Random Sketches

Because I haven't been working on new stuff lately, or at least finishing anything, here are a few gems I found in my notebooks.  When I feel stuck I am often surprised by the levels of crazy I find in there. :)

Garden Flowers

Pretty sure that I haven't posted this one yet, even though I finished it in the spring. This summer has been so busy and gorgeous. I have been slacking in the art-making part of my life and really anything that requires me to stay inside. My garden however is wild and flourishing.

This is only a fraction of the cherry tomatoes from this year. Also, my art is still up at The Bakery in New Paltz for a few more weeks, so if you haven't stopped by you have a little more time to do so.

Bon Odori Festival

Don't forget! I am going to be at the Bon Odori Festival this Sunday from 11am to 7pm doing Kabuki face painting. This lovely person will be with me selling some adorable dumpling animals, see Goats and Glory

Kabuki!

So if you follow my ramblings regularly you may have noticed that this site has been offline a whole bunch. Well, that is because I have been trying to revamp my look and my internet presence. I have an online store being worked on, and I am trying to figure out if I am a skilled enough fiddler to make this blog look like a website. So there's lots of exciting things in the works. I also have a twitter and a tumbler!! Which is funny, because it's summer, and WHO WANTS TO BE ON THE COMPUTER THAT MUCH! But I'm going to give it a shot.

In recent news I am going to be at the Bon Odori festival in New Paltz next weekend. I will be selling the adorable beastie toys featured in my last post, tee shirts, and I will be doing some awesome face painting. Because it is a Japanese festival I will be doing some super special Kabuki face painting. Kabuki is Japanese traditional theater makeup. It looks pretty cool, right?

Guess who that is. . . .

IT'S ME

Beasties!

My beasties are experimenting with photo bombing! You rascals!

Works in Progress

Here's a bunch of stuff I've been working on. What I love about my 3D paper drawings is that it's a lot like making paper dolls. You can cut them out and pose them around. It's a lot of fun!

Snowdrops

A terrible face

This is my submission for the month of May's quill them all theme: A terrible face.

Revised Beast

Yeah, he wasn't quite done, so I made him super awesome.

Beasts and Dinner Plates

My submission for March's Quill Them All blog, theme: "I'm hungry." Also, this week I got bored and drew on my paper plate. Never knew lobsters could have sexy lips? This one does.

 

The Hat

After cutting his hair Mark was experiencing an acute case of the shivery ears. So, a good sport as always, he let me knit my first ever hat for him. And look at those cables!! I'm so smitten with knitting and can't get over how satisfying and soothing it is. It's a little sad now though since I don't have a project lined up and I feel a little empty inside. Every day I'm feeling more and more like an old woman, and I love it!

 

Valentines

Every year I send out hand-made valentines cards in my campaign to spread as much love as possible in the coldest and most soul draining of months. V-Day is not just for couples, it is a great excuse to tell friends and family that you love them.

Hey, I love you guys!

I try to remember everyone I am close with when I send these out, but I have been known to make mistakes. So if there is anyone who usually gets my valentines or feels left out, just let me know! I try not to be a poop head about it and I want everyone to feel loved. This year I make rubber stamps of cicadas.

 

Ice Cream

I found this wonderful pattern for knitted ice cream cones from http://i-like-lemons.blogspot.com/2008/05/scooped-knit-ice-cream-cone-patterns.html. Her blog is wonderful and she has designed some ingenious knitting patterns and I highly recommend you check her out.

My niece Lillee with her birthday ice cream cone.

 

Lit From Within

Here's my quill!! The theme for last month was "Lit from Within," a theme I chose because I don't often get a chance to paint light and frankly I need the practice. And here's a detail of the work in progress.

Knit Tomato

I have lately gone on a knitting kick and started teaching myself how to read knitting short hand for patterns.  A whole new world has opened up to me! I have so far mastered the knitting of spherically shaped items, and have even finished a knit cucumber! My goal is to try doing some fancy cable stitches in exercise to one day make an afghan, but for now baby steps. And possibly more vegetables. :) I believe next in line is either an eggplant or carrot.

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek on something new I'm working on. I'm very excited for it because I think it will be very dynamic and full of some great colors when it's done. Keep an eye on the Quill Them All illustration blog, because this painting is part of the month of January's submissions.

Lobster Man

This is my first new painting of the new year. Started this guy the second I got home from the holidays as a warm up exercise. I haven't really done any water coloring in quite a while, so this was a lot of fun! I've drawn this guy before. The last time he was taking his pet lobster for a walk on the leash. Now it seems that his lobster has gotten loose and he is trying to coax him home.

Monster

 

Playing around with not inking in a drawing. This is just pencil and watercolor. 

New Stuffed Beasties!

 Meet the new crew of adorable stuffed Beasties!!! 

 The sweet one.

 The dumb one.

 The leader.

 And the explosives engineer. 

 Now say goodbye!

Also this is a little dude I made in honor of the amazing fabric I picked up. I consider him a prototype because he still needs a little work to make him perfect, but I think he's pretty silly!