21 Day Challenge: Day 20

Oh Captain Ahab...don't get mad.

This Challenge is winding down! I only have one day left. I'm not sure if a mere 21 days has ingrained a habit in me or not. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I have an uneasy feeling that I could just as easily go back to not drawing every evening. The real challenge, I suppose, will be after this project is officially done. Then I'll have to keep up the daily sketching on my own with no days to count down and no goal. It does feel good to create something every night, though. Even if it's just something silly.

I'll try to post my last drawing tonight. I'm leaving for a long awaited (and much anticipated) 10 day vacation bright and early tomorrow morning. I need it. Try not to miss me too much! (o;

21 Day Challenge: Day 19

I picked up my husband's copy of Fahrenheit 451 this weekend. It was never assigned to me as required reading in either high school or college, but it interested me. I've already made it though a large portion of the book. I suppose I could've waited until my flight this week, and read it on the plane...but it's too late for that! The book is not that long, and I'm a voracious reader. I'm sure I'll be finished the whole thing by tonight.

One of the images they mention more than once is the badge the firemen have sewn onto their uniforms. It's an image of a fiery salamander. I figured I'd sketch it last night. I wanted to keep developing sketches until I can get it into a sort of cool graphic symbol, but after I drew the little guy above it was time for bed. Maybe that's a project for another time.

Lately, I've been in the mood to read books set in a dystopian future. The classics are always the best. 1984 and A Brave New World were both high school or college assignments, so I've read those. I also read A Handmaid's Tale (any woman's nightmare!!!) in college as well as A Clockwork Orange and several others. At the time, I was taking a class called "New Visions of the Apocalypse". It was very cool. Anyway, if you have other reading suggestions along these lines, I'm open!

21 Day Challenge: Day 18

This is pretty much how I was feeling last night. Three day weekend or not, I've been up way too early every day. Forget sleeping in...I have too much stuff to do!

Yesterday was spent running around doing errands. Once we got home, I spent the rest of the night doing laundry and trying to decide what to bring on our trip next week. I have a really bad habit of over-packing and I'm trying to avoid that this time (if at all possible).

Honestly, this vacation can't come soon enough!

Oh, here's a little extra doodle I drew last night too. I think this star is a bit dismayed that he's falling:

21 Day Challenge: Days 16 and 17

No, I haven't given up on this challenge. I've been keeping up with it! But, this weekend has been so insanely busy that I just didn't have time yesterday to scan in and post the sketch from day 16 for you guys. It's a little late, but here it is:
I hope that seahorse is traveling someplace to get that suitcase redrawn! And here's last night's sketch:

We were out last night celebrating the 4th with some good friends. By the time we got home, I was absolutely exhausted. I drew that chicken and the weird little cat/dog creature and promptly fell asleep on my sketchbook. (Don't worry, I don't think the chicken is in danger).

Hope you all had a Happy 4th of July!

21 Day Challenge: Day 14

Pack rat!

I confess, I am a pack rat. I hang onto everything. Half the stuff I've hung onto has been collected with the excuse, "I could turn this into a really cool art project!" Then it's totally forgotten. Sometimes it's a really good idea to plow through your junk piles and do some serious sorting out. And by "sorting" I mean throwing away, donating, and/or recycling.

I spent the majority of last night cleaning and organizing my house and realized this might be a continual summer-long project. I barely hit the tip of the iceberg by cleaning up the bedroom. After only one evening, I have more than one garbage bag of clothes that will be donated to the Salvation Army. I dug through all my drawers and closet, tried things on, and found myself saying, "Ew! Why have I been holding onto these things again???" If you can pinpoint the year the fad happened, you're probably holding on to it for sentimental reasons and it's time to ditch the item. I also answered the question I've been asking myself all month: "How can I have a closet full of clothes yet nothing to wear?" Well...only about half of my wardrobe is wearable. 1/4 of it fits funny or doesn't fit at all. The other 1/4 is too hideous to wear in public. And the shoes...ooooh. Don't even get me started. (I have a little shoe obsession...ahem.)

The above sketch was inspired by last night's closet misadventures--even a pack rat can reach her limit sometimes. Time to box it up and ship it out! Next stop: my studio! (Though, it's about 150 degrees up there plus humidity, so who knows when I'll get a chance to tackle that mess.)

21 Day Challenge: Day 13

It's the magical candy deer!

Yeah...I don't know what's wrong with me either. Lol. It sort of has a llama face but again, I sometimes need reference photos in front of me when I draw animals. I haven't been using them for this project and this drawing is a case in point.

