Farm Logo Drawing Practice

No kidding! I am practicing drawing a commission I agreed to do. My client is very patient... she has been waiting for two years!


I have been struggling to do it. But I got a break today. My friend told me to imagine the children as the people I love, holding the basket of vegetables.
Ooooooh! I needed that!


I came home after a grueling day at the office and actually sat down to draw.
But first I had to listen to music.


I am coughing my lungs out and my eyeballs are bugging out but I am drinking coffee from a white Fiesta mug,


and in half an hour I have a date with a very handsome man with a beautiful chest.
He is taking me to a Don Williams concert.
I just hope I get to hear the music because I am drugging myself with cough suppressant,


I will be so groggy,
I wonder if he will take advantage of me...


Okay, the farm logo will not be of a gigolo and a rhino,
I promise.

The BBB Club - Beautiful Bald Babies!!!

In celebration of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
To the memory of our beloved Renee,
To Karin who is bravely waging battle,
To all our friends and family members who have been through cancer,
survived it
and to some we have lost,
To those who dedicate their lives to search for the cure,
Forever we shall celebrate, remember and help:

Bella Sinclair and I collaborated in designing The Beautiful Bald Babies (BBB) Club logo. Further down below, is the original logo in pen and ink. Bella and I also started the idea of the BBB Club when we found out that we were both baldies when we were babies. I first celebrated our bald heritage with the painting of The Ivory Babies.

Two years before bisextile day, bedecked, bedizened, beautiful, bald babies and some bouncy brainiacs, badinage in the leaf mobile while a distant bagatelle play Rock-A-Bye-Baby. Sometimes they are guilty of being boisterous but never being bellicose. There are 31 BBBs in this image (so far) and our beloved Renee as the maple leaf-carrying dove . The Beautiful Bald Babies Club (BBB) is a group of artists, writers, musicians, gardeners, photographers... Pigment ink on 9"x12" smooth Bristol board.

My dearest friends,

This was an overwhelming task. For me, to draw this portrait of pediatric impressions of the BBB was a roller coaster ride of emotions and ideas. I thought what might have been had we all been coetaneous childhood friends. Imagine that! That's a lot of baldies and some of their hirsute friends. We would have had similar experiences and we would be able to assume an easy understanding and have a common bond.

On the other hand, consider the loss of our personal experiences in different times, ages and eras had it been so. Our differences and the understanding thereof, are what makes us special, after all. From Arija's photographic memoirs to Mita's introspective musings; Karin's trials and Tessa's punctuated equilibrium, Amalia's artistic evolution and Deborah's joy. In the midst of all that is happening, we live our individual lives in parallel time line, sometimes intersecting, overlapping, entangling even momentarily yet we are forever changed by the virtue that we gain from our tender, gentle even lighthearted experiences.

This is not social networking, not amassing of fans and superficial friends by the numbers. I think I counted an overwhelming number of thirty babies occupying the leafmobile. Yet, I know I have disappointed some who came late and I have already inked the spaces. Please forgive me. To exclude you is not my intention. You are welcome to join us. I just had to finish my drawing lest it fall victim to disinterest. and I need you to express interest. I can only assume for very few, Arija for one, who has no clue that I had converted her during her leave this week, into a bald toddler sharing space with Shirley in the scout pod. So many babies, surely it will sink or tear the leaf pod, but it won't. Our energy, enthusiasm and a genuine desire to establish an honest virtuous friendship and support one another through our blogs will keep us all afloat and soar.

Without further ado, please read about the origin of the BBB Club here. If you are reading this and was late in heeding the call, take heart. the ring of friendship is expandable. Come and play. Let these artists' blogs speak for themselves (links in progress):

Our beloved Renee is a maple-leaf carrying dove in this recent club picture and also on the first ever BBB Club picture. Above, L to R - bottom row: Uber-talented Vanessa Brantley-Newton (navigator); lovely mental ninja Bella Sinclair with sympathy- right eye patch (president), my favorite everything - friend, artist, brainiac; Ces with left eye patch; beautiful and gentle Deborah the midlife poet, and dancer with security blanket; Linda Cardina, the beautiful painter; Manon Doyle, ever so gorgeous and gifted and Amalia K. the beautiful gentle artist on right lower corner. On the Scout pod: Arija, beloved wise and gifted photographer painter friend and Shirley Ng-Benetiz, master watercolorist!

