Drawing Grid - 5

Drawing Grid - 5
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

You know, I really have funny things that trip my trigger. Like, when I'm drawing in my hedgie, I really like to use the .005 black Pigma Micron. It's point is micro tiny and scritches in the fibers of the watercolor paper of my book. If I draw fast, the line is faint and broken and if I draw slow, it's dark and clear, so, in a way, I can get some shading from it, if I put my mind to it and have the luxury of drawing for more than half a second at a time.

Writing is a different matter. I don't like scritchy when I write. I use a Uniball Vision Elite, I forget what size it is, really fine. And smooth paper. I have a writing journal I made for just writing in, but it's vanished in the Mess Monster of my house in the last couple months. Looking for it, if you see it, let me know, set it out where I can find it!!

Winter Fun!

Crown Center Ice Terrace - Us!
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I love skating!! When I was a kid, Dad gave me some metal, strap-on rollerskates and "told" me how to skate on the front porch of our Smithville house. I'd take them to Mom's apartment and skate in the basement while she did laundry. Loud, noisy metal wheeled circles and figure 8s around the poles! Then, in school, there were the Girl Scout skating parties and the school skating parties. Skating with my friends in endless circles, doing spins in the middle...sometimes a boy to skate with in couples. Limbo, Hokey-Pokey, Snowball, Girls' Choice, all those games.... Glorious fun! Get home exhausted, fall asleep immediately!

Dad is an Olympics fan, the Winter Games especially. He and Mom had gone to Winter Park and learned to ski one year and he loved it. He bought us all skis and boots and took us out in the pasture and let us slide down little hills and side-step back up. Taught us to fall down and get back up in the living room. Then he would buy a case of video tapes and have my sister and I tape the Winter Games so he could watch when he got home from work (Twilight shift). His favorite are the Skiing events, of course, but mine are the skaters! Dorothy Hamill, Kristy Yamaguchi, Brian Orser, Brian Boitano, the pairs, Torville and Dean...I got ice skates for Christmas!! So, off we went to Iceland South, the Ice Chateau and Crown Center's Ice Terrace! I even got to take lessons one year! Little Waltz jumps and better stroking and turns from it.

I took Rianna and Geordan to the Ice Terrace Tuesday after school...look at the Bear Cub's face...we had fun!! We'll do this some more!

Nail Clipper - Wednesday Grid

Nail Clipper - Wednesday Grid
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm letting the kidlets sleep in this morning, they're getting harder and harder to wake up this week and they get harder and harder to calm down at night. Sugar moratorium? They're not eating but a peice or two of candy a day, I'm pretty strict about that, they're wound enough as it is. I try to make sure they have activities to help calm them before bedtime, they were coloring and cutting paper up. Then they started jumping around like monkeys! There goes the Adrenalin! Tell them to stop so their bodies can get sleepy...not much good, sit 'em in chairs with books...not after they've started, they just fret! Bedtime's rough!

NaBloPoMo

Back to blogging and drawing and reading Everyday Matters again! I seem to need to do that when I've been on hiatus. Today I started a grid, haven't done one before. This is one of Rianna's tiny kitties that needed her bow retied this morning.

Time to Get Back In The Saddle

Lugh Headstudy
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Or back in the drawing daily habit!! This is a new model I bought myself for my birthday last week. Neck's too skinny, face's too short & eye's enormous! Wow, I'm rusty!! Wish me luck keeping on the wagon!!

Happy Little Tree

Happy Little Tree
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

From our outing to Englewood Park, Gladstone, Missouri (or is it Kansas City still?) yesterday. There's also a little pond with lots of fishermen, women & children pulling out little sunfish and bluegills, families of Canada geese, a jungle gym and sand pit along with softball/baseball fields and only one port-a-john! There used to be a real bathroom, but it was 40-50 years old and torn down last year. Needs to be replaced!!

