sketchy, day 6: that sinking feeling
most of my sketches seem to be either from real life or completely from inside my head. there's an emotional component no matter what it is, but this sketch was an attempt to capture a feeling, while also drawing from the landscape around me. i guess i'm working on tightening up and improving the way in which i draw, while also thinking about what it is i'd like to say with my drawings. so much of it still feels unconscious. reminds me of that ani song:
Art is why I get up in the morning; my definition ends there.
You know it doesn't seem fair,
That I'm living for something I can't even define.
- From Out of Habit, Ani DiFranco
more and more, i'd like my sketches and observations to become the basis for paintings. but my paintings are so slow, i wonder if i'll ever get anywhere with them.

the sketch below is of kehoe waiting for christmas (she loves presents).

Labels: art, doodle, one-a-day, painting, sketches

:: ewee 2:40:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Friday, February 27, 2009 ::

sketches: gassy dog
going back to some older sketches to finish the workweek...this started as a kehoe sketch (i think), and became a kehoe-toki morph. it was prolly inspired by our amazingly gassy dogs (you'd think they'd show discomfort with the noxious fumes they emit). for awhile, i had a series of superheroes that were powered by (natural) gas. they're hilarious enough to me that it's likely they'll reappear in my doodles. the left page was filled with sketches of ppl i saw from the rnc (on tv), including the very few poc's we spotted. the same part of my brain that likes the bangoo jokes, also enjoys the thought of our dogs releasing their gases toward the rnc...

in the two below, i used removable white tape to block out parts of the drawing, and then went back in between the lines (as it were), and under the torn half of the page.

Labels: art, dogs, doodle, one-a-day, painting, sketches

:: ewee 9:27:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Thursday, February 26, 2009 ::

Scribblings: day 4
tiny bit of scribblings. white tape makes for nice clean lines in between scribblings. other bits are inspired by a bit of stumbling around flickr--love the idea of the describbles flickr group.
Labels: art, doodle, one-a-day, painting, sketches

:: ewee 9:00:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 ::

Doodle dogly
Well, not the most spectacular or unique of doodles--sketching the dogs as I sit brainlessly on the couch after a long day is a fairly common occurrence. (I do wonder, sometimes, how many dog doodles I have...)

It's been interesting to see how my training is intersecting with the rest of my life. There's something about art (and martial arts, paddling, etc.) that keeps me focussed on the here and now.

Some of that focus occurs when I'm truly able to see--usually when I'm drawing or painting from real life. But some of it happens when I'm mindlessly doodling, or working on shape/form/color in painting. In some ways they're very different processes. But in both cases, when I look at what I've made, I can remember vividly all the feelings, sights, and sounds associated with the moments spent creating.

Not sure why it is that certain types of focus allow me to take in everything. But it's definitely the main reason for my constant doodling. There's something in it that brings me ease. The more I can access that, the less my work tends to suck, and the calmer I can be. And making shtick that doesn't suck (be it a painting, a website, or a crazy office supply doodle) is the whole point, ain't it? (The calmness is an added bonus.)

This one-a-day exercise has been fun so far (only three days) and has generated some ideas of what I'd like to do next. I'm going to load up with some photos of ongoing paintings and my tons of old sketches to keep the momentum going. I'm curious to see where it goes...
Labels: art, dogs, doodle, one-a-day, painting, sketches

:: ewee 8:08:00 AM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 ::

Sketchy
Doodlings on butterflied envelope.

This'll likely get swallowed up/pasted onto some other drawing or painting, but here it is in its current incarnation. My color palette is a bit limited at work (color pencils, ballpoint pens, highlighters, stamps), but I'm kinda liking the randomness of it all.

The clown face is likely a holdover from the tshirt I've been working on that's been stalled by the economy. The rest of it is a product of the grinding down of a deadly dull job, plus the honing to a fine point by the anxiety of impending economic disaster. But I know, I'm one of the lucky ones. So I'm not complaining. Just frantically doodling my anxieties onto paper.
Labels: art, doodle, one-a-day, painting, sketches

:: ewee 4:30:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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:: Monday, February 23, 2009 ::

sketches
Seems like a reasonable thing to do, a sketch a day... but knowing me, I'll need to have a few extra to cover a few days here and there. So, here's two to start.

The first one is a frantic bit of work doodles (the post-its are from the interminable bits of time I spend waiting for my computer to finish chewing on something, or the times I'm stuck on the phone with some insincere lout) and a little bit of inspiration from some sketchbooks and the like on flickr.

The second is a few wild iris seed pods from last year. This year, I figured it out in time to collect the seeds, and I'm hoping to plant some in the backyard. Native, drought-resistant, but will it be Toki resistant? Only time will tell...
Labels: art, doodle, one-a-day, painting, sketches

:: ewee 11:28:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments ::
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