Drawing on Life

2011-06-09T06:36:00.002-04:00

"Slow Down Freight Train," which Rose Piper completed in 1947 while on a Julius Rosenwald Fund fellowship in 1946.

This picture was posted in the New York Times, February 14, 2010 my Bday. Now it hangs on my wall, yay!

ANTICIPATE

2009-09-04T16:14:00.003-04:00

Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it. -Ethiopian proverb

scribbling "bird talk"

2009-07-25T00:58:00.002-04:00

The Legendary Miss Ella Fitzgerald

2009-03-22T04:38:00.006-04:00

Too late for IF "Legendary" entry, bummer.

Dear Miss Ella Fitzgerald, I hope your okay with this picture. It is almost entirely different then my original vision. Your one of my most favorite Vocal artist and I wanted to do right by you. I wanted to portray your beauty and feel the beautiful
vibe of your lyrical soulful voice. I struggled with the angle, I didn't really nail it. But, serendipitously there is something about it I like.

Intricate

2009-03-08T05:48:00.000-04:00

bazaar

2009-03-04T11:57:00.007-05:00

card i designed - good shopping here. click on image for clarity. http://burnettsbazaar.com/

RESOLVE

2009-01-08T13:29:00.009-05:00

I resolve to disregard the so called Obstacles that stop me from drawing.
I resolve to call my "art" art, regardless -ref: art or not http://www.ovationtv.com/
I resolve to open my soul and sharpen my skills and allow my "ART to grow.

This portrait was inspired from a photo of me at twenty.

Cheers, and A BLESSED NEW YEAR!

washed

2008-12-21T01:28:00.000-05:00

A Little "Jazz"

2008-12-13T23:27:00.004-05:00

Jazz born July 2008 abandoned in my driveway

home and alone -IF topic "rambunctious"

2008-12-13T23:11:00.006-05:00

Uninhibited, feeling the moment, home alone.

Simular-illustration friday

2008-12-07T15:57:00.001-05:00

Opinon

2008-11-23T05:38:00.008-05:00

For this Illustration Friday topic I thought of my husband, he shares his opinion relentlessly and passionately! he's animated and stubborn.

Events

2008-09-13T02:44:00.009-04:00

This year, Circle of Sisters invites you to live your life to the fullest. Good health, lots of wealth and of course, plenty of wisdom. Make 2008 the start of better living, smarter finances and advice from other prominent women of color.
And I'll be there Booth 216,Yeah! http://circleofsisters.com/

Static Electricity

2008-05-15T04:28:00.003-04:00

for illustration friday topic electricity

HARD TIMES & THE SEED

2008-05-03T04:40:00.003-04:00

It was a great walk!

2008-05-01T04:37:00.005-04:00

It started out rainy and cold I was quite miserable. But, once we started walking it got better. We started on 62nd walked tru Central park, down Lexington to 23rd than back up Madison. They say it was 6 miles and I hardly felt the effects cause when I walk I'm like Forrest Gump, I just keep on walking.

last life

2008-02-28T19:22:00.003-05:00

I seem to remember carrying fruit on my head last life. watercolors and pastel done 2006

Vine on Bristol

2008-02-25T21:14:00.001-05:00

Multible Births for Illo Fri topic "multible"

2008-02-25T13:52:00.011-05:00

I started with 3 different kitties. i liked the picture, but it didn't seem to fit the theme for this weeks topic. So I added 2 more kitties and yuck i was not happy at all they were poorly drawn and didn't even look related. i ended up doing something i didn't want to do, "CUT & PASTE". I'm fairly happy now! Best part of this experience i discovered drawing with vine charcoal on smooth bristol plate sheets!

Maya Angelou quotes

2008-01-15T02:14:00.000-05:00

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Determine to live life with flair and laughter.

Feeling a desire for Maya Angelou quotes tonight, and I wanted to share.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-06T03:52:00.001-05:00

The original is done in a couple of shades of blue pastels on off white paper, I couldn't get the image to reproduce true to life the whites looked murkey and dull. I like how this came out in photo shop. What do you do when you like several different versions? Guess you just need to step back for a while a look again later. Portrait is my lovely niece.