In other news, I had my SCBWI meeting last night. As usual, it was good. We got to meet our newest member and everything. Hopefully I can get the blog links to our other members (besides me, Gina, and Vita, of course) so I can post them for you.

Other than that, I'm just gearing up for my upcoming vacation and counting down the days! Really, it can't come fast enough. Sigh.

21 Day Challenge: Day 12

I switched gears on this one. It's a sketch of one of Degas' ballerina drawings. I'm thinking maybe I should try my hand at drawing from master works for a while...I'm so rusty! Maybe not as a part of the 21 Day Challenge, just in general. Sorry there's no new characters today, but I'll probably get that started back up on those for the next one.

I've got an SCBWI meeting tonight, so I'll keep you posted with any new news. (o:

21 Day Challenge: Day 11

...sleeping with the fishes?

I was up really late last night having a movie-a-thon with my husband, and was SO tired by the time I remembered I hadn't done my daily drawing. I managed to crank this sleepy fishy out before bed, though. I made a commitment after all! I wonder if this challenge is going to change my daily pattern or not. I guess we'll find out in 10 more days...

21 Day Challenge: Day 10

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Super Frog! Able to leap from a lily pad in a single bound.

That's all I've got this morning, folks. I'm up waaaay to early on a Saturday. My only plans for the day are to finish my giant cup of coffee, and clean the house. Which, seeing as how the weather has been nothing but thunder storms lately, is probably just fine. Hope you're all having a more interesting weekend.

21 Day Challenge: Day 9

Ants can carry 10-20 times their body weight. They're strong! This one has an olde timey moustache. (o:

In other news, the awards ceremony went alright last night. The mayor was there, a state senator, and a couple local celebs (one newspaper cartoonist and one newspaper columnist). There were a couple short speeches, the awards were handed out (complete with embarrassing pictures taken with the mayor and our art), and then a raffle at the end. I got my award for 3rd place in the adult professional category (it was a cash prize--yeay!) and was happy to see fellow SCBWI member, Jane, receive the Governor's Choice Award. Then my parents treated me to dinner...which I followed with a vigorous work-out. (Hey, I'm on va-k in 2 weeks and want to fit into my cocktail dresses!). All in all, not a bad night. (o:

Hope you're having a happy Friday!

21 Day Challenge: Day 8

Ok, so I've always had a serious problem drawing monkeys without a reference photo or a live monkey in front of me. I don't know why, but my imagination just cannot concoct a decent monkey. But, Sarah requested a monkey sketch for today, and I am more than willing to oblige. This one is talking on a banana phone. That cracks me up. It doesn't take much sometimes, honestly.

In other news, my awards ceremony for the National Arts Program is today! I'll be collecting my 3rd place award in the professional "works on paper" category this afternoon. It's taking place at Manchester's City Hall at 4 p.m. if anyone is interested. My husband works late, so the only people showing up for me so far are my parents. The two people you can always count on to cheer for you are your folks. Haha! Aw.

21 Day Challenge: Day 7

Bend it like...Flipper?

This sketch was all thanks to my husband. I was sort of at a loss last night and asked him, "What should I draw?" He predictably named his favorite animal, the dolphin. (Then again, what should I expect from an Aquarius, really?) My next question was, "What should the dolphin be doing?" His answer was, "Um...playing soccer?" He's on a recreational soccer team, and had a pretty heavy game last night. He got banged up quite a bit, but he scored a goal, and his team won (for once). So, in honor of him, this is what you get for a Wednesday doodle. Who knows? I just might start taking requests! (o:

21 Day Challenge: Day 6

Looks like someone's umbrella broke! Poor puppy.

I snagged my first Etsy Treasury yesterday morning. I spent some time working on it and was proud of the collection of favorites I put together.

Around quarter of 6 last night, I got home from my aerobics class, logged onto my computer and found out my treasury made it to the front page of Etsy!!! I was so thrilled, but since I was home alone all I could do was shout about it in the forums and then call my mom. I was ecstatic! Then I felt like a dork. Hey, it's the small things that make me psyched. What can I say? AspenSpa was kind enough to take a screen shot of my 15 minutes of fame (you can click on the picture to enlarge):

Thank you, AspenSpa!

21 Day Challenge: Day 5

Trust me, this is what I'd much rather be doing today than heading off to work in these thunderstorms. I just want to lounge around my house drinking coffee and listening to NPR. (Minus the scarf, of course!) But a girl's got to make a living. Sigh.

In other news, legendary comedian George Carlin passed away this weekend at the age of 71.

