the life report weekly

i don't know what it was about last night but i felt like i got some great drawing done! maybe it was a bit of valentines voodoo, maybe my very bad headache put pressure on some part of my brain and lessened my inhibition, maybe something about the feral-child-look of the model resonated with me... i dunno but it was good magic!

so first we do our stretches, don't forget to breath (1 minute gestures):

then we let our backbones slide (5 minutes):

if you aren't falling down, you're not trying hard enough (10 minutes):

take time to reflect (15 minutes?):

or take a nap (15 minutes):

now get your mojo rising again (20 minutes):

and face the situation head-on (40 minutes but this was a second attempt... so maybe 30?):

i was happy enough with this one (also, it is on nice paper) to hang it up in the house for a bit. ..

the model had dark hair and was resting his head on a black cushion. if i had more time i would have made the blacks really deep and rich and saturated... but i'm too lazy to go back into it now and i don't want to make that kind of mess in my apartment.. it would look like a coal mine afterwards!

stuff in snow and ice

"...but Teacher, I swear my homework really DID get flash frozen in a puddle!"

a barefoot amongst boot prints (i know this is just from someone running in those weird toesy-sneakers but it was still strange to see bare footprints in the snow):

my favourite local graffiti:

the great Northern Ukulele

Someday I'll write a post about Northern Ukuleles and how I came to have one in my home but I don't have time to do it right now.

For now, I'm just excited to show off of this Chalmers-Doane-designed uke (part of our Canadian heritage - there REALLY should be one of those heritage commercials about this!!)... excited enough to do a "Say Anything" parody...

Now there are two ukes in our house and we can "jam". Husband is already better than me but he has more previous guitar and piano experience.

Here's my quickie, procrastination-from-real-work photoshop job:

The original (in case any younger readers don't know what I'm talking about):

(Go watch it kids... as part of your complete 80s breakfast!!)

...

still life-drawing

Just another Life-Drawing-Night-Update. We know the drill right? On Monday nights I go to the local art school, unlock the door, make coffee, and set out cookies. Then I get to draw for 3 hours with all the good people who paid for this privalege. Afterwards I turn out the lights, set the alarm, lock up, and go home. The next day I post some of pictures on here. I only post the ones I like or at least have some interesting little bits in them. That's my prerogative and I'm sticking to it. It's a pretty sweet deal.

I'm glad I've been taking pictures and posting these here because it turns out I'm going to be moving soon - chances are to a smaller apartment. I won't be taking these reams of papers and charcoal with me so this has become my little archive.

By the way, if you want a distorted human drawn on newsprint that will turn yellow in a few months and will shed charcoal dust on your floor, I'm your lady! Holla' at me.

So, on with the show...

2 minute gesture:

5 minutes (I think... I should start writing down the length of the poses...):


15 mintues (again, I think):

15 minutes:

20 minutes (this one is my fav of the night):


40 minutes (this one was hard to photograph... it's nicer in person but even so I'm not crazy about it... I lose my looseness when I have more time... also, i cropped her legs off a bit because they were so unfinished that it looked really bad...):

Boogie, It's Cold Outside...

This winter is starting to feel grubby. No longer enjoying it.

Outside my bedroom window an odd snow sculpture's been forming for days. It began to look too much like the Oogie Boogie Man so it had to be toppled this morning - to avoid anymore nightmares before Christmas...

(ba dum dum)

Moving on, below is a recent innovation I've been working on for a few weeks and finally got some good-lookin' results.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce "Sour Nickle", part Pumpernickle, part Sour Dough.

I'm pretty sure it must already exist but I'm very purposely choosing NOT to google it because I always google every idea I have and am always disappointed to find out that someone else has already invented that thing, coined that term, made that corny pun, done there, been that... y'know? So I'm just pretending I invented this for a little while.

(My sour dough starter has been "living" for about three years now and I'm pretty proud of that.)

Anyway, this bread's not burnt... that's just its "pumpery" colour from the cocoa, molasses, and rye flour I put in it.

Another cooking experiment didn't go quite as well...

Well, it tasted great but looked weird...

I put this dark-coloured, "heritage" carrot in my chicken soup and it dyed everything purple. It doesn't look too bad here yet because this was right after I put it in... but later all the onion, noodles, and worst, the chicken took on a blue-purple hue. Not especially appetizing to look at.

My husband actually said later that if he hadn't known I made it, he wouldn't have eaten it!

I should've know that carrot would behave like a beet but I wasn't using my brain... serves me right for trying to fancy-up the simple comfort of chicken-noodle soup!

Looks bad but still tasted "yum".

double the fun (double the frustration)

I have a real bad headache. Boo.

Last night at Life Drawing we had TWO models. This was totally new to me and I was pretty intimidated at first. It was fun and interesting though... but also frustrating because there was just so much MORE to draw (also, double or triple the amount of shifting during the poses) and I never got as much drawn as I wanted to. I would definitely like to try this again.

High are the highlights.

2 minutes:

2 Minutes

About 5 minutes (2nd attempt during a 10 minuter)


Can't remember how long... either 10 or 20 (you would think I would be able to tell but I can't!)

Same for this one... I think 20 minutes?

About 40 minutes. Wish I had gotten to their faces... Some people managed to get a lot more drawn than I did... well, I always knew I was slow... slow and messy... an unusual combination.