Bean Bag Boy

Holiday Weekends make for lazy afternoons and napping in the beanbag. Hope you're having a nice time off just bein' in yer beanbag.

Tropical Color

I've never really been one for "island style" in pattern or design. We all have fond memories of basement Tiki Bars and the subsequent revival of island kitsch. But I have lately become aware that my prejudices dictate what I draw or create and if I really think about it, it might be why I stopped drawing altogether. Somehow I have to learn to allow inspiration to take hold (which it does when I travel) , and not be disdainful and dismissive of the possibility that it might take me to a place creatively where I don't care much for the subject matter.

Enter color! Color can be inspired by something, leaving the subject matter to become something else entirely. I don't have to draw big tropical prints with giant palm leaves, and plumeria or orchids in order to capture my inspiration. I can use the inspired color in a completely different setting or in unrelated subject matter and still enjoy my memories without the pressure of creating scenery that isn't really my taste as a painting on the wall.

Won't this be fun?

I love this stage in a drawing. I've blocked out my design and it's like a coloring book now.

Maui Bougainvillea

Among the colorful plants and foliage of Maui, bougainvillea is probably my favorite. I used to grow it on my back porch when I lived in San Mateo in order to be able to open my door for fresh air and have shade when it was opened. It comes in extraordinary colors, and the variety in Maui seems to have less obvious menacing thorns (which are more like something on a medieval weapon) waiting to scratch your hand.

It's my intent to completley fill this Moleskine (and this will be a continuing topic here on this blog). And since I am just starting out drawing again after so many years of not drawing (which is yet AGAIN another topic), I thought I would start easily with pointillism. Pointillism is nice because you can "dot out" the skeleton of what you want to draw and even "dot in" the shadows. If you make a hideous mistake, you can "dot over" the other dots. It's a good way to slowly see how things will look before really committing with further detail or even color. Since I struggle with perfectionism, it will be a good exercise for me to fill a Moleskine knowing full well that later drawings will not be as good as this one and some will be better. In short, this sketch book will be inconsistent and that will bother me, I am sure.

But I will press on through the discomfort of it and see where it leads me.

Coming home to a beautiful place

Maui was beautiful.

And there is no doubt that the warm winds and sunshine were healing to me on many levels.

But then you fly home, blurry-eyed, on a red-eye and you see THIS outside your airplane window and you wonder why you ever left home.

Sunshine, legs. Legs, sunshine. Get to know each other.

I am at the tail-end of my first ever trip to Hawaii. Maui, specifically.

My husband is a graphic designer for corporate events and usually his work takes him to places like Vegas and Orlando. (No offense, but no thanks. I'll pass on tagging along on those trips.) When it turned out that this event was in Maui, I said it was time to take me. He had to work a total of two days and we stuck 5 on at the beginning and called it a vacation. Sweet! OF COOOOURSE, the weather back in Oregon has been gorgeous, or so my friends back home tell me. If it starts to rain when I get back on Thursday, it's probably my fault.

I'll hopefully be posting some artwork inspired by the trip. His next trip is to Houston and, no, I won't be going there either.

Aloha.

P.S. Yoiks! Those are some white legs!