Swimming in Space

My husband and I saw "Quantum of Solace" Saturday. We thought that what we should do is go out and walk around in the desert but we were too tired. "Quantum of Solace" turned out to be a movie that I really enjoyed. The opening credits were phenomenal, really interesting artwork. Go see the movie and you'll see what I'm talking about, I can't find anything to link to on the internet to show this. The point is, it made me wanted to draw something like the picture you see here, this isn't really like the artwork in "Quantum of Solace" opening credits but this is my reaction to it. The 2nd inspiration behind this drawing: last week at work, I learned how to make things really glow for a project at work, so, for the drawing you see here, I combined being inspired by the movie with last weeks adventures at work and this is what I ended up with. It reminds me of swimming in space, that sounds really relaxing~.

The Cure, Robert Smith, and the ever changing state of a person's mind

From time to time my husband and I discuss music, how tastes change as you grow up, how music that made you crazy with joy as a kid just doesn't do it for you as an adult, with the odd exception of course. REM used to be so interesting. Howard Jones, saw him twice in concert, now I could easily take his music or leave it; the Lightening Seeds, the B-52's, The Cure, The Police, even U2, to name a few. They're all still fine bands, I just don't still feel the adoration that I once did. It just seems that as you grow up your tastes, naturally and of course change. Then, just as I was getting out of my car to go back to work yesterday after lunch, a song came on the radio and I couldn't leave the car until it was finished. The song was "Pictures of You," the band -- The Cure. Isn't that just the case? Just as soon as you think one thing, something else comes along to make you rethink your original conclusions. So, here's to old bands who still make you smile, and the ever changing state of conclusions.

This image, for those of you not familiar with The Cure, is of lead singer for The Cure, Robert Smith. I have two cousins who met him in the 80's, he sounds like a really nice guy. Just thought I'd throw that in there, Robert Smith may wear lipstick and have really strange hair, but he sings a hell of a ballad and is a nice human being to boot, how cool.

And Pete the cat said, you're 30? I don't believe it!

It's my sister's 30th birthday today. She's been thinking about turning 30 for a long time now, worrying that she'd be old then, etc. I was the same way when I turned 30, as were many people I'm sure. This is my thought on the subject, she'll only be more awesome today than she was yesterday. Ami, you're the best sister a girl could have, I hope your birthday is amazing and that you have the best year yet. Love, K

Lance Henriksen of "Millennium" line drawing

From time to time our local Shopko sells Fox tv series on DVD for the awesome price of $20.00. My husband and I love Shopko and often wander about there looking for cheap books or dvds on sale. Last time this (the Fox dvd sale) happened we purchased seasons 2 and 3 of The X-Files and also a series we didn't know too much about called "Millennium." "Millennium" was created by the man behind The X-Files, Chris Carter; and since it was on sale for the above mentioned $20.00 and we love The X-Files, we took a chance. This turned out to be a GREAT decision. "Millenium" is really really amazing. CLICK THIS to read more about this totally cool, enthralling, and addictive series. Anyway, to the point of this drawing. The star of "Millennium" is Lance Henriksen. He is wonderfully wrinkly and I thought drawing all those wrinkles would be really fun, it was. The character Lance Henriksen plays on the show has special mental abilities. These abilities allow him to see into the minds of serial killers and see murders as they happened, just by being at the scene of a crime. So, I drew Lance with monsters nipping at him in this image. I love his large wrinkled sorrowful eyes and had fun trying to capture them in this image.

Nicole Richie Line Drawing

Nicole Richie has a great look. She is a very small looking woman with gigantic eyes. As an artist, I can't help but want to draw her; she's just so interesting looking. So, I finally did, and boy was it fun. I thought her look would look interesting in my newest style of drawing, the lots of lines style.

The trick here is that most of the other drawings I've done in this style have a subject that is fairly wrinkly, Nicole isn't wrinkly. So, it was a matter of deciding which of her features really make her, well, her. Of course, I decided the thing to highlight, the feature that makes Nicole her are her eyes. So, I decided to really focus on lots of lines there, but not too many because too many would age her. Leave most of the rest of her face line free, smooth and plain. Then, go back into the rest of her, her hair and outfit, with lots of additional lines. That way, I could be true to the drawing style but keep Nicole young and fresh looking at the same time. I created the pattern here in Adobe Illustrator and imported it into my drawing in Adobe Photoshop. I think the mix is fun. I like how the colors of the pattern work with the colors of her skin and hair.

Nicole is someone that is often seen everywhere-- tv, internet, magazines; yet; she doesn't seem to suddenly sing and dance in the spotlight. She's often seen in huge sunglasses or with her head down and a small smile. That's why I chose to draw her to the far right of the drawing, hugging the wall, so to speak. The cool thing about this is that I figured out how to use many lines and messy elements to draw someone who is fairly smooth in appearance. Nice!

