Wood Horse

Happy Chinese New Year, and welcome to the Year of the Wood Horse!

The textures I used for tonight's drawing are from these sites:

http://homemadewebsite.com/seamless-wood-texture-images-crazy-gallery-montanaesgr-home-3.html

http://homemadewebsite.com/seamless-wood-texture-images-crazy-gallery-montanaesgr-home.html

http://www.todevahouse.com/showcase-of-high-resolution-dark-wood-texture-designs-tutorialchip.html

Face Study

If you've been watching this blog for a while, you might have noticed I don't draw a lot of people. Why? Because I'm not very good at it! Tonight I was completely uninspired, so I did a Google image search for "face" and drew one of the random people who popped up.

 Drawn in Sketchbook Pro on a Samsung Note 8 using only the airbrush tool.

Little Known Monsters

Tonight I found out about four little known monsters that live all around us. I felt it was my duty to share this information so you could be watching out for them. If I see any of them, I'll be sure to post pictures of them on this blog.

There’s a creature they call the Bufar

That is found in the trunk of your car

And his bad attitude

Means that when you buy food

He will lick every bottle and jar

And then there’s the wee Pallaroo

Who’s so small she will hide in a shoe

And her turning and twitching

Makes your foot begin itching

When there’s nothing at all you can do

The elusive, enormous Ezonne

Is a critter the size of a lawn

It’s so skinny and flat

That it’s hard to look at

Cause it turns so it’s always edge on

In your home the Flatoulli is found

Who will wait till your friends are around

And when there’s a pause

In the quiet, he’ll cause

You to make an embarrassing sound

Paper Shuttle

I would still go in a second, given the chance. In the meantime, I'm content to let my imagination do the flying. We'll just have to see where it takes us.

Poppies

In memoriam:
Apollo 1 - January 27, 1967 - Grissom, White, Chaffee
STS-51L - Challenger - January 28, 1986 - Scobee, Smith, Onizuka, Resnik, McNair, Jarvis, McAuliffe
STS-107 - Columbia - February 1, 2003 - Husband, McCool, Brown, Chawla, Anderson, Clark, Ramon

Snowy Praise

Today we had a snow day from church! I don't remember ever having church cancelled due to bad weather, but I'm not complaining. I went right back to sleep under my nice, warm electric blanket. As I was drifting off, this popped into my half-asleep brain...

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him agove for all this snow

I get to stay here warm as toast
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Chilly Penguin

I was outside today, shoveling the snow (again!) with more coming down and the wind blowing it all back in my face. It was so unpleasant, I even saw this guy bundled up against the weather...

In My Shell

My oldest daughter is super excited about having a friend spend the night, which of course makes my younger daughter feel left out and fussy about having to go to bed at her normal time. I figure if I just keep my head down, all the drama will blow over soon.

Polar Vortex

This Polar Vortex has to go

I’m getting sick of all this snow

And shoveling! It wears me out

I turn around and want to shout

Cause all the snow has blown right back

I want to curl up in the sack

And sleep until June rolls around

And grass is covering the ground

But then, of course, I’ll have to mow

Around and round, and row by row

While sweat is pouring off of me

Because that darn humidity

Is 95 percent, or more

While temperatures can’t help but soar

And at that time I might reflect

And even hope to resurrect

A day from winter, long since past

To feel again that icy blast

I’d love it then, but now - no way!

With frostbite dangers every day

And icicles as tall as me

While weathermen on the TV

Proclaim the temp’s relentless fall

Throughout the night, and worst of all

The wind chill’s 25 below

This Polar Vortex has to go!

Snowy Owls

Tonight at church we had a family "Cookies and Canvas" night where we were led through the creation of our own acrylic paintings. This was my first attempt at painting with acrylics, and while the finished picture isn't wildly original (in other words, almost everyone reading this probably has their own version of it!), it was fun to learn something new.

Hugging Squirrels

Today we celebrate two holidays in one! According to the fine folks over at checkiday.com, today is both National Hugging Day and Squirrel Appreciation Day, so I thought I'd combine the two. (It's also National Granola Bar Day and National New England Clam Chowder Day, but I thought that adding those in would detract from the mood a little. Maybe next year...) Anyway, go give someone a hug today - if you forget, you'll have to give two hugs tomorrow!

Duckling

Still playing with the scratchboard technique, this time trying to get a little more detail into it.

Ham and Bean Soup

Today at church my mom was selling her ham & bean soup for a fundraiser. Of course I had to get some for lunch, and it was so good it inspired me to write a little song. Due to potential copyright concerns, I can neither confirm nor deny that this song may or may not be sung to the tune of a popular French folk song...

Ham and Bean Soup

Ham and Bean Soup

You’re so good!

You’re so good!

Wanna fill a whole cup

Gonna eat you all up

Love that soup,

Love that soup!

Ham and Bean Soup

Ham and Bean Soup

Carrots, too!

Carrots, too!

Also really nice is

Celery with spices

Love that soup,

Love that soup!

Ham and Bean Soup

Ham and Bean Soup

From my Mom

From my Mom

Outside the snow is blowing

But my tummy’s glowing

Love that soup,

Love that soup!

Who's Out There?

Today I found the book Ghosts and Ruins, by Ben Catmull at the library. It's a weird little book of ghostly legends (which I have a strong suspicion were just made up by the author). The highlight of the book for me, however, were the fantastically moody scratchboard-type drawings on every page. Of course I had to try making something in that style, so here's tonight's drawing:

Dodo 3D

Okay, so you probably could have guessed something like this was coming. Tonight I've combined a paper cutout-type picture with the 3D layers technique. The subject was inspired by my youngest daughter. After dinner, she told me she was a dodo bird and was shy, so whenever I stared at her she would pull her arms up beside her like stumpy little wings and scurry away.

