Sunday Random

My first daffodils:

More observations on filling the void:

The front seat of my car on a typical day is a moving library (pink bag full of books on CD), a art studio (brown bag with blue straps ( sketch pad, Uppercase magazine, Vera book for inspiration), umbrella for sudden rain showers, brown jacket for falling temperatures, crumbled lunch sack which had my lunch in it earlier in the day, second umbrella on the floor (because you never know when you'll need a back up) empty drink cups, Bed, Bath and Beyond $5 coupon, blotter paper ( for makeup touch up) and my purse.

Work doodle:

Cute (in my humble opinion) baby headband that I whipped up to add to the gift for my niece's baby shower today.

The baby's name will be Sunny....In case you think I was so very clever in picking out the perfect gift bag...don't. It wasn't until I reread the invitation this morning that I noticed the baby's name. Duh!....Don't even ask how many times I read the directions to the house wrong today....We made it, that's all that counts.

Speaking of babies:

This little guy will be a big brother come next November.

Blue Tablecloth Week: Day Four

I'm just gonna lay it all out on the table....I have a potential problem. I have a favorite brand of ballpoint pen. I love this pen. I love to write with this pen. I love to draw with this pen. I just went shopping for more of these pens. When I got ready to write this post, I gathered up all of this brand of pen in the house. I have more than a few.

But, I have a problem.

Pentel might be discontinuing production of my favorite ballpoint pen. At the very least, stores hardly stock them anymore. Everyone wants the gel pen or the roller ball. Not me. I want the Pentel R.S.V.P. ballpoint pen. It's ink glides on smoothly rarely depositing glops of ink on the paper. It doesn't smear. It's fine point draws a fine line. I know it's probably not archival ink, but my sketches aren't archival quality either.

Speaking of archival and quality, my Moleskine is filled with mostly blank pages. And I've carried it in my purse for over a year now. The paper in it is smooth to the touch. The little notebook is so nice...I can't make myself put Pentel to paper. I might mess it up. This is stupid I know. But there you have it.

The truth is I am much more likely to draw on my worksheets at work than I am on my nice Moleskine.

I have more than one very nice hard bound watercolor tablet. I even have a small Moleskine watercolor notebook. Have I made more than one or two watercolors in them? No, instead I use highlighters and magic markers and Sharpies to make pseudo paintings.

I really planned to paint my Valentine tulips. Instead, I did this.

It's like Rachel and her love of Lisa Frank products all over again. She had stickers, pads pencils...she had tons of product. She loved it. She still had tons of product...when she cleaned out her room before she got married. Tons of Lisa Frank products that she had never used because they were too nice.

I've instructed Rachel not to throw my (unused) paper products away when I die. Someone will use them. If you've drawn and painted and used your Moleskines up and need more, send me your name and I'll put you in my will.

My Corner of the World

This is where I Polly wolly doodle all the day.


Speaking of Polly Wolly Doodle....do you remember the song or are you so young that you have no idea what I'm talking about? As my children were growing up and now my grandchildren, I've noticed that they no longer learn the old elementary music class staples.

Songs like:

Mary Had a Little Lamb
You Are My Sunshine
The Farmer in the Dell
Oh, Susanna
Bingo (was his name O)
Ring Around the Rosies
Hickory Dickory Dock
If You're Happy and You Know It
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush


I remember singing Home On the Range, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Shenandoah, The Streets of Laredo, Billy Boy, Dixie, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, The Marine's Hymn, America The Beautiful and The Battle Hymn of the Republic as well as the National Anthem twice a week in music class all through my elementary years.

My mother taught all my children a nonsense song her older brother made up when he was a teenager. The story goes that the family was driving to Florida for the annual family vacation. The kids were bored as all kids get on long road trips. There was one apple and five children. It was offered to the one who made up the best song. My uncle won. His song is meant to be sung to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. It goes something like this....Hummm da duh ve vada moon da duh a da duh hip pat tata da duh moon ..... well you get the point you sing it fast. It has always been a tongue twister for me. My kids and now my grandkids can sing it better than I've ever been able too.

The point of this rambling rant about folk songs is that I hope they don't die out with our generation. They are a wonderful reminder of the musical history of this country as well as just being fun to sing. So sing one of these tunes to a little one in your life this week. Pass them on.

(I feel like a granny saying "I hope this music doesn't die out with our generation." It is scary to realize that I am old enough to start thinking thoughts like this. Yikes!)

Postcards and Doodles

Postcards:

What's pink and red and high flying?

A Chinese postcard of the Beijing airport apparently.

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday!

Doodles:

What's purple and green and pretty sketchy?

More office doodles, of course!


What do postcards and doodles have to do with each other?

Duh, nothing dude!

In The Pink

As a counter-point to yesterday's blue girls, my doodle today needed some ummph...some perk...a smile.

Pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude!

work day doodle

I call this one Pompous Guy. He looks down his nose at me. His eyebrows are arched as if to question the veracity of what I'm saying. The pinch of his lips suggest that he finds me a little repugnant. The slight smile reads as superiority when coupled with the rest of his expression.

I drew this from a photograph of a real person I found in a magazine. I won't give anymore clues to his real identity, since I am maligning him by my assessment of his facial expression.

He was super fun to draw. The only thing I didn't get right was his dead-on stare. In my drawing, my guy's eyes are a little too kind. Not so in the real photo. I wish you could see it. You might be amused to see the way his hands are folded in front of his chest in an open fingered pedagoguish manner. Everything about the photo reads pompous.

The Office

I was back at it today. Back at creating an alternate universe for myself. This time it was a host of co-employees to work with. Young and old, male and female, they each have unique personalities. Some of them are a little eccentric and some of them are reliable, some like their jobs and one or two of them are know-it-alls.

Here we are, all lined up for a photo opp for the company newsletter.

This photo was taken with cutting edge technology that not only records the employee's image, but also assesses his emotional health....we were told we all need to see
the company physician for some mood elevators.....

Here we are after we found out we were losing our complimentary breakfast donuts and diet cokes because of the downturn in the economy.

Guess which one I am. Yeah, I'm the one in the middle that looks like a self-satisfied-amused-by-the-world-she-created twit.

Sometimes I Feel Like A Nut

I've been feeling a little out of step with the world lately...........











So I decided to draw some weirdos to keep me company.

Friday Art On Saturday

Yesterday was a slow day at work. If you've been reading my blog for very long you will know that the pens and markers begin calling me when work is slow.

I thought you might like to see my two drawings.


Both images were drawn from advertisements found in the most recent Better Homes and Gardens magazine...that I just happened to have at work for times such as these.

2008-A Year In The Life Calendar

I bundled up my 2008 desk calendar and brought it home yesterday. I'm going to make a front and back cover for it, add binder rings and voila...I will have encapsulated a year in my life.

Keeping a visual record of my year was fun. Some days the entries were just doodles, some days I recorded the day's happenings and some days I used the calendar as a place to vent.

My 2009 calendar is waiting for me....I'll do this again next year.

I thought you might like a look.

You can see more pages on my Flickr account. Click on 2008 Calendar.

What Child Is This?

Today I decided that it was about time for me to get my Christmas spirit going on. While working, I listened to Christmas music and drew. I drew the Madonna and Child. My inspiration was the Virgin and Child with the Young John the Baptist by Sandro Botticelli stamp.

At first I drew a quasi-copy of the stamp. You can see where I used the white-out snail to erase lines I didn't like.

With my next attempt, I tried to simplify the mother and child design.

On the left side of today's calendar entry you can see my third attempt to reduce the lines further. And on the right side I tried a new approach to the same topic.


Speaking of my calendar.....I've filled quite a lot of pages with doodles now.

Usually, I am the person who puts up and decorated the office tree. This year I just didn't want to do it. So I folded 6 strips of paper with one of two messages on each: 1. you get to play or 2. you don't get to play this time. I put them in a cup and everyone picked a slip. Turns out the lucky winners were our two newest employees. They were good sports and did a great job, although I would be willing to bet they haven't put decorations on a tree in many years. The best part was I didn't have to do it.

This tree in our parking lot looks like it is in the Christmas spirit with its bright red leaves, doesn't it?
It was so pretty, I had to stop and take a picture.

What have you been doing to get in the mood for the Holidays?

Incorrigible

Work continues to be slow. I continue to doodle on everything. Here's a glimpse at some of the latest sketches.

My hand:

Mozart from a CD case:

My cup of pens and markers:

My granddaughter, from a photograph on my desk:

Monet painting in his Japanese garden:
Like Jessica said in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit:' I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way!

Just Some Nonsense!

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, 'It is just as I feared! -

Two Owls and a Hen,

Four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!'


-Edward Lear, "Book of Nonsense"

Today was almost unbearably long.  So glad it is over!  How about your day? Got any
news to report?

Hocus Pocus

Take a few scarecrows and pumpkins,



Throw in some warts and pointy hats,

A dash of candy,

And you've got a recipe for a scary good time!

Happy Owloween!

ps You've all been Boo-ed! Pass it along!