inspired by the moon & stars... and by these people.

hello everyone!

No art of my own to share,

so i thought i'd share a few

of my inspirations.

Andy J. Miller

His work always makes me smile.

You can find him here.

Carla Sonheim

Her Silly Drawing class was my first on-line class

and it was so much fun.

Her class was a wonderful reminder

that we all take ourselves (and drawing!) far too seriously sometimes.

Check out these fun drawings from her book,

Drawing Lab

Have you ever seen a cuter elephant?

Create a little clay animal and draw him.

love how she focuses on the fun of drawing
and not on drawing a perfect anything.

look at all these fun little pen portraits
and below, the colorful portraits!
Our personalities are all so different,
why would our ART all be the same?
Don't you love this variety?

Her book has great drawing techniques 
that are anything but boring.
These little creatures were made from sidewalk cracks.
Yup, tracing sidewalk cracks
and then finding little animals in them somewhere...

imagination at its best. 
Drawing should never be boring
so i loved Carla's class.
You can find her here.


Need i say anything else about this man?
Danny Gregory.
The fucking king of sketchbooks.

Well, i will say that he's hosting
the Sketchbook Skool this spring
and i'm in!
(are you?!)
You can find out all about it here.
Check it out.
Watch the video.
Join in the fun.

Another favorite of mine:
Lynne Hoppe.
Love this girl's art & imagination.
You can find her and her lovely creations here.
i love how fragile, soft and strong
her paintings are - all at the same time.

Judy Wise

Aaahhh... so much inspiration here.

Beautiful artwork, journal pages, photos, you name it.

Feel the love.

Find her and her work here.

Lisa Congdon
These simple little illustrations and words
say so much, don't they?
Things like this always find their way
to my heart
more than a high priced piece of framed art.
You can find Lisa's work here.

and if you need more inspiration,

here's a list of questions by the UBER talented & happy soul

Alexandra Franzen

that could help kick you and your life into high gear.

Find the list here

and let yourself fly.

No pressure.

There's pressure enough in the world

without imposing it on ourselves, right?

Have fun with this.

It's not a fucking exam, it's inspiration.

i hope you find the time

to visit some of these

and that you like what you see.

i'll share more later.

But for now, dreamland is calling me...

zzzzzzzz....

oh, almost forgot.

For those who are interested in figure drawing

but can't make it to a live class,

check out this website.

You can pick what you want to draw

and set your own time limit.

Remember, you're not looking for perfection

(especially if you're doing a standard 30 sec drawing!)

you're practicing your skills!

Besides, you are ALL artists already.

Some of you just don't know it yet.  ;-)

nighty night, Munchkins.

xox

winter beach and Ray Charles genius

hello to all!

Not much to say today,

but a few pics to share

and a little bit of art.

My kind of selfie... ;-)

A beautiful day at the beach...

 Two crows on a big "C"...

how cool is this?
frozen footprints on the sand...

 beauty...

 beauty 2...

 the line in the sand... ;-)

a teeny tiny crab...
no bigger tan the tip of my finger

 and a bit of art from last night

 good ol' Ray Charles...

 pen on paper

love the quote...
I believe we're all born with something in us.
The secret of life is figuring out
what that something is.

Happy Sunday everyone...
Until the next time.
xox

such soul, this man had...

a rough day gives way to a good night...

I think the reward for conformity

is that everyone likes you except yourself.
- Rita Mae Brown

 I had a rough day at work today...

so rather than complain about it
and let the crappy day invade my quiet evening -
i thought i'd do something that centers me instead.
Something that grounds me
and calms my soul
and makes me feel like the world is ok again.
Write.
Cut.
Collage.
Paint. 

i had done this image a while back,

in pastel. (below)

I started this journal a while ago,

to give to my son on his 18th birthday,

in a couple of weeks

and i wrote in here tonight.

I kept lots of journals in my younger days

and somehow,

with all the moving around we did,

with deep regret

I lost them all.

i thought it would be cool

to give my son a glimpse into his childhood

from my perspective as a mom.

Had i known at the time
it would become filled with more than just writing -
i would have chosen a more appropriate journal. 
I started it when he was about 4 or 5
sort of record of his days,
what he loved doing
his favorite foods,
who his friends were,
and i quickly began adding things
and adding
and adding...
like this precious illustration
from one of his friends
when they were just little boys.

...or this invitation to a birthday party...

...or this card he made for us, for Christmas...

 ...or this one, that my mom gave him.
A grandmother reminding her grandson
how much she loved him
and believed in him.
(sniff, sniff...)

And so now,

the journal looks like this (below)

and i regret not having planned ahead. 

Still, i know he's going to cherish it

because he (like me) loves writing

and keeping little bits of paper around him. 

how fucking cool was this little guy?

A face only a mother could love?

I think not...

(giggle)

And then this precious writing
that i treasure more than anything...
My grandmother's writing (mom's mother).
I moved out to Western Canada when i was younger
and she often wrote me.
I kept her letters
and scanned this one line that reads:

Goodbye, from your grandmother

who will never forget you.

I'll be putting a copy of this
in my son's journal as well.
He never knew his great grandmother
but he would have loved her, no doubt.
Everyone did. :-)

Thanks for being here, munchkins.
love & lollipops, and a feel good song
to bring you warmth on this 
freezing winter night (for us!)
xox