stuff about artstuff.

Illustration Friday: Bicycle

A fitting subject for Earth Day, don't you think?

I haven't played along with IF for a while so it was kinda fun to see this subject in my in-box this morning when this was already one of the drawings floating around my brain, in the running for sharing with you all today in honor of clean, fresh air and all.
You might still find this design lurking around as a garden flag by Toland Home Garden or coasters by Legacy Publishing, although it's been a few years for both products.

As for today, I suggest you go ride a bike over to your favorite tree and give it a big hug for me, ok?  Happy Earth Day, everyone.

Illustration Friday: Hatch

...as in cross-hatch.

Last month I was thinking about my hero Maurice Sendak, and the amazing worlds he has created in humble pen and ink - as a little kid I would (and still do) soak right into the pages of my picture books and just exist inside them. I played with my friend Little Bear in the woods, I frolicked with monsters in faraway places, I knew and deeply loved every single character. Even when it is used, color is never at center stage in his drawings, like it is in almost every single thing I've ever created.

It got me thinking about cross-hatch work. Something I hadn't even tried for decades. So I pulled out the little Moleskine and started sketching Molly wandering in a quiet woods, a very Sendakian place I suppose. Not the greatest cross-hatching ever, as I was reminded that cross-hatch is not for the faint of heart. Or those of us in the slightest hurry. Seems to be more of a Zen thing than I was really prepared for when I started sketching.

My hand started to get a little tired. So as the sketch extended into the other page (I've always drawn from right to left to minimize left-hand-drag) I went for a simpler more instant-gratification style...

In retrospect, each style suits each animal appropriately. Molly sort of is a serious assemblage of straight little lines. Thoughtful and slightly mysterious. Flossie, on the other hand - fluffy, friendly, not very practical or realistic.

You know ... I don't do yoga, I haven't really meditated for-real in years - I'm thinking maybe I ought to take up cross-hatch drawing as a regular spiritual exercise. And then, once I've reached that illustrative astral plane, I'll go totally hard-core and revisit pointillism. Ooh!

Yeah, no. I probably won't. But it's a nice thought.

Illustration Friday: Skinny

Who's skinnier than dancing skeletons?  Happy Dia de los Muertos everyone!

Illustration Friday: Magnify

From my garden journal.

I shot a photo of this golden ladybug on one of the daisies blooming in June.  What I didn't notice until the picture was magnified, though, was the bright green little aphid nearby that was sure to become her lunch very soon.

If I would have noticed this little scene of impending garden-pest doom at the time, I may have pulled up a chair and a magnifying glass and watched.  I mean, first of all, ladybugs are so darn cute that even feeding on live prey isn't gross.  Admit it.  They're adorable.  And have you ever seen a ladybug devour an aphid?  Voracious little eaters, ladybugs.  They put mere human-gluttony to shame.  And they're helping out, I mean who wants aphids eating their flowers?  I'm impressed and appreciative.

I've always wished I could keep a lovely garden journal.  But what I've done is very inconsistently compile 20+ years (skipping several as if they never occurred) of random notes and grand-plans-since-scrapped and seed packets from plants-long-dead and photos and diagrams and sketches and records and magazine pages and seed-catalog orders and some pressed odds-and-ends into a large, unattractive and very bulky 3-ring binder...it's a mess, really it is.  Aesthetically, a mess.  As a practical record, a mess.  Did I mention inconsistent?  Random?  I know, but I'm mentioning them again.

Then I fell in love with this neato little book with when I discovered this shop on Etsy last year. 

Cindy creates these amazing little "reinvented" journals and sketchbooks from cool old books she finds in her travels...fills them with nice drawing paper, cool odds and ends (like ledger & graph paper) and fun little random pages from old books that go with the theme of the journal,

(I can't wait to get to this page) then binds them artistically...each one is really a treasure in itself.  If you sketch or journal you really need to check out her shop.

From photos and wish-lists from the Garden Show...

...to notes on tomato varieties...

...to lists of plants I bought and where I put them, I am loving this little book.