Hats

2007-11-05T03:07:00.000-05:00

I'm hopeful to be able to introduce my new business next week. After some more tweeking she'll be a part of it! But right now she's my entry for Illustration Friday. It's been a while!

and his cousin

2007-10-15T15:20:00.000-04:00

My Neighbor

2007-07-23T13:27:00.000-04:00

TWISTED

2007-06-30T12:14:00.000-04:00

A slice from my life, trying to walk home from school. Rescued by Ms. M----. how did she know i had to go to the bathroom, its so hard walking with your legs twisted.

ps. i have better control over my kidneys now. unless theres beer involved

join us

2007-05-31T17:22:00.000-04:00

i botched the water color its such a unforgiving medium. need to learn to have a lighter hand i suppose. took it to photoshop trying to make lemonade from a lemon!

inspiration - invitation to join Monday ArtDay

U- turn

2007-05-28T03:00:00.001-04:00

I spotted this house last month in LA and just had to turn arround for a picture. i think its pretty awesome, maybe dark and buggy on the inside though mmhh.
anyway, nice to look at!

SIGN - its going to be a harsh winter

2007-05-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

that's what my Grandma said whenever you see squirrels collecting an unusually large amount of food. I can't find any scientific data on the web to back this claim up but here's a good site about using nature to predict the weather.

CITRUS

2007-05-15T14:22:00.000-04:00

The Thinker

2007-05-08T14:52:00.000-04:00

Neighbor

2007-05-07T16:30:00.000-04:00

When I speed walk I've observed it is customary to
cordially greet your fellow walkers even when you don't know them.

1st born niece

2007-05-02T06:36:00.000-04:00

REMEMBER

2007-05-01T15:53:00.001-04:00

This week I thought about how hearing a song can evoke memories...

Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember - how the stars stole the night away, yeah yeah yeah.
.....
My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you
Only blue talk and love,
Remember - how we knew love was here to stay

Hey hey hey
Ba de ya - say do you remember

"FORTUNE" everyone should have their own money

2007-04-15T14:28:00.000-04:00

A silly picture i did one day when money was on my mind! revamped a bit for illustration friday prompt "Fortune"

"HI JORDAN!"

2007-04-15T14:24:00.000-04:00

Raindrops on roses

2007-03-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

I spy

2007-03-26T14:45:00.001-04:00

I went to draw my picture and I spied a zebra in my sketch book he's from a project I'm working on anyway I thought, you never know what your going to see in your neighbors window (remember Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched)

2007-03-25T14:06:00.000-04:00

Just needed a change of avatar. I've been ilustrating a series of childrens books along with my niece Dayna, so i just borrowed a page and inserted self.
I like it here :)

Total trust

2007-03-19T15:48:00.000-04:00

Hide

2007-03-03T14:52:00.000-05:00

sometimes if your shy or just feeling shy at the moment you might hide your true feelings about something..........

Communication

2007-02-25T15:49:00.001-05:00

So many directions to go with this weeks prompt on Illustration Friday.

I decided to stick with what i know "kitty talk". my cat made the strangest noises when i attempted to bath her, I'll never do that again! sometimes she'll repeatedly open and close the door to get my attention at dinner time. I hate to admit it, but one time i was so late with dinner she

actually lost her voice.

Gravity

2007-02-18T16:53:00.000-05:00

Heart Art

2007-02-16T01:32:00.000-05:00

For Inspire me Thursday, the challenge this week is Heart -Art

.................................................................

There are many theories over where the heart symbol come from. Maybe it came from heart shaped lips perched for a kiss, why not!

Baby Love

2007-02-16T00:11:00.000-05:00

One of the pictures I donated to "Lovely Hearts" charity exhibition to benefit the breast cancer research fondation. Thanks to the Artstream gallery, what a great idea!

Tagged

2007-02-09T11:12:00.003-05:00

I've been tagged by Larry Lee!

RULES: People who are tagged should write a blog post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.Six weird things about me:

1. when I take a shower I like the lights off (when its daytime) because the natural light is so beautiful, if I forget to turn the light out I'll get out the shower even dripping wet and turn the light off.

2. I can't keep my eyes open when I'm visiting someone in the hospital especially in nursing homes I'm pass out sleepy. I think there's something in the air, but it must be me cause the staff is wide awake.

3. I have too have popcorn when I go to the movies, but I don't like the fake butter and the stupid high prices .so I sneak my homemade popcorn into the movie theatre and I need a super size pocketbook to pull it off. Sometimes i'll even take my own beverage

4. I love the beach, but I can't stand any grain of sand in my shoes once I leave. I don't think that's weird , but my husband does, he just doesn't like waiting for me to clean my feet.

5. I never throw away the fortune cookie fortunes
i leave them in various places throughout the house: my jewelry box, under a vase on my sewing machine, etc.

6. um, my cats name is booshcala. the word has no known meaning

OKAY! Must follow the rules and tag others now!

Miri, Amy, Getzapped, Scott, Lea, John

Brussel Sprouts yuck!

2007-02-04T02:24:00.000-05:00

Illustration Friday topic this week "sprouts". I use to do this with green peas.

