We interrupt these WIP posts -

- for a brief herbal interlude. In honor of the fabulous sunshine today.

I have many many baby basils (5 different varieties) coming up. As well as dill, caraway, meadowsweet and lady's mantle (and various squashes and cucumbers).

This is the Cuban oregano that I've been raving about. Looks like a succulent. Incredibly aromatic (although a bit more reminiscent of fruity sage rather than anything like oregano).

I stopped by the garden center for copper tape (slug deterrent for the raised beds), but got seduced by the lush, green lovelies in the herb section: stevia, germander, salad burnett, pineapple and tangerine sage, coconut and Attar of Roses scented geraniums and more lemon thyme. Also a couple new to me: agastache and epazote. Both are labled as culinary, and smell yummy - I'll have to do some research on them (my favorite kind of research! :-)

Yay Spring!

And I keep forgetting to post the treasures that my daughter brought back for me from her British Isles adventure over spring break. She knows me well. They are wonderful and perfect for me. Thank you baby.

Baba Yaga WIP - initial color

Want to feel like you are painting forever without making any progress? Try doing four versions of the same illustration! *whew*

At the end of last post, I had printed out 4 versions of this drawing - 2 on cold press, 2 on hot. I painted a layer of Chinese White watercolor on one of each (to experiment with Edmund Dulac's technique). After that dried, I covered the whole surface with a wash of yellow ochre (it could be any color, and usually a darker value than this) - and while still wet, I pulled color back off the lightest areas.

I then started to lay down some initial layers of color. The underpainting of white makes the washes a bit opaque and chalky (somewhat like gouache), but also makes the color incredibly easy to lift. (Next time I'm trying a lighter layer of white paint).

(Here's an example of Dulac where you can really see the lifting)

Here are straight washes on hot press (left) and cold press (right). I normally paint on cold press - which I hugely prefer, and I intend to finish this one in the way that I normally work. The hot press is the underpainting for the oil washes.

Even though this is really time consuming, it is very interesting - and useful - to be able to compare papers and techniques side by side on the same painting. A thing I rarely take time to really explore. Here's hoping I can take these all fairly close to finish to get the full effect.

Sunday Sketching -

Quickie sketches in the moleskine upon my knee today. (And no, Shannon, it doesn't look like you. But you were not up there for very long!)

Quick Chicken Update -

- before I get back to the painting thing -

They've been loudly expressing their disapproval of me working outside while they remain locked in their chicken run. (No WAY I'm letting them free range - until mid-summer at the earliest! I have way too many plant starts that they would joyfully scratch up in their ecstasy at being able to roam free). A chicken friend of mine lent me this 'chicken playpen' - collapsible, bottomless and mobile. This way I can put them in various places in the yard to graze and scratch, while in very close quarters, to their hearts content.

They were initially freaked out a little, but quickly got into the spirit of it all. Jack was very excited to see them out as well. He spent much of the afternoon in close proximity, keeping them company and keeping an eye on them. (I think he was actually a sheepdog in his former life. Loves the herding!)

Ok! Baba Yaga is calling. Must get back to her before my chickens end up on *her* menu.

Things I've Been Doing Instead of Drawing....

I'm having one of those Life-Gets-In-The-Way sort of week... Wanting to work in the studio every day, but stuff, besides doing things like flying across the country for the weekend, continues to come up -

Spent one evening taking my Sondheim-loving daughter downtown to see "Sunday In the Park With George" (which I related to much more now than the first time I saw it. All that crazy-obsessive-artist stuff! Hmmmmm....... :-)

I volunteered to put together a card for the owner of the house we stayed in for our spring retreat - with a Thank You piece of art from all of us. I enjoy making these things, but they always take longer than I had planned. So, another evening Not Drawing.

Spent some time researching mini-laptops (Michelle is shown here with her new baby Asus Eee). I'm traveling more now, and as much as I love my chartreuse green 17" Dell Inspiron, it is *heavy* and cumbersome to lug around in airports. 'Would like a small, light-weight one for travel. (Anyone out there have a 10" laptop you recommend?)

