the Each Week, One Beast project: week ?

The beasts are on hiatus, because their maker is overwhelmed. I feel like doing what Otto is doing above, fleeing from his responsibilities. Matt bought me an enormous bottle of gin, and it wouldn't be hard to go sit with it out in the garden, with the season's last flowers, and then eventually tip over, from which perspective I could enjoy the vees of geese as they pass by.

One thing about this art business is that my busy season is the holidays. Or so it seems - I'm still learning. So - I'll be sharing what I'm working on as I'm working on it, and beasts will come on an irregular basis, and if you want to come visit me, I'll make you an awesome cocktail and we'll sit on the back porch and not answer any of our email or fulfill any of our promises.

The f'n clutch

I haven't been around here much lately. So, I can tell you where I haven't been, but I'm not sure where I have been. I drove a friend's car to Philly and back this week. I'd never driven it before, and it's kind of newfangled, and I couldn't figure out how to put the car in reverse. So I called my husband to ask him how to do it, and told him that the solution he offered was totally implausible, impossible, and uncomprehendingly ridiculous. And here I am, there I was, stuck in my parking spot, with a curb in front of me, and nowhere to go but backwards. But I couldn't.

Then I pulled out the owner's manual, and it said, do what your husband just told you. And, well, shit, it worked.

So that sounds like a pretty DUH kind of moment, right? But wait - it gets better! Today, I needed to bring the car back to my friend. But it wouldn't start, so I said - silly old me, I left the lights on, the battery is dead. I fetched Matt and told him to please jump start it, which he did. It still wouldn't start, and Matt said, are you pushing the clutch in? And well, no, I wasn't, and no, I hadn't been, and yes, the battery was just fine all along, as it turns out!

Which brings us to the question: Where the hell has my brain gone? And it also brings us back around to the start of this post - and I do seem to be going round in circles a lot lately - but where am I, in addition to my brain? If you see either one of us, me or my brain, just sort of doodling along distractedly (distracted - the condition Matt has kindly diagnosed me with, instead of brain addled, which is what I might actually be), will you send us back round here, where we might bump into one another? Thanks.

the Each Week, One Beast project: weeks 34 and 35

Well, these beasts just don't draw themselves. I didn't post one last week, and I'm just barely making it this week. I've been drawing plenty, but nothing I feel like sharing. So. I've just done these Ottos, they took about seven minutes, and they're way better than the other Ottos I worked on for, like, a million hours. Does this say something about my usual technique?

I've been trying out these little fast side-of-the-pencil-lead sketches because I think they help me loosen up and determine the basic shapes a someone ought to be, before thinking about details. They're fun and satisfying.

Other than that, I have only one other little happy event to tell you about. The baker's brand new 25 pound sack of organic dark chocolate chips took a tumble (which Otto had NOTHING to do with) off the stack of boxes by the flour. This sucked for the baker because a bunch of them spilled, and while I really did feel sympathy for Matt and his lost investment, it's hard to feel very sorry for someone when their misfortune is your big bowl of chocolate, you know? Floor chips really can't be baked into cookies for customers, but they can be eaten by your wife. That's lucky old me.

Happy weekend, everyone.

More night windows

meadow hunt

 

lover and the cabin

 

the surprise coon

 

shelling peas

 

coming storm

Here's the rest of my series for the Enormous Tiny Art Show. Of course I drew Otto the cat, who is both Enormous and Tiny. The six pieces are now available on their website. 

Night Window 1: late encounter

You might recognize an earlier beast-of-the-week here... This is the first itty bitty drawing (3.5" square) in a series of six for the Enormous Tiny Art show at Nahcotta in New Hampshire. I'm super happy - way, way happier than Otto looks here - to be included in this exhibit, which features work under 10" by many artists. The show opens September 6; works will be available for purchase in the gallery and on the website.

Man on wire

One of the great things about my husband Matt is, when I really want a chicken-of-the-woods for dinner, and then we see one, bright orange off in the distance, he will cross a creek, bushwhack a thicket, and climb a tree, just to bag the chicken.

We had a short weekend getaway of hiking, mushroom picking, and cooking over a campfire. As Scranton has felt like a sort of soul-stifling place to me lately, it felt good to spend some time in the woods, laughing and enjoying life.

the Each Week, One Beast project: week 33

We've talked a lot about what Otto doesn't like, but not so much about what he does like. He likes cooking. But alas, he is not technically allowed on the kitchen table. Here he is, about to be whisked off.

I thought I'd share the before picture for this finished drawing, from my sketchbook, below. Sometimes I get a sketch I love, and man, it's so challenging to capture the energy of the loose sketch in the next drawing - the one I do on the nice, expensive paper. If I'm lucky I get something just as good as the sketch, but different. If I'm not lucky I get pages and pages of F-ed up Ottos, ready to be recycled into something more useful, like toilet paper.