rocketman

drawings from a friend's pix

wednesday evening

Only time for a quick drawing before bed.

just another tuesday

I was in an office with this deer head today, and well, you know how you just have to draw things...


and after finishing up the EDM challenge #64, this planter from the same bathroom caught my attention.

EDM Challenge 64

The Everyday Matters Challenge #64: a Sink!

sketching and sketching...

Well,now here is the beauty of having a sketchbook on you all the time... I had to let someone use my computer for a while today and all of the other jobs were not in need of any extra help. So I grabbed my moleskine and headed for a private place. I didn't mind the downtime at all!

And then, when I got home, I was greeted by the perfume of lilacs. My daughter had come by during the day and left several bouquets. I am floating on the fragrance of them...

And here is the entry in the weight loss journal for today. Just thoughts...

Sunday, part dueux

This is a time of very long days in Ohio with Daylight Savings time. We all went out to sit on the porch for a bit tonite and I did this sketch of my son.

on being fat...

I've started another Moleskine because I wanted to explore a personal issue in a visual journal. This is my on-going struggle with weight and is an example of where I don't want to be Nice. It in no way reflects badly on anyone else's success. It is merely how I feel on this day at this time in starrgirl's world.

friday evening

I came home from work and tossed my silver hoop earrings into a small dish on my dresser. Normally that is where they'd stay over the weekend, but I am currently working on Saturdays. YUK!! ah well, overtime pay compensates for a lot...

Here are the silver earrings in one of my Italian Porcelain pieces:

thursday's sketches

today's lunch conversation led to this drawing of my hand, palm up. There's a great story behind it if you care to read the writing on the page...


And then a friend sent me some wonderful quotes that lend themselves to illustration. Thanks, Anne!

and the drawing goes on...

I'm still excited to get home each day for a drawing session - what fun! today, I had a couple of handy subjects. First was a collage-type page of something I heard on the radio today. It is National Poetry Month and I was listening to some Poets on Public Radio. Oh, how beautiful was their work!! And so I took a line of one that I particulary liked and tried to illustrate it....




And of course, there is the weekly challenge. this week it is to take a nature walk and find some things to draw. I ventured around my front porch since I am literally tied to the desk at least 12 hours/day. Here are my nature items...


Thanks for sharing with me...

drawing obsession...

This sketchbook thing has got me obsessed! I spend hours drawing when I get home in spite of the fact that I have so many other things to do. But all I WANT to do is DRAW - and as the Beatles would say: "you know that can't be bad...." Here is a drawing I actually snuck in at work today (shhhh..., it was the first time...)


And of course I came home and got outside as quickly as possible to draw something while it was still daylight. I wanted to do the EDM challenge, but I did this instead. Maybe tomorrow I can do the challenge...


Inspired by Roz Works, I painted some random strokes on some of my Moleskine pages. This is the first one to be done that way. I like it a lot and can't wait to do more. Thank you Roz, for the wonderful inspiration!! More to come!!!

gettin' outdoors

I am up late again, getting the drawing in. In spite of the long work days, I can't wait to get home and draw! I didn't even eat supper! No, it was so nice outside that I came home, threw down my stuff and got my sketchbook ready. I ran outside to the porch to see what I could draw. It was the house across the street first.


And then a plant in the flower bed - the hosta that grows so well in my shady, shady yard. Oh how I wish I could be home for days and days to draw and draw and draw some more!!!

more girly-girl stuff

I have not been slacking on the drawing, but I have been struggling with it! I just hate it when my attempts are mediocre and unpleasing, but that happens a lot of the time. It is the case lately after a few very flowing drawings that made me think I had somehow gotten the hang of it. Ah well, I hang only part of the time and I do believe that is normal. So here is the roundup of late...



I got some new perfumes and wanted to capture them. They did not cooperate!


The first attempt got too over-worked...


and so did the second one...


And the third one, as well, in spite of my efforts to simplify...


The individual drawing of the Guerlain is ok, but not a lot different...

Off to bed for now and I will try again tomorrow. Perfume design is exquisitely sophisticated and deserves a special rendering. hmmmm.....

these boots were made for...

