Let it snow...

I've had the block printing bug again lately, and everything seems to be Christmas-themed. I'll be posting about all of them, but first up is this little snow globe.

There are snow globes of all kinds and price ranges, but I love the little vintage "dimestore" plastic ones.

I drew this one as a tiny 2.5" sketch one day, and couldn't get it out of my head, and it became this 3-color print, starting with this larger sketch to set up the registration marks for the different colored blocks.

I ended up re-carving the red block after a flaw showed up in the printing (as you can see in some of the prints above. ) So, several runs later, I had a number of acceptable ones. But with the amazing accuracy of today's scanners and printers, I can now use the image on cards and other prints, and it is hard to tell the original (bottom) from the inkjet (top):

Here is the progression of the printing...I love seeing the layers build upon one another:

...let it snow!

(Well, here in Northern California, we'd be happy with some rain!)

A Mistletoe Moment

'Tis the season:
I'm scurrying around this week preparing for a holiday party, so I'm pausing for a little swig of eggnog
(no alcohol or I won't be scurrying much longer) and to re-post this little drawing from last December.
(You can read the original post here.)

I love fresh mistletoe, but it dries out so quickly, and even worse, it can drop its poisonous berries on the floor. So, this year, I found this adorable kit at Paper Source, one of my favorite shops. I'm not usually a fan of artificial flowers and plants, I must admit. Perhaps it's because paper starts out its life as a plant, but paper flowers retain a certain natural charm for me. Isn't it cute? It won't dry out or poison anyone, and I can use it again next year!

Next week looks to be a bit calmer—
I'm hoping to steal a day to draw and catch up on blog visits before Christmas. 

Cheers!

Merry Christmas

I belong to a fabulous book club. Our fearless leader brought us all together after our sons graduated from the same high school. While cheering on our guys at soccer games, or working together on committees, we had occasionally talked about what we were reading, but I didn't really know many of them well. Six-and-a-half years later, we've read and discussed some great books and have eaten some incredible meals, but most importantly, we share a very special friendship. So, at our holiday gift exchange earlier this month, I gave them each a print of this drawing.

While deciding what to draw for them earlier in the week, I found some gorgeous fresh mistletoe at Bunches in Los Gatos (I just adore that place and their shop duck, Pete). I tied it up with a bit of ribbon, cranked up the Christmas music and sat down to draw. (I usually can't draw with music playing, but I made an exception this time - Christmas music is pretty much a necessity when drawing mistletoe, wouldn't you agree?)

So, have yourself a merry little Christmas, pass the eggnog, and I'll see you after the holidays!

Welcome

Considering my love of advent calendars, it seems only fitting that I am writing my first post on December 1. This blog will allow me to share my drawings, but I'm equally excited to be joining  the online art community. As I've started spending more time drawing, I've been inspired by many artists that I've discovered online, particularly illustrators who work in pencil and colored pencil, and I hope to devote some future posts to them. What inspires me? Why do I work in pencil? What drives a person to draw a pile of chestnuts? Stay tuned. 

In the meantime, here's a drawing for today. I have a thing for pinecones. My basement stash of the little beauties, hauled back from many summer vacations at Lake Tahoe, causes my family to shake their heads and chuckle. But I dug this one out of that stash, and loved really looking at it and drawing it. Pinecones, like most forms in nature, are amazing, elegant structures. Enjoy...I'm off to open that first door on this year's advent calendar!