And hopefully I will be kept in line by my desire to fill it fittingly...and when it's filled up someday I can thumb through it and smile quietly to myself, maybe even feeling I have finally joined the ranks of those cool people who actually keep a lovely garden journal.

Illustration Friday: Legendary

From my Moleskine: just a little ode to some of the legendary icons of Seattle. 

After the last issue yesterday, the Seattle Post Intellignecer, our city's oldest  newspaper, joined the ranks of the Kalakala, the Twin Teepees, Frederick and Nelson, the Rainier Brewery, the Supersonics, and countless other entities and landmarks which are now just part of our city's history. 

The PI was around since those old-timey prospector days, when this place was the Gateway to the Klondike. 

Now, it will exist as an online-only news source.   

Those local folks who found themselves unemployed after the last run on Monday night can in all fairness lash out at me for even mentioning this, let alone go on and on as I'm about to. Lash away guys.  Sure, I can wax nostalgic about the daily newspaper as an institution, about the smell of the ink and tactile quality of rough newsprint, with a sudden unexpected fondness for the grubby black smudges on my hands and clothes, or even that little jerk who used to manage to crush at least one blooming bulb every time he blindly tossed a paper over my fence. I can ramble annoyingly about a world where co-workers would gather around a crossword puzzle during a break or strangers in a coffee-house or on the bus would share sections of the paper rather than avoiding all human contact by texting or web-surfing.

I could go on and on...but I'm one of the guiltiest parties in the decline of the daily news printed on a piece of paper. Like many others, I learned the news about the PI's last day online.

I know.

Who am I to wax nostalgic over something I did nothing to support when it most needed me? Well, I'm just a serial nostalgia-waxer...I can't help it. I still turn my head trying to focus quickly as I drive past, hoping to catch a glimpse of the skinny-house in Montlake or the weird-white-lump "building" on lower Queen Anne, only to see shiny perfect boxes that look the same as everything else built in the last decade; I feel a painful little tug from deep inside when I realize I'll never again eat a greasily delicious after-hours feast at The Doghouse, where the fluorescent orange gooey goodness oozing from my grilled sandwich is rivaled in cheesiness only by the drunken sing-along led by Dick Dickerson and his organ that wafts from the dark bar along thick clouds of cigarette smoke.

Yeah, I'm the girl who actually paid money for a carload of stinky old chairs and tables from the Music Hall before it was torn down, who dragged my nephew to the imploded carcass of the Kingdome the day they opened the site to the public to gather armloads of broken concrete, small pieces that had once been our big round stadium. So it seemed only natural that I would actually make the effort to buy that final issue of the PI yesterday (again, the former employees can all shout "where were you last month, last year...?" while throwing things at me, I'll take it). But I was too late anyway. Boxes all over the city were empty by the time we started looking at noon. My own jaded guess was that before the sun even came up, armloads were taken all at once after dropping in the first few quarters to open a box, and that they would all show up today on eBay.  I'm afraid I was right.

I'm nostalgic but I'm not crazy.

Stuff changes, and I guess that's ok.

But something that will remain unchanged is that I will always speak fondly of things I remember from our city's past, with little stars...or are those little kitschy neon signs...in my eyes. Those of you with JP Patches episodes on DVD tucked away in the back of your  media cabinet, who, try as you might, can't help but crack a smile when you hear the words keep clam, you will understand what I mean.

Illustration Friday: Wise

This week's subject made me think about the eyes of our closest relative. How can one look into the eyes of a chimpanzee and not see the deep and profound wisdom and emotion they posess? 

This drawing was inspired by a photo of Moja, a beautiful being who was once part of CHCI, the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University.

I drew it a few years ago, hoping a friend of mine would want to use it as the logo for the chimpanzee sanctuary he was about to start...one day I just blurted out, "I dreamed your logo last night...can I draw it?" and fortunately for me, he indulged me, and it is their logo.

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is an amazing organization. Since this past June, it has been home for 7 beautiful souls who suffered in captivity in labs for most of their lives. You may have seen their story on ABC News with Charlie Gibson last month.

