Ukulele Lessons

I had an impulse a couple of days ago and decided that I wanted to take up the ukulele.   It seemed like just the kind of quirky cool thing that I needed to do at this already over committed point in my life. :)  Did you know that you can learn how to play the ukulele on YouTube?  I bought a tenor sized ukulele yesterday and I already have about half a dozen chords down.  I can also play about 3 or 4 children's songs and "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles with only minor mistakes.  My mother took up the ukulele for a while when I was a kid.  Like all things, it must be genetic.  Next song on my list to learn is "I'm Your's" by Jason Mraz.

 

This is a picture of the usual state my studio work table is in.  I realized that the previous pictures I had put up were a tad misleading.  Here I have been working on Artist Trading Cards of some of the pears from my pear tree.  Our new (deaf) kitten Lola likes to be involved  in making art.  I'm not sure paint and white kittens are a safe combination, but she is too cute to shoo away.

Illustration Friday - Infinite

Where does the infinite hide?

I'll tell you true, I cannot lie.

You'll find it there.

Look deep

down in the glistening depths

of a cat's eye.

This weeks IF submission had me stumped for a while.  The infinite is a tricky thing to describe, and perhaps it is not a truly describable concept. Rather, it is something to be sought and understood according to the perspective of the individual.  Anyway, I got very philosophical about the whole thing and this is ultimately what I ended up with.  Below are some quotes that pushed me in this general direction.

Nature is full of infinite causes that have never occurred in experience. - Leonardo DaVinci
Nature is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is  nowhere. - Blaise Pascal
In natures infinite book of secrecy a little I can read. - Shakespeare

Click the picture to see it bigger.

More trading cards

ColourLovers Challenge "Japan"

These are cards made for a group swap where swap members had to work from the same limited color pallet.  The name of the pallet for my group was Japan, so I used that as a theme for my images.  It could have been anything though.  Color was the only restriction.

Illustration Friday - Welcome

 

Papillon  Welcome

You're home, You're home,You're home,You're home!

I'm so happy happy happy happy to see you!

You've been gone all day,

I didn't think I would ever see you again!

I can't believe you're home!

Welcome home!

I'm so happy happy happy happy to see you!

I LOVE YOU!

etc. and so on.... this is the somewhat ecstatic welcome home I get every day.  Not in so many words of course , but in wags and wiggles and vertical bounces, it translates pretty closely.  Now if I can just get the cat off of my laptop keyboard maybe I can finally post this weeks IF submission. :)

click pic to make it bigger.

Chimerical Critters ATC Swap

 

 

 

  

  

Finally, I have finished the cards for the Chimerical Critter swap on Illustrated ATCs group site.  There were some interesting request.  Here is the list of combinations:

1. Unicorn - lady bug - tiger

2.Anteater - Reindeer - Bumblebee

3. Tiger - Monarch Butterfly - Lion fish

4. House cat - Ringtailed Lemur

5. Painted Lady Butterfly - Orchid - Birch tree

6. Kiwi bird - Lemur

It was a fun exercise and I can't wait to get my Toubsters in November

Illustration Friday - Strong

 

mixed media on vellum

There were two quotes that inspired me for this week's IF theme.  

The first one is:

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." - Frederick Douglass

And the second:

"Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong." - Winston Churchill

Another very quickly finished piece, completed within about two hours.  If I hadn't gotten it done this evening, I am afraid I would have missed participating this week.  So needless to say, I wish I could have spent more time on it, but isn't that always true. 

I have nearly completed the cards for my Chimerical Critter ATC swap and will be posting those within a day or so.  I originally misunderstood the instructions and thought I was to make six cards of the same animal.  Instead, I was supposed to make one each of the animal combinations proposed by my swapmates.  I'm glad I reread the instructions before I got started.  It was much more fun to create six different critters than to do six versions of one "toubster".  I will be receiving six toubsters in the mail from the other participants at the end of the swap.  Fun!

Illustration Friday - Magnify

 

Sure Sign of Old Age

My Illustration Friday submission this week is just a quick and dirty sketch in my moleskine.  School is now well underway and I just couldn't find time do do something more finished.  John left for India on Sunday and will be gone for a month, so Todd and I are holding down the fort by ourselves until he gets back.  I guess I am moderately co-dependent, because I was none too happy about the length of his stay on this trip.  But I do like to eat and make our house payment on time every month, so I feel guilty if I complain too much.  You would think having been married for 22 + years that I would be happy to get rid of him for a while. :)  I guess I must really love him, middle aged gut and all.