Attended critique meeting with my fellow POBL-ites. This is one amazing, hard-working, well-published group of women! (And our meetings take an entire evening...)

But probably the most time consuming thing of all -

as a result of that UFO up in the sky (some people call it "the sun" - a thing we don't see so much of in this part of the world at this time of year) -

-I've *had* to spend a number of sun-drenched hours out in the yard, working on the gardens and various beds that have been so neglected over the past couple of deadline-heavy summers. (See all my parsley babies coming up here? So much new plant life. So gratifying to be out amongst....)

I'm sure I'll get more studio hours in as soon as it starts raining again. Could be any minute now.

How Cool is This?

Pilobolus - Late Night with Conan O'Brien - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Drawing on the road -

I took a couple of illustration-idea folders with me this weekend to see if I could make any further progress on some rough thumbnails I've had hanging around desk for awhile. This one was based on a rejected idea from a Fairy Chronicles cover - but now with a very different kind of faery.

Debating whether to take this further or not...

To Atlanta and Back Again -

I'm apparently on a quest to photograph airport art now.

(which is harder to do if your time is tight. Or you are traveling with a destination-oriented husband :-).

I could barely keep up in the 'rainbow corridor' in Chicago!

But spring is in full swing and gorgeous in Georgia. Had a nice, quick! time of visiting and family dinner. (And boiled peanuts for breakfast. Definitely in the South!)

Happy 80th to the mother-in-law.

A brief goodbye-

We're taking off - yet again - today.

Just for the week-end though.

(It's my mother-in-law's 80th birthday celebration)

So we'll leave the cool, burgeoning spring weather of the Pacific Northwest for the significantly warmer Southeast corner of the U.S.
*

Looking forward to seeing what's blooming there.

Baba Yaga WIP - initial steps

These are the first few steps preliminary to painting -

In answer to Kim, yes, after the earliest rough stages, I do all the subsequent drawings on tracing paper (utilizing lots of masking tape and layers and layers). Here's the last two versions of it before scanning.

After scanning, I print out greatly reduced versions to do value and color comps - as many versions as I need to feel happy about it. It saves me time in the long run if I resolve these issues at this stage rather than hit-and-miss in process.

I've enlarged the drawing and printed it out on a couple different varieties of watercolor paper -hot press and cold press - so that I can do a bit of experimentation. I want to do one version in my normal watercolor technique, another watercolor one a la Edmund Dulac, and the other one with oil glazes.

First step in experiment - the initial wash of Chinese white (you can see the relative thickness of the paint layer on the right one) for painting in a Dulac-ish sort of way. More layers tomorrow.

Baba Yaga - WIP

Here is the drawing - finished pending a few more critiques...

Sunday Sketching -

Not particularly interesting sketching views - lovely Easter service however.

Happy Easter!

(from the mother's house...)

Life Drawing -

Today was short-pose, costumed model day at Arts Umbrella - aka "Pirate Day". We drew piratey model whilst listening to "The Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack. We were sadly lacking in eye-patches, parrots and peg-legs, however.

We had a series of scant-20 minute poses - so I scrambled to do some full-bodied poses (I promised I would) . Eh.

Theme-day was fun at least.

The wonder that is my mother's garden -

Most of the seeds I planted before I went to visit my folks have started to sprout.

And a few of the seeds outside have also just begun (here you see the starts of microgreens!)

But my gardens always pale in comparison to the incredibleness that are my mother's...

She names her homes and land. This is apt - she has dozens and dozens of roses growing around her property (although there is not much to show for them now beyond hips).

Pathways and gateways...

Statuary galore...

Cold frames and square-foot beds for veggies -

-plenty of fruiting trees -

-all sorts of herbs and ground covers -

-sheds, arbors, decks, pots....

-and signs pointing the way to where we all live. :-)

Even in winter and early spring, it is beautiful and charming.

Baba Yaga - revised

After the responses to the last posted sketch of her, I did some revising of Baba Yaga and the composition -

I'm hoping this reads better? Mostly the same elements - but moved around a bit, and a more feminized version of her witchy self...

(My mother very sweetly agreed to pose for me when I was there last week. Isn't she great!!)