i drew from a photo of a broken, rusty barn door latch. i took the photo in the early morning and the shadows were beautiful. also the unusual shapes from rust and many layers of paint added to the interest of the image. i abstracted it and layered drawings overtop of each other. i like the line quality. i can see the abstracted images as paintings or embroidery or applique...

drawings done with sharpie, abstracted from a shower curtain ring and shot with my desk lamp shining through two layers of sketchbook paper. i like the way the lamp light makes it look yellow.

and...my new crocheted hat. looks like a TP cover from the photo! it fits well. it's warm. and it's the first hat i made up as i went along...no pattern:)

day 3 of my 90 days in a row of drawing for an hour. today's abstraction is from the connector thingie to my external hard drive. took these pix after dark. i am used to drawing and taking the photos during the beautiful sunlight that is in portland maine.
also, today my mom is a happy and healthy 87, with a new great grandson:)

abstracting from an electric plug. beautiful day of drawing in my sunny studio. happy bday to my sister, tree. xo

yay. back to my regular drawing routine. this one is for oscar.

one more crocheted scarf finished with maine yarn from on the round. i see i included some dog hair in it! it's dog hair with love!

here is the back of one of my favorite embroideries. i made this from a drawing i did of me and my best guy having lunch in tommy's park, portland maine 2007. a bird is eating the croutons from my salad.

took a walk in the city. the shapes of this window grating caught my eye.

catching up with friends and family for the holiday. went to see 'annie' at a local dinner theatre. while i was waiting in the lobby, i saw someone that seemed interesting to draw.

i love ellsworth kelly. today's drawing are inspired by ellsworth kelly and abstracted from the sewing pattern shape for a pocket. also, today i bought an edward gorey calendar for a very special person in my life. i set it down to use the atm and when i was finished, the calendar was gone:(

winding, winding, winding yarn. so much beautiful yarn here in portland maine. i bought some hand dyed and hand spun yarn this weekend from on the round. now to finish up my hat and a scarf or two.

i am working on some unfinished projects. these photos show part of a cloth book i started a few years ago that incorporates printmaking and stitching. feels like its time to finish this book. it will be good to do some hand stitching, which i haven't done in a while. today i did some local shopping and was very inspired by an artist whose stitched work i really love. so the stitching tonight seems fitting.

drawings today are influenced by markings on sewing pattern instructions. i love that the instructions for sewing patterns are still printed on newsprint. they look the same and smell the same as they did decades ago. there are so many little notations that are unique to the sewing world. here are some i made up.

blind contour drawing

yesterday was the first day of the season that i needed to wear gloves outside...kind of late for maine, but it's been a warm fall. so today i drew my gloves. how i love the process of blind contour drawing!

a drawing from yesterday. it tells a true story. do you know what the story is?

i sat down at my studio table to draw and noticed how my ear bud wires were casting shadows on the paper, so i followed the lines with my sharpie and then a .03 pen. something about drawing takes me to a different place...a good one - zoning out everything in my head. usually i draw early in the day. now that it is dark by late afternoon, i am going to start drawing in the early evening - like drawing happy hour!

this was all the drawing i did today. sitting in end-of-semester crits. lots of talk about the figure-ground relationships. my notation there is to remind me that confusing the f-g relationship for the viewer makes a painting more interesting.

lately i have been looking at the work of RICHARD TUTTLE. i so love the simplicity of his shapes and his use everyday materials. i am trying to make a connection between his work (top image) and some of my drawings (bottom image).

drawings i did a few days ago - on cheap watercolor paper with a sharpie. i think i like the back of the drawings as much as the front!

this artist bought my painting today. it made each of us really happy! the painting is 12" square - oil on panel. it sits out an inch from the wall. the photo on top doesn't show the striking orange sides, which are a big part of the whole piece. you can see a side in the bottom image.

selling prints and stitched work and paintings at the MECA Holiday Sale.

painting!