Elsewhere

One of my collages has been featured on the IKEA fan blog, Positive Fanatics. Groovy.

not a video game

After a long Spring Break week of dreary weather and mostly staying at home (filled with a lot of cartoon network and video games, and not as much shooting hoops, bike riding, or outside play as everyone would have liked,) we all welcomed the brief fair and sunny days this past weekend.

Sometime in the middle of Sunday afternoon the boys' bikes were loaded onto the bike rack attached to the truck and we all headed over to the bike-track and skate-pit park where they could ride a while. The place was packed. Turns out there are dirt bike races every Sunday afternoon and kids and adults come from all over the state to race. We found a spot to sit on the knoll between the bike-track and the skate-pit and watched the kids in action. I tried to draw some of the skateboarders - not so easy since they don't exactly want to stay still and pose...

The boys rode their bikes around the park some while we hung out and watched. Everyone agreed it was way more fun than anything on a TV or a computer screen ever could be.

old rusty

old rusty, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

The sun was low in the west one evening last weekend and instead of holing up inside the house after dinner and all that I brought the sketchbook and watercolors out the the backyard patio table. Old rusty was parked right there in the grass, smilin, "Draw me! Draw me!" My boys had been pushing each other around in the yard in it earlier, laughing and making all kinds of noise. Raaawwwwwrrr!

Soon old rusty (and squeaky) will help move compost and bags of home improvement store garden soil to the garden spots.

FEET

IF FEET, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.
This one can be seen full size.

Handy Tracker

This is my Handy Tracker for making some sense of myself during the month. This is handy not just for me, but if my hubby would check it out as well, it might clue him in as to why I'm especially sweet, or "unusually" withdrawn.

(click here to see it bigger)

Disclaimer: There is at least one small error in wording... I didn't notice it until after it was scanned and uploaded. It's "pre-menstrual," not "pre-menopausal..." although, really- the symptoms are quite similar.

And while this chart is based on information found all over the internet, I am not a medical professional and claim no expertise, other than saying that the general "flow" of this chart has generally been acurate in my case.

Oh, and one more thing: Yes, I designed this one, and yes, you may use it for personal use if you wish - Free! If you decide to publish it (on the internet or elsewhere) please just note where you found it, thanks!

Here's how it works:
There's a line for each month... just begin at the top with the next time you "start," by writing in the month and the date you begin under the "0" and then just list the dates across from there.
You'll run out of room but that's okay, because you'll just begin at the beginning again under "0" when the next cycle starts.
Ovulation normally occurs around 7 or 10 days after the last day of the period - this is an estimate, but it's safe to say that it happens around mid-cycle.
You should be able to take it from there,

the land of enchantment

New Mexico landscapes, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

This is a page from a sketchbook I brought on our 2004 car-trip vacation to Durango, Colorado. While riding in the car looking out at the amazing New Mexico landscape I sketched a few of the scenes. Talk about 'gesture' drawing. I can't wait to return.

Sunday News, more or less crafty in nature.

Today feels like a good Sunday. The rain fell all night and this morning the sun has been shining on the wet spring green grass and dark umber garden dirt. The wet concrete patio feels cold under my bare feet when I stand on it facing the warm sun to the south. Our black scruffy little dog has been yipping at the squirrels and birds playing up along the skinny leafless branches of the elm and sassafrass trees by the back fence.

While I drank cup of earl grey green tea (it's okay, not my favorite flavor... earl grey is better with black tea) I read the Sunday paper headlines, eventually finding the weekly ad for Hobby Lobby. This week crochet hooks are on sale for 1/2 price, which is good. I only have two and that just won't be enough if I'm to try to knit the cute little bear (by Camilla) in my new book The Happy Hooker.

I confess: I have forgotten how to follow crochet patterns. I used to know how... in college... Now I'll have to re-learn. My son has already seen the pictures and he is in love. "Mom, please, can you 'sew' one tonight?" Gees.
Maybe this will help...

It's out of an old issue of Martha Stewart Baby (Winter 2000) and the pointed hat seems to have the same idea as the pointy faces of the bears. We'll see...

The weekly ad also shows that modeling clay is on sale this week. Maybe I'll restock my trashed-out-by-clay-monsters supply and make something funny.

(trashed out by clay monsters supply of modeling clay)

Now, all this writing and photo upoading has made me want to go back outside to the grass, birds and sunlight and so I'm off. I think I'll bring my sketchbook with me. And go barefoot. Going barefoot is so underrated.

recently

This is a drawing that started out as a headless body with lots of arms and just two legs. A few days later the egg-shaped thing appeared under the legs, and then the lines connecting the hands sort of happened. Then the drawing just rested for several days between the pages in the sketchbook.
Lately, I've not sketched much, not even during office meetings... Even though I bring my sketchbook with me to work, thinking I may steal a moment to draw, it just ends up staying in my bag underneath my desk all day until it's time to go home again.
The other day I brought the sketchbook with me to the boys' soccer games and tried to draw while watching them play from the sidelines.

When I do take the time to draw the drawing doesn't seem to get finished. Like this one. It's been building over time.

So, then one day I drew the head on this many-armed body and also added the journaling above it. And then the rest just fell into place.



recently, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.