May 2012
20 posts
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I assure you, I will soon post something besides my very quick sketches. Last week was a whirlwind around here… excited to share lots soon. Maybe I can get a start during naptime today. Anyway, happy Saturday!
Sketch prompt #150: Click. Thinking of the drum click during high school marching band days. I always wished I was in the drumline… oh, to play the quads. ;)
Sketch prompt...
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Sketch prompt #149: Cowboy. A wild horse with no cowboy…
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A couple sketches from yesterday:
Sketch prompt #146: Flora. Endangered Iowa flora…
Sketch prompt #147: Camera.
***ADDITION***
Sketch prompt #148: Blanket. Eek, and one from this morning that I really don’t like. Like the blanket idea.. No time to really focus and do a good job. Embarrassed to even post it…
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I had to laugh at Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day today. It has a lot to say to me from so many angles! :)
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Sketch prompt #143: Large. Sometimes small things seem large. In this case, my two-year-old’s chubby feet.
Sketch #144: Set. I used to play volleyball, and I played setter a lot. This is not supposed to be me, but I did put my old number on the jersey (hmm, that may have just been my number in soccer… boy, do I miss playing sports).
Sketch prompt #145: Signal. Now that my...
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Mums
Lots of breakfasts in bed prepared this morning I expect. This was mine.
My kids did it for me all on their own because Andy leaves for work early on Sundays. They found a cookie sheet for the tray, dropped raspberries in my cereal just the way I like it, and E even cut the tops off the strawberries. C poured the milk and got the water.
(The flower I added to the drawing because my brother is...
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Sketch prompt #142: Security. On May 12, 2008 the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security’s I.C.E. agents performed the largest immigration raid in U.S. History in small-town Postville, Iowa. I.C.E. agents arrested nearly 400 people (suspected undocumented workers, most from rural Guatemala) and bused them to Waterloo, Iowa where they detained and tried them using methods later ruled illegal in a...
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Sketch prompt # 141: Storybook. I’d like to completely rework this sometime because a G. K. Chesterton quote like this deserves a thousand times better. Brilliant. But a sketch is a sketch I guess.
The context:
My first and last philosophy … I learnt in the nursery… The things I believed then, the things I believe most now, are the things called fairy tales… They are...
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Sketch prompt #140: Locket. Just doodling around on this one.
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Sketch prompt #139: Favorite. This is our favorite place to grab food – a taco truck just down the street from us. The #1 best steak quesadillas I have ever had (and somehow they do it without the cheese!). It just opened up for the season and we are THERE! If you are local, find your new favorite tacos on Fridays and Saturdays only (I think) on 9th Street in Waterloo where it meets up with Hwy...
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Sendak On Death (And Life)
Mr. Maurice Sendak died today. This is interview from just a little over a year ago is beautiful. Take five minutes and watch. I think you’ll be happy you did.
(via andothersuchthings)
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Happy.
Like Soccer.
Maribeth Boelts’ new book, Happy Like Soccer was released today. It was illustrated by Lauren Castillo, an artist whose work I admire and started following since the day I found out she was the illustrator for this book.
Several years ago, Maribeth brought together all kinds of elementary school kids, teachers, coaches, and volunteers to take part in some soccer. My first...
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Sketch prompt #138: Texture. I’ve never been all that stylish. If you know me, you know I don’t spend much time on clothes, etc. One time a few years ago, a friend noticed I always have bits of texture in whatever style I do have (in what I put in my hair or my jewelry, etc.). Most of my jewelry comes from my sister who always brought a necklace or something home for me from Central...
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It's Monday...
Hope your day is good. I’m trying some new things and today is Day #1. If I find some success, I’ll share.
In the meantime, you might remember seeing this photo and drawing of the crochet bunting that hangs over my kitchen sink. Now you can get one for yourself if you like. You can find two just like mine and two that are twice as long at Plaid Peacock. (7 flags and approx....
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Sketch prompt #136: Modern. From a photo I took in Germany. (I want to go back. I want to go back. I want to go back.) There was a class learning about a Picasso, if I remember right, behind the Laurens sculpture. (I want to go back.)
Sketch prompt #137: Soar.
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Sketch prompt #134: End. I was thinking about doing something from the end of Jane Eyre (my favorite book of all time), and I found this photo of the building where Charlotte Brontë started writing the book. I couldn’t resist… my “end” turned into “begin” I guess.