SAFETY! Not exactly a Nancy Sinatra song on the hit parade, but they are comfortable and do the trick. I chuckle every morning when I put them on - you just never know where life will lead you, do you? And isn't that the fun of it!

today's everyday things...

an everyday drawing habit sure puts you on the lookout for new subjects! yesterday, i lamented not picking a cherry blossom, so today i made sure to take a walk out by the glorious row of blooming japanese cherry trees at work for a closer look. i snagged a couple low twigs and took them back to my office. later, i carted one home to draw. they don't last very long off the tree, but i was able to get a decent sketch. this sketch will be my post for edm challenge #62, which is to do something different in the process of sketching. i had yet to do a watercolor since i joined edm, so this is a bit different from what i've been doing. it is not a pure watercolor since i also found my micron pens and just couldn't resist some detail with the .005. what a deliciously thin line!



earlier in the day i had taken part of my lunch break to capture a couple of bananas that have ripened almost too much! i would still eat them, but not for much longer. i just need some granola and cold milk to go with it...

i am finding that absolutely anything is fodder for sketching and i am loving every minute of it! the new moleskine is developing into a sketchbook that is revealing itself to me a little bit every day. i can't wait to see what happens next since i don't really know!

daffodil day

For me, Spring always goes way too fast. First it sneaks in amid the rain and gray skies, then it bursts into bloom like gasoline on a fire. Suddenly the streets are lined with blooming trees and I try to memorize them because they are so short-lived. But oh how glorious the blossoms are in all their pastel splendor! They are Degas dancers, lighting up the spring stage, twirling and swirling on the gusty breezes that blow the warm days our way.

toy story

It has gotten to the point that I cannot go to bed without doing a sketch!! Wonderful, yes, but on the schedule I'm on - oy!! Here's today's...

help, i'm drawing and i can't stop...

Somehow I've gotten the drawing bug in a serious way this time. It is all I want to do when I get some time off from work. Granted, my work situation is unusual at this time, but I have completely fallen into sketchbook-mode and have no desire to come out! Hopefully I will get beyond posting every sketch here, but I am on a crazy, crazy roll with this. Here's another of my porcelain boxes. This one is California Pottery and is a Cigarette box with two ashtrays that stow away inside. It is pink with the most glorious flower on it.




Then I tried out a different pen with a wide tip in an effort to loosen up with the drawing. It's ok, but not quite the loose effect I was going for.


Another piece in my porcelain collection that I always enjoy looking at...


And yeh, the house is falling down around me, but I prefer to go fetch veggies from the kitchen to draw...


And a look out the window before taking a wee nap...

lovin' the moleskine...

Already, I cannot imagine being without this little sketchbook. What a great discovery! I took some time late in the day today to sketch one side of my current office. I am in a temporary assignment during the present labor dispute - which is also why I am working on the weekend - but this is "home" for now. I am definitely falling in love with drawing again. How fun!!

two drawings today!

I am so thrilled with the new sketchbooks that I went outside at noon today and drew what I could see. I even pushed a wheeled office chair out into the parking lot so as to have a place to sit and sketch!! I must say that the old office buildings look better on paper than they do when one faces them to enter within...



Then, of course, I was ready to draw when I got home. This week's challenge is the "Grouping" and I had tried to draw my porcelain several more unsuccessful times. This evening was yet another go and finally, I am pleased with the sketch. I'm not sure what the difference is, but I am happy with it and will continue on the theme as I can since it was rather a nice challenge. And now, off to bed so as to work again tomorrow and have some energy left over for drawing! The new sketchbook shall be with me, of course...

the moleskines have arrived!

It is an exciting day! a long one to be sure - the usual 12 hours at work - but then, when I got home, the package of moleskines was here!! Such a nice, hefty box and I smiled, knowing that my new sketchbooks had arrived.

After I had changed my clothes and putzed a bit, I sat down with the package to open it. I was delighted to find a nicely wrapped brown-paper parcel inside the box, paper folded crisply down and taped shut. I slowly peeled back the tape and got a whiff of the journals. Mmmmm - real paper and and an oily type of cover, shrink-wrapped and stacked into a bundle of four. I drank them in and lifted them apart.

