Opposites

The February Sktechbook Challenge theme was Opposites. I thought of night and day.

Day sky colored with washable crayon and water soluble oil pastel. Night sky painted with some inks I found when I reorganized a drawer. Higgins Blue, Purple, an a bottle of Scriveners which was given to me after a friend took a trip to England. The black ink isn't good for writing, but it worked nicely as paint. dot from a Pilot Gold marker were used as a resist. A picture of a full moon was printed out, cut in half glued with matte mediim and colored with oil pastels. The other half of the picture was used as a template to draw a sun on a scrap of 90# Arches watercolor. This was also glued with matte medium and colored with the oil pastels.

While searching for day/night or sun/moon quotes I came across: "We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other; to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each other's opposite and complement" - Hermann Hesse. Done with FW acrylic black and Ziller Winter White, Nikko G nib.

What do you think of when you think of opposites?

The Udo Treatment

It's snowing again. Not a block buster mega storm, but a teasing fluff that has already passed the 3 inch predicted limit. There's just enough snow to make driving a slushy, fish-tailing sort of E-ride on our rural main drag. I'm so sick of seeing the white landscape with margins of black carbon exhaust.  I want to give Ol' Man Winter the Udo Treatment.

That's my hero, Richard Widmark, in his film debut role as gangster, Tommy Udo,  in Kiss of Death. In the film, Udo pushes poor wheelchair bound Mrs. Rizzo (Mildred Dunnock) down a flight of stairs because she lied and refused to tell Tommy where her rat of a son skipped out to. (Rizzo the rat. Sound familiar Muppet fans?)

I'd like to see Tommy give Winter a good shove down the stairs. Winter, good riddance! And don't come back, ya squirt!

If you haven't seen this film noire classic, you need to get yourself edumucated. The wheelchair scene was quite shocking and caused quite a stir in 1947. Widmark received his only Oscar nomination for his chilling performance. His maniacal laugh which stemmed from a nervous giggle because he couldn't remember his lines became his trademark. The storyline holds up fairly well 64 years later though you have to overlook the fact that hero Nick's children (Nick played by Victor Mature) never age through the film.

The Friday Five

Continuing with the assignment for the "Start Where You Are" journaling class. Five things I like to see:

1. Impossibly bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds

2. Rainbows in the sky or in puddles

3. The stars.

4. Blue hydrangeas

5. Watching the waves at the ocean. The movement and the sparkle on the water is mesmerizing.

I'd also love to see an end to Winter.

What are some of the things you like to see?

Picasso Cats

From Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists by Carla Sonheim. Lab 19 Picasso Dogs. I'm not much of a dog person but prefer cats. So that's what I did because I can color outside the lines and break the rules.

Was a fun and relaxing exercise. Draw an element and then turn your page 90 degrees clockwise. Connect the lines and color in. Give it a try drawing dog, cat or whatever critter you love best.

Upper left is Mitty, the cat we had before Ink ( lower right)

Thought for the Day

Counting Blessings

Always good to have work to do and a bonus if you love what you do.

Do you love what you do? What are you working on?

Marker Organizer

While killing time in Walmart, I came across this tubular ice cube tray. Ice pencils didn't appeal to me, but I thought the tray would make a great desk accessory to organize markers.

Do you repurpose items for your own use?