Anyway, I got out my little Van Gogh box with some of my new Daniel Smith watercolors stuck to the palette and splashed around in them with a waterbrush while the kids played. I warmed up by drawing henna doodles and a hopscotch grid on the sidewalks with chalk. We keep a bucket of it in the trunk for just such emergencies! It was such a lovely mild day Sunday.

Wonder what the rest of the summer will be like? We do have our family membership to Union Station to escape the heat. Science City, the Rail Experience and Extreme Screen movies will be a good thing! Hey, they put a snack vending machine in on the lower level by the snack bar! Cheap snacks!!!

I have been making art lately, just not posting a whole lot of it...color wheels and such, trying to learn some color theory stuff and understand a little more about color choices...

Oh, and I picked up my remaining painting from Powell Gardens last week. It wasn't the Oncidium that sold, it was the Brassia! I'm secretly (ok, not so secretly) glad, the Oncidium is my favorite! It can hang on the wall for a while!

I don't know if they've sent out anyone's art from the show, but you can call them and check...

May 3 - Horse

May 3 - Horse
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Well, I missed a day! But here's today's! It's a little model horse, 3 inches at the withers, a palomino Warmblood. I just won another one on ebay that has a scratch on it that I will paint as a Lipizzaner. The model horse hobby has all kinds of stuff that I like doing so we'll give it a go for a while.

Dandelion - May 1

Dandelion - May 1
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

My first drawing for the "Drawing a Day in May" Challenge on Everyday Matters. A dandelion at Rianna's bus stop. Pigma Micron in my hedgie.

I haven't been "drawing" for a little while, just playing with new media in some new papers and this challenge is a good thing to get me back in the habit!

My Still Life

My Still Life
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

In Cynthia Padilla's Botanical Art: Still Life class at Powell Gardens. The thought of doing such a large (to me) drawing in colored pencil is very daunting. I am such a detail-focused person in my art. We were working on 11 by 14 inch Bristol, vellum finish. Nice stuff for cp! I just did what I did and it's going to be nice and big! Not so bad! We were especially enjoined to make things actual size and to pay attention to the negative space around objects. It was hard not let perspective take over completely, the far orange wanted to be small. And a photograph does make things look different...just a little. Our "film plane" is curved, cameras' aren't.

I got to meet Jill and Cynthia and Rex came by for the artists reception after the class. Such nice people! Jill graciously shared her still life objects with me, I hadn't gotten the materials list! Luckily, I did bring the necessary art materials! Many people brought woodland objects and flowers and all were generous with them. Cynthia demonstrated all the art materials and had extras we were encouraged to try out and buy if we liked them. All skill levels were represented, some had no previous art experience and others had more, and all made lovely still lifes to draw from.

Most of all, I enjoyed getting to make art for a very long period of time, uninterrupted! What a luxury!

I did take a few photos, but out of respect for the privacy of the others, I won't share all of them publicly. If you were there, contact me and I'll email you yours!

Great class, great people, great fun!

Orchids and Hydrangeas Exhibit

In conjunction with Powell Gardens conservatory exhibit of live orchids and hydrangeas, special guest curator and botanical artist Cynthia Padilla presents a representative online viewing of art and the artists inspired by orchids and hydrangeas!

Where: Powell Gardens, Kansas City, Missouri
http://www.powellgardens.org/
Date: March 1 - April 30, 2007.
Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Getting There: 30 miles east of Kansas City on Highway 50.1609 N.W. U.S. Highway 50 Kingsville, MO 64061
Telephone: 816-697-2600
Garden Hours: 9 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Garden Admission: $8/adults $7/senior citizens $3/children ages 5-12 Free/children under 5 and Friends of Powell Gardens.

Reception w/Artists: Join curator Padilla and a selection of the exhibiting artists in an art reception open to the public. Padilla will also have there a collection of related themed rare and beautiful antique botanical prints for view and sale. Powell Gardens is home to some of the region’s most unique contemporary architecture. These facilities, set among the serenity of the ever-changing gardens, provides an ideal locale for this themed exhibition... "Orchids & Hydrangeas."

