Pumpkins in December?

Prismacolor colored pencils on Strathmore Bristol, Vellum

It has been far too long since I posted a new drawing, but rest assured that all is well. I've just been working on some "Do-not-open-before-Christmas" holiday projects that couldn't be posted, or surprises would have spoiled. Now that the holiday crush is behind us, I'm re-charged (I'm hoping it's not just a sugar high) and resolved to get back to more regular drawing —and posting!

This pumpkin drawing was commissioned by a lovely woman, the aunt of one of my close friends. My friend had recently given her a framed print of my artichoke cross-section drawing, chosen because her aunt lives in Half Moon Bay, a coastal town north of here (and south of San Francisco). Half Moon Bay, besides being famous for its pumpkins (it hosts a huge Pumpkin Festival each October) is also known for growing artichokes and other vegetables. I'm tickled that she asked for a pumpkin drawing as well as one of Brussels sprouts on their stalk. (The latter has a short season, and since I almost always draw from real "models", I'd better get that one done soon!)

In case you're wondering, I chose to draw this "bird's-eye-view" since it is a companion piece to this one:

Here are a couple of work-in-progress shots:

I hope that you are enjoying some relaxing post-holiday time as well. Next up for me...blog visits! (And maybe one last slice of cranberry bread...)

And one last important note: Thank you for all of the supportive comments, emails, and good ol' positive thoughts that you sent my way after my recent post about Parkinson's Disease. Your kind words mean more than you know.

Anniversaries and anticipation

My little blog is two years old today!  

(Well, technically, it was two years old on Saturday, 

but a few sick days last week threw me off a bit.)

It's a happy accident that my blogging anniversary is December 1, as it's one of my favorite days of the year. You see, I have a passion for advent calendars. Childhood memories of the anticipation of Christmas surely fuel my obsession.  But there's something about finding each little numbered paper door and revealing its surprise underneath that still excites me. Like anyone who's a little obsessive/compulsive about something, I have a few rules regarding what constitutes, for me, the perfect advent calendar:

1. It should  be made out of paper. I'm not a huge fan of the fancy wooden ones, or any that get re-used every year. It just seems more special to be used only once, an ephemeral thing, so that each year holds new surprises.

2. It should have little doors or windows to open. That seems like a given, I know. But there are a plethora of clever, craftsy ones in a clothesline or wall-hanging style that use things like little bags or stockings, but they're not for me.. give me a perforated paper door.

3. You should have to hunt for each door just a bit. Another reason to look askance at the ones I mentioned in #2: No hunting = no fun.

4. The doors should be integrated into the image, not just randomly cut into it it. Villages and houses, that have windows and doors that open, are just right. Or anything where you're opening an object to reveal what's underneath...not just a scene with 24 perforated doors cut into it. Which leads me to a related item:

5. The revealed image should relate to the cover image, but change it slightly. You open a window and see the people inside that room doing holiday things, you open the stable gate to see a pony, you move a knot on a tree to reveal a squirrel inside.

6. The backing paper should let light through. While we often hang ours on a wall, or set it on a table, I like them best hung on a window where the sunlight illuminates the openings...another childhood memory.

7. The door for the 24th should be biggest and reveal a special image. None of this stuff where 24 is the same size as 1. Furthermore, there should be no door for the 25th...it's all about the anticipation; on the 25th, you're already there.

So, there you have my preferences, but I'll admit that I also enjoy a few non-conforming ones: I love my little Victoran numbers that  I've shown at the top of the post. I also have a real affinity for the Playmobil advent calendars. We bought them almost every year as my kids grew up. But to me, the best part was that the parent got to prepare and fill it ahead of time, folding up the little paper boxes and  putting each piece of the scene inside. They've recently gone to a pre-filled style that you don't get to assemble yourself, and which shows all of the pieces on the back, which ruins the surprise a bit. But they're always quite charming; the one for this year includes a couple of hedgehogs!)

I'l leave you with a photo of my kitchen wall from a few years ago when I decided to display some of my calendars from years past (I keep them all):

How about you? Are you an advent calendar person? Do you have a favorite?

Gratitude: A personal story

"I cannot tell you how happy I am that I have taken up drawing again.
I had been thinking about it for a long time, but always considered it
 impossible and beyond my abilities."—Vincent van Gogh

In addition to being a milestone—my 100th post!—this is an especially personal post for me. I recently created this drawing for a Thanksgiving card that is sent out by The Parkinson's Institute, a renowned clinic and research center in my area. I feel a strong sense of gratitude for the wonderful people at the PI, because I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the spring of 2009.

