Illustration

Doodle #99, Kittens-an Overview

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If you haven’t guessed by now the prompt for today is the word, kittens. It seems like I just can’t get away from drawing cats and kittens. Prompt or no prompt cats are my favorite subject to render in pen, pencil or any number of creative media. Well truly there is not much advice I can give you about raising cats. If memory serves me correctly from all the cats I had growing up and the ones my son had before he moved out cats  kind of raise you.

Cats can be finicky or loving, standoffish or friendly, it all depends on what mood they are in at the moment. One thing I do love about cats is they are self cleaning, well except for the litter box once in a while. Try to get your teenagers to clean up after themselves and see how it goes. I have four children, two were clean freaks, the other two not so much. I am still finding stuff stashed in different places in my house even though my one child moved out four years ago. Thrift stores have become my frequent destinations.

Still when it comes to cleanliness I will take messy children who don’t get into trouble in and out of school any day. My children had their ups and downs but they have all turned out well having good jobs and for three of them families of their own. It is all a parent can hope for to have successful children.

Doodle #98 Getting the Bird to Pose

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My doodle “Getting the Bird to Pose,” was inspired by the word prompt, hummingbird. I have only seen hummingbirds a few times in my lifetime. Each year my wife puts out one of those hummingbird feeders in order to try and draw the birds out. So far she has had limited success.  Hummingbirds are interesting little creatures They flit and flutter around with seeming tirelessness from flower to flower sucking out the nectar.

How hard it must be to get one of these little birds to pose for a picture. Which reminds me of those early days as a parent when you try to get the perfect picture of your children. Nothing ever seems to go right. One child is looking one way, another will not smile and still another is crying. Still my wife perseveres in order to get that one magical moment when all the children look perfect for the photographer. It seldom worked but each year we went through the same ritual.  Just one of the joys of parenting I miss, not.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to have pictures of my kids and grandchildren readily available for others to see. I however like the unplanned spontaneous moments when the children are being children. The best family moments to capture on your camera, smart phone, or whatever are those that come when you’re not planning for them, when your family is being a family at play. Remember just like you’ll never get a bird to pose for picture you’ll never get the true essence of family life unless you are prepared and ready to capture the spontaneous.

Doodle #97, Life Among the Leaves

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It is spring once again. The world is sprouting with new life. Flowers are popping out of the ground and trees are getting their new leaves. Spring has always been my favorite time of year because the earth once again filled with pageantry and color. As an artist color is one of my favorite things to put in my paintings. Color can bring forth a whole range of emotions. Reds and yellows are warm colors and invoke feelings of happiness but they can also be irritating to the eyes. Blues and darker colors are more relaxing and invoke feelings of melancholy and are more relaxing colors.

A lot of the paintings I do tend to be filled with warm colors. It is not really intentional. It is just where my artist’s brain gravitates. One of things I am trying to learn in doing this doodle challenge is how to get out of my color comfort zone and experiment with different color variations or maybe no color at all. I have learned different colored markings in pen and pencil can create a satisfying effect

Another thing I learned is just like the,”Little Boy in the Tree,” my illustration for today, unless you learn to be adventurous and experiment with things as an artist you will never grow as an artist or for that matter life will never be as interesting as it might be if you climb out of your comfort zone

The Joy of it All, Doodle #81

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Joy can be found in many places in life. I find joy in creating art like today’s offering, “Lollipop Flowers” which is a silly drawing meant to create a smile.  However the most joy I get in life is helping others.I am an Ed Assistant in a urban school district. At this point in my life it is not the ideal job to have looking towards retirement but I love helping the students in my class.

It brings great joy to my heart when I help just one of my students learn something new. In life

A Little Texture Attracts the Eye, Doodle #78

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One of the hardest things for me to as an artist is to convey texture in my drawings. Over the years I developed into pseudo cartoonist. I like the simplicity of line drawings which can convey a lot with only a few lines. Once I started to play around with pastels I found textures can be conveyed with a few strokes of the chalk pastel. Even in acrylics I can convey texture by the way I lay down the brush strokes or the materials I use to create mixed media creations.

Now that I have switched back to pencil, pen and marker to create my daily doodles I have again been trying to learn how to create texture with a few strokes of the pen. Today’s doodle is a pencil drawing where I have tried to convey texture in the woman and her clothing using a few pencil strokes. While the work is incomplete I have learned to be more patient with the details and look for the texture in whatever I am drawing.

I think life is the same way. We spend so much time speeding through each day we forget to take the time to look at all the textures which abound in the people we meet and places we travel. It is the textures which give the world and people God created their beauty, their individuality and uniqueness. Life is all about textures so stop trying to smooth out all the rough edges and create what you want, instead be satisfied with what is already there.

Not So Shiny After All, Doodle #71

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It might seem odd me to offer up a horse and buggy for a prompt such as shiny but it’s not really. I live near Lancaster, PA so for the last thirty plus years I have my share of the black and grey Amish horse drawn buggy’s. The Amish from what I was told when I first moved to this area do not like shiny objects. There are various reasons why but  leads me to an explanation of today’s  drawing.

Life is made up of two types of people the shiny people and the people like the Amish who try and avoid being shiny people. Shiny people are those who love to flaunt what they have every chance they get. They brag about everything shining their accomplishments in your eyes trying to blind you to what lies beneath.

On the other hand people who are not so shiny do their deeds in the background. They shy away from shining the light on themselves. These are the people who may or may not have a lot themselves but use what they have to benefit others. One of the aspects of the Amish community I love is the fact that when one member of the community is down the others rally around them in order to help them get back on their feet.

One of my favorite verses is Philippians 2:3 which reminds me as well as others to, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

Walking With Courage, Doodle #66

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Courage, The first thing that popped into my head when I saw the prompt was the lion from the Wizard of Oz. The second thing which popped into my head was Cowardly the dog from an old cartoon show. What do both these characters have in common. They both were cowardly but in the face of obstacles they stood tall and did brave acts.

Courage may come in finally standing up to a bully in school. It may come when you walk into a doctor’s office and hear those three life changing words, “You have cancer.” It may come when you face the end of your life. The main point is no matter how much you try and avoid it there are time in your life when you must stand up like a lion, be brave and walk with your head high into the battle even when you want to crawl under a rock and hide.

If you have faith in God the Bible says in Ephesians 6:10 that we can, “Be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.”

I hope you like today’s doodle and my brief ramble.

Daily Timeout for Art

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The final theme for February was gold. I could have gone in a lot of directions with this one but instead I chose to go with a piece entitled “Golden Haired Girl and Her Flowers.” The piece is a simple one done in colored pencil.

Daily Timeout for Art #57

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The  picture for today is lovingly entitled, “Empty Jewelry Box.” The story behind it is a simple one. The theme for today’s drawing was minerals. Since diamonds are a mineral and also a girls best friend I decided to go the opposite route of simply drawing an empty jewelry box and a worried husband or boyfriend in the background.