Enter in the New Year

My first drawing of 2011- here's to a year full of drawings, art, and happiness! : D

2008- 365 DRAWINGS!!!

Whoo hoo! I did it! Last year's resolution- a drawing a day, 365 days of doodles! (366 days, since it was a leap year, only missed one day due to being very very ill, but I waited to do this drawing so I had an even 365 drawings).

I can't believe I did it- looking back, I really see an improvement, and it's been so refreshing to not only keep a visual journal, but see that I'm finally filling up sketchbooks with my own art again, something that I haven't done since college.

Many thanks go out to all my supporters and readers- i do have to say Special Thanks to
Maddy (my #1 fan!)
Damon (my inspiration and companion in this crazy drawing a day venture)
and shout outs to Ashley , who is starting her OWN drawing a day in 2009!

Also, christy, michael and crystal - I challenge the three of you to join us in 2009! there's still time!

In fact, I challenge all of you artists to join me in 2009 to continue a drawing a day! Lots of people think it's too hard, but it's really not.  There are many more artists like me out there that do a drawing (even painting!) a day

The biggest thing is to draw something- the point is to draw and make it a daily routine. Don't psyche yourself out by trying to make everything a masterpiece, because it can't be. Some days are awesome, some days are going to suck- the point is to do it for yourself, and do it because it's the artistic equivalent of working out.

let me know if you're going to try and do a drawing a day, and I'll add a link to you here!

I bet...

you thought I forgot! Wrong! I was just up late working to make a freelance project deadline, so even though I did it last night, lack of scanner makes it hard to post in a timely fashion, so this will have to do!

from the TF topic, Crane (this one's a gray crested crane to be exact!)

Remembering Randy Pausch

So, one of my old professors has been in the news for a while over the past year or so, which has been a bit of a weird experience. Back at Carnegie Mellon, I took the "Building Virtual Worlds" class, which involved teaming up in groups of 4 and creating complete working virtual reality environments (for use with VR helmets and gloves) every two weeks.

The professor for that class was Randy Pausch, who died last Friday of pancreatic cancer. Recently, he's been in the news and press because of his famous Last Lecture. It's weird, because, actually having Randy as a professor, I have mixed feelings about my memories of the class- it was a bit like boot camp in that it was one of the most challenging, hardest, and demanding classes I've ever taken, and Randy wasn't always the easiest person to get along with.

But on the other side, BVW (as it's commonly known), stands out as one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate career- I took away so much from that class, and as hard as it was, it was one of my favorites, both for the challenges it presented and for the creative rewards it offered from working in such an unusual medium. (how many people can say they designed and created a whole virtual reality world and then experienced it through a VR helmet?)

And as much as Randy may have had a reputation for being difficult at times (as any student of his will know), it was hard hearing of his battle with cancer over the past year or so, and of his death on Friday, and my deepest thoughts and sorrow go out to his family and friends.

Anyway, this sketch is a small memory of one moment in our BVW class when my team created an interactive Quidditch match (right as Harry Potter was taking off in popularity). We rigged up an exercise bike with a broom, so you could feel like you were actually riding a broomstick through the environment, and using a sensor on the broom, had it so you could turn and adjust speed according to how close the broom was to your helmet. The world definitely had it's kinks though- it had an odd habit of spinning out of control if you turned too quickly, ending up giving the user severe vertigo, and apparently, brooms on exercise bikes are -very- hard to balance on.

(ps- I know I'm leaving out like, a ton of old CMU friends in the audience who were in the class with me- if I recall, both Heather and Mason helped with the Quidditch world, right? I suck at crowd drawings.. )

May 17, 2008

Adventures in Shanghai!

Today was a whirlwind tour around Shanghai; walking down Nanjing road, around the Bund (fantastic people watching), and finally over to Yuan Garden before swinging back over to the Bund to see it all lit up at night. Whew!

Along the way we saw tiny fishing ponds stocked with goldfish where kids could fish for goldfish, surly watermelon man vendors with mean knives and cigarettes, and checked out some famous soup-dumplings at Yuan Garden (thanks for the tip Will!)

Dumbo octopus

Another from Claire Nouvian's excellent photography book of deep sea creatures, "The Deep." Also known as the glowing sucker octopus.



Just a small note- I will be out of town (in Joshua Tree!) through Sunday, so will have new drawings to post then! Have a good weekend everybody! : )

Hummingbird

Still playing around with colors with the markers and colored pencils- a bit more detailed than the other drawings; might try to simplify the lines/color more in the tomorrow's drawing, but was inspired by a friends' pic of hummingbirds feeding from a friend's hand. Enjoy!

Peacock, color study

Went back to try and re-work the earlier peacock with color, but didn't like the composition, so tried a different angle and approach- really like the marker/ colored pencil combo. Very happy with this result! I need to get some light colored markers for more background color bases (more than yellow, orange and green, anyway)

Ren Faire

Today's post inspired by a trip to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire with a little bit of the Bayeux Tapestry thrown in!!

Continuing on the theme...

So, in part from Tyree's suggestion I take a look at MF Husain's work based off of my past few posts (especially inspired by this drawing of his), and trying to combine the fun I had with the colors and lines of the primitive drawing with the themes of the Indian maiden drawing, this is what I came up with- I'm really enjoying the results. Thanks Tyree!! Awesome recommendation! : D (Maybe I'll try coloring in that peacock next!)

Illustration Friday: Primitive

This week's Illustration Friday theme made me think of paleolithic cave paintings (especially Pech Merle), so I drew up some primitive cave horses and played around with color. Really enjoyed this week's theme and result! Enjoy!

Indian Maiden, Part II

Took a suggestion to do another pass on yesterday's Indian maiden and do her in color, so here it is! Thanks afsha! : )

Indian maiden

Was watching a tv program on the History channel about the Taj Mahal and was inspired- enjoy! : )

There's one for you, nineteen for me...

'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman ...

Temple Elephants

ladybug ladybug

Saw one little ladybug on a bright green leaf today on my trail ride with Ghost- struck me to see something to tiny and dainty while riding by on something so big and fast

Kitten cable

Our next door neighbor's kitten loves watching our fish tank- the perfect cat tv station!!

Frisbee in the park

Been going up to a park next to our office for lunch this week and throwing around a frisbee- one day I was dressed in a skirt and felt very fancy girly, so this is sort of a reference to that!

Korean BBQ!!!

I (HEART) korean BBQ!!! there's something about cooking your own food at your own table that's just SO satisfying... (although it sure does make you smell like smoked meat afterwards!!)

Fish Bones