From my sketchbook...

This is a work in progress in my sketchbook...I'm really loving the textures that I made in the beginning just rolling the side of the pencil around (it's a woodless pencil, I love those!)

This one I signed and have since changed my mind which way is up... I like this way better...so my signature is upside-down at the top...oops. (It's not the first time.)

Usually, I tape all four edges, but the top edge got away (DOH!) Well, I thought I had taped all four edges, come to find out, I didn't...I had two pieces of tape on the bottom! Note to self...ALWAYS put on your glasses when taping the edges of the paper!

For heavens sake...I've just been in such a tizzy these last few weeks, the drawings have been a soothing activity while I've been going through the process of publishing my second novel...which, just in case you haven't visited my other blog "Upstate Girl", it is officially published as of May 21st! What a relief...yet, I have noticed that I've dropped into a bit of a funk since I 'finished' the editing/proofreading phase of the thing...and once I held it in my hands for the first time, I turned all bittersweet (not quite weepy, just hmmm...a little sad). Well, I got to work in the garden these last few days, and while I turned up the soil and planted seeds, I re-set my brain, today was a better day and I am getting back into the groove of "doing". Maybe I won't forget to wear my glasses when taping paper edges or signing my pictures at the top when I thought it was the bottom...


Here are the two peas from a pod...but as different as night n' day... I love them both!

The old honey suckle bush...

I spent a couple of days this past weekend visiting with this old gnarly grand-daddy of a honey suckle bush on my acre (it must be as old as our house), I've loved it for quite some time, and sat down with my camera to study its weathered old skin to fill my digital sketchbook with new visions...




There are more, but I'll save them for another post another day...aren't they gorgeous?

Tonight, I'm in the midst of an author chat at Library Thing, promoting my little ghost story, Dusty Waters, and my Fred and I are doing the final bit of work on the book cover for my new novel The Fractured Hues of White Light, the acrylic wash painting Walking on the Sun which was one of the many yellow paintings that I made specific for the book cover is now immortalized as the 'face' of my book! Here's a sneak peek of the painting...as soon as the cover is finalized, that will be posted too!

Walking on the Sun, 2010
acrylic wash on BFK RIVES wove paper
12 x 12 inches (this scan does not reflect the overall dimensions)

I wanted a yellow book, I got one!

The finished drawing

Samhain, Cavatina, 11/6/2009, pencil on Bristol (smooth) paper, 14 x 11 inches

I finished it finally (started it September 27th)...the "bigger" they are, the longer they take to make, I usually like little 'uns the best, but sometimes a big 'un is right for the time and I was so out of sorts feeling I needed the space to wander so forgive the meandering, aimlessness of it, these drawings are more personal as I work out things, focus, look inward for peace, go with the flow...you have no idea...or maybe you do. I usually name them as pieces of classical music because the lines and shapes remind me of sound...this one reminds of the 5th movement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13, Opus 130



(TNUA Concert Hall, Taipei March 21, 2008 Peter Winograd, violin, Laurie Carney, violin, Daniel Avshalomov, viola, Wolfram Koessel, cello)

My father-in-law passed away on November 5th...we see him off tomorrow...a bittersweet time...the Cavatina seems appropriate...

This piece of music also has significance in my novel, The Fractured Hues of White Light, (soon to be released, hopefully before Christmas!)

(Yes, I know...how do you find the time! I just do.)

Labor Day labors...

Oh, I've had a fun day...I creatively kicked ass...
Bones of the Earth, Deep Ore, (Labor Day) 9/7/2009, acrylic monotype on sumi paper mounted on canvas, 10 x 10 inches.

I stepped away from my lichen encrusted stones and felt like making something with that lonely tube of vermillion sitting in the box next to everything mossy...the dark is actually the same dark mossy brown/green that I use in the other paintings, it just looks black against the red...

And then I added more bits to the long horizontal that I've been working on...and I'm in love wit it too...

Bones of the Earth, Upstate Fieldstones, (Labor Day) 9/7/2009, acrylic monotype on sumi paper mounted on canvas, 12 x 30 inches.

And I also finished the final touches to my manuscript The Fractured Hues of White Light, I just need to do some formatting and one more pass through with the spell/grammar check before I pass it to my Fred for designing...

It's been a very productive and positive long weekend!