Our Neighbor the Fox

Our Grey Fox
handmade stamp on light grey paper

The Anderson family refers to our fox friend on Timberlake Drive as Mr. Fox. My drawing became more feminine when I tried to emulate the small nose and endearing eyes. Pyar and I have had the awesome timing of seeing him/her a couple of times in the late evenings near our driveway. This stamp is for Mary and Lewis, thank you for sharing so much with us.

Grey Fox study I
pencil in sketchbook

Drawing for handmade stamp.

Grey Fox Study II
pencil in sketchbook

Drawing for handmade stamp.
I used this version, since it was smaller and thus fit on my stamp making material.

Flowers in June

Three Roses for Junpei

handmade stamps on paper

Our wonderful friends, the Komori family have one of the most amazing rose gardens that I have ever seen and smelled. They have been growing many varieties in their front garden for about seven years. They truly are stunning.

Sketch of Flowers , Mayumi

pencil in sketchbook

Mayumi gave us a beautiful arrangement for our exhibition's opening.

I put a few in a vase to create a still life for study.

Hydrangeas

handmade stamp on paper

Our friends the Kubo family gave us some lovely hydrangeas for our exhibition's opening day.

Hydrangeas

handmade stamp on paper

February Fun

Silhouette Oslo
handmade stamp on paper

Lindsay and Tim gave me a great art book about silhouettes. I made a teapot as my first idea and then tried some others unsuccessfully. Oslo is Tim and Lindsay's dog. I got this inspiration from two photographs that they posted on facebook. I am working on other drawings from the area to create silhouette stamps.

Jungle
handmade stamps on paper

A theme from Pyar.

Oslo takes the Circus
handmade stamps on paper

I asked Pyar to give me some themes for my pre-painting exercises and made this for his 'circus' prompt. I had just made the Oslo stamp and wanted him to be playful.

Wave Studies
pencil in sketchbook and handmade stamps

I made two wave stamps after making various sketches.

Ocean Blue
handmade stamps on paper

A collection of images stamped with the watermark stamp pad.

Minabe Plum Forest

Ume Blossoms
pencil on paper

A sketch of plum blossoms in Minabe's Plum Forest. We met some friends and had a nice picnic under the blossoms. It was a great place to draw. We tried potato mochi for the first time, it was delicious. Our friend Paul and his Taiko group played drums for some entertainment. In the afternoon, there was a mochi throwing session, many people dove for the treats. I was on the sidelines laughing. The last one of these I witnessed was dangerous. One piece hit my raised hand and fell at my feet, when I knelt to pick it up a little old lady dove for it between my feet. It was ridiculous. So, today, I took solace in the blossom's beauty.

Ume Branches and Blossoms
handmade stamps on paper

When we arrived home, I worked on my ume blossoms sketch. With a few modifications, I simplified the drawing to make reference drawings for stamps.
This piece is composed of five stamps.

Conor's Birthday English Counting Book

The "I Can See" Counting Book
This is a KOLO photo album that I used to make a counting book for Conor.

Inside cover of book, I used store bought number stamps for this page and the cover. The rest of the numbers in the book have number stamps that I carved. The number stamps are rather small, and thus a real challenge to carve.

Maeby is Conor's dog friend
This stamp is actually my dog friend named Ellie who has posed for many cameos.
Since Ellie has iconic dogness, she posed for Maeby's portrait.

New Works

The Yarn Knows
inked stamps on postcard

I really like images of mice.
The yarn is in honor of Danielle and everything she does with fabric.

Crow Knows How
inked stamps on postcard

Camera How To
inked stamps on postcard

This is of Pyar's Canon G7, though it may be a little generic in style. I have many friends and family who are amazing photographers that inspired this stamp - including: Anne White, Lewis Anderson, Tim Lisko, Lindsay Hadley, Ann Curry, Jewel Anderson and my Pyar.

Counting in English Book