There are a lot of reasons that I've chosen not to share this on my blog until now. First, I feel that my condition isn't really relevant to my artwork. I'm very fortunate that my symptoms have been mild so far, and have affected only my left side. Since I'm right-handed, my drawing has been unaffected for now. (By the way, it's purely random as to which side is more affected, so I know that I'm one lucky woman.) But more importantly, I simply want people to respond to my drawings for the drawings, not because they were drawn by someone with PD. (And I promise you, after this post I will be back to the serious business of drawing nuts and marshmallow Peeps.)

But lately, I feel the need to celebrate the fact that I'm still drawing away, Parkinson's and all, and I want to express my thankfulness for the Parkinson's community:

I'm thankful for the amazing doctors and researchers at the Institute, who may someday soon be instrumental in finding a cure for Parkinson's.

I'm thankful for two other blogging artists with Parkinson's (now that's an elite group). The first is Cindy DeLuz, a wonderful woman that I met at the Institute. She just exudes happiness when you talk to her, and you can see it in her artwork. The other is Amanda Bates, a friend that I met online. (Yes, I consider a number of my blogging buddies to be friends, even though we've never met...isn't technology wonderful?) Somehow, I happened upon Amanda's beautiful painting blog and her informative Parkinson's blog separately, and it was only later that I realized they were written by the same woman!

I'm thankful for my inspirational fellow Institute patients, including one that still entertains his friends with his lively banjo-playing, and another that plays golf three times a week!

I'm thankful for Michael J. Fox and the work he's done through his Foundation. In the first months after I was diagnosed, I had no idea as to how fast my symptoms would progress—it's different for everyone— which was pretty frightening. But, thanks to MJF, I saw a person close to my own age, that I could relate to. I kept telling myself that if he can still lead a full, generous, vibrant life, then I could too.

In his book, Always Looking Up, Michael J. Fox states, "For everything this disease has taken, something with greater value has been given—sometimes just a marker that points me in a new direction that I might not otherwise have traveled." That couldn't be truer than it is for me. Would I have taken the time to rediscover my passion for drawing, and would I have started my blog, had I not been faced with the fact that I didn't know if, or when, my manual dexterity would deteriorate?  So, while I stated above that Parkinson's disease isn't really relevant to the artwork itself, it may very well have been the marker that pointed me  "in a direction I might not otherwise have traveled." And for that, I am truly grateful.

Aw, Nuts!

Prismacolor colored pencil on Strathmore charcoal paper, "Golden Brown"

I love drawing nuts. They're such interesting shapes and textures, inside and out. I also love samplers and swatch charts, color charts, botanical charts, it doesn't matter what the subject is, really—I like their visual organization. The illustrations that the John Burgoyne does for the back covers of Cooks Illustrated magazine make me swoon. So, this is my nut "sampler", but it's a work-in-progress. There will eventually be at least 2 more rows, a walnut and a Brazil nut. I may add some hand-lettered labels, but that remains to be seen.  I'm also using it to illustrate this week's Illustration Friday topic, "zoom", as I really had to get out my magnifying glass to zoom in on these. (Okay, that may be a stretch, but I've missed participating in IF lately, and just had to enter something this week!)

Drawing on toned, textured paper seemed to help capture the colors and feel of the almond and hazelnut. The only drawback is that it's not as easy to digitally clean up stray background smudges and pencil dust, so that hasn't been done yet on this piece.

I've got another couple of pieces (one with a very personal story attached to it) that are almost ready to share; I hope you'll check back on Thursday for a special Thanksgiving post!

Notecards II

Yikes... it's been a month since I've posted! I've been busy with a couple of projects that I'll share with you shortly, but in the meantime, I thought I'd show you a set of cards that I put together for a friend's birthday. (Apologies for the uneven lighting in this shot; I was rushing around, as usual. But not a bad shot for an iPhone...) I made a different set a while back (you can see that post, with details about the supplies that I used, here). However, instead of spray mount, I used a wonderful little Tombow adhesive this time...so easy! And for this set, I used Paper Source's "Cement" for the A7 notecards and envelopes and "Lake" for the box.

Here's the label that is on the box bottom...I completely forgot to photograph the finished box from the top, but it also had a vellum band like the first set. This time I used one of the flowers from the "Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow" card as the sticker.

I keep thinking that I might someday get organized enough to put cards and prints in an Etsy shop, but I'm not sure that it'd be worth the time and effort. I'd love to hear from those of you that are Etsy sellers...has your experience been positive?