Spring Sprung At Pier Park

This young man is fishing at Pier Park, he and a number of others. I asked what they were catching--Rock bass and bluegills. Note the sailboats behind him, in the distance, another sign of spring. It was actually a hot summer-like day yesterday--cooler today. I was away again all day--will try to get caught up soon. I missed my poetry reading though, but I am behind in the Moleskine Exchange group I'm in and need to paint paint paint paint to get caught up with that.

Here are some of my new art pieces:




I did this with a Tom Jones video in my water media class. Click them to view larger.

And here are two tiny little quick sketches:


In my personal small Moleskine

and finally, here is an illo for a new poem I wrote:


"THE SNIPE HUNT" by Mary Stebbins Taitt (click image to view larger.)

The poem is here, if you wish to see it. The illo combines two previous illos in a digital composit.

Dodge Park in April

Dodge Park is a wonderful spot to bicycle, walk, hike, rollerblade and look at wildflowers and wildlife.

The third picture is from the conservatory, a close-up of one of the cacti shown from the Xerophyllic room.

The fourth and 5th are two of my recent new quick small sketches.

Signs of Spring: Frogs Singing

It must be spring, the frogs are out and singing! YAY!



HAPPY SPRING! YAY!

Here (above) is a new painting I did with Steve Loya, a collaboration--he did the background and I did the doves.

And finally, a couple of new quick sketches from my little watercolor sketchbook--spring makes me think of FLOWERS! YAY!



I'm sorry; I am working on a PhD in behindedness. Busy with the holidays and preparing for them and various upcoming deadlines etc.

Detroit Wildlife (and art)

Cute, huh?

A friend of mine recently posted a picture of a BOBCAT taken in her backyard. This is what passes for wildlife in Detroit--Norway rats. Yeah, they are cute. These are young ones. But they still carry the plague and other diseases and foul grain and steal food and chew holes in walls etc. And bite.

What follows is a potpourri of new art--if you call it that--my art is not always successful.

They are: Hellebore or "Lenten Rose," very quick sketch. I've misplaced my garden journal, so this is in my small sketchbook. BB staring and squinting into really bright light--we ate dinner OUTSIDE for the first time this year. Winter aconites, again in the small sketchbook, and part of a large painting I'm working on in acrylics.

BB grabbed my camera and stole a shot of me working on the hellebores. Keep in mind it's still March (or was, anyway, when I made these yesterday)--and in Detroit, March is not usually warm enough to lie on the ground outdoors in a short-sleeved shirt--which I was here.

Except for the first image, click the images to view them larger.

If you don't like the weather in Detroit . . .

. . . wait 5 minutes and it will change. The second picture was actually taken about ten minutes after the first and looking approximately in the same direction from a few feet away. In the second picture, it was snowing like mad but windy enough to blur it so you can't see the falling snow.

Schools were closed today--it snowed all day yesterday. GB (formerly PB) was delighted. (PB quit taking piano lessons and is now taking guitar lessons).

I am sorry I am still having computer problems. I'm in the process of solving them but it's taking longer than I expected.

Also here is a quick pencil sketch I made of myself in the car looking in the tiny mirror behind the visor. (NO, B, I wasn't driving, I was riding shotgun!) The reason I look so starey and bug-eyed I think is because I was looking in that little mirror so hard to try and see myself in the speeding, bouncing car. The sketch is actually a little bigger, but it wouldn't fit all on the scanner. Click image to view it a little larger.