nanke's stuff

I went back to the Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor today in order to continue working on the drawing I started on Friday.  The main purpose as some of you may remember, was to practice drawing while wearing my contacts in preparation for my "new eyes".   However, I forgot that I have a pre-op appointment this week, and I'm not supposed to wear my contacts for the 3 days prior to it.  So, while I did go back and work on the bobcat again, I did it wearing my glasses.  It was still just as dark there, and he was still behind glass, so there was still a reflection to deal with.  Nevertheless, I did my best.  It still isn't a finished drawing, but he's definitely further along than he was.  I don't know when I'll be able to get back there, but I'd like to finish it.  Maybe I'll just wing it and try to finish it from memory. 

So, without further adieu, heeere's Bobby!

I definitely need to do something about the volume of email I get .... I simply can't keep up with it, even though I really want to and I really do try.  It takes up an inordinate amount of my time, and it's one of the reasons I haven't posted in way too long.  .....  OK, enough of the whining - I'll figure it out!

I'll be having surgery in early Oct. on one of my eyes for a cataract, then a little while after that, I'll have my other eye done.  I usually don't wear my glasses or my contacts (well, never my contacts), when I paint or draw.  I often work with very fine lines and I'm just more used to doing it without them.  My contacts are called "monovision", meaning that one eye is corrected for nearsightedness, and the other for farsightedness.   That way I never need reading glasses.   When I have my surgery, I will have monovision eyes (one of each).  The thing is, I'm not sure how that will impact doing art the way I'm accustomed to doing it.  So, today when my friend Vicki and I went on an outing to draw (we went to the Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor), I wore my contacts to see what would happen.  It was slow going (not just because of the contacts, but also because I didn't do any warm up sketches before I dove right in).   The lighting wasn't the best, and the specimen was behind glass so I had a bit of a reflection to work around.  I didn't get very far with the drawing, as you can see.  I'm planning on going back again to work on it more, again while wearing my contacts.   I doubt I can do it this weekend, but maybe on Monday.  So, anyhow, here is the result of my first contact drawing attempt.

OK, I'll start with the recycling part.  I have lots of paper from my printer of things that for one reason or another didn't work out for me.  Some things I used and then didn't need anymore, others just made crummy copies ... it doesn't matter - I just kept all that paper.  I use it sometimes to test colors on when I'm painting, I use it when I glue things to protect my drawing table, but mostly it just sits in a pile.  Then I started doing contour drawings (mostly blind).  I really didn't want to use my good sketch books for them, and then I had this idea.  I would make little books out of the used copy paper!

What I did was put two sheets together, printed sides facing each other.  Then I used double sided tape to tape together the 4 corners.  I folded them in 1/2, also folded an 8.5" x 11" piece of card stock in half, and then used my sewing machine to sew them together.  I put 3 of my folded sheets in each booklet, giving me 12 pages to draw on!

Here's a picture of my first booklet, along with a couple of my blind contours.  I've made notes to myself on some of the drawings if I took a peek along the way.  I marked where each line started and ended, numbering them so I can tell later on what I did.  Hope this makes some sort of sense to you!

I have started avocado plants from pits before, and I decided I wanted to grow one again.  I know how to do it ..... toothpicks in their sides, hang them in water, they sprout roots and grow a shoot, and you plant them in dirt.  Well, I've been trying for several months to do it again.  I hung pits in water for weeks and weeks with nothing happening except they got rotten.  I don't like to give up once I start something, so I just kept at it.   Finally, one of the pits grew long roots.  It had about 5 of them, and I left it in the water until the roots were about 4 inches long.  It still didn't have a shoot coming out the top.   So, I put some dirt in a little pot and planted it, leaving the top of the pit uncovered.  All summer long I watered it, talked to it, turned it so different sides faced the sun, but still nothing. 
And then, one day I went outside and voila!!!! There was a tiny shoot sticking up!  It seemed to take forever, but little by little it began to grow.  And now, just look at its magnificent self!!!  It has leaves ...  it has a long "trunk" .... it's sturdy .... I love it!!!  I just hope I can keep it alive all winter.  Wish me luck!

