orchids and triangles and other things I draw

Today thought it would be interesting if I made patterns using all the drawings I have on a single page of my sketchbook.  So for this page the pattern would have the potted orchid, the strange apple blossoms, the triangles, diamonds, leaves and branches incorporated into a single repeated pattern.

But what about for days like yesterday?  I could pull things apart, I suppose...  but everything's so on top of everything else...  Hmm...

Maybe I'll just keep filling my sketchbook and not worry about making patterns with anything...

things in my head

This is what sleepy mindless drawing looks like for me tonight.  

insurance is a very serious matter

Insurance is nothing to be taken lightly.  I need to hold workers compensation insurance for this recent work I've been doing, so I finally got it all sorted out this morning, and sent off my signed contract with a check for my "deposit premium and mandatory assessment(s)".  To prove how seriously I am taking all this, I drew this very serious rabbit on the envelope as a seal of sorts- to be certain that the envelope is in no way tampered with and that it is handled with the utmost seriousness.  Seriously.

from a while back

I wonder if the part of my brain that drew this is taking a little rest since I re-entered the world of waking up early (ish) and driving in a car to an office and going to a "meeting" from time to time...  Then driving home listening to NPR and stopping to buy shampoo and toilet paper...  Getting home and eating dinner and getting to bed at a reasonable hour...  It's not the same world as the one full of rabbits and candy and ridiculous things and I wonder if I could figure out a way to better split my time between both? 

new job

So I got a contract job for the next few months and it's a big change in pace.  I have to say it's nice to be working again, and to jump right in.  It hasn't left a lot of time/energy for my own silly drawings, but I did this one last night because I promised someone I would.  So this is what came from my pen while I had a glass of wine and tried to refocus my eyes on my sketchbook in front of me after spending so many hours staring at a computer screen.  

home depot shopping

I had to pick up a couple things at home depot and of course I left with two plants.  It's hard to resist.  This Christmas cactus was covered in buds and it seemed a shame to not bring it home with me and watch it bloom over the next couple of weeks...  This was just a pen drawing in my sketchbook but Jeanetta recommended I scan some drawings and then print them out to experiment with adding color so that's what I did.  (I worry that my shitty printer will start to turn on me if I keep feeding non-traditional paper through it, but so far so good...)  (the pen drawing without color is here)

back stock

In September I went on a roadtrip, and some friends and I started a 'drawing a day' project where, much like the title of the project might imply, we did, in fact, complete a 'drawing a day'.  (heheh) We posted them to a private group on Facebook, but then I decided that Facebook is lame, and also sort of depressing, so I sort of faltered at the end of the 30 days, which was the time we had decided to keep this little project going...  Oops.  Here's one of the drawings.  Publicly posted for all of the world [Vanessa] to see.

parking garage magic

A couple of weeks ago I was at Trader Joe's in the early evening and I took some photos out of the concrete windows in the stairwell of the parking garage.  Wha?!!!  This is a parking garage!  With a beautiful smoggy softly lit dusk view?  Just lovely...  (I posted the uncolored drawing here but I feel like I may do a series of sharpie vs. photoshop pieces like the one above.  Using the lowest tech with the highest tech and having the drawings meet somewhere in the middle.  Hmm...)

'shroom

So I went to the farmers' market on Tuesday and along with a squash and some onions and a pomegranate and some yellow plums I bought a couple of very expensive mushrooms to bring home to draw.  This one smelled like dogfood while I painted it.  Gross.  The smell sort of stuck in my nostrils too, so I felt like I kept smelling it even when it was safely tucked back in the fridge.  Now I will leave it in the fridge in its little paper bag and forget about it, and then see what has happened to it when I find it again in a month or two.  Fun!

for you, Vanessa

So I've been drawing a ton.  And making patterns, taking pictures, etc but posting nothing to this blog.  Some of the drawings were for a facebook page I did with friends in September, until I realized that facebook was really bumming me out so I deleted it from my phone and have avoided checking it...  And now I'm in the midst of a drawing project with Kristin and we have our drawings posted here for the time being.

The drawing above is from this morning for my project with Kristin, as a documentation of my LA mornings lately.  I wake up and debate going for a run immediately and then decide that instead, I will make coffee.  With my big old cup of coffee I sit at my desk, read emails, check my planner, make some to-do lists, and then sometimes play The Daily Show or something on Netflix or some music while I draw or paint or stare into space with my coffee until I realize I'm starting to get jittery and it's time to make some food to counter the caffeine.  

This morning I reheated some leftover ginger garlic tofu bok choy soup because I needed to finish it but it wasn't what I wanted- I just shoveled it in and felt uncomfortably hot from it- almost feverish which is awesome when one is already feeling on the verge of panic from a little too much coffee and the uncertainty of one's future due to her employment status...  yay!  (and that's when I decide that tomorrow, for sure, I will run first thing rather than going straight for the coffee...)

birdz

Wednesday evening pattern

A 96 degree day in Culver City left my apartment hot and stuffy when I got home.  My neighbor across the courtyard had his tv on full blast so I was selective in the windows I opened wide to let in the cooler air.  And then I pulled up an old drawing and made this, which I would print on a backpack and wear when I ride my bike, to go for a night ride to avoid the heat and clear my head...

the bottom of the ocean 1

I asked one of my favorite people for a drawing topic and she told me "Things that fall to the bottom of the ocean."  So I drew this.  This executive rabbit was a victim of downsizing, so he found an affordable sublet on the seafloor so he could branch out on his own. 

 His career fell to the bottom of the ocean. 

 But he's optimistic.  

Go get 'em, rabbit.

it holds a *lot* of critters

It's a viable solution to a common problem.  

vintage crayons

When I was in second grade my teacher gave me a box of Snoopy crayons.  I stored them in the Snoopy crayon box they came in until years later when it was almost disintegrated and I moved them to a gold and maroon cardboard box that a Seiko watch came it.  I still have that Seiko box and it's still full of crayons from the 80's- the Snoopy crayons as well as miscellaneous Crayolas, Prangs, and Goldens.  Some of them are peeled and some of them are broken and some of them show evidence of being burned in candles when I was melting them to draw with in high school.  I pull them out when Maggie comes to my apartment but otherwise they don't get a lot of use.  So this morning I drew with them for some reason.  I think mainly to see what colors I have.