Monday post 11/14/2022

I was under the weather this weekend. I’m posting one of my favorite paintings from a while ago. I did a few of these graffiti paintings.

I took down my outside reading tent and freed up a bunch of rocks that I was using to weigh it down. I got inspired again because painting rocks is fun.

Here’s a few more, unfinished.

And here is the cutest birthday card by my daughter’s boyfriend. Perry turned either nine or ten; we are not sure. I’ve lived with this dog for five years now (daughter too) and he has grown on me.

Have a good week! Nina

Family portraits

A couple of family portraits. This first one is me and my daughter.

Husband sat for me. I think this looks like him although a bit gaunt. I’m limited right now to drawing/colored pencil but last night at Staples found some skin tone drawing pens.

A couple of quick drawings.

A dream drawing.

And some magnetic poetry.

All in all a pretty productive weekend.

Saturday Drawing 10/27/18

I went through an old sketchbook and reworked some stuff. I also have a brand spanking new set of Pelikan watercolors.

Perry. The weather here is rainy but the Nor’easter they were talking about. Be safe.

9/4/18 Painting

Another one where the drips led me. It’s hard to see the details i.e. going in with a fine point sharpie in places.

In other news, I lost my dog Beau on the last day of August. The IG post is from Chris, whose hikes Beau went on with great joy for many years. Beau was just shy of his tenth birthday. I still have his brother, Birdy, who seems kind of stunned.

So I guess fall is here. Best wishes to all for the new season.

Year of the Dog

Every dog
has its day—top dog,
shaggy dog,
dirty dog–
everybody and their dog–
going to the dogs.

In dog years,
it’s a dog’s life.  Put
on the dog,
hot dog, hot
diggety dog.  Tail wagging
the dog.  Lucky dog.

Walk the dog
and call off the dogs.
Teach the old
dog new tricks.
(on the internet no one
knows you’re dogging it).

I’m going with the prediction that this Brown Earth Dog year of 2018 will see a rise of social consciousness and environmental awareness, and the return of generosity and feelings of fellowship and community.

Our language is filled with phrases that include the word “dog”.  I had fun stringing some of them together with a multi-patterned dog mask as accompaniment.  And you can see my original post about Bliss, the dog pictured above, here.

Corgi

A patient just walked in wearing an orange tee shirt with the image of a corgi showing the skeleton. I was looking for something to draw and this was right up my alley. It reminded me of the book of skeletons that Kerfe got me a long time ago. I will always love skulls and skeletons.

The Story of Moses

Our friend Claudia McGill was curious about how we got our dog Moses. Here is a little cartoon and here is the story that goes with it:

One night our babysitter Jiffy came to the door carrying a box with two adorable puppies. At the time we had our Golden Retriever Samantha. We wanted to take both puppies but husband said no. There was a male and a female–we took the male. We named him Moses (found in the bullrushes). 

As he grew up we wondered about his origins as he looked like a coyote. DNA testing wasn’t readily available as it is now so we will never know. He was a good dog and lived about ten years or something like that. 

Here is a photo of Samantha with Moses in the background as well as a much younger me. 

Eye of a dog

My friend Michael Stahl posted a picture of his dog Lulu’s eye. I attempted a drawing today. 

Here is Michael’s shot. Lulu has white eyebrows. I wasn’t able to do that in my sketchbook. I’d need to do it on black paper. 

Postcard Fiction: What She Saw, Part 3

Another ambiguous situation in a Jane Dougherty painting prompt.  I decided to go for optimism, even though that’s not my general state of mind these days.  Here’s the inspiration painting, by Iliya Repin:

And my response:

The last Postcard Fiction I did before this one was also a painting by Iliya Repin, “Freedom”, a prompt from way back in September.  I liked it so much I did it twice, and I’ll post both of them one of these days.  I collected Jane’s other microfiction prompts between that one and this one in a folder; time, of course, always gets in the way of intentions.

One thing I did during our blog break was to enter a lot of juried art shows and submit both poetry and art to journals, which I find takes a lot of time, not to mention the fact that most journals won’t accept work published on a blog. Eight of my Postcard Fictions were entered for a show of “art on paper”, but I won’t hear about acceptance or rejection until mid-January.

Perry the Pit Bull

My daughter’s dog Perry in a human-like pose. I seem to be into pencil drawing lately, trying to hone my skills. Perry is a stubborn but sweet boy. He will lay down on his walks and refuse to budge for a while causing the citizens of Williamsbug Brooklyn to ask if he’s okay. 

Check out his Instagram account @perry_the_pit_bull. And here’s my daughter’s photo.