Clockwise from bottom left: beautiful Silke Powers with scarf, my elegant and sublime friend Janice Heppenstall with camera, fully coiffed handsome gifted Francisco Martins; Andrew Finnie the master story teller-painter-digital art wizard surfing on leaf; Steveroni, Gemini Peep, the symphony fiddle man - looking so naughty!

Left to right: Lakshmita Indira the Enigma, Julia Christie, the beautiful writer-artist being herself; Audrey my lovely quiet artist friend; Buckram and Bembo my beloved Gemini twin sister holding a plate of siopao with faces; behind her is my favorite super gifted French painter MartineAlison, Tessa Edwards, the Regal painter and writer holding a book, the multi-talented K.H. Whitaker and the acrobatic wicked multi-media artist Anne Huskey-Lockard.

On the Tea party pod: prolific artist Diana Evans the beautiful shooing the spider with a spoon; Katelen Tays, the lovely Poetic artist ducking the spider; Faerwillow the mysterious artist contemplating what to do with the spider; Caroline Soer the awesome-wicked master water colorist par excellence and Karin Bartimole, multi-media artist fighter and who inspired me to draw the first leaf mobile.

Top row: Marie Segal, the master clay artist and sisterfriend; Lisa Holtzman, painter and master-calligrapher; Jack Foster, the wonderful digital artist; Jan the fabric artist-nature lover-body builder, all around fun!

Come Fly With Us!!!

Dedicated to my Beloved Sisterfriend, Karin Bartimole.

Artist extraordinaire; Brave - Bold - Beautiful - Bald and Beloved; Most Worthy.
Please wish Karin the best as she fights cancer.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Drawing transports my mind into certain stratosphere with no holds barred. This is my entry for Illustration Friday's theme - Transportation. Pigment ink on 9"x12" Bristol Board. The Magic BBB Club Transporter currently holds (L to R) Ces, Sgt-at-Arms - because I write rules for a living, steering the stalk; Bella Sinclair, Mental Ninja and Brainiac Artist (president with squirt-star medal); Deborah, The Midlife Poet (Born with beautiful blond curls) who will teach us how to dance before we can walk; Amalia, The Constant Dreamer, who draws like a dream, trying to steady Anne Huskey Lockard, The Passionate Artist, who seems like she is mooning everyone but is adjusting the BBB Club Yearbook; Silke Powers, Beautiful Eyes, who wants peace and quiet; Lakhsmita Indira, The Enigmatic Beautiful designated coifed cheerleader; Karin Bartimole, The Brave, hoisting the turbo paint brush; Vanessa Brantley Newton who is Ooh La la baking illustrations and a cake but is using the spatula to squish the spider; Caroline Soer, Truly Beautiful Baby With Hair and water-colorist supreme; Arija The Gentle Wise and Learned who knows everything about oak and poison oak and prevent us from getting contact dermatitis and Manon Doyle, The Beautiful, practicing her mountain climbing skills. If I did not include you I may just be a little embarrassed sending you this inquiry email: "This is short and quick but were you bald when you were a baby?" Please join us!!! Boys welcome but don't bring frogs and lizards. Sisterfriends are automatically welcome but I did not want to assume that you would like being called "baldie".

Come Fly With Us
Join The BBB Club Today!!!

BBB as in Beautiful Bald Babies Club. All you have to be is nice. Of course you have to have been born bald and beautiful. However, we will give exceptions if you had certain curlicues or wads of kewpie strands as long as you understand what we, genuine baldies had to endure while growing up. We were given names like "General Ike", "Baldie", "Calvolite", "Melonhead" and the dreaded "Boy". Our parents did not seem to think much of it. They did not glue silly ribbons to our bald pate to tell everyone we were girls, as if boys are automatically born bald, which they are not. At any rate, I think growing bald or kewpie, instilled and fortified us with certain inner strengths and taught us when to let go or when to beat the living crap out of your bully. The painting on the left is the 30"x40" oil on gallery stretched canvas painting of The Ivory Babies, also known as The Mud Pie Babies.

