"Kitten" Griffin

Pen & Wash    Bessie, GRIFFIN, Tarka, Melvin at 7 weeks   8" x 12"

(Photo & Kits:   France Bauduin)

Above is the main man (Griff) as a kitten, mixed up with his fellow litter mates in June 2012.  It was a challenge to see if I could do a clowder of kittens.   Not perfect but it captures the essence.

Colours?   Blacks ARE very blue, and photo exaggerates same.
Actual kit colours:  Bessie, black;  Griffin, gold tabby;  Tarka, dark grey tabby;  Melvin, black and white.

It amused me that in both litters there's only one girl, she's black, and both girls have similar names:  Bessie above and Bella from the current litter - names that were chosen by their new homes.

Enjoy!

Bella & Leo

Bella, all black, and Leo, a silver tabby      Pen & Wash    9" x 12"

(Thank you France for original photo!)

Portraits of two of the kits in post below, snuggling with Griff.

Potentially tres cute but wash didn't work.  My fault since not done on true w'color paper.   It looked cool before I added the color.   I did a bit too much detail on Leo, which you can't see now.   In reality I prefer pen to compliment outline - not outline every detail.    Hey, more lessons learned.    It can all be done again.

So that's now TWO in the 'waiting for a do-over' queue!

Enjoy!

Big Bro Griff - a work in progress

Pen & Watercolor   9" x 12" - 1st sketch

Pen & Colour Pencil    9" x 12" - 2nd sketch

Big Bro Griff with his siblings, Merlin, Bella, Leo and Nevil

(thanks to France Bauduin for the original photo and many others)

Griffin is 6 months, his siblings just 4 weeks.   Yes, they do share the same Mum and Dad.   Since the kits' birth, Griffin has been fascinated and mother Laila has always allowed him to come close and be a part of their growing up.   Now they're in the playful stage and the kits adore their gentle giant of a bro - obviously the feeling is mutual.   The kits all have homes waiting (im)patiently for them...and dear Griff will sorely miss them when they leave.

As for the sketches, easy to see neither is complete.  However they give a sense, I hope, of Griff's obvious contentment with the kittens.


N.B.  France & I became email "friends" a year go, and met this summer in Montreal while she was on vacation and visiting family.  She is an amazing artist specialising in cats plus incredibly generous with news and photos of the kittens and her permanent residents - being Griff, Laila, Spookie, Uni and Apollo - not forgetting Mark, her husband!

Enjoy!

By my Grandfather....

Pen & Ink   by  George Baldwyn Read 1937

As per title - and signature - this IS by my grandfather.   I dragged it out of a cupboard today to re-mat and suddenly wondered, "Is this why I'm doing pen and wash drawings?!"   If so, thank you!

If he was this good, he must have done others.  Sadly this is the only one I know of.   Anyway, now re-matted and will be up on my wall this week.

Enjoy!

PS The subject is a Dragoon from 1704, what he worked from is also unknown.

Boids

Spring is sprung, de grass is riz

I wonder where dem boidies is?

De little boids is on der wing...aint'd dat absoid

Der little wings is on de boid!

                                                                     (Aseasonal and with apologies)

Actually hanging out around "de boid bath" again.   I like upper right boid, it's head tipped back and beak open as it drinks...not chirruping.   Also slightly quizzical pose of bottom bird.

Ciao n Enjoy

For the birds...

Two guests at the birdbath

Coming in to land

All Together

There were actually a lot more but I haven't got around to doing

ALL of them on the same page - at the peak around eight birds.

Pen and Watercolor Wash

To enlarge artwork, CLICK on the picture

Birds enjoying a birdbath this past HOT summer.   Relief for them, fun to watch in a super secret garden...and now fun to work from.   Yes, the last one is a right mess - still the birds are cute...and the proportions of sparrow landing and starling are more in sync.

Soon again I hope.

Enjoy

Mother's Day - Again

"Mother Comfort"
Laila and Kitten at 4 days
Thanks to France for the photo

A superb home awaits this small bundle of black and white kitten.  Lucky boy!

Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day

With special thanks to France, Mum Laila and kittens, Tarka and Griffin, who will be 26 days old on May 13th.

And, of course, Happy Mother's Day!

Enjoy

They'll never find me....

THEY'LL NEVER FIND ME.....

THEY'LL NEVER FIND ME

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HERE

Enjoy!

JEN's UP!

but had to call Mum to get down!

NOT a happy camper!    Serves her right for figuring out how to get onto banned territory!  