Eighty years eighty candles

2007-01-15T16:24:00.000-05:00

Frida by me

2007-01-13T00:52:00.000-05:00

After seeing a collection of Frida Kahlo portraits at a local shop, portraits on tile, postcards, key chains etc.. all by different artist, I became curious to do my own Frida portrait. I went online to research and learned that fifty-five of her 143 paintings are self portraits she said "I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone. because I am the person I know best".
I like this picture , that's why I posted it but I know I've got a lot to learn about pastels, portraits and even my own style it will probably be a while before I can do a portrait and truly be happy with the results. Meanwhile I practice. Here's a good link with photos of Frida and a small sampling of her
art

(pastel on 9 x 12 paper)

buzzzzz

2007-01-07T03:09:00.000-05:00

Phoenix rising

2007-01-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

For Illustration Friday. omg I only have 7 hours left to see the rest of the entries.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-18T02:43:00.001-05:00

This years card is going out late. Joy and Peace!

green clay, herbs, aloe "mask" for illo friday

2006-12-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

thanks 2

2006-12-09T04:56:00.000-05:00

hey, whats this, i'm not the only one with an enchanted tree around here!

might

2006-12-05T15:20:00.000-05:00

indecision, can keep you up all night.

thanks

2006-11-28T15:59:00.000-05:00

mmmh, flowers on a tree in november in new jersey. one afternoon last month i woke up and found a tree in front of our house (coutesy of the town). now its bloomed little paperlike white flowers, cute!
ours is the only tree i see with flowers mmmh?

INVENTION - illustration Friday

2006-11-26T16:21:00.000-05:00

a simple yet practical invention used by many, often left behind once the sun returns
ooops

Clear

2006-11-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

"Quiet"

2006-10-01T15:55:00.000-04:00

Peace and quiet after a long day.

PHOBIA

2006-10-01T15:40:00.001-04:00

I haven't had access to the internet in over a week and counting. I just have a few things I'd like to say about my recent switch to verizon broadband! "/*&^%&**XYZ #* ahhhh "
Anyway since I completed the picture I post anyway 1 week, 2 days and 20 phone calls to verizon later.

Change - for Illustration friday

2006-09-21T04:02:00.000-04:00

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.
Reinhold Niebuhr

I was thinking about the poor deers that recently came to our area and they only have a patch of wooded land, I combined that thought with one of my favorite daily meditations. When i finished I realized the mix of illos is not quite right ie. the sad and then the humourous.

FARM

2006-09-10T16:41:00.000-04:00

Proud Sun and Farmer entry for Illustration Friday prompt "FARM"

Run

2006-08-27T16:30:00.006-04:00

No explanation other than I don't normally care for still life's but, I had an idea. After starting I quickly became disenchanted with my idea and it morphed into "RUN" for Illustration Friday.

MADELINE for Illo Fri prompt MATCH

2006-08-19T10:13:00.001-04:00

My homage to my ex neighbor I'll call her Madeline. when I saw the prompt I immediately thought of her outfits, the thought persisted so I went with it. She consistency matched her outfit with her make-up, jewelry and even her stockings ALWAYS! I imagined she organizes her colors to help her pull this off.

PLAY

2006-08-15T15:17:00.000-04:00

For Illo Fri

Capture

2006-08-06T10:47:00.000-04:00

Entry for Illustration Friday, Dry pastels on paper.
My god-daughter, in this moment she's pleased, and satisfied she's on an amusement ride with a steering wheel, it's the only kind of ride she would stay on. She drove planes, boats, and cars she worked the steering wheel, the knobs and buttons like she was in total control.

Clean sequel to opposites

2006-08-01T20:01:00.000-04:00

Clean

2006-07-30T20:39:00.000-04:00

Inspired by my Grandmother. She preferred to air dry her sheets. I used watercolors because I wanted it to be more organic the sky and her skirt scanned so pale I enhanced the color in photoshop, does that make it mixed media, I don't know.
Btw, I studied the flute back then, I was awful.

opposites

2006-07-25T17:40:00.000-04:00

For Illustration Friday

Sacrifice

2006-07-18T18:47:00.001-04:00

'
Entry for Illustration Friday. finally back, I really missed participating. and I missed "dance" ahhh I could scream. So many ways to express this week's subject, but so little time. This illustration is based on the sacrifice fly baseball play.

CAKE

2006-05-28T19:56:00.001-04:00

Entry for Illustration Friday

Angels and Devils

2006-05-15T17:42:00.001-04:00

For Illustration friday

FAT- Illustration friday

2006-05-07T17:55:00.000-04:00

Emeral riles the audience with one of his catch phrases

Sad child

2006-05-05T00:27:00.000-04:00

An old old sketch I came across burried under some stuff. I remember drawing it based on a photo that moved me. I liked the sketch so I just felt like sharing. Only thing that loop of hair that looks like an earing kinda bothers me.

Under the Sea again

2006-05-05T00:11:00.000-04:00

Ok I think I've fixed the blurriness, now I can sleep at night.

Under the Sea

2006-05-03T14:45:00.000-04:00

I love "ROBOTS" and I have to have one

2006-04-23T21:49:00.002-04:00

A fond chidhood memory

SPOTTED !

2006-04-19T20:52:00.000-04:00

FEET

2006-03-19T20:56:00.001-05:00

Entry for Illustration Friday

Illustration process for FEET

2006-03-19T20:16:00.000-05:00

To draw my feet I propped a mirror up at the foot of the bed, my cat was fascinated, then she saw the pencil action. She came to the top of bed to investigate. And the pencil movement captivated her eyes. Her eyes moved back and forth , up and down.
and wham she got it. So I just let her finish the drawing.

Tattoo

2006-03-15T23:56:00.000-05:00

My late entry for Illustration Friday

Everyone should have their own money

2006-03-15T22:37:00.000-05:00

Insect

2006-03-05T19:02:00.000-05:00

We never found out what kind of insect he was, but after a little incentive he began to love the camara

Profile - Mardi Gras

2006-03-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

Tamarind Tea

2006-03-01T21:10:00.000-05:00

Inspired from the Tamarind tea we had at Vies Shack in St. John Virgin Islands..

TEA - Illustration Friday

2006-02-27T07:46:00.000-05:00

SONG - Illustration Friday

2006-02-19T19:22:00.002-05:00

LEFT HANDED ART

2006-02-07T22:40:00.000-05:00

Beware my fellow digital artist!!! Take care of your wrist.
I’ve developed wrist Tendonitis. At my full time job I sit in front of five monitors and my hand hardly ever Leaves the mouse, clicking and dragging, clicking and dragging. The repetitive movement has caught up with me so I’ve been prescribed to wear a brace full time for a while. I can still do most things, but if I use the mouse to long, because of the wrist position the pain becomes excruciating. I can’t draw or paint with the brace on so Against doctors orders I take it off . Art was my first passion in life. Now that I ‘m back to it there’s no way I’m going to let this put me under. So at work I favor my left hand as much as I can this saves my right hand so I can do what is really important to me, my art. My main focus right now is a children’s picture book series that I’m collaborating on. Luckily I’m using watercolor.

For the chair illo I drew it with ink (with my right hand ) scanned and colored it in Adobe
With mostly my left hand. My style has been pretty loose anyway some might even say sloppy.

Anyway my whole point of this post is to warn others. There are preventive measures
I’m not a doctor but I know there are good hand exercises the way you sit, the height of you work area all make a difference. And pay attention to the Warning signs (PAIN) : ) so that it doesn’t develop into carpal tunnel.

THE CHAIR- ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY

2006-02-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas

2005-12-14T05:38:00.000-05:00

This years Christmas card. Thats our Kitty below, Real life card has silver glitter. Happy New year!

2005-12-14T02:54:00.000-05:00

FREE - Illustration Friday

2005-11-21T18:43:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving Santa

2005-11-21T18:26:00.000-05:00

Picture I entered for scbwi. The Tangling of the holidays contest. Hope I'm a contender :) Maybe Halloween Santa next year? I see Christmas things earlier every year.

I could have danced all "NIGHT"

2005-11-07T05:07:00.001-05:00

A quick doodle after a fun wedding.

Who's that?

2005-11-07T05:03:00.000-05:00

I would like to call this a self portrait of me doing a self portrait, however since neither image looks like me I'm calling it "Who's that?"

Happy Halloween

2005-10-31T01:47:00.001-05:00

BROKEN

2005-10-30T19:13:00.000-05:00

I did two this week because the waiter was already in progress and then I went out and saw a man smoking outside in the cold on a bench, he looked so pleased like he was really really enjoying his smoke. I'm guessing it was a rare pleasure because he looked like he was short on money (very short on money)Anyway for a fleeting moment
I thought it would be nice to indulce in a cigarett. I got over it. And that would have been a broken promise to myself since I quit over a year ago. So insted I enjoyed doing this picture. I hope you'll like one or the other.

REMOTE1

2005-10-25T22:06:00.000-04:00

For Dayna

2005-10-24T20:03:00.000-04:00

"COLD" Illustration Friday

2005-10-17T20:57:00.000-04:00

LOST -ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY

2005-10-10T19:57:00.000-04:00