Orchids and Hydrangeas Exhibit Blog with representative pieces by each of the artists in the exhibit.

Daffodil

Daffodil
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Spring brought warm temperatures this weekend. It also brought some wind that pulled apart a window crank. We had to leave the front window closed so it wouldn't break. The front windows face south and, with the warm days and sunshine this weekend, it gets quite warm in the house. We kept the back windows open all night last night and I got to listen to the robins singing this morning when I woke up. Rianna rode the bus this morning, also, so I got to take a bit of a walk. I remembered to bring my sketchbook and pens with me and drew a few things. Nice day.

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up - by Malinda Welte

brassiawip8
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Ok, I'm going to acknowledge, first, that I really don't want to grow up.

There. Now that that's out of the way, I do love being an Artist! With a capital "A." The photography I love, the painting I'm improving at, drawing I've rediscovered. Seeing. It's all about that. Watching my children play, seeing the forms of their hands, their expressions, the negative spaces between them, their toys. Things around me, flowers, buildings, my city (My City!). When my son goes to Kindergarten full time in a year and a half, I have to give up my time with him during the days. A Mother gets through that, he's growing so much now! But, also, I'll be expected to go find a "job." I'm sad about that. I have to find a way to convince the "Powers That Be" to convince my spouse that it's a good idea to let me stay the "Artist." I have some habits to modify, some ideas to implement...wish me luck!

Palomino Painting During Spring Break

Palomino Painting
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Gotta keep active kids active or they get crazy! So, we got Breyer's activity kit with two unpainted horses, a book on horse colors and a set of paints. They had a grand time slopping on yellow ochre mixed with white and a touch of raw sienna for that perfect Palomino gold! We're finishing up them tonight, I hope. We'll even out the main body color on them and we'll do the shadows and highlights and clean up the manes and tails (Geordan got especially crazy with his!). We also got out a lot last week, the weather was really nice!

Bikes at the Park

Bikes at the Park
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Kids have me working on some projects now that the paintings are delivered and there is a choreography to learn for the student recital at my bellydance school. We have spring break right now, so it's kid time! Rianna and I bought a Breyer kit to paint two horse models, she wants hers to be a palomino and I'm partial to yellow horses, too! I might try some antiquing in the mane and tail (the paints are acrylic and I used to paint ceramics so this is pretty familiar territory).

It was a grand warm day yesterday here and my DH took the day off to go to the park with us! We got the little bike out and both kidlets took turns riding it. Geordan's way too big for his trikey, so I've had him riding in the basement on sister's bike and he was ready to solo! It was really funny seeing sister's Barbie helmet perched on his too-big head! He didn't care! While he and DH were running to the local gas station, I got a chance to sketch my girl riding back and forth by me

Raquy's New Drumhead

Raquy's New Drumhead
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I got the art done on the new drumhead painting for Raquy Danziger's birthday present. She had her birthday just before the St Louis workshop. I had brought my Raquy Signature drum with me and had painted the head of mine. She really liked it, so, I had her husband send me a spare drum head when they got back home so I could paint one for her. This is different from mine. I found some different pigment materials that make it a little more like mother-of-pearl and a little more sparkly and used an opaque black paint. I do need to find a different carrier for the pigments, the one I've been using peels off and when I took my drum head off, the mylar contracted, the paint didn't. I'll head to a hobby shop I know that sells paint for Lexan R/C models, it's much more suitable for this. I'll see if there's a clear version that I can add my pigments to. I have some more time, Raquy's in Egypt for a while longer. I'll also re-do mine, too.