Bookcase is 7 feet high.  Contents pretty much as shown.  Jen sits behind "Jen Blockers", picture frames fixed to front edge to PREVENT attempts off dining room table.   Kept her off for 3 years.   Then tall furniture moved closer and she spotted a 3" wide "back door".   Up she went!  Then couldn't get down.  She had to ASK for help.   She hates doing that!

Route now blocked.    For how long, I dunno.   Last year, for top of armoir, I created an impenetrable Jen barrier.  One night we were ignoring her, so she leaped up and over it.   I caved in.  She now owns the space.

Enjoy!

Should haves...

Wall and Door           pastel               8" x 10"

Walls!  Who'd have thought they could be difficult?   That flat (but not) EXPANSE of colour that has to be filled with "interest".   Well, grab a handful of colors and scatter them about!    Lots of should haves (several to do with perspective) but over all you get the message.  

Kinda fun!    

And below, the lovely mother Laila at her wits (kits?) end.   

and

Enjoy!

Jess and Karina

 Jessie & Karina         pastel              16" x 18"

This week I learned that dear much loved Karina had crossed the rainbow bridge.   Half this portrait - Jessie only - was posted on January 18, 2011;  Karina's space was just a faint sketch and a note "coming soon".  

My life took some abrupt turns and the portrait slid into a portfolio and waited.  Last night when I heard the news, I took it out - and this morning Karina joined Jess.   So now they're finally together, if only on paper.  Both are Siberian Huskies, Jess with a red coat and Karina a grey.

Below is the photo, their two heads glued together.   I hope the above does them justice.   Laurie, their "parent", lives in California - the original should arrive there sometime soon.   I hope it gives her good memories of her best beloved Karina, and the bond between her and Jess.

Enjoy

How Now Round Cow?

"Round Cow"              pastel            13" x 21"

More challenging!   Face a bit tricker since at more of an angle - if you click on the picture you'll see a larger version.   It's flawed, but it works. 
* April 17th post shows photo of gal above, the cow with the twisted horn who watched coz and self 'retreat' from their bovine blockade!   On that post feature item was cow with calf.  I thought I liked it best, now I'm not sure.
*Post immediately below shows the beginning of the above.



Enjoy!

A Not Much Day

Jenny from life - sleeping in "her" chair

watercolor          6" x 10"

A not much day:  not much free time, not much energy.   This experiment squeezed into half an hour.   Never worked on Strathmore (I think it is) and fell madly in love with it's smooth surface for w'color.  Later on blocked out front view of round cow..

As for Jen, I really should get more live sketches of her.   Difficult to do since if she sees me drawing or pastelling or painting, then she's just gotta be on top of what I'm doing.  If I manage to sneak part of the picture out from under her to work on, she'll nose-nudge my hand, or try to grab the paintbrush in her teeth.  So I'm real happy when she goes to sleep in the corner.

enjoy!

    

Face Off!

"Cow & Calf"        pastel        12" x 14"

There is a story behind this.   Below is the photo from which it comes.  This group of cows were blocking the path my coz and I were planning to take.   Now, cows may seem benign - especially if you believe definition of "bovine", sluggish, dull, and stolid - but if it's a mother with calf, watch out.   If she gets the idea you might hurt her li'l darlin' you could be trampled to death.   It's happened, in England, and surprisingly often.  So  "they" stood and looked at us; and we looked at them.   A genuine face off.    You guessed it, we chickened out and backed down.  They watched us as we left... 

Cow below with twisted horn (who's at back of group above)
monitored our departure from top of dike.
Cute cow actually.  Amazing how ROUND her body is.

Enjoy!


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LUNCH AHEAD

"Lunch"                   pastel            16" x 7"

A doodle at noon.

I've always liked this photo of mare following lunch (!) and foal in background trying out the grass so I did it, quickly.   Figure pleased me since person in photo was hidden behind mare, so above is pure invention.  (Sarah...I didn't even try to make figure look like Fan - whoever it is looks weary and male.)  

Enjoy

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Kanja

"Kanja"     pastel      12" x 14"

A handsome, soft-hearted Rotweiler/Shepherd mix.

In case you're curious, it IS different paper from previous post - a greyer tone.      

Enjoy!


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The Essence of a Doodle

 "Sophie, a Golden Wheaten"      pastel         8" x 10"

A doodle by me - you can tell that from the smudges - of Sophie!    The path to the sketch began when I asked for a copy of the screensaver showing Sophie, a much loved family dog.   It came, I sketched, but who knew if it was totally on target.   I sent a photo...apologising for the roughness of the piece.  To my delight it turned out my doodle had captured the essence of Sophie - so a happy ending for me and for the original which is off to a better home than a storage portfolio.

And YES I fixed the smudged coat to be curly...but never took a foto.