Sketch prompt #135: Inside. Inside my kitchen! One of the reasons I’ve been so slow with...
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Been drawing like crazy whenever I can squeeze in the time over the last few days and whether or not the drawings turn out, I’m L.O.V.I.N.G. it. Makes me feel like me. Posting some of those drawings today!
Sketch prompt #132: Excess.
Sketch prompt #133: Look. I always thought “little orphan annie” had an interesting look.
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Beauty from The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy
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Mama Made New Work...
I am f.r.u.s.t.r.a.t.e.d. with time!!! (Have I said that before?)
There just isn’t enough. Two things that have fallen completely off the grid are personal email (totally annoying to my friends and family, I am SO sorry) and my own artwork (tearing my heart out).
The good news on the artwork front: I find ways to work a little more original art into my design work. One recent favorite is...
April 2012
28 posts
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(via aqui pelo campo)
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It feels like today.
Rainy Munich, Germany || From the month of April in my 2012 Sketchbook Calendar:
The original sketch:
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Sketch prompt #129: Carrots. Just one for me. Trying some stuff with the tablet here…
Sketch prompt #130: Act. My son committed a senseless act this afternoon. He was playing outside and hunting bugs. Suddenly he froze, lifted his hand to me, then he said, “I broke the ant. Sorry, Mom. I broke the ant.”
Sketch prompt #131: Lie.
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Balance
Sketch prompt #128: Balance. Me trying to find it…
I think mothers must hear the question, “How do you do it all?” pretty often. Because I do. My own answer is, “I don’t.” I don’t do it all.
Most of the time I have to focus all of my energy on one thing in order to complete it – and well. And when I do, lots of other stuff just falls right off the...
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Although since Andy comes from a long line of men with full heads of hair, I am unlikely to be buying Rogaine…
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Sketch prompt #125: Crunch. Please forgive me for copying a cereal box, but every time I saw the “crunch” prompt I thought of Cap’n Crunch. We sometimes ate Peanut Butter Crunch when we were kids. Anyway… a good exercise for getting used to the tablet. It feels so wobbly. I still can’t draw a straight line for the life of me! (I don’t mind that look, but I want...
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Sketch prompt #123: Shop. This is a local shop that I think is one of the very best around here. They sell very cool handmade work and feature Iowa artists. A great place to shop! (Plaid Peacock)
Sketch prompt #124: Plan. We went to a great children’s museum in Cincinnati and there were huge walls of pegboard with nails and screws and other building supplies. All of the kids were happily...
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Sketch prompt #122: Baby. I don’t love this, but it’s a drawing of my two-and-a-half-year-old baby who I DO love. Here, he’s very upset that he couldn’t go outside with the big kids. (Yes, I do take a photo here and there of my kids crying because you have to capture those moments, too!) So you could say he’s “my baby,” or a “cry baby.” Haha....
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Sketch prompt #121: Hat. Drawn straight from a still out of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
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Sketch prompt #120: Tree.
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Morning walk...
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Sketch prompt #117: Succeed. My sketch with this quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead)
Sketch prompt #118: Input. (This is a guitar input cable.)
Sketch prompt #119: Smile. From an old photo of my daughter on a girls day at Cup of Joe!
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Catching up (#10)
Last catch-up post! After the Youth Art Team performances that Saturday, I just sat in a chair in my living room while my parents made dinner and took care of my children. Seriously, just sat. Once the house quieted down for the night, I pulled out a new book and read until my eyes closed for the night. Sweet, sweet rest.
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Catching up (#9)
The Saturday before Spring Break Camp, I took my mom and daughter to Plaid Peacock and bought myself a cuff made by Kim Hutchison of Jbirdstitch. (I was in a hurry when I took this photo and wish I could show you more of it. I love it.):
And when we got home, my mom surprised me with these tiny crochet earrings I was loving while we were there:
I don’t buy things like this for myself...
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Catching up (#8)
Still catching up! (I don’t know why I feel like I have to catch up on the home side of things during those two Youth Art Team weeks, but things happened that I can’t let sit.) This post is dedicated to the first flowers of 2012!
My first kid flowers for the year from my four-year-old:
❤ from my parents and the Youth Art Team:
Our tree out front started blooming!:
...
