IF Tea

Oh, the cozy of a Friday evening with nowhere to be and nothing to do except to have a cup of tea while watching the speed skaters race.

Inked the tea bag during my Friday lunch break. Color added later in the evening at home.

By the way - this is the tea that came as part of a goodie package from the wonderful Maria in Sweden. Tack Maria! Jag blev så glad av allt som du skickade :)

Purpose

When we write and draw, we have the unique first in line opportunity of seeing, reading - learning - that which we are trying to express. There may be desire to understand a drawing when there is not a clear purpose or title.

Why is there a large black round spot in the middle of the figure's body? What kind of hat is the figure wearing - is it a helmet?

Is he (or she) angry, or stoic, or bored? What does it mean?

Hunger?
Hate?
Sadness?
Promise?
Opportunity?

Nothing?

coffee all day

coffee all day, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

IF Song

When I think of song, what came to mind is a simple song I remember from my childhood. The lyrics go something like this:

Vem kan segla förutan vind
Vem kan ro utan åror
Vem kan skiljas från vännen sin
Utan att fälla tårar

Jag kan segla förutan vind
Jag kan ro utan åror
Men ej skiljas från vännen min
Utan att fälla tårar

Translated into English, it goes sort of like this,

Who can sail without winds
Who can row without oars
Who can part from a friend
Without shedding a tear

I can sail without winds
I can row without oars
But I can't part from my friend
Without shedding a tear

I do not know who wrote this melancholy song.

Update Feb 23: Check it out! My Dad just emailed me this link. You can hear a sample of this song, as sung by Nina Lizell and Lee Hazelwood (cica 1970) - It is number 11 in the sample song list....

IF - Chair

The chair is a happy model for the artist. The chair won't move or change positions. The chair accomodates the artist. The chair poses patiently.
One evening last July the western sky was the color of a peach. The lawn grass was greener than a crayon. The temperature of the air was a backyard perfect 75 degrees Farenheit. Together they cooked up a dish called Gorgeous Summer Evening with Kick Back and Relax, garnished with little Sketch A While.

This one... ah, yes. The TV - it was on one of the Kerry - Bush debates last October. W sat in the IKEA recliner and looked at an I Spy book, and I was on the couch with my sketchbook. Our scruffy cute dog found her way into these sketches too!

And here is one of our old green metal patio chairs. They were uncomfortable until I bought the perfect seat pads for them on sale at Target. They look good now, those green metal chairs, with these new red-orange striped seat pads, and they are a lot more comfrortable to sit in.

Pull up a chair. Have a seat. What's on your mind?

Weaving

Right now the hobby table is cleaned off. There are several odd sized boxes in the hallway. The boxes are filled with things like cheap plastic tumblers - bright blue, orange and pink tumblers - an electric juicer, a plastic mandoline, some old candle sticks and tea light cups, and lots of art supplies. It's that time of year. Time to clear out the clutter. The only thing on the "art room" floor now is the hobby table, the bookshelves, and two guitars.

The woven paper collage above was done back in December. Collage making relaxes my mind so it often wanders off somewhere make-believe, somewhere silly, or playful, or adventurous. I never know what will end up on the page before I start. It's purely creative - spontaneous. That is what my art is, I think. Spontaneous.
Maybe the spontaneity of my creations is what makes it is a healthy challenge for me to do more "assigned" art. Concept art. Art with intent. Disciplined art. Maybe.

mome rath

mome rath, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

Right now this one is in a pretty good mood. The tea is only lukewarm, however, and some other thing is yawning loudly behind him.

learning to play

learning to play, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

oo de lally
oo de lally
golly what a day

Patterns

Having a tendency to doodle during office meetings it only makes sense to bring an actual sketchbook with me instead of a lined notebook. It tooka awhile for this to happen because there is a little courage involved... maybe the same kind of courage it takes to sketch in public.

Amazingly, the sketchbook hasn't created any stir at all. And that's nice.

In this sketch I noticed a lot of patterns, and maybe that's the left side of the brain having some fun. The cool thing about office doodles (drawings) is they have no pre-determined concept and the entire time the pen is moving across the page there is the opportunity for anything to emerge.

IF katten

katten, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

A smile Lewis Carroll might have appreciated.

...turns out Friday evenings while waiting as my son takes guitar lessons is a good time to sketch...

guitar lessons

blue moon music, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

My son is taking guitar lessons. I am taking time to sketch.

IF E is for...

When I saw the topic "E is for..." I was initially disappointed... The topic immediately brought to mind the Dr. Seuss ABC book, again, and didn't my illustration for Sea kind of play on the Dr. Seuss ABC theme?

So I thought about "E is for..." and frustratingly all kinds of great "E" words came to mind, all kinds of English and Swedish words. Maybe I could pick a Swedish word for E, I thought.

IFeisfor, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

There are so many things E is for and my illustration is a sketch where E-words are randomly listed inside a big E.
Maybe this sketch could grow up to be a big illustration someday, but for now, E is for the 5th letter in the alphabet, and really so much more.

Update: Feb. 2, 2006

The "E" has been to the spa, and look how refreshed it seems to be now.

collage with office doodle and a lunch receipt

collage with office doodle and a lunch receipt, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

This year I decided to save as many shopping/ purchase receipts as possible and to make it worthwhile the receipts are ending up in collages.

My little project may not be on the scale of Kate's, but I'm already having a little fun with it.

This page includes the receipt from my lunch on January 4th. During the few minutes while I waited for the order I sketched this.

Sea

This one can be viewed larger - just click the image.

