One Day at a Time

The other night I was coming home from church (the dog park), and I saw the huge full moon rising just above the street. I tried to get a photo, but I'm not sure it will come out at all. So I painted from memory, with a few "fantasy" elements (as in the entire foreground).

I love spring. True, we really haven't had winter, but spring is always so exciting to me. In Minnesota I've discovered a shade of "sprng green" on the trees that was in Crayola crayon boxes, but I never really saw in Wyoming. Spring is definitely my favorite season--I even like the spring snow and the spring mud!

Posted by danielle at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

What perfect timing, given we just got around 10 inches of snow. Definitely the most we've seen all winter, but also a lot for one storm. All winter we've heard of other places getting this kind of storm, but we've always been on the periphery. This is the snow I've been waiting for all winter, and we finally get it when spring is coming.

But anyway, my hat. This is the result of a gift certificate to Midwest Mountaineering from my mother-in-law about 3 or 4 years ago. I love this hat. Where the tag is is a velcro closure that I can actually wrap around a pony-tail, the most common way for me to wear my hair.

Posted by danielle at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I haven't been able to do many Everyday Matters challenges recently. But I felt particularly drawn to this one; it actually fills two challenges: the recent "draw a frame and the picture in it" and "draw someone/thing you love."

The picture is of my husband and our first Great Dane. We were camping, and she was gloomy because she had to stay on leash. S. sat down on a stump to talk to her a little; the picture is actually one of my favoites because of the loving expression between them.

The frame is also special. One of my best friends gave it to me when we lost our Golden Retriever 7 years ago. The center portion is two pieces of glass between which you place the picture. They are held together by the four silver clamps that are connected to the wooden frame around the glass. I didn't put it in, but there is also a silver part at the bottom that acts as a base or stand for the frame.

Posted by danielle at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The most recent Every Day Matters challenge was to draw a dog. I've been trying to capture the basset hound I had in a different lifetime, Max, for a while now. This picture is pretty typical of him...the back of my mother's couch was one of his favorite places.

I'm also hoping to pass this off as Draw Something With Folds also, because the drapes and couch covering both have folds in them. I'm happier with the drapes than the couch, but I pretty much like the whole thing.

The kanji in the corner is the sign of the Year of the Dog (2006), and it is a stamp that I carved. My first one!

Posted by danielle at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm submitting this illustration for the Every Day Matters fall leaves challenge. The painting is actually from the cover illustration of the most recent Birds & Blooms magazine. I couldn't resist the colors of the female cardinal blending into the fall leaves.

I tried to work the leaves a little more in Photoshop, but I haven't mastered that tool well enough yet to make some of the changes I want to make. But at least I got the colors to stand out nicely.

Posted by danielle at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This was an experiment for me, since I actually painted the leaves in watercolor (which I adore) without sketching first. I think they actually came out pretty well. I'll have to scrounge up some watercolor pencils, though, and try them out too.

I locked myself out of my office this morning. I went into my office, put all of my things down, thought leaving my keys on my desk was a bad idea as I was doing it, left my office to get a soda, found the door locked when I returned. Ok, bad, but not too bad, because the morning custodian comes in at 4:30 and leaves around noon or so. Just need to find her. Find one of the ROTC guys...custodian is on vacation this week. Someone else is filling in for her. Never did find him...I don't think he bothered to come in today.

But, as my notes in the picture imply, all of the oak trees are on the other side of campus. We have a variety of trees near my office, but not oak, which is one of my favorite trees. So I had a very nice little stroll to amuse myself, since my sketchpad, my book, anything else that I could do to amuse myself, was locked in my office with my keys. The tree these particular leaves came from (they were already on the ground, though) is particularly interesting because one of its main branches curves its way up. I'll have to take a picture of it so that I can try sketching it some day. It would probably be especially fun to catch in winter.

Posted by danielle at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've joined another artistic challenge, EveryDay Matters. (Because I've been oh so good at keeping up with Illustration Friday that I need another committment I can't keep, right?)

Here are my first two sketches:

1. Draw a shoe

28. Draw an appliance

Posted by danielle at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)