About the pen and ink drawing: I had to think of something that moves and as I looked through my illustrations I saw several drawings that would have qualified such as Renee's Gypsy Wagon Madisyn's Birthday Flight and The Sisterfriend Day Celebration. Ah it seems I have a propensity for making oak leaves fly. They don't. Oak leaves float as they fall from the tree to the ground. However, The oak leaf transport system you see above is propelled by the magic energies and spirits of its passengers, in this case the beautiful bald babies and their not so bald friends. They don't have wings and therefore have to go to sleep in order to sustain their magic flying dust levels which is gauged by the liveliness of a butterfly designated for each baby. See why they don't squish the caterpillar? That's a future baldie baby energometer. So it is imperative that members of the BBB Club encourage and support each other to maintain healthy and happy lifestyles just in case it is their turn to steer the oak leaf stalk. This transportation system is biodegradable and does not use fossil fuel, just a lot of imagination.

So come and join the BBB Club. Simply leave a comment and indicate whether you were a baldie. If you were not a baldie and still want to join, you have to be nice and be creative or play a musical instrument or be a terrific dancer, scuba diver, photographer, etc... Baby Boys are welcome. Also we have an opening for the Bug Squashier/Squishier position, but you must show restrain and not arbitrarily squash/squish any bug, just the ones crawling towards us. We will create a Yearbook and maybe ask our president to illustrate a seal, not that seal, a club seal - logo!

Happy Birthday Beloved Arija!!!

Written September 24, 2010
I was taking a beauty rest and then my mobile phone chimed. It was Arija, leaving a comment and telling me that she was on her way to the Farmer's Market (in Australia) for her birthday breakfast. I know her birthday is tomorrow but then I realized that today in Australia is already my tomorrow so I hurried up and got together my Birthday Greeting Crew (Elie, The Elephant, Piggy, The Pig and Beauregard, The Mouse). Oh goodness! I have never squiggled so fast so I can send this birthday greeting on time for Arija. So here it is my beloved sisterfriend, it arrives today on your birthday the day before it becomes today here, so I will pre-date this post so it will look like I sent it on the right day which is actually the day before the real date here and tomorrow, the date will be right but it will be your yesterday...I think, I have successfully managed to confuse myself!

Update: September25, 2010
Okay, okay! So that was confusing. Explanation: Yesterday in Australia was Arija's birthday which is today in Texas. So in essence, Arija's birthday was yesterday when you consider geography, but if you refer to calendar dates, it is today. So Arija celebrated her birthday yesterday and hopefully will continue to do so by celebrating it today. Simple!!! Don't you get it? See, I understand these things because when I first came to the US, I left the Philippines on my 24th birthday and 24 hours later, it was still my birthday in the US! I celebrated it with my twin Gemini sister who only had one birthday cake, unlike me who had two birthday cakes...

Since it is Arija's birthday, I will spread her love and give this coveted award. You may read about the award here.

Shirley Ng Benitez
Julia Christie
Steveroni
Andrew Finnie
Amalia
Lakhsmita Indira
Audrey
Linda Cardina
Jan
Janice
Silke
Tammie Lee
K.H. Whitaker
Martinealison
Jack Foster

My dearest darling sisterfriend Arija,
my Pink Rose;
my beloved sisterfriend;
the giving one;
the one with beautiful seeing eyes;
the one with the healing hands
and green thumbs;
the one with comforting words;
the one with a soothing soul,

Happy Birthday my Beloved Sisterfriend, Arija!

I love you!

Housekeeping

There was a time when I was not drawing nuts.
A time when I was drawing rocks and trees;
Pachyderms and humans;
Genus musa and Lady muses,
Forests and mountains;
Women falling;
Men cracking;
Corpses hanging...
Ah yes, I was prolific...
I drew over 300 over-sized and standard-sized images
covering every inch, every white space of the Bristol Board.
I had the best muses,
I still do.
I am not lamenting the fact that I am drawing acorns and leaves.
They are mind soothing exercises.
It is a sign of the times.
When before my drawings instilled me with emotions,
and fired my ire,
Now I draw to calm and soothe my nerves.
I don't have some of these drawings any longer.
They have been gifted to the people who inspired them.
Soon I will display all of them on my online gallery blog.
As I clean my home where these drawings are scattered everywhere.
In the meantime, here's a preview:

