A sketch and some word art

Remy is also known as "Reporter Dog".  He alerts me with one or two barks if he hears something - a delivery at the front door or some interesting or alarming activity he spies from the window.

But usually he looks like this :-)

"Remy, keep me company."

Doodling in my art journal -  positive and negative word art:

Puppy Remy and lettering

Remy and I were on walkies today: it's so enjoyable.  I love it when he turns to look at me with what looks like a smile on his face, his tail wagging because we are out and about and there is SO much that he finds to sniff...and sniff...and sniff. 


I found this photo of Remy where he's a little over 3 months of age:

O my goodness, so-o-o adorable <3

This was taken last summer:

XOXOXO

I guess it's easy to figure out why so much of what I create has a dog theme somewhere in it - such as this one:

Have you hugged your dog today? :-)

Scribbling away

Every day begins with a warm up, usually an entry in my art journal.  It's an easy way for me to get over the perfection/judgment thoughts because in my journal I view my mistakes in a new way.

A mistake can be a challenge - can I learn from it? save it?  A mistake can be a test of my ego, in other words, am I able to accept that it truly is a mess? that it is not "fixable" and I am okay to move on.  If not, well that's just the ego at work. Oy.

Recent scribbles -

A rufous rat-kangaroo (long hind legs for hopping about):

Platinum carbon ink sketch

Remy inspired this MOOdle.  He snoozes in my studio, a lot.  Suddenly he will wake up, find a toy and come over and sit next to me.  He looks at me until I look at him.  He has that doggie smile and a waggy tail.  How could I not respond  :-)

Ink, Copic markers

And a bit of word art:

Some days...

What makes every thing better?

This question came into my brain while I was working in my art journal.  For me the answer is a golden retriever, but more generally I would have to say -

:-)

And here is a visual -

<3

I have also begun something I call pattern journaling.  Here's an example -

Platinum carbon ink, Sharpie pens

The two features are random line work and color.  It's fun to create these patterns and addictive, too.

A face from my art journal

This face is from the Draw section of my art journal.  I cropped away the usual ink "boundary" lines to focus on his face:

Pan pastels and ink.

He is drawn from my imagination but I think he looks like a golden retriever, a lot like my golden, Remy.  Hm-m-m...

From my art journal

I continue to create daily art journal pages.  It has become a valuable and rewarding practice. 

I took some photos of Remy - they were a little underexposed and there were extraneous objects in the frame - but not to worry.  I wanted some references for a couple of quick sketches for my art journal.

First one:

Remy often looks at me like this, head tilted with a little grin <3

The second:

He's listening...

And then some word art doodling:

Ink and oil pastels.

Walkies and Sketches

Remy and I went on walkies for the first time in days and days.  He sniffed so much I was tired just watching him.  It always amazes me that dogs don't pass out from all that non-stop sniffing.

My happy boy :-)

These sketches are from a couple of days ago:

Golden in Motion

Sitting

Dogs are one of my favorite subjects to draw.  I suppose coffee mugs and imaginary flowers are in the mix, too :-)

Happy snowy day!

It's snowing big fluffy snowflakes - and they are beautiful.  Happily I do not have to drive anywhere today which makes the snow even more lovely :-) 

Here's a goofy Golden who's in the holiday mood:

Woof!

Birthday Boy

Remy's birthday is today.  He is seven years old!   Michael and I brought our puppy home from Fly'N Hi Golden Retrievers in January 2009.

He looked like this:

Tuckered out :-)

This was taken today - my little furball all grown up:

Beautiful boy <3

He's resting his head on a birthday toy :-)

Why he is called Skygazer

Remy and I were on the deck this morning - it is a beautiful, warm, and sunny day - which is a treat because it's the first week of November!  Shorts weather :-)

Remy's birthday is this month.  I've been looking at his puppy photos and videos - he has grown so much but he still has the same puppy face and many of the same "mannerisms". 

This photo is from this morning and it reminded me why I chose his "official" name to be Skygazer:

<3

As a puppy I noticed this proclivity, something I had not seen in any of my other sweet dogs.

Nice change

Today is so pleasant, sunny and warm.  Remy and I have been out and back on walkies.  He was a pretty happy golden:

A beautiful autumn day with Remy <3

He finds mysterious things to investigate in the fallen leaves, too.

And speaking of leaves, they are changing color so quickly.  Last week on one of our walkies I had to capture how "well" nature does complementary colors:

A beautiful balance of colors.

Gosh...

From my sketchbook -

sketch of a seated dog for a painting I am working on:

Young Golden.

The Golden Retriever and the Australian Labradoodle

Remy and his pal, Briggs, have a terrific time rumbling at the park and playground.  Brigg's mom, Pam, took this gorgeous photo of Remy last month.  I love it and I asked Pam if I could publish it to which she kindly said "yes".

Photo by Pam H.

And speaking of Briggs, here is the boy himself:

Such a sweetie <3

These boys play well together and their antics have Pam and me (as well as other people passing by) laughing out loud.

Pastel Sketch

I was testing graphite/polymer lead on watercolor paper (it's a long story) and I needed a quick sketch.  No surprise that I sketched my golden retriever - Remy has a habit of turning toward me and giving me a smile over his shoulder.  So sweet, I just want to give him a hug.

"Golden Smile"

It's a very small sketch - about 3 X 4.25 inches overall.  Using pastels on a small scale was challenging :-)

It's National Dog Day

Celebrating my Remy, a sweet, quirky Golden <3

My bud :-)

Goldens

Remy keeps me company for much of the time I work in my studio.  He's a restless snoozer.  I looked down and managed to just capture him in a pencil sketch before he decided it was time to move:

Quickly, now :-)

I've been watching animals and people from the back and observing how expressive body postures are.  This is another Golden (done in ball point pen):

"Come home soon."

Working on toned paper

I love drawing my golden retriever, Remy.  This time I made a sketch of him using charcoal, pastels, and graphite on toned paper.

The light was streaming in the window and he was completely lost in the warmth of the sun:

"Sunlit Golden"

Remy has a "snow" nose (not dark, dark black) and light-colored eyelashes.

Another sketch of my Golden

Today's sketch -  this is of my Remy with one of his cute floppy toys:

A double dose of sweetness, huh?

The Doodle Grows and Remy and the Rain

More from Diane Culhane's online class, "Doings of A Doodle".

Continuing with the emphasis on a single doodle, Lesson 3 was about "growing" the doodle.

Here is my sheep in a mushroom forest in small, medium and large in grey colors, ocean colors and sunshine colors, respectively:

Doodling a different perspective

The weather has been chilly and grey with thunderstorms.  Remy really doesn't like the sound of thunder and he pretty much shuts down when he hears it.  I am pretty certain that he would rather have sunshine and blue skies return...

O, he does love the sunshine :-)

Mixed media scenario and sunshine Remy

From yesterday's post about waiting for things to dry, this is what was keeping me busy.  It is called "The Discovery of the Three Orbs":

Watercolor, pastel, charcoal, graphite, NeoColor II, colored pencil

A snowstorm blew through yesterday, but today the sun is out and the sky is blue. The snow has almost disappeared.

My beautiful Remy in the sunshine.

Time to take a break for "walkies" :-)