Parallel Bars - Everyday Matters Challenge #71

Parallel Bars
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

When I was young, my dad would have my sister and I video tape the Olympic Games broadcasts so he could watch them when he got home from work (he works Twilights, 3pm to 11pm). His favorite sport was skiing. He'd gone to Winter Park, Colorado with Mom for a vacation and taken lessons. That Christmas, we all got skis! When he took us to Colorado over summer vacation one year, he bought me a pair of boots in Aspen. We skied in the pasture. About 3/4 of a mile up the highway from our house we leased a pasture where we kept our horses and there were some small hills on it. We learned to fall and get up and to do snowplows and to turn and to side-step up the hill. For a young kid (I was about 8ish) this was all grand fun!

So we taped the Olympics. And watched skiing and figure skating (which I took lessons for). Then we taped Summer Games, too. I wanted to watch the equestrian events, but they weren't shown as much as the gymnastics. But there were Nadia and Olga, the waifs who flew! And Bela Karoli, all blustery, squeezing those 10s out of his girls.

I took ballet/tap/jazz/acrobatics class when I was 11 or 13, but by then, I wasn't very flexible and wasn't interested in working hard enough to get that way. In Jr High, I took the summer gymnastics class in the school district, it was fun, but I didn't get beyond doing good round-offs and cartwheels. I did watch my friends excel and wished I'd done more work.

My kids are in gymnastics now. They are young and still made of rubber and full of energy and have great teachers that make it really fun for them. They go to a great school that they could go far in if they want it. I won't push, but if they want, I'll encourage. It's great exercise for their little bodies, they learn so much from it and take it into everything else. And they won't ruin their feet, like ballet will.

I sit in the loft with the parents, and watch and fly with them!

EDM #96 - Something Sweet

EDM #96 - Something Sweet
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

It was the weekend of sick kids & we still got in a Birthday Party! Yesterday, we went to the Dr to check out Geordan's fever and left to find out that Rianna had been sick at school. Geordan had picked out this jell-o parfait at the cafeteria and only ate one bite. He was much more interested in the cheese pringles and goldfish crackers. I had a baked potato and drew the parfait. His diagnosis was a cold and that he should just keep having ibuporphen to stay comfortable and Robitussin CF for his cold symptoms. They've put Guaifenesin in as an expectorant and Dextromethorphan as the cough supressant so it works pretty well. It's also formulated for adults and children, so we don't have to buy something for each.

Rianna Asleep

Rianna Asleep
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Everyday Matters Challenge #54 - Draw someone/thing you love.

My daughter's been home sick from school all week. Seems like Strep, it's going around, but I can't get her in to see the Dr til tomorrow. She looks so young still when she's asleep. She turned 7 Saturday. It's the cheeks! This was done a little larger than usual... about 8 x 10 in a 9 x 12 sketchbook with charcoal pencil. I haven't used charcoal before, in any form. I like it. I'd like to try some a little softer, this was a General's 2B med charcoal pencil.

EDM Challenge #84 - Bread

EDM Challenge #84 - Bread
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Does everyone know about cinnamon sugar toast? Toast, butter, cinnamon, sugar. I mix the cinnamon and sugar in an empty spice bottle so we have it ready. Rianna eats it most days for breakfast and tried to eat some today but it scratched her sore throat. We use wheat bread, going through about a loaf a week, sometimes more. I grew up on Wonder Bread, though. It was supposed to be healthy, or something, now we know better. I have baked bread from scratch, some black rye bread that turned out heavy as a stone, what a texture that had! Our current infatuation is for the dough balls you can buy in the freezer section. You thaw them in the microwave for a few seconds, the put them in a greased pan with greased plastic wrap over them to rise for 2 hours in the oven with the burner off. It stays just warm enough. Then you bake them for 15 minutes, nice and fluffy! I like bread!

Sleeping Kitty - Finished

Sleeping Kitty - Finished
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Rianna picked out a new kitty at Crown Center Saturday. Tinalina is an orange tabby who sleeps on her own fleece bed and her tummy goes up and down like she's breathing. She's stuffed! It was hard to really define the features of the toy with the pattern in the fur and shadows being very soft. Graphite in my hedgie.