Note, the background paper texture is from here: http://inspirationhut.net/design-resources/38-fantastic-vintage-old-clean-and-free-paper-textures/

Purple Mountains 3D

Still playing with the 3D effects - this time with many more layers, hoping for a more subtle depth look.

Cross your eyes to view, click to mountain size.

Pegasnails

For Christmas, I designed a couple of custom iPod Touch cases for my niece and nephew. He got an image that combines the Temple of the Golden Potato with a couple of adventuresome Baninjas. Unfortunately, for some reason my computer is not allowing me to shrink and save it to a more web-friendly size (although I've been able to do the exact same thing to every other picture I've posted on this blog!), so for now you'll just have to imagine that one.

My niece, on the other hand, likes snails. So for her I added some wings and made a small flock of pegasnails, fluttering happily through the sky. For one reason or another, they didn't actually receive their gifts until today, so I've been holding off posting this picture since mid-December.

Straw Rocket

Tonight's picture is a frame from something I'm doing for work. I'm making an animation showing the assembly of a straw rocket. Here's the finished rocket. I'll admit it's not that impressive yet (and the gray background doesn't help) but I'll post the animation when it's finally done.

 

 

Okay, that took far longer than I expected. At least it's done, and I can finally go to bed!

 



The Choco Nacho Fountain

While driving my daughter home from choir practice tonight, one of us happened to say the phrase "choco nacho fountain". Clearly that's a phrase needing a poem (and maybe an illustration, too), so here you go!

At the tip of Teapot Mountain

There’s a most majestic fountain

But it’s not the type with water flowing out

While most fountains spray out water

It’s delicious, and much hotter

With two jets of goodness shooting all about

There’s a column made of copper

With a pangolin most proper

Pouring gooey liquid chocolate from his hat

In the opposite direction

There’s a penguin-shaped projection

That spills molten nacho cheese sauce in a vat

And this fountain, if you found it

Has these bushes all around it

Growing strawberries not seen in any store

While the trees around the clearing

Have these branches, most endearing,

Filled with tacos and tortilla chips and more

So if you climb that mountain

To the Choco Nacho Fountain

And you see a bloated figure lying there

Please don’t tease me or deride me

Say “Hello” and sit beside me

Cause a treat is always better when you share

Arrival - Now in 3D!!

Sunday, they say, is the day of rest. In honor of that, and because my daughter challenged me to be in bed by 11:00 tonight, I just took one of my old pictures and 3D-ized it. Again, cross your eyes and merge the pictures to see it.

Click to supersize!

Ring Planet Rendezvous

I've been interested in 3D stereo pair images for a long time, so I thought I'd try drawing one tonight. I started with the main picture, keeping every element in its own layer. Then all I had to do was take a copy of the original and shift the layers right or left to give the illusion of depth. To view it, all you need to do is cross your eyes until the two images merge into one in the middle. It takes some practice at first - good luck!

Click the picture to enlarge.

Back at the Start

…back at the start.

I thought it impossible, not to be done

They say that there’s nothing new under the sun

It’s just science fiction, and fantasy, too

But I’ve gone and done it! I made it come true!

I’ve invented a thing that can go back in time

But so far it’s confined to the lines of this rhyme.

Which means as I finish this last little part

At the end of this poem I’ll be…

Marrow Day

I got a congratulatory email today. Apparently it's my one year anniversary of signing up with the Be The Match bone marrow registry. So far they haven't called me, but maybe someday...

30 Minute Llama

Tonight's challenge, another speed painting - this time I gave myself only 30 minutes. Why a llama? Because I felt like painting a llama, of course!

Pine Tree Mountain

Tonight, I'm trying something new - speed painting. Just as the name implies, the challenge is to make a painting within a certain time limit. I didn't time myself tonight, just tried to go quickly, but I think this one came in at under 45 minutes. I also used different brushes than normal, going for more of a painted look.

Sherlock's Birthday

Today’s the birthday, so they claim,

The birthday of a special guy

Who’s risen to the heights of fame

By solving crimes with just his eye

He sees the clues no others can

A misplaced book, stray hairs in combs

And through deduction gets his man

So Happy Birthday, Sherlock Holmes!

So how to celebrate this day?

It’s really elementary

I’m on the couch and there I’ll stay

While watching Sherlock, Season 3!

Let It Snow

So I'm trapped here at home, the snow is coming down thick and heavy, I've got nothing that really needs to be done (at least that can't be put off a little longer) so why not build a snowman? (In my own particular style, of course!)

Update: I just found out I don't have to go in to work tomorrow! Bring on the white stuff!!

Little Pangolin

Yesterday I found a very cute photo of a little pangolin online. Of course I had to try sketching him, this time in a more classic style - good old pigment ink on cardstock.

Chameleon

Tonight I combined two of my previous drawing techniques: the cut-out paper effect (seen in my quail and turtle) and the monochrome pictures (so far I've done purple, blue, orange and yellow - it's time for green).

Click to see the big lizard!

New Year's Rhino

Ask and ye shall receive! By request - a New Year's baby (?) rhino!

A New Year!

Hooray! I’m back! Another year!

But first let’s make a few things clear

A resolution, this is not

This blog is just a simple spot

For me to practice every day

To let my lines and verses play

But I won’t promise they’ll be good

Or even end up like they should

They might not even be complete

They might be rough instead of neat

The poems might feature tortured rhymes

The pictures, sketchy, scribbled lines

And though I’ll try to see it through

I might just miss a day or two

Unless I know you like this show

When you add comments down below

Or better yet, send a request!

Cause if you ask, I’ll do my best

In short, what you’ll be seeing here

Is just like what you saw last year!