That tree I keep drawing & more rainbows with sunshine

Small Botanical Drawings

India ink and Prismacolour pencils, spring botanical drawing.



Leafy botanical drawing, India ink and Prismacolour pencils.

Some landscape paint sketches & a doodle

Tempera paint:




India ink & coloured pencil:

Some Paint Sketches

This was a picture I took of my garden's bounty many years ago. I know I posted the pic before. I was inspired by it and ended up doing a couple of simple paint sketches.



Marigolds & tomatoes. Plain old tempera on paper.

some quick sketches

A Botanical and An Oceanic Drawing

India ink & Prismacolor pencils on tobacco & banana fiber paper

Some Little Drawings

Create It Forward Exercise

This January I received the following note from a Facebook friend:

Awesome idea: I pledge to Create It Forward this New Year!I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 folks who leave a comment to this update.HERE'S THE CATCH: U MUST in turn promise to post this and send something U have made to the first 5 posters on your status (plus me!). The rules are that it must be handmade by U & it MUST be sent to your 5+1 people sometime in 2011! It's more fun if we pass it on!

Please don't respond to that - I am only quoting it. That exercise/giveaway has already begun, BUT, I will do another blog giveaway soon, because it's been so long. I am working, gradually, on this project. I am using India ink, Prismacolor pencils, and some really nice natural fiber paper (tobacco, banana) I discovered on a lark at a local discount store. I am keeping it simple and fun, letting creativity flow rather than get hung up on how naive and simplistic my drawings are. It is fun!

No April Fooling - I really am working on it!

An Observation

In love,
the first cut is the deepest.
In the morning,
the last sip is the sweetest.
Of coffee that is,
if you haven't stirred it thoroughly.
But it's a very nice thing,
to have the best at last.

Work Space - Before & After

Part of my problem is that when my family went through what it went through, I chose a coping mechanism that is no longer helping me cope and certainly isn't productive. I have really been trying to break through and overcome that, and I cannot stress enough that it's by God's grace and help. This is my story and He's an essential part of it, so I cannot shy away from that aspect. If you aren't a Christian and are reading this, just bear with me and maybe I can explain it. Many people believe in coincidences but I do not, I believe they are "God things" - something He sends your way to get your attention. It can be a gentle reminder OR a kick in the butt to get on the path you're supposed to be on. God sent me these messages variously and in other ways, but the three that apply to what I am thinking about today are my being introduced to The Artist's Way, Geninne's Art Blog and the TV show Clean House. These are tools and things that woke me up and got me moving when I was finally ready to change.

I have always been a bit messy. When I was going through situations with my family, my father's sad and unfair circumstances, the raging and erratic addiction(s) of other loved ones and all the pain and turmoil these circumstances caused, I was trying to cope and be strong on the outside. My messiness got out of control. On the inside I was hurting, and as best as I can see it from my own armchair psychological diagnosis, I let the interior of my home just grow with clutter and messiness that was sort of a manifestation of all the confusion and mess I felt about the situations that were hurting me. But I could always clean up my home, I could not clean up any of the messes that my family was in, those were beyond my control.


I still mopped, vacuumed and cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, generally kept house, but I let stacks of things pile up and overtake areas of my home. I also couldn't part with things, no matter how unsentimental, or unusable they were. I had a 'I might need it someday' mentality. You can imagine how I did not part with sentimental and personal things if I was holding on so strongly to the unsentimental things. I never refused anything people gave me, whether or not I liked it or could use it. It was one of my ways of avoiding things within myself, because I couldn't let myself take the time to do art or anything 'for me' if my house needed serious attention. There is a hierarchy of things that need tending to in my life. The house came after my family, and I don't need to tell you that there is always plenty to do to take care of family first. Then of course, we are in the ministry, so any type of ministry and doing good for others ought to come before anything I might want to pursue. My little mania and foolishness (as Neicy on Clean House calls it) became crystal clear when I moved here, and was on a steady (albeit slow) path of emerging from this stuff that was blocking me. I set up an art space in my room and repeatedly began to let thing pile up on and in front of it rather than use it. I was blocking myself.



I still struggle, I'm not going to say otherwise. I thank God I am not where I used to be, even though I am not exactly where I'd like to be. I'd like to be as productive as someone like, say Geninne (see above link) or my friend E. who is a working jewelry artist. I used to let my dissatisfaction over what I was not doing paralyze me from what positive steps, however small, I was actually taking. Now I celebrate the small victories and don't agonize over the setbacks in the same unproductive way. I still have a long way to go, but I want to show today how things are. Things are looking up.

Winter Tree

On a winter's day somewhere north of here the sun shines down
but cannot melt
the icy cold snow of her heart
she is a beautiful tree
but brittle from the freeze
If the dead things can break off
and fall away during a winter storm
In the warming spring
new life will come
and there will be buds and leaves
flowers in summer, then
fruit will come
if...only things
die and break away
in the right season.

©M.D.V.

Flower Power, part 1

I was having some fun with ze frank's flower maker. Here's what I came up with:

'Pastel Petals'





'viva'

Speaking of flowers...
The Daily Weaving blog had a recent post about Artists and flowers, see it here. It's about a public art project in Charleston, WV. I like good graffiti. It reminded me of the Lizards on the Loose public Art project Orlando, Florida, did in 2008.

art

Art

little nurse shark
(c)M.d.V.2009
Delighted
to see this creature
unafraid

Art

This is something whimsical~


(c)M.d.V.2009

Art

(c)M.d.V.2009


I was thinking of artist Peter Max when I did this one. What can I say? It makes me feel happy.