like a poem

oil pastel and watercolors on book page

i've been doing a little of this and a little of that. "life, paint and passion' gave me lots to, ponder...

i painted this face in the book of matisse line drawings that i bought last summer. all of the color is from watercolors, like the 'creek people'. i love this book...

watercolors, white charcoal, and soft pastels on st. armand watercolor paper

i painted this not long after last week's post. there's a cat's head under there somewhere! i used a lot of dense white watercolor to create opacity...

watercolors, charcoal, and collage in zecchi journal

i've only worked a little in the zecchi journal.

derwent venetian red drawing pencil and acrylic paint in zecchi journal

i've been painting these map-y thing on the backs of the pages, though... something about the lines and numbers that appeals to me.

watercolors, oil pastels, charcoal, and acrylic paint on canson watercolor paper

the kitchen sink and then some on st. armand watercolor paper


i've spent the most time messing around in my new pocket moleskine sketchbook. once i opened it, it took me a couple of days to recover from the shock that they'd changed the paper! seriously, i guess i thought moleskine sketchbooks would never change!! the paper's whiter and not as smooth now. here i am making a list of creatures i could add to my drawings...


i had a dream where i was in a courthouse that had a GIGANTIC restaurant inside it. before i knew it i was sitting down eating a piece of yellow cake. when i got to the part near the plate, a blueberry cheesecake layer magically appeared! wow! when i'd finished eating i went to the courthouse area and ran into my dentist. he said, "oh yeah, that's the kind of cake they serve here."

the next night i kept seeing a mermaid with a deep red body...


the image on the right was part of an ad in 'art forum'; it's a piece by charles koegel. i saved every bit of that ad...


as you can see, i've been printing out a lot of pogo prints.


i decorated the cover...


one day i rode my bike to photograph the small horses that live down the road. i don't know what it is about these small horses, but i'm crazy about them. whenever i see them i want to pull the car over and talk to them!!


now i'm on the other side of the road feeding a regular size horse, and they're keeping their eye on me.


they're irresistible!!!


a couple of days i went out wandering.. . i found another lightning struck cedar tree that's been hollowed out inside, so i started another green shrine tree. i found the heart and bear rocks nearby,


and took some of my stash of rusty cans from green shrine tree #1 to it. this is only the beginning of its shrine-ness. : )


all summer i watched these moth wings accumulate in green shrine tree #1. they're like a poem to me... i left this huge so you can see it more clearly if you click.


i washed all of the glass in the creek; for a moment i thought i was the glass...


this leaf was stuck there, just like this.

i'll leave you with a short video i made at green shrine tree #1. you'll have to forgive a little blurriness and a little jerkiness...



* * *

"To keep your process flowing, to feel the enjoyment of creation, you first need to go where it is easy. Easy means ripe. Go where you are attracted, whether it be toward a detail or a large shape. While you work on the part that is easy, other parts will mature in you, and they will be ready and waiting. You move step by step, from the easiest to the easiest. It is never tedious or tiring because there is no need to force anything. Depth resides more in surrendering to spontaneity than in hardworking struggle."

~Michele Cassou and Sewart Cubley, Life, Paint and Passion

XO