Rainy Day Windshield

I just spent about 2.5 hours on a project at work. This is the response I got on what I had done up to that point:

1. The light is confusing.
2. What's on her face?
3. "Hummmmmm."
4. Try again but ....

I am very sad. I LIKED what I had come up with. C'est la vie. I feel guilty when I get paid and the company can't even use what I came up with while I was BEING paid. Grrr. So, I threw everything I had done away except for part of one piece that I liked. Then as I needed to clear my head for a minute, I messed with the one part I saved, added splotches and dragonflies and I call it "Rainy Day Windshield." This title feels a bit mean. I don't intend to inflict damage on dragonflies today or any day, this is just what this picture reminded me of when I was done. Enjoy.

Note: yes, I realize that when I worked on this picture I was indeed at work and therefore only adding to the --not being useful while getting paid -- thought I wrote earlier. Yes that makes me feel guilty and makes me a hypocrite. I know this, but I can only say, I try to be useful and do the right things. I try to make sense but really, I'm 36 years old and have yet to make sense even to myself. If any of you out there do make sense, and/or aren't hypocrites, I'd love to hear your story and kudos to you.

My little guppy

A couple of years ago I purchased 3 female guppies and 1 male guppy from the feeder tank at Petco. Life in my 10 gallon tank has to be better than being eaten, was my thought. After some time, they started having babies, I was so so excited. Time passed and at 20 guppies I decided the male and female guppies had had enough fun and I purchased a smaller tank. There were fewer male guppies, so, they got volunteered to make the sacrifice and live in the smaller tank. After a year or more I was down to 2 male guppies and 1 female, so, the lucky males got to live in the big tank and the lone female got to live with an algae eater in the small one, where she's lived for 7- 8 months.

For the last 5-6 days my little female guppy has been dying. She lays on the bottom of the tank by the heater until either the cat or I check on her, then, she makes a massive, difficult looking display of showing that she's still alive by wiggling as best she can. Two days ago she decided to eat, she used what had to be all her will and effort to thrust herself to the top of the tank, grab a mouthful and fall back to the floor. She did this over and over, it was an amazing thing to watch. It appeared to be sheer will to get enough strength to make it to the top for a bit of food. I've been so impressed with her, her obvious will to make an effort, to show that she's still alive. I've thought that maybe the nice thing to do would be to flush her but everytime I look at her she wiggles so hard, I can't do it. So, this is for my friend the guppy. She was born in my tank and soon she will die there too, I'll miss her and her efforts, who knew a tiny plain looking fish could be such a great inspiration.

The Sun, "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost

This morning as I pulled into a parking space at work I became keenly aware of the sun all around. It felt wonderful on my face and made the world look sparkly and bright. Deciding that some things can wait, I sat still and enjoyed the affect the sun was having on the world around me. It's been dark and snowy at times this week and because of that, the sun seemed especially marvelous to my eyes and mind. I thought to myself how I'd love to draw the sun, but how do you paint the sun? Mulling this over brought me to the conclusion that this would not really be difficult at all, all that would be required would be lots of sun colors swirling together. Colors so bright you can feel them on your eyelids when you close your eyes. Thinking about the sun brought to mind the poem "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost. It's always been one of my favorites by Frost.

Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

I know which I'd choose, how about you?

This one is for my friend the sun.

NOTE: A good friend left the most wonderful story about a sun here in the comments, if you have a minute I'd highly recommend reading it! Thanks to her for that!

Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton died November 4th of cancer. I just learn about this today, so, I'm a bit behind. I'm really sad about this; so, I did what I always seem to do in reaction to things, I drew a picture. My first memory of Mr. Crichton is "Jurassic Park," which will let you in on how late to the game I was when it came to his work, but as they say, better late than never. This is also the reason for picking a dinosaur for the subject of my post. My thoughts are with his family today. If you'd like to read more about him, click here.

Bob Newhart -- "Stop It"

Bob Newhart performed a comedic sketch that was hysterical. In the sketch Bob played a therapist who gives some GREAT advice to his patients. My husband and I love to tease each other and other people when they get too worried, upset, etc. with the advice shared by Bob in this sketch. I found it today and had to put it up here. More artwork coming soon.

Sketchy Painting of the Desert

Just a little drawing of the desert in Utah based on a drive my husband and I took recently near Skull Valley. If you've spent time in the desert you know how desolate it is, and how intriguing and beautiful. Lots and lots of space can be very pretty. My favorite part of this drawing is the mountains, how they look far away and simplified down to shapes and varying colors of purple/blue, they look soft and pretty to me. It's a wonderful feeling to be out there in the quiet, to hear yourself think, to breathe slowly.