art technique

Of dogs, doodlebugs and damn good books

May 1, 2023

This week we took care of 2 dogs belonging to our extended family thus bringing our inhouse pet count up to 2 dachshunds 1 chihuahua Jack Russell mix and 1 cat. Everyone got along peacefully at “Camp Rusty” playing and sleeping together. Well, the cat did his own thing but wasn’t upset by the extra…

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art techniques, artistic inspirations, books, cat portrait, creative thinking, fine art, humor in art, life of the mind, poetry, sketchbook, visual thinking, whimsical art, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating

art technique, books, cats, Celtic music, Compton Mackenzie, dogs, doodlebug, fine art, gouache, independent bookstores, ink, novel, poem form, poetry, port a beul, Ray Bradbury Reading Program, reading, visual art, visual stories, whimsical art
The minutest concerns: poems, love, books and odd balls

April 26, 2021

This week in household surrealism I’ve been thinking of love. Love in the sense of the poetry, the food, the care for and cleaning of things, generally creating a gentle environment for ourselves and others. Perhaps an environment also filled with souvenirs of loving moments as I wrote in my last post. My recent children’s…

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, artistic inspirations, books, fine art, household surrealism, magic realism, mental health, Patch La Belle, poetry, sketchbook, This Rabbit, Uncategorized, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating

a creative life, art exhibits, art gallery, art technique, book review, books, Dr Bobs Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit, dusting, environment, fine art, garden, gardens, good mental health, household surrealism, Kidz Stories And More, love, magic realism, Mary Oliver, meatballs, mouse, Patch La Belle, poetry, recipe, sketchbook, tulips
Rabbits roses cups cards meatballs and book muchness

February 15, 2021

I’m having fun with new combinations of colors. In a recent post I tried a yellow and grey color set. After posting about that a friend said she liked pink and grey together. So I tried that combination this week. I’ve enjoyed playing with odd sized elements so I continued that in this new ink…

A Creative Life, animals in art, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, fabric design, greeting cards, illustrated poem, illustrated recipe, poetry, rabbits in art, reading in art, recipe illustration, sketchbook, surface design, visual story, visual thinking, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating

a creative life, art technique, books, children’s book, comfort, creative project planning, creativity, cups, fabric pattern, greeting cards, illustrations, kitchen sketchbook, meatballs, rabbit, rabbits, reading, recipe, roses, Spoonflower. fabric design, writing
My loose sketchbook to fine art method

February 6, 2020

Recently I blogged about my kichen sketchbook keeping method. Here’s my “running around loose” sketchbook method. Yes, this is a different sketchbook. Both books are related to my current fine artworks. My “running around loose” – aka “loosey” book (pronounced ‘Lucy’) – is a sketchbook measuring 3.5 x 5.5 inches and half an inch thick…

A Creative Life, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artistic inspirations, books, commonplace book, creative thinking, drawing as thinking, sketchbook, visual thinking, words and pictures

art technique, bistro, coffee, drawing, glance, Loosey, memory, person, random, running around loose, sketch, sketchbook, sketchbook technique, soup, words
the so-what art making technique

September 10, 2019

Recently I’ve been super busy with fine-art exhibits and other illustration projects. But now I’m back to regular work on a new print version of “Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit”. During my work on the pages about Dr. Bob’s S.W.I.F.T. finger therapy I remembered how valuable this concept is when I’m in…

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art techniques, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, illustration, mental health, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking

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the art technique of attention

August 10, 2019

I’ve been very busy getting ready for a one-person fine art exhibit at Caplan Art Designs that will open in September. (So my social media activity has slacked off lately.) Around the edges of creating new fine artwork, framing, paperwork and so forth I’ve been working towards a new print edition of “Dr. Bob’s Emotional…

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, artistic inspirations, books, drawing as thinking, ebook, fine art, illustration, mental health, story, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking, Writing And Illustrating

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illustrated poetry dominos and books

March 5, 2019

I’ve been thinking about how reading books is similar to playing dominos or sharing a meal with friends. In all of these activities we practice cooperating with others and peaceably bringing forth the world together. Here’s a limerick poem I wrote and illustrated that playfully reflects my thoughts: This poem and illustration somewhat relates to…

A Creative Life, animals in art, art exhibit, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, author illustrator, games in art, illustrated poem, illustrated shorts, poetry, visual thinking, words and pictures, writing, Writing And Illustrating

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agatha and art

November 19, 2018

I’ve been reading “Appointment With Death” by Agatha Christie. By page 7 I was rooting for the murderer to go ahead and kill. It’s the villain who deservedly gets killed in this story. While reading I realized that I so strongly disliked the villain and rooted for her demise because of her cumulative (negative) effect…

A Creative Life, art techniques, artistic inspirations, creative thinking, Narrative Art, words and pictures

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in the gouache

January 6, 2018

Here’s “Mandolin Man”, a piece I finished that tests my new red gouache color. On the musicians neck strap you can most clearly see the new red I’d mentioned in my last post. I also used the red as a “mixer” in the brown of the Labrador fur – so it’s more of a dark…

A Creative Life, art techniques, dog portrait, fine art

art technique, chocolate labrador, gouache, Labrador, music, musician
gouache it’s red

January 6, 2018

I’ve been back to the art supply store recently – and have gotten a red gouache color I’m happier with! Check out my test swatches below… The red on the top left, both in the book and on my palette, was the first red, the one I wasn’t happy with. It’ll be fine as a…

A Creative Life, art techniques

art technique, color, gouache