This portrait was done in memory of Nancy Jo– Carly’s mom. I didn’t know her but I probably would have liked her. She liked nature and being out in the woods and at the beach. Carly loves the outdoors too and is a plant pathologist. So I decided on the leafy collage headpiece with a chipmunk. And the veil of course.
Pretty sure she would never send harmful ultraviolet rays down on us, no sirree. This carved wooden plaque is just so cool. I got it at one of my local thrifty haunts. Not sure where it’s from but it looks Indonesianish to me. I want to hang it in my bathroom high up on the wall to look down and radiate warmth this winter. That’s the plan. The plan also was to do this in color but I was enjoying the pencil drawing so decided to go with it. Maybe I will give it another try in a different medium soon. It’s colorfully painted and has a smudgy, antiquey look to it. I keep thinking of that Beatles song, Here Comes The Sun. In fact, I can’t get it out of my head. And now you can have it running non-stop through your head. Hahahahaha. You’re welcome!
Here is something colorful to look at. As I’ve said before, I love to cut and paste. There’s nothing like having a pile of glossy-paged magazines and a sharp pair of scissors at hand. A jelly donut and cup of coffee comes close but well, that’s a different kind of delight. This is just leaves, flowers and an urn that I cut from decor and garden magazines, glued on card stock and embellished with a gold metallic pen. You can do this! I call it paper therapy.
I bought this in the gift shop of the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston years ago. I love the look and feel of it, the cool smoothness of the carved stone, the serpentine dragons. I hope the writing means good luck or you are fabulous or something. It’s two and a quarter inches long and wasn’t expensive so it’s probably not real jade unless there are some jades that are common as dirt. Ignore the cord, I struggled with that. Tough to get a smooth flowy line. I need to beef up my skills. As in PRACTICE!
Check out this sweet little vintage wooden puzzle I found at the Green Door. So appealing. It’s about seven and a half inches in diameter, has thirteen pieces, and says “Made in Holland” on the back but you’d guess that from the windmill. I put it together in the store to make sure all the pieces were there, and it’s trickier than you’d think for a kid’s puzzle. It’s reminiscent of a mandala, don’t you think? Mandala’s are supposed to be symbolic of the universe to over simplify, and to me, this little interlocking village represents a microcosm of the universe. You know–village, town, city, state, country, continent, world, planet, galaxy, universe. They probably weren’t thinking that when they made it. I get the church, school, houses, windmill, etc., but I’m wondering about the odd building at two o’clock with the dotted half circle windows and the door with the antennae on top…Is that a typical Dutch building or is that where the giant bees live?
Okay. Back again after WAY too long away from the blog and art making. I started this drawing (left) using crayon and white pen, water-color pencils, and wash on tinted paper. I like drawing lone objects and I often just start drawing without a plan. But then it seems to need something else, right? A shadow or table edge or something. I started another (below) with chalk, white colored pencil and micron pen. To get the coral to look whiter like it really is. 
I didn’t post them since they are both unfinished. However, I was inspired by Austin Kleon’s book, Show Your Work. He is like a cheerleader for creativity–an inspiring, cool dude. He talks about showing works in progress because people are often interested in the process, not just the finished piece. And also that things don’t have to be perfect to post which I know and we’ve talked about that already a bit, haven’t we? So I’m sharing these two drawings of my fake coral candelabra which sits on my kitchen windowsill. Not a thrift store treasure but a treasure nonetheless. I love the organic shape of corals. A drawing teacher would probably have said–draw the window and the sill. But I didn’t WANT to. Maybe if I draw enough of these, I can experiment with different background techniques. Maybe that’s what I was planning. Yeah, that’s it. THAT’S what I was planning. Heh.
Yay! It worked. The wedding I mean. It was a blue-sky sunny hot day in Stowe, VT, where we all assembled in a green field. There were heartfelt vows, a tea ceremony and Spence and Tuyen got married! Then we ate under a beautiful tent, there was merriment, good food, cake and dancing. Mountain views. Family and friends. And gorgeous big red paper lanterns lit and set afloat at dusk, quite beautiful. It was a lovely day for a lovely couple. It felt like a blur though, Rich and I were frazzled and dazed but I imagine it’s often like that for the parents. These are portraits I drew which Tuyen used on a canvas for people to sign and write notes on. The veiled portraits continue!
This little charmingly painted, wooden windmill is five and a half inches tall, not including the arms. It’s from Holland, but I found it at a thrift store for $3. It looks old, you know, that vintage charm that you don’t see in new stuff. I should try this again perhaps on different paper since my drawing is a little out of whack and maybe the brown paper is way too much brown. I didn’t think it through in my rush to get to the drawing part. A frequent mistake. I like making art but don’t enjoy the planning part so much. I know something’s not quite right when I start thinking– should I cut it out and paste it on something else? Put some color in the background? Is there any way to salvage this sort of cute but not totally effective drawing? I hate when that happens.
I miss doing weekly art for the blog! There’s a lot going on now but I’ll be able to get back on schedule in July. The story behind this ceramic camel is that I saw it at Sally’s–that thrift store across from the Red Hen bakery–and I REALLY wanted it but it was $25 and I’m trying to not spend frivolously and also trying to not add to my already bursting-at-the-seams house. So I resisted. Told Rich about it and he was glad that I restrained myself. The next day I drove to NY to pick up Spence and Tuyen and when we got back, the camel was sitting on the porch like she was home where she belonged. Rich had a note on it saying it was an early birthday present. How sweet is that? Nice camel. NICE HUSBAND!
Jodi Horchler's sketch blog
Jodi Horchler's sketch blog
theTimidArtist 