String in graphite

A quick doodle for Illustration Friday, mostly just because I haven't done one in a couple of weeks. Today's theme is strings.

Ok, so I only have the one string, and it's actually a very ratty piece of knitting yarn that the cats play with sometimes.

This particular doodle features Max the Cat, who happens to be the worst hand model EVER. I swear, that cat couldn't sit still for a million dollars. Or a million dragonflies, which would probably interest him more. Ah well. You take what you can get. Good thing I wasn't exactly going for detail, I guess.

Sorry for the not-great photo, by the way. I only have access to a scanner when I'm at work, and I'm certainly not going in to work on Thanksgiving weekend. Not for a cat's paw, anyway.

Grape leaf in pigment pen

Well, I was feeling badly about not having drawn anything for a while, so I sat down yesterday and did this ten-minute scribble of a slightly curled grape leaf. It's not great (my brain's still too full of all the pleasantness that comes with a cold to really concentrate well), but I suppose it's better than a boot to the head.

Maybe.

Still nothing new

As I said below, I've been busy at work. And now, in the realm of it figures, I have a cold. Not much in the mood for doing anything, really.

So...

Here's another page from that old sketchbook. I don't think I've already posted it, but I'm too lazy to check.

Not abandoned, no

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've just been too busy at work to do much of anything, that's all.

I'll be back.




Take that as a promise or a threat. Either works, depending on your preference.

The Path

Nine o'clock and darkness:
Short-cutting through pasture
To avoid the ice of early snow.
Knife-edge air slices skin
And shatters with a dead grass hiss
As I pass in shadow.
It would be easy to look down,
Leery of a fall reflected
In distant lamps
And headlights;
But I've decided to have stars in my world...
And, eyes uplifted,
Put faith only in the sky
To guide me home.

----------

In real life this would be a good way to sprain an ankle.

In a poem?

Well, I think I'll just say you should judge for yourself where I was headed with this.

Sometimes you find them in the oddest places

This week's Illustration Friday topic is Island. Here's my little island of life in a concrete city.

Islands are interesting things. My first thought was to draw an isolated green space in a city neighbourhood. That kind of depressed me, however, because I was headed for the idea of Island Effect, and in population ecology that's not a happy thing. An isolated population isn't a healthy one. I'd elaborate, but that sounds a bit too much like what I do at work. You can google it yourself if you're curious.

The more I thought about city islands, though, the more my brain kept going back to the amazing effect that a simple plant can have on our so-called permanent structures. Life is tough and life is tenacious, and man-made things just can't stand up to that in the end.

Cool.

Oh, and a note about the photo: I'm lacking a scanner again today, so my apologies for the flash-effect on the heavier graphite shading.

Something kind of weird

Ok, honestly? I have no flipping clue what was going on here. I started out with the intention of making something for Illustration Friday since I missed last week. This week's word is clutter.

I had trouble with clutter, apparently.

Well, I know I have trouble with clutter in real life, but in this instance my own brain clutter caused me to just doodle (really doodle as opposed to sketch doodle), come up with half an idea, get tired of that, and COVER THE WHOLE THING WITH VINES???

I... dunno.

The only thing here that actually was done on purpose was the muddying of the colours when I added the wash. Yeah, I meant to do that. And... yes, the "flowers" hanging from the vines (as opposed to the pseudosunflower behind the vine) are words. A word. I decided to muddy it too.

Ah well. I guess today the five-year-old with the short attention span came out in full force so that's what we'll go with.

No scanner access today, so excuse the cropped photo. It works. For what it is.

A doodle.

And I have no idea what the spider web is doing there. Just so you know.