on Sunday. The one above is just pencil on bristol board, and the one below is colored pencil on frosted acetate. I love drawing on frosted acetate...it has almost the same feeling as drawing on a lithography stone.

Four views

These may have been planning drawings for scratchboard, but I don't think I ever did them in scratchboard. I love painting with ink on mat board, the way it soaks in and gives such a satisfying black.

Better Late Than Never

I neglected my posting last night after partying with old friends, but it's still technically Friday, so I'll post something...something...an old favorite, my Planet Dancers print.

Fashion

I can't help but fall back on my beginnings in fashion design, especially since lately I've been thinking of outfits to make for myself. Not necessarily mu'umu'u, but what we call Aloha wear.

Slippers and Fruit

I love slippers. I love to draw slippers. I don't know why the fruits are there.

Negative/Positive

My sweet Marie in her natural black and how she would look in white. She was the most beautiful cat, though few people saw her - she would hide under the bed and only come out if everyone sat very still.

Awakening

A reclining girl...one of my favorite themes. This was done sometime in 2005.

Praying Girl

I have no idea when or why I did this sketch. The only date I could find in the sketchbook was 1994, so I'm pretty sure this is at least 10 years old.

Spiral Planets

This is scratchboard - I used to do a lot of it because I could work very small and in great detail. While organizing my art supplies, I found a nice big piece of scratchboard, so I plan to start doing them again.

Check in hand?

I found this in an old notebook...maybe it was a sketch for an icon or something? There were other variations on the page, but I liked this one best. I often sketch in pencil, and then, years later, go through the sketchbooks and go over the ones I like in pen. Not usually red pen; I must have been in a mood.

Sketch-a-day?

I am going to make a serious effort to post a sketch every day, even if it's just a doodle. If I don't draw anything that day, I will post scans of some of my old stuff.
Today I started to draw some poppy pods, but I got interrupted, and this is where I stopped. I thought they looked like they were dancing.
This is more for my own amusement and discipline than anything else, but I appreciate all comments so I don't feel like I'm sending this out blindly into the blogosphere.

My sister asked me to make a little cup and saucer for her friend Jim. This one will also fit on a dime...I made a little origami box for it, the box is 1 inch square.

While looking for something else entirely, I found a stash of crochet thread probably 30+ years old. Some of it is size 70...you can't even get size 70 anymore. The larger the number, the finer the thread, and most of my miniatures are size 20. So I was able to make this incredibly tiny cup and saucer - fits on a dime.




Made some baskets for Easter presents, also tiny as a dime but made from size 20 thread, so not quite as delicate. The hardest part is tying the bow on the ribbon and getting it to be proportional to the basket. I presented them inside plastic eggs - inverting the paradigm (I always wanted to say that).

Neglecting my blog

If I was horrendously busy, I would have an excuse, but I haven't been. My neglect is more based on ennui. I'm bored with my life at the moment, and though I have done some more crochet, I haven't done any printmaking. The annual meeting is next week, so I'm planning to get back to the studio.

In the meantime, just some miniature crochet pieces...

Slippers - 1¼"

Little basket - 1½"

Little basket - 1½"

Little pink hat

Fuzzy Vest for a doll

That's all for now...I've got to do more and find more to do.