Mother’s Day

First one without her.

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Happy Spring Holidays!

Happy Easter and a Joyous Passover!!!

A New Chapter

I know, it’s been a while!

April is right around the corner and this particular April not only brings with it a beautiful, fragrant spring, it will mark the end of a particularly challenging year. A year of loss which includes two precious members of my family, my mom and my nephew, Ryder.

Grief took the place of creativity, comfort and happiness for a while. However, it was also a time of positive change. My husband Thom and I, during this 365 day chunk of time, started the daunting task of selling our beloved house in Southern California, packed up ourselves, the kitties and a truckload of our belongings and moved to Salem, Oregon. It seemed nutty to pile on more challenges at this time but it paid off.

We now find ourselves in what feels like a wonderland of moisture and friendliness. A wonderland full of coffee, hiking trails, rain, deer, birds, coffee (did I mention coffee), wild daffodils, a city-wide explosion of cherry blossoms, coffee and a llama. A no drama llama named Caesar.

We met Caesar at the State Capitol mall, where over 100 luminous Akebono cherry trees were blooming in unison and being celebrated by the city. People would take breaks from picnicking and gawking at the delicate pink flowers by lining up to get a snuggle and selfie with this emotional support llama.

I mean, pretty magical, right? A wonderland… complete with llama. I think I like it here.

It’s Been a while

This may be the longest I’ve gone without posting. Allow me to remedy that with some bugs.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

Inktober 2018 Day 16 (late)

There are days when being a soft, fleshy entity can feel a bit daunting. On those days I simply hop into my very angular, impenetrable bot and seize the day with impunity.

Inktober Day 16 “Angular”

#HoHoDooDa 2017 Day 13 post 10

A friend of mine and pun aficionado, Patricia, suggested this one. It made me giggle, so of  course I had to draw it. Probably should have put them on a hairy arm or something, but I jumped the gun in posting it. Oh well, whaddya gonna do, eh? Here’s some Silent Mites… oh dang, should have put thrown “holey mites” in there too, to complete the pun! Again, whaddya gonna do?

HoHoDooDA 2017 Day 12 post 9

Happy Hanukkah!

SkADaMo 2017 Day 4

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

SkADaMo 2017

It occurred to me that this blog celebrated it’s 10th year just this past September. It also became painfully apparent that I hadn’t bothered to post anything since April. So, what the heck, why not get back into the swing, with SkADaMo!

I realize that I not only waited until the last minute to get things started this year (a regular practice), I am in fact, starting halfway through the month. But flying by the seat of the pants is SkADaMo tradition, afterall!

Sooooo, it’s November 13th! That means all the cool challenges are not only upon us, but also halfway through.

There’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and, what used to be a November challenge

PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month), now Storystorm, which now takes place in January.

There are probably a bunch more, but suffice it to say, November is a busy month for some. So now, since 2011, SkADaMo “Sketch a Day Month” has also been thrown into the mix. (That is, every year since, except for 2015, which was a difficult November, but we forge ahead and start anew! )

I really started SkADaMo as a personal challenge and gave it the name as a bit of a spoof on all the other November challenges. I even jokingly made a badge, thinking I would be the only participant. But lo and behold, several other wonderful artists, doodlers and sketchers threw their hats, or pencils into the mix, here and there over the years.

So if anyone wants to join in this year, they are more than welcome and very much encouraged to grab this badge, off to the side here and start sketching for the remaining weeks.

SKADAMO RULES:

“What are the rules?” You may ask.

1. THERE ARE NO RULES! NO SIGN UP! NO REGISTRATION! NO GIVEAWAYS OR GUEST POSTERS!  No regulations, themes, daily words, Facebook pages or anything else resembling organization. Just lots of sketching, commenting back and forth and hopefully lots of inspiration and craft honing!
SkADaMoers are scoff-laws and Mavricks! (Actually, the truth is I’m just not that organized.) The only code we live by this month is SKETCH! SKETCH! SKETCH! Sketch everyday from November 1 to November 30,or at least try to.
You may not sketch every single day, but by golly you will have tried and you’ll have more sketches in your sketchbook at the end of November than you might have otherwise.
So, there’s that!

2. In the past I kept a running list of participants right here on my blog. This year, however, if you post your sketches or links to your blog on facebook, twitter, instagram, tumblr, flickr or pinterest, why not go ahead and hasthtag it with #SkADaMo. I believe this would be a much more efficient way to keep track and follow fellow SkADaMo participants.

Oh, and did I mention, I’m not very organized?

3. Go ahead and grab this small badge if you’d like and use it as you see fit, on your blog or what have you.

4. Most important rule of all… SMILE! This is fun!

Sketch on my fellow SkADaMoers, (should there be any besides myself this year!)

MLK Day

Happy Easter!

Need… chocolate…STAT!

Opisthoteuthis Adorabilis

SO, THIS GUY, EH?

Stumbled upon a video about a tiny octopus today and figured this wee dude was just begging to be drawn. Soooo….

Oh, and yes, Opisthoteuthis Adorabilis IS what scientists are thinking of calling him.

Zen Shark

As we all know, sometimes life’s little challenges can add up and feel downright overwhelming. Often, when that happens, when poop hits the proverbial fan, Tom and I respond by telling each other “Remember, we’re sharks!”

It reminds us that we need to keep moving forward in order to stay alive.

It’s a thing.
A bit dramatic.
It works for us.

When things continue to feel a wee bit FUBAR, we toss the word “Zen” at each other. We do this in an effort to remind each other to breath and let it go… whatever it may be.

This practice helps take the edge off and sometimes it even puts life’s bumps in perspective.

Yesterday, we were ruminating over a few of those very bumps and as I shouted “Zen!” at Tom, he shouted “Sharks, we’re sharks!” at me.

It was then “Zen Shark” was born.

Trying to be Zen Sharks, y’all!