I tagged this drawing a portrait, but only because it's a face.  While I do think it resembles Jackie Kennedy (some of you actually guessed correctly in a previous WIP post, much to my amazement!), it's far from a  finished polished drawing.  So, I'm calling it a drawing of a face instead.  I found I had been avoiding meeting up with her again.  I'm not sure why, but I have to admit, I'm relieved to be able to give her a spray of fixative and move on down the highway.

I'm not  sure what I want to do next.  My mind has been awhirl with thoughts of watercolor painting, mixed media, doing something with fabric that includes embroidery and applique .... I'm feeling sort of restless.  Then, to add to my angst, in a corner of the closet in my studio is a sweater I started knitting last year (or maybe even the year before).   It's in there grumbling and complaining, and the noise is getting louder.  One of these days I'm going to have to pay attention to it.  Actually, it's almost finished, but the the thing is, I got to a part where I'm not exactly sure how to proceed, and I find myself hoping the knitting fairy will deign to visit and beg me to let her finish it.  I'll be sure to let you know if that happens!

Well, as always, things have been very busy.  We had a great time in Nashville (our son graduated from college, we got to hang out with our 2 year old grandson, both of our sons were there with us, and only one of our DILs was missing due to an unavoidable out of town trip..... more on that later!).  The weather was waaaaay too hot for those of us who live in the mitten, but no matter - we just stayed inside all the time.  And, just to add frosting to the cake, our new graduate got a new job today!!!!   Not easy in this economy, and we're really excited for him and his family.

On another note, my friend, Vicki, and I went to Ann Arbor on Tuesday for a bit of "drawing in the wild".  It was a lot of fun, although I'm not thrilled with my output.  The weather cooperated, it's always fun to hang out with her, and we had a great lunch together.  I tried out my new water pens (I think that's what they're called - those tubes you fill with water and they have brushes on the ends).  I bought a set of 4 - 3 sizes of round brushes and 1 flat brush.  So, here is the piece I did with them.  I've missed blogging, so I'm glad to be back.

On another quick note - someone is using my email address to post on some of the art groups I belong to.  I think it's really a shabby thing to do, and I don't know if there's on darn thing I can do about it.  Whoever you are ..... shame on you!!  Use your own address to post your phony baloney things.  Enuf said!!!!


This is called, "The Talking Head" .... my model up and left me.  : ( so I just added the background.  I see that the chair seems to be floating .... perhaps I'll add a shadow or 2!

Is it just me, or are things really busy these days?  It's been way too long since I've posted to my blog, and I've missed it.  What have I been doing?  Hard to say, exactly.  Spending time with friends who needed a friend, volunteering at the county Health Dept (only 1 day a week, though), getting ready for a trip, cleaning, shopping, .....  I don't know where the time goes!  Anyhow, here I am, and I'm in the process of doing a pencil drawing of the same woman I did the dom/non-dom drawings of in ink.  This is a woman all of you would recognize from her photo, but certainly not from my ink drawings.  The pencil drawing (a WIP), is closer to what she really looks like, but since she's a WIP, she's still not there yet.... maybe she never will be ..... who knows? 

I don't know when I'll get to visit her again.  We'll be traveling soon, and even tho it's not a long trip, somehow it takes me  a long time pre and post trip to organize everything.   Abby (our wonderful dog) will have to go to "camp"  (the kennel, but we Never use that word around her), and then, of course, she'll have to be picked up.  The camp is not very close to our house, but they love her there and she's been there often enough that she's comfortable (at least that's what we prefer to think).  I have to say, tho, she has yet to bring home a gimp lanyard..... anyone besides me remember those?

Enough of the rambling .... here's the WIP: