Laying down the graphite

An imaginary dog just for fun:

Woof!

Sketch...sketch...sketch

One of the assignments from Carla Sonheim's 2014: Year of the Fairy Tale online class is yielding a ton of sketches beginning with this sheet:

Plant and marine critters for reference

And there's more:

12 more little sketches

This represents about 25% of the assignment...whoa :-)

I love stuff like this

I'll come up the stairs and find this waiting -

Mr. Moose did have antlers...awhile back.

Remy has left one of his well-loved toys while he is off to pursue some other canine endeavor. Often his toys are settled in expressive poses that just make me think about my quirky Golden and how lucky I am to have this sweet boy in my life.

See what I mean...

I still refer to Remy as my "puppy".

A useful diversion :-)

I'll take a break from some other art work and create a tile. It helps me to forget about that other work and shed whatever mental/overly-analytical state I may have worked myself into. It's just a brief respite; and when I come back I have an unbiased eye toward my work and as a bonus, a finished tile.

So then, what may have inspired this tile? I was finally able to sit outdoors with my Remy and bask in some sunshine. True, I was bundled up in my winter clobber, but the sun was so-o-o warming...beautiful blue sky and some tufts of grass peeking out from under the snow. Maybe that is where these colors came from?

Although "it is what it is", wouldn't Spring be lovely?

Spots...

as in spot illustrations :-)

Here are three from a class assignment (Carla Sonheims's 2014: Year of the Fairy Tale):

A frog princess

The arrow from a prince.

A princess

Her name is Vassilissa

 A Russian bear

Mr. Bear will deal with this tree.

I like the accountability of committing to a class - that I will do all of the assignments and share the results. I struggle with some assignments but without a doubt I have learned so much from shutting off my objections and just doing the work. Every time.

"Picasso Dog" Pig

My Picasso Pig isn't nearly as random as past Picasso critters - oy, I may have to do this one again! But I do think he looks cute in a "concerned" sort of way:

Perhaps not so much "Picasso" as wonky :-)

I keep doing these critters because they continue to amuse me and can be done whilst waiting for an appointment. If necessary I add any finishing touches e.g. colored pencil, charcoal when I return to my studio.

Chance for a happy ending

While working on a black tile, I used a spare one as a test sheet for colored pencil, glaze, white gel pen, well, you get the idea.

I came back to my work table the next day, saw the "used" tile and figured, what the heck, nothing to lose by making something of it. Long story short, this tile came about by chance and funnily enough, it is one of my favorites :-)

"Chance would be a fine thing"...happens :-)

My Sweet Romeo

A memory I will always have of my spirit Golden, Romy. We are walking under a full moon on a cold winter's night. Just us. Snow on the ground. Quiet and peaceful.

My journal page:

My beautiful boy.

Tile and frogs

Playing around with mixed media on a black tile - just for fun:

Difficult to be subtle with a white gel pen!

Also working on 2014 Year of The Fairy Tale assignments - such as drawing frogs:

Some varieties of frogs are so cute :-)

Their hind legs are interesting to draw.

She looks sort of gruff...

These froggies are the underpinnings for a fairytale character...a female character.

Glaze and pastels

Another tile but with much more color - it has sort of a "garden" ambiance:

I love working with pastels.

White glaze pen straight to paper so that there are no visible pencil lines. It makes for a semi-planned tile, very prone to missteps. I just remind myself that "it is what it is"  :-)