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Sketch prompt #115: Juicy. I draw lots of local fruits and vegetables for clients, so I thought I’d try something like that with the tablet. Frustrating but making progress…
Sketch prompt #116: Mediate. Oh my gosh, posting these first tablet sketches out in public is humiliating. What was I thinking…
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I really want to get the feel for the tablet… it is SO different. I’m just forcing my way through the beginnings and plan to use the 365 daily sketch prompts to keep me on it. These are my very first attempts at it, so don’t judge me, okay? Please?!
Sketch prompt #110: Wedding. I think I sort of love this one. Not sure why… maybe because it was my first real tablet...
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Something very awesome is on it's way to my house!
I have tracked its every move…
***** U P D A T E *****
It’s here! The men dressed in brown left it inside my front door this afternoon:
My very first ever tablet. I have been saving up for it and finally made the jump! My first trial run with it:
I had two kids hanging on me while I did this (I seriously could not wait to try it). Need some practice, but I think I’m...
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Catching up (#7)
Early spring bike riding…
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Catching up (#6)
My oldest baby was sick one morning during rehearsal week… and she spent her first minutes HOME ALONE. I left her my phone and told her to be asleep by the time I got back from dropping off the boys. I think I was gone for a maximum of thirty minutes, but wow. That was new. And she did it… snoozing like a baby when I got home.
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Sick
My two youngest boys both woke up with fevers Monday night. We went to the doctor Tuesday because the were so lethargic and strep has been going around their daycare. My four-year-old was a wreck while we were in the doctor’s office. I never see him like that:
Poor kid told me he was an “8” on the pain scale. :(
Our kids are generally quite healthy, so this week has been...
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Catching up (#5)
The Saturday afternoon between Spring Break Camp and nightly rehearsal week, my two oldest (and members of the Youth Art Team) happily got roped into making some last minute adjustments to work that needed just a little touching up after a week of camp. But that made my four-year-old feel a little left out, so we got him all set up, too:
Then, Dad said, “We’re going for ice...
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Catching up (#4)
You know how I ♥ chalk…
My four year old drew a rectangle. Inside the rectangle he wrote a number. After that, he colored the whole rectangle in, covering up the number. Then he looked up at me and asked, “What number is underneath?” It was an awesome game:
My two-year-old scribbled this with green chalk. Then he stood up, looked at me, pointed to the green scribble and said,...
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Catching up (#3)
On the Saturday following camp, Child #1 determined we must find time alone together on a girls night. So while Child #2 ran errands with Dad and while Child #3 and Child #4 hunted for bugs:
Child #1 and I sat on the porch brainstorming the night’s activities:
We decided on a trip to the bookstore for a new book and a treat in the cafe. The book she chose:
And while we feasted, I...
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I’m struggling to get back into my daily sketches, but I AM making progress. Here are a few very quick sketches from the past week. (“Big” is my favorite from this batch!)
Sketch prompt #106: Repeat. Thinking laundry on this one. Pull it out, wear it, take it off, wash it, fold it, repeat!
Sketch prompt #107: Grim. Mine is quick. I’m on a kick of reading books I...
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Catching up (#2)
After the second day of Youth Art Team Spring Break Camp, one of my children – who will remain nameless – did this to my friend’s car just before she drove off with my daughter for a sleepover with her daughter.
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Catching up (#1)
Happy Monday! Thanks for sending my daughter (and me) well wishes for her big solo! She did great and I was so proud to see her standing on that stage all alone and singing her song to a gymnasium full of students (and teachers and parents and friends).
On another note: During the few weeks I zeroed in on Youth Art Team, almost everything else got sidelined. But I really did enjoy rest and peace...
March 2012
17 posts
7 tags
"Now that I'm older, Mother might just let me go."
Tonight, I had a beautiful couple of hours with my daughter. She’s eight. We went out and purchased new leggings that push way past the boundaries of the school dress code, did her hair, painted her nails, and switched her earrings. We talked and talked and talked and she blessed me with her whole self.
All of this came about because the little lady waltzed home from school one day and...
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The last two weeks were just (wonderfully) nuts around this place, and I’m slowly jumping back in the game. (Slowly because I am catching up on loads of work now!) For now, some quick sketches…
Sketch prompt #101: Sail. For the last two weeks, I’ve been helping students create and perform a play. This is one of them – playing a sailor – doing a read through before dress...