Beep Beep!

Four seconds flat, this old car sketched in pencil.

Nacho

Portrait of a tan and white Boxer named Nacho. His owner said I made him look regal and proud, when really he's quite a friendly and timid dog. Graphite pencil on paper, 6 x 8".

Touching the Floor

Figure drawing from an early life drawing class; charcoal on recycled paper, 18 x 24".

I have really been feeling the itch to paint again lately, but it seems so impractical right now and is difficult for me to get into the mood and carve the time out of my day. Since I've been working at my new part-time job, it's been difficult to rearrange the way I use time. My daughter demands more attention the hours we are together, and all the usual maintenance, chores and daily tasks of keeping a home neat have to be compressed into less time. I've found myself letting some housework details slide, and when I do have a half hour to myself, it seems so much easier to pick up my latest library book or to sit down and watch a nature show I recorded on the DVR a week ago, than to pull out my art materials and arrange my work area, my thoughts and my mindset into painting.

I do finally have a corner set aside to work in after re-arranging the bedroom, but somehow it has attracted the presence of an air humidifier, a stack of boxes containing I don't know what, and a pile of my husband's clothing. The easel remains in the closet. I am just too tired right now. I am beginning to think that in order to start painting again on a regular basis, I may have to leave the job behind (or find one with a shorter commute!)

So that is why for the time being, posts on here are rather sporadic and contain art I created months if not years ago. I am trying to keep up with it, but have not been making much new work lately.

Scrutiny

Watercolor crayons on illustration board textured with gesso. 18 x 24"

Reubens Portrait

A study I did in school of a self-portrait of Peter Paul Reubens. The original was in oil, I reproduced it on cotton rag paper with soft pastel in many layers. My intent was to learn more about the amazing variety of color in the skin in his painting. The camera failed to capture all the subtle green and blue hues in this face. 20 x 30"

Cowboy

Caricature pastel and charcoal drawing of a model dressed up like a cowhand. On canson paper, 18 x 24".

Spori Building

This pen and ink montage illustration represents my years at junior college, where I began my formal art training. At Ricks College (in Rexburg, Idaho) the Jacob Spori building was the art department, where I spent most of my time. The other objects and animals in this picture are symbolic of the instructors I studied under who had the most influence on me.

The Spori building was the oldest building on campus, built with stone from a local quarry in 1890. This picture has a particular nostalgia for me because the year after I graduated, the building was torn down for rebuilding. It caught fire and burned down during deomlition. The new building has a similar character to the old Spori building, but it will never be the same for me.