Curated

 

The current exhibit of art from generous friends

Making use of a narrow space

As you might guess, I have lots of arty friends. They have given me many small art works and handmade cards over time, and it has bothered me that I’ve simply stashed them in a box. They should be displayed and rotated regularly so that I can appreciate them and think about their makers’ love and generosity.

I finally found a solution I like: It’s similar to a cork board in execution, but the material is a modular set of felt-covered boards. I have several more square modules and a little more wall space in my studio, but I don’t want to invite visual clutter. I might leave it like this for now (top of post) and see how I like it.

In a small, narrow space between a studio window and the closet that was otherwise being wasted, I put up a couple of the felt modules vertically (at left). Although the vast majority of my work is in bound sketchbooks where they will stay, clearing out and moving my studio last year turned up a surprising number of sketches on loose paper. I’ll put some of them into rotation in this space. Currently on exhibit is the Gage Drawing Jam promo poster from a couple of years ago that features my life drawing. I also found the original drawing I used to print a Valentine card for the spouse guy way back in 2014.

Bird Day at the Zoo

 

11/26/25 Chilean flamingoes, Woodland 
Park Zoo

Red-legged seriema

White-naped crane and red-crowned crane

Aside from the obvious reasons to visit, Woodland Park Zoo is a scenic place for fitness walking. To beat the chill, first I hoofed briskly around its 92 acres, taking circuitous trails to increase my steps. Eventually I slowed down to sketch a few residents. After beginning with a few flamingoes and cranes, I decided to stay with the bird theme that day.

The most exotic and beautiful bird I sketched was a Victoria crowned pigeon (below). With a headdress like a peacock’s tail, it strutted around in the Conservation Aviary, where many birds are free-ranging. Because I was still and quiet, it walked very close to me, looking for feed.

I can think of very little that I enjoy more than drawing animals from life – except maybe drawing animals from life on a warm day.

Victoria crowned pigeon

Exotic and free-ranging!

Reverse Downsizing

 

11/25/25

When we were on vacation in New Orleans decades ago, Greg had picked up a jester alligator – exactly the kind of thing New Orleans is full of. Made from an actual preserved tiny alligator and about a foot tall, the figure is wearing a glittery jester’s outfit. It still has all its tiny, sharp teeth. Although it had always disgusted me a little, it was exactly the kind of weird thing that my spouse guy is attracted to. It had been displayed in his office all that time.

Last year during the peak of my downsizing activities, I did not hesitate to include the jester in the boxes of junk I was putting out on the driveway for my neighborhood’s  “free” garage sale event (like a regular garage sale except that everything must be free). A good friend had stopped by to “shop” at my house, and one of the things she left with was the alligator. I told her how we had acquired it, we laughed about it, and she said she knew someone who would love it.

Strangely, as little as the alligator appealed to me, I felt a pang of regret seeing it go. Although I had no problem getting rid of most of my spouse guy’s old junk, some junk seemed emblematic of his loveable quirks.

The jester now occupies a space on the mantel next to
my bronzed baby shoes and Greg's family heirloom clock.

Fast-forward to a few days ago. That friend is now downsizing herself to get ready for a move. I was helping her pack when I spotted the jester alligator, which I thought she had gifted. It was in a pile of stuff that was destined for giveaway. I took it back!

Sometimes reverse downsizing happens, and I roll with it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 26

 

2012

The more I think about the idea of a perpetual sketch journal, the more I think it’s probably not sustainable, at least if I try to execute it in the way I described during my recent musings (I do have more thoughts that I may talk about eventually, if they crystalize into concrete ideas).

While thinking, though, I kept reminding myself that my own PC’s hard drive can be used instantly like a perpetual sketch journal because I date every file I scan in a consistent manner. I can pick any date – say, Nov. 26 – and type “11-26-” into the search line of my “sketches” folder, and the search results will be every sketch I scanned on Nov. 26 since 2012 (the year I began sketching, 2011, wasn’t a complete year, and I hadn’t yet begun a daily habit).

Just for kicks, I did exactly that, and the sketches shown in this post are the results. (In some years, I made more than one sketch on Nov. 26, but I included here only one from each year.) Kinda fun, huh? Especially since it was so fast and easy. Although I’m still fascinated by the idea of creating a perpetual sketch journal organically in the same book, year after year, this was so much easier than trying to develop the physical mechanism for doing it. If this is the way I have to view my perpetual sketch journal, I might be OK with that.