I admit, even when I don't have time to keep up with my friends' art blogs, I start every day peeking at the chimps' blog to see pictures and videos of the "Cle Elum Seven" as they are now called. In a few short months the changes in their appearance and demeanor has changed dramatically; now in a home where they are finally able to nest, play, swing, see the sunshine for the first time, their true personalities are blossoming. And that deep, intelligent look in their eyes...where before there was pain and fear, you can now see peace. It's so cool.

I hope you check out their website and blog to see what great work they're doing, there are all sorts of links and info and cool stuff...and if you are able to consider making a donation there are many different ways to do so. There are fun and cool fundraisers and "Shop for a Cause" where all you have to do is shop (how hard is that, you were already going to, right?) and a portion of the profits will go to CSNW. And they just started a pretty neato thing called the Chimpanzee Pal program, where you can make a donation (spread out into several payments throughout the year if you like) and you'll receive a magnetic-framed photo of your chosen chimp, postcards to share, and a certificate...what a great gift idea.

These amazing creatures, our closest cousins, are wise...just look into those eyes.

Illustration Friday: Vacant

Maybe a bit of a stretch for this week's IF subject, but it could describe the bodies of this particular ghoulie and her ghostie friends. 
From ghoulies and ghosties and longleggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord deliver us!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Illustration Friday: Repair

For some odd reason this week's IF topic conjured up the concept of an old-timey editorial cartoon in my twisted little brain. Must be all the rest of the stuff currently swirling around up in there...just one big old blustery storm of politics, worry, fear, and yes, copyrights. So what should come flying out of the sky in that storm but this poor little house, in dire need of serious repair.

I didn't exactly capture the "old-timey" feel I originally imagined, and there's definitely stuff I'd fix and adjust if I were going to invest the time and effort...but it was sorta fun to take a little break and work on something completely different than the assignments that are on my desk right now.

When the storm subsides and they do hoist this thing up, I hope we creative folks are ready because the Orphan Works Act is still out there. This wicked witch and band of evil flying monkeys are going to continue their plight and we will need to continue to fight for something many of us have long taken for granted, our rights under current Copyright Law.

And I'd like to take this chance to thank you to all of you awesome folks who have fought the good fight up to this point...those who have written letters and made calls to elected officials, who have attended hearings, gotten the word out to other artists in person at tradeshows, on the phone, and via the World Wide Interwebs (that's the one with email), you guys rock and deserve a giant THANKS!

IF: Detach

Alright, I know.

More vacation stuff.

Blah blah blah vacation, blah blah vacation blah blah.

But the whole idea of vacation is to detach. Detach from real-life, from stress.

And this...this is how one does that. If you haven't done this, go do it. Go do it now. I mean it. Go find a river, plop your butt into a floaty thing, and drift where it takes you. That's all there is to it. Can you sit in an easy chair and watch TV? There you have it. You already know how. The show you get to watch is way better than any on the real TV. And it turns your brain off in a much more positive way. Who cares if you're dressed like an idiot. Who cares if your sketch depicting the activity is silly and sloppy. You're floating down a river, and it's awesome.

The world would be a better place if more people sat on their butt on a floaty thing in a river more often.

Yes, I do believe that. Really. I do.

Illustration Friday: Enough

Have you had enough caffeine yet today?
Just another day in the coffee tornado.

Here's one from the archives.

Way back...1993 to be exact. Doodling with a Sharpie, and apparently enjoying some delicious coffee while at it. In the earlier part of the year, I guess...because it's signed "Beth Hendrickson" and that was the year of that one thing, that thing that changed my name, you know, happiest day of my life and all.

Sigh. Yeah, that was a pretty good year.

But back to the Coffee Tornado.

Mmm, delicious coffee. Nice to see some things haven't changed. Well, actually...we were just talking about how it doesn't feel like we've changed (or aged...ha ha, I know, not living in reality over here) and how we can't believe that was so long ago (1993, that is). In many ways, it feels like just yesterday.

Could be the permanent coffee-buzz.

Time just whizzes by when you live in the Coffee Tornado.