Phoenix in watercolour, pencil crayon, and metallic pen

Evolution
Out of the dusk a shadow,
     Then, a spark;
Out of the cloud a silence,
     Then, a lark;
Out of the heart a rapture,
     Then, a pain;
Out of the dead, cold ashes,
     Life again.
          - John Banister Tabb

Father Tabb and I certainly don't share a philosophy, but if you're not familiar with his poetry it's definitely worth a look.

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is spark, and frankly this was just me making a free-form mess while watching television last night. I have a tendency to be too literal when I'm doodling since a lot of it's for work and whatever plant or animal I'm working on has to look like that plant or animal. I figured I'd just wing this one, though, since no one really knows what a phoenix looks like anyway.

In the light of day this one looks more like it's wearing a black tutu than anything.



Yeah, you can't unsee that now, can you?

The paper I was using was far too thin to take watercolour, but I actually kind of like the way the wrinkles scanned. Sort of like rays of light and dark.

Lucky accidents are fun.

Work things

 Why yes, I have been stuck at home drawing catkins because of the very cold weather.

What else do you do when you're stuck at home by this endless winter but draw catkins? I mean, really?

Hermit Crab in pencil crayon

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is disguise.

I often say "quick doodle", but this one actually was because I have other things I want to do this morning yet.

As usual, the cheap scanner's picked up more of the yellow than there really is, but it gives the idea.

I have no idea why I did this on a slant, really.

I kind of want a hermit crab now...

Chicken or egg in pencil crayon

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is beginning. I'll be honest, though, and say that this was more of an excuse to take the Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth colour pencils that I got for Christmas for a spin. On the toned paper that I got for Christmas. Yay Christmas if you like to see me doodle, I guess.

I must say that I like the laydown of these things. Very smooth. And if they're anything like the Koh-i-noor woodless pencils that I've had for years, they'll last damned near forever.

Back to topic, though. From an evolutionary standpoint, the whole what came first -- the chicken or the egg? question is a non-starter, really. A chicken-like thing lays an egg that contains an embryo with a mutation that makes it more chicken-like. Assuming that the mutation isn't severe enough to kill the chicken-like thing or render it infertile, it has more chicken-like things that may have more mutations. Lather, rinse, repeat (I'm massively simplifying things here, of course). Eventually the egg contains an actual chicken, if everything goes all right.

This prompt sent me straight to Sound of Music, by the way (Let's start at the very beginning...). I can't say that I was in the mood to draw a whole doh (a deer, a female deer) though...

Oh, one other thing: I found out recently that the term pencil crayon is apparently Canadian and that most of the rest of English speaking world refers to them as coloured pencils. Who knew?



Well, I didn't at least.

Alarm in watercolour

This was going to be for Illustration Friday's prompt time, but I was too late.

Ironic that, I suppose.

Posting it here anyway, since I've been so lazy lately about posting anything. This week's prompt is search, if I remember right. I have no idea if I'll have anything for that, but I've still got a few days.

In other news, it's really hard to open a bottle of masking fluid when you haven't used it for a while...

Merry Christmas

Last post 26 October? October? Sheesh.

Excuse #1: I've been rehabbing a very stubborn wrist injury that makes me shaky if I try to have too much fine muscle control for too long. Frustrating for someone who likes to work in pen and ink. It's getting better (finally!) but I think I'd be wise to stick to pencils and (sigh) paint for a while. Why the sigh? Well, as anyone who's looked at this blog more than once knows, I paint like a five-year-old. I wish I didn't, but somehow my brain just doesn't like to think in paint.

Excuse #2: The "art" I've been making lately is just too randomly blobby for me to want to bother scanning it. I've been amusing myself, but it's definitely not for public consumption. Heck, sometimes it's barely for my consumption. Trust me, you haven't been missing anything.

Excuse #3: Is it just me, or has Illustration Friday been a bit less inspiring lately? Probably just me. It's my usual reason for bothering to post here, though, so if it hasn't been doing much for me I guess that still counts as a reasonable excuse.

Today's (likely) last post of the year is a quicky in tinted charcoal. And yes, I know that's not the right colour for a poinsettia; even the highly overbred ones that make up Christmas decor these days. If they make red or even pink in tinted charcoal, I certainly don't have it. Lavender was the closest I could come.

Anyway, here's to posting more than every two months in the new year. And here's to me not being stupid enough to bugger up a major joint for months ever again.



Um, anyone who knows me in person is killing themselves laughing right now at the absolute impossibility of that last sentence, and to them I'd just like to say shut up and then pout in a corner...

Thing in watercolour pencil, inktense, metallic watercolour, and pen & ink

And the kitchen sink, I suppose.

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is creature, and this is...

um...

Well, to be honest, I just turned on the internet radio and freestyled it. Considering the period of music I'm listening to, it could be a transferred hallucination, I suppose.

As usual, my cheap scanner's lost the wash in the background. That totally makes no difference this time, though.

I bet that the scanner's disappointed.



The sad thing is, this is what's finished my current sketchbook. The great thing is, I've finished my current sketchbook. That hardly ever happens.