I "collect" photos of critters that I may or may not work from.   I like them to come from the owner or someone who really KNOWS the animal - and of course is able to give me permission to do a portrait from the photo.   All of this with the understanding that if I do something (there's no promise I will or by when) I will email a photo of the piece to find out if it really IS the best beloved, not just "a dog" or "a cat".  There is NO obligation to purchase but if someone wishes to, contact me - prices vary and are very reasonable.  Of course, if it's a commission it gets done immediately.  

Two weeks Ago

 Parc aux Rapides in Laval              From mid March

A great day and just before the mini summer blew through.   There would be NO ice now and I bet the marsh is almost green.    Redwing was very fortuitous caught in mid-song.

Enjoy!


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Donkey with....

...my father (righthand donkey) on board!    circa 1959

A change of pace that might amuse.  Somewhere in Oman.   I guess they were going where landrovers could not.     Or it might have been a joke but those bullet belts look fairly serious - yes?

Enjoy!

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Person Portrait!

A Portrait     pastel      12" x 14"

I am reasonably smug about results!   It's the first that I've had the guts to post.   A friend of a friend and, sorry, I cannot remember her name.    No drawn outline, just went in with color.   No work of art but at least it looks like the subject - a bit!   And of course that's the photo.

In pursuit of doing portraits, my attempts to date have included numerous of myself and another friend.   Masses of them, and all missed the mark by a mile.   Perhaps because the faces were TOO familiar?

Enjoy!

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"Jenny & Her Goose"       pastel           12" x 18"

The top of the armoir is Jenny-stan - her very own stomping ground.   A long jump up too.   She shares it with the wooden goose, an antique duck decoy, a plush hawk, a plant (fake) and a tortoise lamp.  The lighting is from below, a lamp on a sidetable.   I love the way her toes curl over the edge.

 

You can't see the hawk or the tortoise here but you get the idea.   A pretty good fake plant, huh?

Enjoy!

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Aha! JENNY!

"Aha! JENNY!"        pastel         12" x 18"

It's "Aha!" because I'm pleased.  At last.  

However, as I did it I kept wondering why I'd chosen a pic with such a weird perspective distortion of the hanging paw.  Now I'm real glad I stuck with it.   The pose is a Jenny standard:  perched as high as possible with one paw draped over the edge.  In fact in my mother's room (which abounds with Jenny photos!) about half are this pose....

Enjoy!

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Jenny Today

Jenny 26/3         pastel         10" x 18"

Well, that's what she was doing!    Am still puzzling with how to pastel AND use her real coat colors, being grey and white.   I'll try again another day!

Enjoy!

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Foxy Foxcubs

"Foxcubs"       pastel       8" x 10"

Never done a fox before - I was surprised how foxlike they are.   Seriously!  Oftentimes I come to draw an animal and am surprised to find that the animal is not the slightest bit like my mental image.   These guys had FOXY FACES!   Totally amazing.  

Enjoy!

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Passing Grade

A Blue Gee         pastel        18" x 18"

Today's Jenny               pastel             12" x 18"

In both there are flaws but enough passes to make it onto the page!

Enjoy!

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Playing with Tigers

           The Original                                       Pastel                                            Colour Pencil wi Pastel

Interesting to see them together.    The Original is a given - a handsome critter!  Next two my takes on the original.   My preference?   I lean towards the middle/pastel version simply because it isn't trying to be accurate.   The far right/mixed media demonstrates the hazards of not being totally accurate...however he has much better teeth!

Enjoy!

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Best Scratching Post in Miles - finished

"BSPIM"       color pencil           5" x 7"

I was rather impressed with the post - that's artistic licence!    The length of the strands and the drama are pretty much dead on - angle of head more tilted up.  My main apology is not getting details in blaze accurately.   Photo is below

Enjoy!

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Jenny & Flying Mane

"Jenny"              pastel              8" x 11"

On her favorite chair, her morning sleep - preceded by her apres breakfast snooze and to be followed by her 4 hour afternoon nap.   I do believe the lass is putting on weight!

BELOW - testing out new color crayons, Prismacolor, the obvious choice as a subject was Fan's horse with flying mane.  Not finished but gives you a sense of the potential for detailed work.

Flying Mane             Prismacolor Pencils          5" x 7"

This Day's Daubs

 "The Boy from the Souq"     pastel      6" x 10"

Above...he's the boy on the right in Muscat Souq posted Feb 7th.  Better but still too small to capture facial details.   Next stop - larger on sanded.

Below...continuing challenge, or fiasco!   Winding river in Wyoming canyon.  

"That River"            pastel          8" x 10"

Enjoy!

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