Illustration Friday: Modify

It's been nearly two months since I've had time to participate in Illustration Friday. I never thought I'd miss a week, but hey, life happens.

I was overthinking today's word but then I 'modified' my thinking by keeping it simple. I've christened my new Moleskine from Marianne in the process!

Now please don't do this to your poodles at home.

Happy weekend everyone!!

Cactus Monday: Christmas Cactus!

Ho Ho HO fellow Cactuteers! Here's a quick little sketch of a Christmas cactus for you! Happy Cactus Monday!!

Cactus Monday: Winter Hat

Apparantly this dufus thinks his wool sweater is itchy, but what about the prickly pear ear flaps on that stunning hat? Go figure!

Happy Cactus Monday!!

And to those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving this coming Thursday, may your blessings be many.

graphite and colored pencil in my moleskine.

Cactus Doodle

Sometimes I just need to do a simple sketch to get the inspiration flowing for a new Moleskine! This one is for Cactus Monday, also posted on my studio lolo blog and Flickr.

IF : Poof !

Do you ever walk into a room and forget why the hell you walked in there?

POOF!

Do you ever go to the store for ONE item and because you didn't write it on a piece of paper, you forget what ONE thing you were supposed to get?

POOF!

Do you ever find yourself forgetting what you were talking about midway through a story?

POOF!

Nope, never happens to me either.

Here's to middle age!

( and no, this is not supposed to be me or anyone else I know. Just some made-up scatterbrain!)

Happy Weekend everyone!

IF : Fierce??

Whoa!! Hold on Tiger!!

For Illustration Friday prompt : Fierce

(acrylic paint and colored pencils in my Moleskine)

Creative Wings

Just messing around in the Moleskine at the studio yesterday while I was waiting for canvases to dry. I love opening a magazine and finding the perfect words to add!

Acrylic, colored pencils, blue sharpie ultra fine point, magazine clipping and imagination.

Cactus Monday #7

Sha can be a little prickley !

Happy Cactus Monday!!

Happy Spring Everyone!!

Nothing like a little hocus-pocus and up pops the crocus!! Such hardy little flowers. Nothing can stop them, not even another heavy snowstorm after they've bloomed. There's something to be said about perseverance! Onward and upward, into the light. Aahhh, the little things. Love 'em!

IF : Heavy

"It's too bad you're so heavy dear, you have such a pretty face."

This was actually said to me a few years back. The lady who said it truly liked me and didn't say it to be mean. She passed away a couple of weeks ago. I wish I didn't have this memory of her, but sadly I do.

acrylics, postage stamps, colored pencils in my moleskine.

For Illustration Friday's prompt: Heavy

Ming-Wah's leap of faith, courage & trust

Some of you know that I'm a visiting nurse for pets. Well, Little Ming-Wah is one of my patients as well as my friend. On January 8th, Ming had spinal surgery (a hemi-laminectomy) on three ruptured discs as a result of degenerative disc disease. He's only four years old. This has left him partially paralyzed with no ability to use his back legs or go to the bathroom on his own. At first I was having to express his bladder three times daily as well as "gloving up" to help him with other eliminations. We also do exercises for his physical therapy several times daily to help build his strength for standing and hopefully, walking again. Ming never complains, always willing to do what we ask of him as long as there's a treat involved!

Ming's owner/Mom took a huge emotional and financial leap in making the decision to go through with the surgery knowing he may never walk again. She put her faith and trust in the doctors and people like myself who are involved in his ongoing care.

Every day, Ming continues to take an enormous leap of courage in this long recovery process, and each day he shows us how to handle every obstacle and challenge with amazing grace. I feel blessed to be called to help him and his mom, and I continue to learn from him every day.

New photos of Ming's progress HERE!

For Illustration Friday's prompt: Leap (see my other entry here)

acrylic, colored pencil, rubber stamps and collage in my Moleskine

Zen Garden

I'm creating a small space in my garden for a beautiful Buddha statue I bought. I purchsed a small American Bamboo plant that looks like a dwarf Japanese Maple. I also got some ornamental grasses in shades of blue. I'll fill in the areas around the plants with crushed white stone or small smooth pebbles. Obviously this is a very rough sketch that was inspired by my idea. The garden will look much better than this, hopefully. Besides, I wanted to use these beautiful stamps that came on a letter I received and this seemed to be the perfect fit.

See the garden here!

As Plain As The Nose....

It's been a while since I've added anything to the ol' Moleskine.

This is in response to Illustration Friday's promt, Plain.

Backwards

This is in response to Illustration Friday's prompt, "backwards."

At The Monterey Bay Aquarium they have this awesome overhead exhibit of sardines swimming in circles above your head. It's like one continuous silver streak that shimmers and moves. There's always a fish or two somewhere in the group trying to go the other way. But who's to say who's going backwards, the majority of the swimmers, or the minority?

Weaver Birds

I used to do a lot of this style cross-hatching. It just always came natural to me even before I ever saw this style. I then found out my Grandfather used the style a lot, so I must have inherited it seeing as I was named after him ! He never got to see any of my art because he died when I was nine or ten. I'm sure he knows now though.

My New Blog inspired by Moleskine!

I keep seeing blogs that show progress in Moleskine sketchbooks, so I thought "Why not?" You won't see anything fantastic here, but it sure is fun to drag out these little guys and fill them with creative exercises that help keep the fingers and mind limber. This is my first scribbling in it just to get it going. Comments are always welcome!