I ripped one open and felt its pages, its ribbon bookmark and the elastic band. It was so yummy. I couldn't wait to share them, so I went to the stairs and hollered for my son to come up and see. He was hesitant, then delighted by the little black books. I handed him one while he sputtered a multitude of questions. It seems he's been on the hunt for just such a book and was amazed to see a stack of them spilled out in front of me on the floor.



And so i gave him one, which leaves me with the wealth of three others to start filling with words and pictures. And of course I had to start drawing immediately. The first available thing was the supper I had picked up on the way home from work. It is shrimp and pasta and a roll, which I drew with delight, knowing that I can eat anytime. Drawing comes first. It's a blue pasta night ~~ leftovers for breakfast.

Wonderful Moleskines!!

still tryin'...

well, I came home this evening and took a bit of a walk since it was still daylight for a change. Daylight Savings Time makes a mighty big difference in our neck of the woods, that's for sure. And then I got onto some sketching - a third try at the porcelain devils, if you will, and it was as dis-appointin' as usual. But I was watching some mindless tv, so it wasn't too much time wasted.

I decided to change horses, er... subjects, for the time bein', and so tonite I have a blue, blue sketch of a group of ~~scissors. It was the first thing in sight when I went for "grouping" and I'm still enamored of my new Lamy Safari fountain pen that came with a blue ink cartridge. So I have recorded all the scissors in the adjacent vacinity and will have to move on if I get the notion to draw anything else.

I still don't know what I'm going for with the porcelain collection, but I'll torture myself a bit longer to see if i can figure it out.

Sweet dreams all...

frustrated sketching

ok, so I collect these old, italian-made, pottery pieces with roses applied to them. sometimes they are boxes, sometimes they are vases, sometimes they aren't even italian. it's a common theme. california got in on the act in the 50s and did some, too. there are some great american-made cigarette boxes and ashtrays out there from that time. and now that i think about it, that little pink one on the right is from australia. yeh, they thought of it, too, out there in the outback.

so challenge #61 - this week's challenge (and my first) - is of a "collection". viola!! i love these old chippy pottery rose-y things. so i set out a few tonite to sketch. disaster!! first sketch was an absolute throwaway!! no matter - i'm used to expending all the effort on the initial attempt to get the "feel" and then dive in for the kill... second attempt usually nails it to some degree.

HA!!

this is a night of sketching that leaves me cursing and flailing. why did i even try? how can i stop now? oh, yeh, i know - i gotta quit drawing and get some sleep so that I can go to work for 12 FREAKIN' HOURS tomorrow!! there's a little detail that'll derail the drawing train!!!

so here is the first (actually second) attempt. i can tell it will be a week of drawing The Collection. And I know it will be good for me. I will get to the bottom of this dilemma, I guarantee it!! Porcelain crockery - you are no match for the likes of me!!

I go off to bed, but only with scheming on my mind and more plans for tomorrow's sketching.............

muuuuuuhhhhwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhaaaaaaahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

starr's Creative License

It is 2 April 2006, a beautiful spring Sunday in Ohio. And I do believe the tornadao sirens are blaring right now!! We have been having a most delicious thunderstorm for the past hour and I always enjoy them since I am no longer afraid.

And so I will type until something prompts me to move to a lower floor - I don't think it will amount to that. It so rarely does.

Meanwhile, I am a bit "under the weather" myself. This touch of flu is hanging on and making me puny. I am full of cold meds and sleepy/drowsy crap to get through the night and off to a long workday again tomorrow.

I did spend some time reading Danny Gregory's Creative License today. Absolutey fab book! Why don't we poor ordinary mortals think of these things and get them published?? My God, I've been doing this for years, and now I am a groupie again!! I give accolades to Danny, but I need to be more on the ball here!!

Off to bed now.

It is April, a most gentle month for the most part. Daffodil dreams to you all.

Starr

Always an April Fool

Spring is here. In Ohio, when it gets to April, you can say it is spring. And it is no matter if it snows once more or the winds continue to blow, it really is spring at last!

I am still working crazy hours and have had a "touch of the flu", but I want to sketch something every day. There is no end of subjects, and I just got my new Lamy Safari fountain pen, as recommended on the Everyday Matters site. So first I drew myself in the blue glasses - it looked a bit too much like me for comfort. And then I just drew the glasses. They give you the general idea...

I do love spring!!