(Ironically, a sketch for 2025 is not included here because it’s a Pencilvember sketch that I’m putting in a separate post.)

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Cold Breakfast

 

I had just poached an egg and poured my coffee. As I carried both to the breakfast table, I sensed light in my peripheral vision. We’d had such a succession of cloudy or rainy mornings that I’d forgotten to look for it: Sunrise!

I dashed upstairs. There’s nothing like breakfast cooling to make me sketch fast! But the sun waits for no sketcher, even at breakfast.

Pencilvember: Small Breakthrough (and Luminance Illumination)

 

In every challenge in which I have given myself a specific drawing goal (not just the use of a specific medium all month), I usually hit a creative breakthrough point. In a month-long challenge, it often happens around the third week. I think it just takes a couple of weeks to warm up and push past any resistance before a breakthrough can happen. Last week I finally hit that point in Pencilvember: I pushed past being descriptive and moved more in the direction of caricature or imaginative drawing.

The lioness returns from hunting with hungry, squabbling cubs in tow while
the deadbeat king of the forest has been sleeping all day.

In truth, however, I should probably count all of InkTober before that as part of the warm-up. I had hoped to be more expressive and less descriptive when using a brush pen, too, but I never felt like I got there last month. It took a couple more weeks using colored pencils to finally loosen up my always-challenged imagination.

Awakened from her beauty sleep.

Although the first two dogs probably look fairly realistic without much caricature, I exaggerated some of their features. Those tries gave me permission to push harder with the lioness and the two kitties that followed – and what fun they were! I’m pleased to be hitting my goal while staying within my self-made time limit of 20 minutes.

Full of her own beauty.

The last dog’s (below) reference photo was a bit frowny, so I used a second reference photo to help me with the grin and tongue. I’m starting to learn that I can (and should, if necessary) use multiple reference photos when making imaginary drawings. I know pros do this all the time, but as a “realistic” sketcher all these years, I sometimes forget that I can use reference images in whatever way I want to help me do what I’m trying to do. The challenge with multiple references is that the lighting will not be consistent, so I must rely on my own knowledge of light logic if I want the lighting to make sense. (More on this next week in my Pencilvember finale.)

Material notes: These sketches were all done with Caran d’Ache Luminance. Following nearly a week of using Derwent Lightfast, I immediately noticed significant differences between them. While both are extremely soft, Luminance feels strangely “dry” compared to Lightfast. Although I’ve never thought of Lightfast as being “creamy” or “buttery” the way Derwent Drawing colored pencils are, Lightfast are, indeed, creamy compared to Luminance. Huh! Given how much I usually love Caran d’Ache’s premium products (and how mixed my feelings are about many Derwent products), I daresay I prefer Lightfast!

“Geometry of Light” at SAAM

 

11/21/25 "This is Not a Refuge!" by Anila Quayyum Agha, Seattle Asian Art Museum

When I first saw images of a new exhibit at Seattle Asian Art Museum, I knew it would be fun and challenging to approach the work using white on black. Anila Quayyum Agha’s Geometry of Light is a dazzling installation of laser-cut, resin-coated aluminum. “Suspended from the ceiling, Agha’s steel cubes are laser-cut with intricate designs that project geometric shadows onto the visitor. She draws on both the light and dark of her own life, using South Asian art practices to convey the gender discrimination she faced growing up as a young girl in Pakistan.”

One of several laser-cut paper pieces

In addition to two installations, the exhibit includes several wall-mounted paper art pieces with a similar intricacy and delicacy. Including embroidery thread and beads, the pieces are inspired by traditional Islamic art. The patterns are sometimes called “’feminine’ or ‘decorative,’” the placard said, “but she challenges the idea that this kind of art is less important. Instead, she turns it into something powerful and meaningful, filled with emotion and history.”

Those pieces and her artistic intentions moved me as a former fiber artist. At the time, fellow fiber artists and I often discussed the patronizing attitude our culture has toward the use of fiber, beads and other materials traditionally associated with “women’s crafts.”

I chose the piece called “This is Not a Refuge!” to sketch. To enhance the illumination effects, the exhibit rooms are darkened, so it wasn’t easy to see, yet it was actually easier than drawing dark on white paper (which I’ve also tried to do in other dark exhibits). A white colored pencil on black paper was an ideal way to capture the light.

A second installation piece of laser-cut aluminum