Day Forty Five

Did a little linoleum block carving today. I am pretty thoroughly convinced it is not for me. Oh well, I gave it my best. I have one piece I have not carved-that will most likely be my final attempt. Now for some bloggin’

Today’s word brought an image to mind that I knew I had to bring to life. It’s not original, or even particularly interesting. Cute, maybe. Funny, yes. Would you like to know the word before you see the piece? Yeah...that’s probably the order we should go in.

head-set  n.  A pair of headphones.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I didn’t know what a headset was, this definition probably wouldn’t help me all that much.

Although this scene/character is not at all a new idea, I couldn’t help but create my own version. I started with a pencil sketch...

And then moved on to the paint. 

I decided against inking the drawing; I didn’t want to lose the soft edges and the easy flow of her hair to the deep, clean black of my drawing pens.

Hope you enjoyed today’s piece. Enjoy your night, and sleep in for me tomorrow. Good night, all!

Xx

-r

Day Thirty Nine

Lovely late evening. Had an incredible dinner with our English and Italian neighbors. There was talk of music, politics and burning down the Vatican. I saw my first glass of wine used as a slide for an electric guitar...innovative? I think yes. The night wound down with some slow jazz and gifts of beautiful European clothes (custom Turkish leather coat, dresses and jackets from Spain and Italy...) are you jealous yet?

drift  v.  To be driven or carried along by or as if by currents of air or water; to move along the line of least resistance; to move about aimlessly; to be carried along with no guidance or control; to accumulate in piles , as sand; to deviate from a set course; in the western U. S., to drive livestock slowly to allow grazing.

I think many people, especially those that are my age, struggle with “drifting”. With or without a passion in life it is, in my experience, often difficult to find “direction”. I will stop here; I could write for days on this subject and end up nowhere. I don’t think there really are any big-picture answers on the subject of how to live your life, and I’m okay with that.

Now for today’s piece...

I wanted to illustrate the relaxed and free aspect of the word “drift”. Watercolors seemed to be a good fit. I began with a simple pen and ink sketch (jeez!! if I had a dollar for every time that phrase appeared on this blog...) and then painted over it with watercolor paint.

I hope you enjoyed this piece, your evening, and the wonderful people that surround us all.

Good Night.

Xx

-r

Day Twenty Nine

I took my time with today’s piece. Not intentionally, at first, but when it comes to art (or anything, I guess) it’s always a treat to sit down and really take your time doing something.

I found a lovely, smooth and bright white piece of paper to use for today’s project and, in the spirit of today’s word, I decided to change what I’d decided was getting boring...

Using a new technique I just picked up (thank you, google) I “antiqued” the paper using some old coffee and grains of salt. After what seemed like an eternity of blow drying, the paper was ready to be used:

Oh yeah, the word! Getting a little ahead of myself here...

re-bel  v.  To refuse allegiance; to resist any authority; to react with violence; to take arms against a government.

My first thought was, honestly, of Princess Lea. I can just hear Darth Vader growling “Rebel Alliance”. Okay, enough with the nerd talk...

Bored by images of punks and hippies, and inspired by the antique look of the paper, I decided to do a sketch of a woman wearing bloomers. Working from a faint memory of history class (something about a woman wearing bloomers as pants so she could run around and not be restricted by a dress) I turned to Wikipedia:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_dress_reform

Anyway, I decided to do a portrait of a brave woman deciding to rebel against the “acceptable” way to dress in order to be free. I really admire women (throughout history) who have stood up and decided to try and change things. Thanks ladies, for battling for freedom so I may sit here in my skinny jeans, with my blue hair and complain about getting an education. But seriously, thank you. 

not sure exactly what happened with the paper to the right...oh well.