Hiding Place in... um, 3DS?

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is secret.

Have you ever stashed that secret name or photo in a locket to keep it close to your heart?

I...

Haven't, actually. I never was good at the romance thing. I do, however, own the locket that this doodle is loosely based on. I'm wearing it right now, in fact. It's very, very empty.

I guess I'm a little lacking in secrets. Interesting ones, anyway.

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Just wondering: does this still count as any sort of form of art at all when it was done on a toy while watching a House rerun?

Just for fun...

A quick digital version of last weekend's magpie. Done on my 3DS, so not exactly the most sophisticated software, but it didn't turn out all that badly for a first go, I figure.

Object of Affection in watercolour

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is shiny. And this...

Well, ordinarily I'd love to go all naturalist on you and mutter at length about magpies and their collecting habits (and I may come back and edit this tomorrow, if the urge is too strong), but right now we're under a severe thunderstorm warning (and, just to be fun, a tornado watch as well), so I think I'll choose to shut down the computer before shutting down is chosen for me.

Ornamental Kiwi in pen and ink

This is just a quick (and small -- it's an ATC) sketch of the leaves on my father's ornamental Kiwi plant.

Basically, I'm trying to get into the doodling groove again after my enforced lay-off.

As usual with the ATCs, if you're interested in a trade just drop me a note via the e-mail on the sidebar. Or leave a comment. Whichever suits you, as long as I can return the contact.

Drawing Day 2012

Yep, it's Drawing Day today, and this is a wild Purple Clematis (Clematis occidentalis, I think). Or at least a scribble of one. When I started it became obvious pretty quickly that my wrist is still a bit too shaky to handle too much detail, so I went looser than I might have liked. Still, it's the first drawing I've done since the sprain, so that's not a bad thing.

Appropriate day for it, too.




I hope that everyone out there is participating too. Or, hey. At least a few of you. I look forward to seeing what you've posted.

So, post...

Hurry up... in art stix

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is hurry! Exclamation point included, even.

I garden. I garden in a small way since I live in an apartment, but container gardens still count as gardens. I grew up in a gardening family. There was gardening on both sides, but I suppose that my biggest gardening influence was my maternal grandmother (although I think I probably owe my preference for slightly wild-looking cottage-style gardens to my English paternal grandmother). Grandma kept all her own seed, and started what seemed like hundreds of flats of bedding-out plants every year. They were all kept in a spare bedroom and a covered-in but unheated porch that provided almost perfect starting conditions for the seedlings.

I helped out, and I learned.

Funny thing, but what I remember most about Grandma's bedding flats were the thousands of French Marigolds (as opposed to the Pot Marigolds that I know better as Calendula), and the tomatoes. The marigolds because there were always so many of them and in so many different shapes, and the tomatoes... well, to this day I really dislike the smell of tomato plants. I'm not all that fond of raw tomatoes either, come to it.

These days I don't save seed, and I don't start flats. I've tried to in the past (late winter brings on a pretty strong I've-got-to-plant-something-soon urge with me. I think it's hereditary), but the conditions in the apartment just aren't right and I'm not willing to invest in grow lights and the rest. Erm, especially since it'd be in a one-room apartment that already has too many houseplants in it, but that's another story. Anyway. I don't start flats, but I did seed my planters this year instead of buying bedding plants. I'll be doing that for the next few years, probably, since I came into a lot of free seed that'll be usable for a long time as long as I've stored it right. No point in it going to waste.

But.

Seeding a planter is sooo frustrating when all you want is to have nice, green, growing things that will hopefully be nice, green, flowering things all season (or nice, green, vegetable-making things. They're there, too). Our season is short enough as it is without waiting for seeds to sprout. I seeded fairly early since my balcony's sheltered, but still. Grow, dammit. I want my plants...

Yeah, I can be a bit on the impatient side sometimes. Maybe not enough to get the magnifying glass out to check the progress of the latest thing to break through the soil, but it's close.

Hurry up, already, you plants.

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Sorry for the lack of posting lately. The wrist is starting to behave again as long as I don't overdo it, so things might get a little more regular here again. It may even end up to be a two-post day today, since I'm going to try to make time to doodle for Drawing Day. I encourage everyone else to, too.

Watch this space... we'll see what I can manage.

Leap in conte crayon

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is sight. And it might seem a bit of a stretch for even an arachnophile (hey, if there are 'phobes it stands to reason that there are 'philes as well, right?) like me to be able to use a spider for the word sight, but it'll make sense if you bear with me.

It's true that most spiders don't have very good vision. For your average orb weaver sitting and waiting in a web for the tell-tale vibrations of a trapped bug, there's really not much need for sight. Not all spiders are web hunters, though.

As their name suggests, the Jumping Spiders (Salticidae) hunt by jumping at their prey. They'll sneak up as close as they can without disturbing an insect, attach a safety-line of silk in case they miss, and then literally take a flying leap onto their dinner.

It's not a blind leap, either. Jumping spiders have some of the best sight of any invertebrate group. You have to, if you're going to be accurate enough in your jumping to survive. It leads to some interesting interactions with their environment, as well. Jumping spiders tend to act as though they're interested in what's going on around them (they probably are...) and will often inconveniently turn around to face the camera lens when a nerd like me is trying to get a good shot of them. It can be fun, though, too. I've been known to tease the tiny Zebra Jumpers that occasionally show up in the office with the tip of my pen. Who says you can't play with spiders?

For anyone who's not phobic, there's some pretty neat footage of a hunting jumping spider here. Get a load of those eyes.

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This sketch is pretty loose and scribbly, but it's not bad considering that I'm still getting over a wrist sprain. Do you have any idea how often we use our wrists in a day? I certainly do after these past few weeks. I might have liked to have added a bit more detail in the picture, but things started getting a little wobbly so I thought I'd better put the brace back on. Things are coming along, though. Maybe next week I'll even get brave enough to pick up a pen instead of a crayon.