finally done, and some sketchbook pages

Tentatively titled as "Gifts."

Here is a detail shot:


I'm also trying to finish five sketchbook pages a day for the rest of the month.

not done, but i can see the end

I think I'm about 2/3 the way there. I'm still less comfortable painting than I am drawing, but I think I've figured out a way to make it work; if only I weren't so slow.

progress shots

Camden and I are driving up to his dad's, a lovely cabin-style two story house with acres of pine trees in the back yard, his two dogs, his sweet stepmom, and no internet dun dun DUN.

(I typed "internut" at first.)

I'm looking forward to having a weekend retreat to just working on my school assignments and catching up on Etsy drawings. And, in the mean time, here are some progress shots of the canvas I hope to finish by Saturday afternoon:


The ochre underlayer.


The layout.


Most of the underpainting.

About halfway there. The photo is a little washed out.

Hopefully I'll be able to have the second half of the process to upload when we get back home Sunday evening.

new drawing

"Housekeeper," graphite on paper 8.5"x11".

I scanned this in just now from my sketchbook, so it needs a little cleaning up before it's ready to print.

winter displays

Busy, busy, busy, but I made myself make time to re-shoot some framed prints with a more cold-weather appropriate background. Not that you'd know it's autumn where I live - today was a balmy 77ºF and not a cloud in the sky - but I know many of my friends are enjoying their first bevy of hot drinks and warm woolens to brace themselves against the cold.

New ideas are stirring, but I'm playing a vicious game of catch-up with my schoolwork so I'll have to leave them be for now.

Uuuuuugh.

I feel like I am in hiding, in the open. School is going well (knock on wood) and I've met some amazing classmates and teachers, but it still feels like my mind is rusted over and creaky at the joints. I'm not used to writing long papers or examining a simple question with anal-retentive scrutiny. Admittedly I'm exacerbating matters by insisting on reading more, writing more, talking more than is required, but since the beginning of the semester I've been cognizant of the fact that this year will determine my desirability as an applicant once I'm ready to transfer and, with good luck and a consistent level of good work, once I'm admitted the environment there will be way more rigorous and intense than anything I'm setting up for myself at community college.

Anxiety is the name of the game, I'm afraid. That hasn't changed, at any rate.

Still, I am so grateful I've been given an opportunity to be a full-time student again. I know I'm lucky, and I plan to take full advantage of it.

In other news, Camden and I went out for lunch and a leisurely stroll a few days ago, and on the way back home I tripped on the sidewalk and scraped the holy hell out of my elbow and shin. It hurts a lot, but it was actually kind of nice because as soon as I hit the pavement a guy who had been passing by us in the opposite direction asked if I was okay, and the owners of the restaurant immediately behind us asked if I was okay and got a chair and a damp napkin so I could wipe away the dirt. They were so sincerely concerned, even though it wasn't really a big deal. I was pretty verklempt. Kindness of strangers, indeed.