"Portrait"

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY
Here is my contribution to this week's theme "Portrait" for Illustration Friday. It is a drawing of my friend's grandson sleeping with his pet rat. I had a bit of trouble with the hands and other areas. I want to try this one again.

The Raven - work-in-process

Here is a piece of black fabric that I made over the weekend with a discharing process. The raven was drawn from my studio mascot! The light background is more of a slight blush color than is showing up in this photo. I think I am not going to add much more to it except hand quilted stitches and or beads. What do you think? Is it done? Size 30"x28".

Pima County Arts Exhibit opens today

Here are some detail shots of my most recent work, What We Do Know (c) 2006. The full piece is 24x36 and currently part of the Pima County Arts Council exhibit of the Artists' of Rural Pima County. It can be seen at the Joel D. Valdez main library in Tucson, AZ, through March 23rd of this year. I created What We Do Know to bring attention to the situation in Ciudad, Juarez. I entitled the piece What We Do Know, because there are many theories and rumors and my piece just states simple facts that we do know including some of the conditions in which the bodies have been found. From the Amnesty International website http://www.amnestyusa.org they issued a report in 2003: Intolerable Killings/10 years of abductions and murders of women in Ciudad Juarez concluding that 370 women/children had been murdered in a variety of contexts, possibly a third of which indicated sexual violence. Many of the cases have still not resulted in the perpetrators being brought to justice.

I was compelled to make the piece when I realized that even though this has been going on since 1993, there are a majority of people that are still unaware this is happening. If you go to this NOW link, there is a partial list of organizations that are involved helping to bring international attention to this issue. Follow any of those links and you can find out more information.

Art Opening Tonight

This is just a detail picture of a portion of my piece, All That Is Left, that was accepted into Changing the World One Thread at a Time exhibiting in Tubac now through March. The opening reception is tonight. The curator, Thelma Smith, has been keeping a blog about the exhibit if you would like to read more about it. I can't believe I will get to see all of the other's beautiful art work in person in just a few hours!

Out of Town - Be Back Next Week

Another Tucson Sketch Crawl

Sketch Crawl at Trail Dust Town today!!!




Four of us went on a sketch crawl today & had a great time. I was trying to draw the carousel horses, until a large birthday party came along that had reserved the area and I had to move. I then went to draw the gazebo turns out a wedding was taking place. I didn't finish the gazebo because we broke for lunch! So, we will have to go back another day. You can read more about it and see Teri's great sketch and a group photo on her blog.

Thou Shall Not Whine

Here is my contribution to Illustration Friday. The theme this week is Cats! This is Zoe, sitting on top of a floor to ceiling bookshelf looking down at all of us. Notice the framed photo of a lizard on the shelf beneath her, is she waiting for it to move perhaps? Happy Friday!

E is for Ears and EDM Challenge 14

I realized that my drawing this week would work for the Illustration Friday theme ... E is for....Ears. You have to look close and squint to see the ears of my cat, Molly, sticking up from the blanket.

This also covers the Everday matters group challenge 14, draw the first thing you see when you get up, which is usually Molly on top of me performing kitty CPR.
I don't think the colors show up of the green horizontal stripes of the plaid blanket. So, of course, even in this almost still-life, I still had to deal with movement when trying to capture an image- the digital clock ticking away the minutes as well as Molly lurking underneath the blanket.

Day 9 - Collage in My newest journal

I just bought this journal. I fell in love with the front cover made from rock and the back cover made from wood. You are also able to open the pages flat. I am looking forward to using it. I did a quick collage (very quick) for Day 9 of the Daily Devotions group (committing to making art daily). The collage says: "What! The postage went up Again?"

Doodling around...

Here is Day 8 of the Daily Devotions list, a commitment to create art daily for a year.

Daily Devotion - Day 7

So it is the end of the first week of making some art daily. Today I started making some glass bead magnets. I also plan to decorate a mint tin to hold them in when I am done. I will post the tin when I get it done.

It has been a fun week so far!

Everyday matters challenge - 44

Back on December 15th, I posted my blind contour drawing of my parrot with her eye being placed in the middle of her body. Today I offer a more accurate rendition for Everyday Matters Challenge 44, Draw an animal or anything you like.

Everyday Matters Challenge 48-New Year's goal

The challenge for Everyday Matters this week is: "to draw something that represents a personal goal or wish for the new year. Let your drawing of the item help focus you on your goal".

So with my colored pencils, I drew my gym bag - I have been swimming laps for two years and I want to keep committed to that goal as well as more exercise such as walking. I also did a graphite sketch & made some notes for myself from a lesson in a drawing book because this year I want to focus on drawing facial features!! I have to keep in mind that if I remember that usually certain features line up in such a way that if you are accurate with your measurements/placement, you might actually draw something that looks like the individual!

Daily Devotion - making art daily! Day One.

I just joined a group committed to make art daily for a year. You can read more about the group and join if you go to the Daily Devotion Yahoo group.

My first day'y project was inspired by the bookmarkers my friend Amy made for me last month, I decided to make some myself for my first project. Each one has something on the back too. I made quite a few more than pictured here, this is just a sample.

One thing I like about the bookmarkers, I think I will make more throughout the year, because it is just a small amount of materials, but it gives you the opportunity to try out new things/experiment and have something to show for it too. I stamped, drew, digitally altered my own photos, and played to my heart's content!

New Year's Pow Wow - Sketches

Today I went to the 15th annual American Indian Powwow in Tucson, Az. I did a few sketches that did not come close to doing the dancers justice, so I am including some photos (entry below) to give an idea of some of the amazing costumes there were today. I enjoyed the dancers, the drummers and the Navajo tacos on fry bread. I even participated in a round dance. It was a good way to start the New Year!