He's one of my and my husband's favorite comedians, and we've attended several of his shows. In fact, the very first Christmas presents I bought for my husband the first year we were together were tickets to a George Carlin show. We've seen him several times since then. So, we're bummed today. RIP, George. Thanks for all the laughs.

21 Day Challenge: Day 4

Yesterday I was shuffling through my studio (which is a disaster area) and somehow managed to impale myself with my art supplies. I guess there was a nice sharp pencil somewhere on my floor that was just looking for the opportunity to drive itself through my sock and into the soft arch of my foot. I am now suffering from medium-deep puncture wound. I washed and scrubbed it out (ouch!) for 20 minutes, but that hole is really skinny and I'm positive there's some nice little graphite shading at the bottom of the wound. I think I just tattooed myself. At least the pencil tip didn't break off inside my foot, I guess.
)o:
This happened the same week that my husband suffered his own foot injury on his recreational soccer team. He and a teammate both jumped for the ball, and the teammate's cleat landed squarely on my husband's little toe...which now looks like a bright purple mini-sausage. It's nasty. So, this sketch is what you get today:

I liked using a bunny for a couple reasons. The first being the big feet, and the second because it reminded me of the Paris Metro Bunny:

Back when I was still in college, I spent a month in France taking two courses over RISD's wintersession. While sitting on the metro with my sketchbook in my lap, I noticed this infamous warning sign to keep your hands away from the doors as they're closing. The bunny was cute, yet at the same time - he's getting injured! It's kind of horrible. A combo of sweet and mean will apparently catch my attention. I entertained myself for the remainder of the stops by drawing him.

Anyway, the lesson of this weekend is that cleanliness is a virtue. There's a mess in my studio that needs to be tackled ASAP...otherwise it's going to come and get me! Now, where did I put those Band-aids?

21 Day Challenge: Day 3

I aaaalmost skipped this drawing exercise last night. Almost. My husband and I ordered a pizza and watched two movies in a row. This is after I'd worked all day then hit my aerobics class. Phew! That's a late night for me! I was really tired and just wanted to go to bed. Then, I felt bad. How can you form a habit if you're already ditching out on day 3??? So, I did this quick sloppy doodle of the newest addition to my studio:

It's a giant stuffed octopus I bought from Deelind on Etsy. I've had my eye on it since I joined the site. I finally caved in and bought it when she made a note that the fabric was discontinued, and she only had a limited amount left in stock. *Gasp!* She was nice enough to send him to me this week before she goes abroad for most of the summer. I think he looks right at home in my studio, wouldn't you say?

P.S. This is my 100th blog post! Woo-hoo!

21 Day Challenge: Day 2

I did this quick little sketch last night. I was trying to capture a little gesture from memory that my hedgehog makes when he's running about sniffing things. I used a teeny bit of color in this one. A while back, a friend of mine gave me a set of what looks like crayons or oil pastels. It comes with this paintbrush looking thing that has a hollow interior so you can fill it up with water. Once you "color" with the crayon/pastels, you can run the brush over your marks to wet it and it turns into a sort of watercolor. Pretty cool.

Before I forget, I wanted to update all of you on the Case of The Missing Class Work. My teacher from this past semester wrote me back regarding the failure to find any of my projects in the Continuing Ed office (which is where he promised they would be a week or two after the semester ended) when I went to Boston this weekend. Apparently he's off on a trip somewhere, and hasn't even dropped them off yet. It's a little frustrating that I didn't know that before I took a day off of work to pick everything up. But thanks to our trip to Blue Ginger, the day was not a complete wash. I'm just glad that my 15 weeks of work isn't lost in some sort of office abyss.

Happy Friday!

21 Day Challenge: Day 1

Supposedly it takes 21 days to instill a habit. I've decided to take on the 21 Day Challenge and draw for 15 minutes each and every day for 21 days. I don't have any grand plans or even a theme. My goal right now is just to make myself draw something (anything) every single day. Last night was technically Day One since I drew right before bed. I just didn't have time to upload anything until this morning.
Since I had an elaborate dinner at Blue Ginger this week, and then my coworker brought in donuts yesterday (my weakness)--I was inspired to draw a fat happy piggy enjoying a frosted donut.
If you'd like to join me in this challenge, drop me a line. I'll post links to your blog under a "21 Day Challenge" catagory. It won't exist until I hear back from folks, and you've got to post your sketches in order for me to link to you. Come join me! Really, I could use some company. (o; Here are the results of my first day:

Not much, but it's a start!