Procrastination

If you pardon the crappy photos, I'll share a peek at the drawing I'm currently working on.  I say "the" drawing to imply only the most recent session. I seem to have about as many unfinished drawings as I do pads.  I need to bring myself to finishing some rather than starting new ones.  I have been procrastinating and wandering, not sure where all of this is going, if in fact it is going anywhere. Kind of like the paths in the picture.

I'm hoping a theme gels as I continue inking.

Detail of the knotwork

New toy

I meant tool. I much prefer using a dedicated eraser over the little smudgy excuse they usually mount on the end of a pencil. Now that I've already invested in a gross of refills for my standard Pentel click eraser, I've discovered what I like even better.

When I make Celtic drawings, I do a lot of erasing. Not because I am inaccurate, fickle, or sketchy, but due to the nature of construction. I don't weave those paths around in my head ahead of time. I lay everything out then establish what is over and what goes beneath. Consequently, I have many lines and crossings to adjust, and I've learned not to tempt fate and make them as I'm inking.

I found this gem in a Japanese market in Portland. It's a Tombow mono knock 3.8 and it's absolutely perfect for getting in those tiny spots without destroying all the lines in a two inch radius. I'm in love.

Enter the Dragon (fruit)

Not having spent any appreciable time vacationing or living in the tropics, we considered this quite the novelty when we heard that the local grocery store was selling dragon fruit.

This be the outside

This be the insides

Interestingly, it turns out these are fruit from a cactus rather than a tree. Also interesting how the outside pink skin peels off easily to reveal a pulpy seed-mass. The flesh was mild yet rather tasty - NOTHING like our adventure with the durian.  We all agreed we would have them again, preferably on location somewhere tropical and preferably not at $3.50 a pop.

We've saved a bit of the seeds with thoughts of sprouting them. It's unlikely we could grow a plant big enough to bear fruit as we live in a place that freezes and they do require multiple plants for cross-pollination by bats and moths.  However, it might make an interesting potted plant.

Mmmm, vitamin C and lots of fiber

Red Letter Day

I got my wider Parallel pen inked up today in prep for a new project. My narrower one is still soaking (after nearly losing a part down the sink.)

Apparently my camera only speaks "landscape" to Blogger. Bah!

Swamp: Illustration Friday

And you were worried about the alligators.

Life Imitating Art

This was the most fitting end I could see to this dreadfully uncomfortable set of earbuds. I made the same knot as I had sketched for my Earbuds cross stitch picture. I got the whole idea from tangled headphone cords in the first place, so maybe I should say it is "life imitating art which was imitating life."

I just need to get one of those ipod shuffles so the player is small enough to fit in the center hole. I started leaving a big enough hole, but the length of the cords dictated the final size.

Taste the Rainbow

Or rather, don't taste these rainbows. They'll taste nasty.

For recording thoughts chromatically. Thirteen is a lucky number.

These are 'ittle baby (4" long capped) fountain pens made by Pilot. The Petit 1 Model. I get mine at JetPens and I find I've accumulated a whole rainbow over time.  They are only a few dollars each and write surprisingly well. They are perfectly pocketable and I'm not going to cry if I lose one or a pen snitch steals it. You could buy cartridges to refill them, but I used bottled ink and a syringe for both economic reasons as well as mad-science mixing reasons.  (Although it's hard to credibly cite economic concerns after having bought so many of these little guys.)

So why show you these today? My new find from my Portland trip a week ago: Pilot Petit 3 pens! I've just inked it up. These are the same size and style, but have fude/brush tips instead of the fountain pen tip. Did I mention I love Uwajimaya's Japanese market there? Had to pick up a few of these. Here is a nice thorough review of these pens if you want to know the details of why these pens rock.

The lime pen is loaded with brown; the purple hasn't told me what color it wants to write yet.

Top these tips!

Double rainbow blogging today: here is one of cotton.  My Mum was cleaning out her stash boxes and found these threads that were set aside to make a stamped cross stitch quilt top.  I think the fabric parts were Goodwilled years ago, as the whole stamped cross stitching is so... so 70's. However, thread is thread and always a resource, but I think she's moved on past the DMC thing now that we've introduced her to such things as Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Gloriana, Vikki Clayton, I could go on...

So, awaiting my return from Nashville, was this pile of lovely cotton. I do still use DMC for certain projects. Like my recent Earbuds piece.  This is making me think I need a Dark Side of the Moon album now.

 

Also awaiting my return was a lovely box of books from my friend Sisu, who was also apparently trimming down the accumulations pile. I am a sucker for lovely graphics. I can't wait to dive into these for inspiration. Thanks so much, Sisu!

Time for the Green Sawdust

Not sure if the same product is used in today's schools, but I remember back in grade school the janitor bringing out the green sawdust when ever somebody tossed their cookies.  Well, the SGUV (Stained Glass Unicorn Vomit) is done, so bring out the sawdust. I had some friends balk at my working title, but others assured me that it was "totally me."  Not the best pictures, but here it is...

and the big picture:

Stained Glass Unicorn Vomit - First Look

Mind you, that is just the working title. I've been working on the ink part of this on and off for a few years now. This week, I decided to make a few more steps towards its completion and started in with the watercolor. Can you say mega-mandala. This might take a while.

I Cleaned My Room

I figured that was a good way to start the new year.  My little spice rack collection has grown. I was given two for Christmas with the disclaimer that they were pretty scary in their current condition and I was under no obligation to use either of them.  The country-fresh maroon one (you know the color, complete with the edges all fake sanded/worn down to the pine) needed an immediate triple heart transplant.  Three little metal rusty heart blobs were pried from below the bottom shelf to reveal holes, where I inserted some hardwood pegs. Then I made and attached little facing boards to each shelf so they looked complete. Some putty took care of the many holes where the overzealous factory worker did his handiwork with a pneumatic staple gun.

The lime green shelf had already received one makeover before I got it.  We took care of some structural issues then proceeded to paint over the pink swirly roses and yellow sponged squares. I could have seen that color scheme in a twelve year old girly-girl's room - it was probably where she displayed her fingernail polish and My Little Pony collection. It took three coats of paint to hide all the ugliness, but they both sure came out nice.

So now, I just needed space on the wall and perhaps a shuffle of other items to better color coordinate.

So here is my corner. Ta Da!

And everything in its place... except for the huge pile of papers and crap that I put on the chair behind me.

I didn't realize I had so many colors of India ink until I started racking them.

My tall ink bottles were the inspiration for needing another rack. The original on the right was too short and too full. You can see it didn't take long to find modifiers to dangle from the little pegs.

Like a giant game of Tetris as I try to pack books and supplies into drawers and shelves.

I only have about a quarter of the table for working space - the rest is taken up by the laserjet, and the wide format scanner (hiding under the quilt) and printer.