Lunchsketch

While I was waiting for my order at lunch yesterday I noticed a handsome converse sneaker, attached to a young man, underneath the table across from me. The sneaker looked back at me, and then it winked and mouthed, "sketch me."
How could I not?

Illustration Friday: Flavor

IF Flavor, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

Hurling "Hate" arrows to the Valentines's day candy may seem a little violent... but I really don't (want to) like the flavor(s) and this little visual imagery has been successful because when I pass the (disgusting) valentines day aisle in the stores I have been flinging quiver loads of Hate Arrows toward the (awful) sweets and chocolates.

It's my defense strategy. Muahahaha.

office phone

office phone, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

It was quiet at the office this week with lots of people out during the holidays. Good thing I brought my new sketchbook with me to work... and a loaded *new* iPod (!)

A co-worker of mine stopped by and, like so many times previously, he shook his head and said "Why are you here? You should be illustrating childrens' books."
But this time I said something like, "Okay, why don't you write the story, and I'll illustrate it."

Fifteen minutes later he brought over a sheet of paper with a story printed on it. It's enough story for at least 20 illustrated pages, maybe more. Gosh.

Why not? It'll be fun, and good practice. I love looking at childrens book illustrations, there are so many illustrators I admire, there are so many styles. We'll see where this goes, this little challenge placed before me. Who knows?

Illustration Friday - Holiday

Guest artist: My Dad. From a series he drew in 1964.

Wallpaper Collages

A while back I was shopping at the home improvement store when on a clearance rack I noticed a stack of sample packs of wallpaper for $1.00. The added scraps of office doodles seem to balance out the collages...

Magazine clippings and wallpaper samples make great collage material.

Not all my collages have wallpaper samples.
Other collages are made entirely with wallpaper samples.

I think I like the simplicity of these recent collages. Maybe it is a respons to the otherwise very hectic and stressful pre-holiday weeks?

Illustration Friday - Imagine

The other day while doodling at the office, this little coffee pot suddenly appeared on the page under my pen. I imagine it could be a creamer, or a syrup dispenser... or maybe a brain could be put into it, which is what my imaginative son suggested.

Open For Business

Annelito has opened her SHOP!
Check her out, don'cha know.
She has a groovy style I like, and now her art is available for purchase. Hurry, because those cool brooches, rings, vases and magnets will go fast!

Beatles Songs

Here's a thing I found on Susanne's Ventil, and hey, what a day to sing a few Beatles songs.

Choose an artist (or band) and answer only in song TITLES by that artist: The Beatles
Are you male or female: She's a Woman
Describe yourself: Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
How do some people feel about you: Day Tripper
How do you feel about yourself: Think For Yourself
Describe your ex boyfriend: Dear Prudence
Describe where you want to be: Norwegian Wood
Describe what you want to be: Good Day Sunshine
Describe what you want: Money
Describe how you live: Too Much Monkey Business
Describe how you love: Act Naturally
Share a few words of wisdom: All You Need Is Love
- - - - -
Check out Laura's sketches form her trip to Sweden.
- - - - -

Ilustration Friday - Blue

Blue, originally uploaded by Tifty's Art.

Blue - An office doodle from today.

Two things happened today:

... I recommended a co-worker, a peer, for a leadership position.

... J supported me as I made a huge decision.

Illustration Friday - Small

When I think of "small" I think about the size of me and my selfish ego in relation to the universe. And it makes me feel free, and light and happy and not angry and not hateful and not judgemental.

(This is my first ever Illustration Friday topic/participation! And it's already time for a new topic, Blue, and I hope to submit a drawing for that also.)

Time Goes By

Diagram of my average weekday.

Clay Day

Played with my son's clay today.
This guy had a body, made of clay. It was smooshed. The head was spared. So the new body was drawn.

This is temporary art. Not made to last, not meant to last, not gonna last.
Sometimes, a liberating creative burst happens when the creation is less important than the creating itself. And every now and then, that freedom yields really fun stuff!

I look at this clay head and I just smile. It's CLAY. It's smooshable.

A little book

The other day when I found PocketMod.com (via Susanne) I printed out some of these Food Diary sheets for a handmade book I made. So practical.

On the page above are a few quotes, and the one that says "Don't make rules, just follow them." is a reminder to myself to do the things I am always declaring I shall do. In other words, when I make a personal declaration like, 'get up early and practice yoga,' it's better to just get p early and practice yoga than to declare it.

The pin in the head is just one of those doodles gone wild. It started out being a pin in a pin cushion, and suddenly the pin cushion became a head!

You can view the series here.

Here's a doodle from a meeting at the office. The meeting was a big overview on Sherman Anti-trust compliance.
I've really played around with this doodle in photoshop, using some neat brushes I found at rebel-heart. Miss M can make some groovy cool brushes!

It was twenty years ago today

Today I called work and left a message for my boss that I would not be coming in because I had to take care of a family situation. Since I did not elaborate it may have sounded strange, and tomorrow I will have to explain, I suppose.

The long version or the short and for-good-company version?
How about this: Marriage enrichment. My hubby and I both needed to spend a day together just the two of us, no kids, a whole day, at least until we had to go pick up the boys from school :)

We had a really nice time, relaxed, and stress free, and we were able to carry on conversations without interruptions or trying to give one another a status update or instructions or "constructive criticism!"

Today, I just realized, marks twenty years since our first ever date, when we were 18. We went to a high school football game. It started to rain. We had to sit pretty close together on the bleacher under my umbrella. I have no idea who won that game.

Against the Wind

"Only a fool wishes for what he wants. A wise man works for it."
-Peter van Winkle