Whales

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It’s funny that location seems to inspire my subject matter. When I am at the beach I seem to lean to the sea creatures. Whales are so wonderful, they have great shapes, great color, great everything.

My recent visit to the Portland Museum of Art has also inspired the whale paintings. Currently they are showing Of Whales in Paint: Rockwell Kent’s Moby-Dick inspired works–and it is well worth a visit.

Both of these pieces were a lot of fun to work on. The Sperm Whale in acrylic (which is always a struggle for me) is 16″ x 10″ on canvas. I used a toothbrush for a lot of this painting to achieve the effects and that worked well for creating marks with unexpected results! And, the Humpback whale done in the Procreate app, which is beyond fun.

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Lots of joy with these pieces for me.

Enjoying Mixed Materials

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In some ways I feel like I need to settle down and choose a singular medium. This must come from some rigid thought process held over from college. I don’t know. I am having a lot of fun mixing up materials. However, even when mixing things up, I should probably have some discipline!

I am starting to realize that it is okay to just keep “practicing” and let the mind flow along with the creations. Maybe I need to stop thinking I need to get to something more serious.

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The End of Inktober

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I am so sad to see #inktober end. Such a fun month of drawing and seeing what everyone else is doing with their ink! I wasn’t able to get a drawing in every day, but I did pretty good. And, I feel like I did a lot of exploring…not only with different ink techniques, but also subject matter. I like following the prompts…it resulted in drawings that I would never have done otherwise. The turkey vulture is a prime example…I would never think to draw one of these!

I like the art challenges, they are fun to do.

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Four More Days!

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I can’t believe that #inktober2016 is almost over. While I haven’t been able to keep up everyday, I have done pretty well. This year has been fun to use the actual prompts…makes me think about drawing something I wouldn’t normally do.

Still loving the puffy fish on the iPad pro with the Apple Pencil. A lot fun and great way to learn the features of the Procreate app.

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Digital Art Discovery

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Super fun! I can’t stop using this new to me app Procreate with my iPad pro and the apple pencil. It is soooooo much fun! Great for the little puffer fish characters that are in my head.

I have seen a lot of art that is so wonderful using this app….that will take a lot longer for me to figure out.

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My brother and I went on vacation together, and he drove most of the way, so even though it was a little bumpy here and there, I spend most of my time trying to work things in the app out and drawing. It’s absolutely addictive.

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Ink Experiments

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It’s always fun to try something new. Gauche resist with ink. I am not sure where I read about this technique, but it looked like a good way to get some unexpected results. Clearly, the results are unexpected. I think I will try a few of these for awhile…every piece of paper seems to react differently. The great thing is I can use these for #inktober2016!

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Flamingo on 5″ x 5″ canvas…totally did not work out as planned.

Bat on watercolor paper 4″ x 6″…totally did not work out as planned!

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Inktober Continues

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Surprisingly I have kept up pretty well with #inktober2016. I have only missed a couple of days. Yesterday was my wedding anniversary, so I gave myself a break! Not all days have been good days, but the challenge has motivated me to get something drawn in my book pretty much everyday!

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I am trying to follow the daily prompts this year, but on occasion if I can’t do that I still work on a sketch in ink. I am really enjoying my Dad’s drawings, he is being a real sport and I love to see him participate! I look forward to his drawings everyday.

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Day 3 & 4

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Trying to keep up during the work week is tough! I figure even if I can’t do a long detailed drawing, I can do a super quick one. Also trying to stick with the prompts, day three was collecting, and I am for sure collecting faces! Day 4 was hungry, so what better than a hungry bear! Quick, quick, quick!

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Day Two Inktober

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The prompt for today was noisy. Cicada in dry brush, brush pen and micron pen with some green ink that didn’t scan well. Hoping to keep up with each day, that will be the challenge!

I am also working on a face in ink wash and some colored ink, but didn’t finish that today.

In Memoriam

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This has been a sad month. We lost our very spectacular dog Big on September 2nd. He did in fact have a long (12 years), adventurous and a really spoiled life. However, the pain of the loss still weighs heavy, I imagine that will last for awhile. He was a committed companion, always on watch for his family. When you have a dog you get used to all the things that go along with having a dog…saving leftovers, night walks, morning walks, morning cuddles, sharing the sofa during tv shows, making plans for travel that include finding spots that will take dogs and of course one of the most wonderful things… knowing you are coming home to someone who always has time for you. He will be missed in a Big way. I will be forever grateful to my parents who were with him at the very end, they are the kindest people I know. I only wish that I had been with him as well.

We will probably adopt another dog in the future, but Big will always have an especially special place in my heart. I don’t know why but somehow I felt even more connected to him than our other dogs…and I loved our other dogs very much!

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Sadly our friend (and vet) also lost their long time companion, Springer Spaniel Samantha. She also had a long and wonderful life. I know her family will miss her as well. I did this portrait for them as a memoriam.

Dogs are really fabulous, I just wished that they would live longer.