An Extra Treat for TiTi Today!

Titi kept jumping up on the bed. Not her usual “let's see if I can sneak as softly as I can onto the foot of the bed and curl up next to someone's foot in the middle of the night” manner , but bouncing on my legs as hard as she could. After she was shooshed off numerous times, she boldly jumped up and sat right next to my head. Again, I put her off of the bed, and again and again she continued to jump up. This behavior was definitely not her pattern. “What is up with this cat?” I wondered now fully awake. And now that I was awake, I heard a faint beeping. On and off. Every minute or so. An alarm? Too faint for the smoke alarm which is a blaring noise. By now Tom is awake, too. We get up to check it out. On venturing into the basement after checking all of the rooms upstairs, I discovered the source of the mysterious sound that the cat was trying to alert me to. The smoke/CO2 alarm was quietly beeping and stating in a calm woman's voice that the battery was low. No crisis, but thankful to my cat who tried to wake me when was something was amiss! 

An extra treat for Titi today!

#EDiM Every Day in May 2019: 1st and 2nd: The cat in my lap...

I find my Abyssinian hard to draw. The few times that I tried she came out looking like an alien with a weirdly shaped head and oddly humongous green eyes. Therefore, I decided I would make an effort to capture what she really looks like. "Every Day in May" is a good project for a consistent daily practice to improve. The official "Every Day in May" uses prompts. I'm going to just draw my cat, but I going to do it every day in May.

May first's drawing looks like a cat, you may be thinking to yourself, but Dear, you did not see all of the aliens that were erased!

 You can find Every Day in May's list of prompts and 

and their Facebook Page here.

Derwent Graphtint Pencils in Jane Davenport's Canvas Journal.

Día de Los Muertos

Día de Los Muertos 

Celebration at Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center, November 3, 2018.

Watercolors, Sakura Glaze Pen, Dr. Ph Martin's Bleedproof White Ink in Strathmore 400 Series Wirebound Watercolor Journal.

The Mansion was decorated and there were programs to celebrate the day, nature, and art.

"... as long as I have a brush in front of me, I'm all right." Maud Lewis

Maud Lewis was a famous folk artist who lived with crippling disease in a tiny humble home in Nova Scotia, Canada. I am very inspired by her attitude in life, her ability to focus on her creativity and not her disability, and her primitive style.

Her paintings and her tiny house (she covered the walls, windows, doors, shelves, and just about everything with pictures) can be seen in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. https://www.artgalleryofnovascotia.ca/

Books, plays, and films about her life have been produced. I watched Maudie  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudie_(film) . Above is one of her original cat paintings which prompted me to try her style and do one of my own.

Happy Spring Kitties. 

Gouache in my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal.

What's on my mind? August 16 and 17 Chestnuts and Cobblecats

Remembering daily observations with quick sketches in a new Jane Davenport Canvas Journal. Here are the entries from August 16th and 17th.

The full page spread:

Cobblecat  is a white and black spotted barn kitten.

First chestnuts spotted on the trees we planted a few years ago! American X Chinese chestnut trees from Dunstan.

Watercolors and black Micron pen.

Yesterday's post:

Snarks and Grumpkins...

Are you surrounded by "Snarks and Grumpkins"? Some thoughts on the Jane Davenport Canvas Journal and

a page done with various dye-based alcohol artist markers and Acrylic Glazing Liquid. (Say what?) (Why?) (Dunno) Jane Davenport Canvas Journal.

Egads! Is this suppose to happen?

Click on the video to find out more.

Just sketching Felines with a Fine Line Pen...

I was given the challenge of drawing with a Stables Ultra Fine pigment pen until in ran out of ink. So here are four pages of gesture drawings from life that I did by following my cats around over the course of 3 days.

First page. There are two cats individually labeled "tt" for Titi and "sw" for Stinky. Stinky is not fat, she just spreads easily.

Titi is an Abyssinian. Look in the Cat Encyclopedia under "most destructive cats ever." 

Titi is a runt with a very large self-image. Her full name is larger than she is - Queen Nefertiti.

Pen not empty yet. Crescent marker journal.

When the Catbird Sings...

When the Catbird sings on the clothesline...

And then flies up into the Maple Tree...

And "Stinky" the Cat chases a fly that got in the house while the windows were being washed...

And the Barn Cat climbs up into the birdbath...

It's a good day to think about...

Why do cats eat flies anyway?

Also on my mind...

Heavenly Blue Chicory and the Heavenly Scent of Milkweed

June 25th and the Milkweed blossoms in the garden smell so wonderful! I didn't sketch in all of the florets, so just image about twice as many as you see here.

Driving down the highway, I couldn't help but notice that the Chicory plants were painting the side of the road with their heavenly blue flowers. Each bloom fades in only a day, but there's another one waiting to open the next morning. I have a lax immigration policy when it comes to most, but not all, non-native plants. I love this one! Does anyone know how to mix up paint to get a vivid Chicory blue?

The rain gauge is screaming that we are 2 inches short of where we should be at this point in June. The grass is crispy and the Bee Balm is as limp as a dish rag. There was a thunder storm in the area last night. Stinky's ear starting twitching. She heard the thunder before I did. Noise but no rain.

Cherries and Berries:

June 21st: What's on my mind? Cherries and Berries and a cat named Stinky

I tried another "train of thought" journal page because Facebook did ask me "What's on your mind?".

While working in the garden, the thought that struck me was "Who planted this lovely cherry tree here?". The garden was made in the spot where the old swimming pool used to be. The plan was to make it a bird garden so I planted crab apple trees and blueberries and raspberries and even native dogwoods. I guess the birds weren't satisfied with all of that, so they planted a cherry tree. I noticed the tree growing but I didn't know what it was until last year when it first bore fruit. The cherries are so luscious looking! Big bright red shiny globes. 

I did plant the blueberries. And I may start eating them very soon if the birds ignore them.

And then I thought that I should do more animal sketches for the practice. I do have two models that lie around the house all day. Well, one cat that sleeps most of the day and one "Cat of Mass Destruction" that takes a break from causing havoc every so often. This is Stinky. Guess which cat she is!

What's on my mind?

Shut Your Monkey!

Okay, does anyone else have this problem?

I shut the monkey. 

Now I have the art studio supervisor constantly on my back.

Breathing down my neck.

She is very demanding.

She rearranges my art supplies to her liking.

She approves of art work by sitting on it. 

Disapproves of a piece by chewing on it.

Derwent Inktense: Faded Love Affair?

When I bought these Derwent Inktense colored pencils in 2009, I loved the way they looked on the paper. And the colors were awesome! Then ugly rumors starting appearing on the webber-net. Rumors about that four letter word that begins with "F". Yes, you know what I'm talking about : FADE. Artists were kicking these pencils to the curb. Giving them away. Throwing them away! All because they said those bright yummy colors faded. Egads! What was I to do?  I decided to not make that decision, took a deep breath, and put the pencils carefully away in a drawer. 

Recently, I came across these kitty sketches that were done in back in 2009 during my happy days with the Inktense pencils. I was curious to see if they had faded at all. So I carefully took the pencils out of the drawer, cut off the edge of the paper that the sketches were done on, and made some color swatches.

I wish I had used more color on the original cats, but as far as I can tell, the orange, brown, and black have not noticeably faded over the last 6 plus years. Should I put it all away for another 6 years and then retest? Or just ignore the "F*@#" rumors? What to you think?