Tuesday, September 14, 2010

New Works


Small Lime
watercolor on paper

This study is for our friend Kubo Sensei. She has a tree outside her lovely home with many of these little limes. I am not sure of their name in Japanese. They are great for making juice and squeezing over bean burritos. We had a wonderful meal with the Kubo Family and as one of our many gifts, we got to bring home a whole bag of these!




Small Lime Study
pencil on paper



Two Beavers
(aka Terrel and Jerence)
pencil on paper

I told Pyar about my comic idea for my drawing of two beavers and showed him a drawing a little different than this final piece. Like always, Pyar was encouraging and let me finish it the way I wanted. He added some great text, to see his comic, go to

thanks boolovey



Mystery Me, Self Portrait from the Past
pencil on paper

Someone recently told me that we share a common experience from my past. It was an awful reminder of how I have put myself in unhealthy situations. This was me, masked and in solitude with flowers waiting to grow. Now, I am grateful that my gardens are in full bloom.
Thanks be to God.

Library Card Series


Birds and Scissors



Flowers in Birthday Harmony

Library Card Series


Who


Owl on Branch



Grrrr Scissors



Blossoming Tea



Blossoming Tree

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Library Card Series

Balancing Bicycle

5" x 3" mixed media
Jessica gave me some library cards from discarded books. I erased some of the entries and painted over other entries before stamping the designs.

One of my fondest memories was waiting for my Dad at the law library at George Washington University in D.C. What certainly must have been only a few minutes to exchange books felt like hours to a six year old. Honestly, I do not remember how old I was but I do remember the treat of pickles at the corner deli afterwards.


Counting Elephants


Carolina's Tree


Library Card Series

Octopus on Bubbles


Directional Tree


Along Numbers


Camera on Flowers



Pushing Happy Birthday Block

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Shirahama's Goonies Rocks



Sunset for Lindsay Hadley
acrylic on wood disc

Pyar and I have an amazing view from our apartment's balcony. Since we first arrived we often watch the sun change along this portion of the sky. The rocks across the bay are at Shirahama. We think they look like the "Goonies" rocks from Astoria, Oregon.

Mouse for Eri


Eri's Mouse
pencil on paper

I drew this mouse for Eri's birthday. Her Chinese Zodiac is the nezumi. This is my fourth drawing of the mouse for friend's birthdays. I also know many tigers whose birthdays are coming up shortly. The collection has evolved from my original idea of making stamps for each animal, that will be the next step.

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.


Conor's Birthday English Counting Book




Conor's Birthday English Counting Book






the English counting story

I can see one dog named Maeby and two bicycles
and three monkeys and four elephants
and five rabbits with six pandas and
seven balls of yarn and an octopus with eight legs
and nine pencils with ten piglets
having a tea party in Savannah.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Rogue River Gorge



Rogue River Cliff with Trees study
pen and ink

We visited the Rogue River on Monday of our wonderful vacation in Oregon. I was standing at an overhang/outlook and spent a few minutes trying to get all of the beautiful textures on the cliff. I especially love how the trees seem to hover over the sides while growing out of the lava rocks. It was an incredible view and a wonderful day.



Chipmunk
pen

This guy was at my feet while I was drawing the cliff study featured above. It moved quickly, this was literally a ten second gesture. I think I captured its squirrel like movements.


Kansai Airport



Kansai Airport Red Chairs in Sun
watercolor

We flew home the week before last to visit family in Oregon. This was about a twenty minute study. The light on the red was absolutely gorgeous.
I was especially drawn to the reflections on the floor.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Tanabe Landscape


Tanabe River for Steve
acrylic on wood disc

This is my third painting on the wood discs. This is the river from a bridge just beside the overpass before you get to Konan. I take this route to go to two of my schools. This is where I usually see many koi and turtles swimming.

In honor of my friend Steve, a great mentor and teacher.


New Stamps on Wood Discs Series


Sokrates' Friend, the Pig for Sokrates the Pig

This stamp was inspired by Maren's pig on the alm. She has two of them. I have not seen the second one, and I am not sure the other one's name, so I made this stamp of him.




Pencil and Paper for Marjorie Hendrix


New Stamps on Postcards


Black Dog Talking with Brown Dog and Ellie




Ellie Thinking about Brown Dog Talking




Crow Talking with Five Monkeys




Crow Thinking About Pig, Brown Dog and Black Dog Friends



Panda Thinking About Panda Friends

New Stamps on Wood Discs Series


Many Friends I




Green Ball of Yarn



Brown Dog Red Collar



Densha (Black Dog)



Frog Crow Rabbit Octopus

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Animal Drawings



Maren's Sweet Friend
With love for Maren
pencil on strathmore
9 1/2" x 10"

One of the most amazing people I know is Maren Krings. She is working on the alm this summer in Austria. Her facebook profile picture is of her beautiful face smiling and holding this sweet pig who is also grinning. I knew I had to try and capture the pig's sweet spirit. It just happens that the pig is also befitting since it is part of the Chinese zodiac and thus part of that series of drawings as well.



Oxen for Zach
pencil on strathmore
6" x 5"

Zach is one of the kindest persons I know. His genuine good spirit resonates. This drawing is for his birthday. It is a contemplative sign of the Chinese zodiac, thus the gaze.