In the year 2008, I was blessed with the friendships of Arija and Bella Sinclair. They brought into my life, abundant love, inspiration and friendship.
I meet Renee, Vanessa and Linda through Bella,
Deborah and Marie through Renee,
Manon through Linda,
Then Tessa and Karin, Caroline, Anne, Annie, Shirley, Mita, Amalia, Tammie, Jan...
Andrew, Steve...I will get in trouble for leaving out some names here and I will feel terrible but my mind is so full right now... please forgive me if I am too dense to remember...
I keep meeting new friends!
My friends at work who likewise fill me with love, support and inspiration...
My family and I thank you!!!
I am so blessed.
Some of these friendships have transcended the blogs
where I find the most loyal and steadfast of friendship, love and caring
when I find myself crumbling and cracking like an egg,
like that he-man up there in one of my drawings...
Thank you!
Tsup!



...and Steve, "Tsup" is an onomatopoeia for a kiss. It's when you let a sound pass through your puckered lips.

New Quercus Acorn Images

Look what I got in the mail yesterday! My own elephant figurine, lovingly created by the beautiful Bella Sinclair. She used my oak leaf drawings which she printed on mulberry paper to decorate the cute pachyderm. Not long ago, Bella and I were talking about the decorated elephants in London. What a delightful surprise! I love this elephant, my own Elie! Elie is standing on a matted collage of oak leaves which, together with a collage of acorns, I am soon shipping out to one very special lady in the east coast. Thank you dearest, Bella Sinclair!

My new schedule is forcing me to do what I always never enjoyed doing, unless it was necessary - sleeping. I am so tired after my evening's exercise that I can't wait to hit the showers and the bed. However, I find myself full of energy in the daytime, but I spend those hours working. So, these are the only things I managed to do this week - new quercus oak and leaf drawings. These are larger pieces on Bristol board, measuring 9"x12". I plan to draw at least two dozens of these and a few extras as gifts. I am dedicating this new series to my two brothers, five sisters, sisterfriends Arija, Tessa, Bella Sinclair and Deborah.


I have mailed the first batch of acorns and leaves to the winners. I am mailing the second batch on Monday after I prepare them for mailing. Thank you again for participating. I hope to have another giveaway next week.

Quercus virginiana



Quercus falcata

Quercus prinus

Quercus Falcata and The Winners

This is a new series that I started two days ago. This is a pigment ink drawing on a 9"x12" Bristol Board. I started inserting copyright text on some of my drawings, though not all. I hate it actually but I have a particular feeling about this series being lifted without my knowledge. I am still continuing the other series I started such as the 200 Plus Oak leaves and Acorn Series, The Fiesta (oil painting) series... Life is short, might as well get busy.

I am very happy to announce the winners of my Give-Away:

Tammie
Arija
Julia Christie
Amalia K.
Diana Evans
Silke
Barbara G.
Jack Foster
Andrew
Marie
Autumn Leaves
Jan

Please drop me a line and email me your mailing address. If you are giving me a P.O. Box, please know that the package measures at least 9" x 12". Due to customs requirements, I do not think I can send to a P.O. Box, if you live across the ocean. I will email you when I have mailed your package. Thank you for participating. Update 8/23/2010: I was able to mail to a P.O. Box in Australia with the customs declaration, so if you want to send me a P.O. Box address from overseas, I think it's okay.

Oh Veeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

To all my blog friends and visitors:

Thank you for your visits and comments. I appreciate them very much. They make me happy and joyful in the midst of a very busy and occupied state. I hope to visit all of you soon!!! Tsup!!!

My Beloved Sisterfriend Vanessa Brantley-Newton:

Vee,
You are my sisterfriend.
I love you.
I wish you joy and happiness.
I wish you fame and fortune.
I wish you success.
Thank you for making me very happy.
Thank you for being kind and generous to me.
Thank you for loving me.
You are my sisterfriend.
You are in my life.
I love you, Vee.

My beloved, beautiful sisterfriend Vanessa Brantley-Newton is one heck of an illustrator. There is nothing that lady can't do! Her illustrations remind me of the soothing comfort of yesteryear. I met Vanessa through my darling sisterfriend Bella Sinclair.

Vanessa is one of my Oak Nymphs. On the left she is tending to an acorn of the Quercus turbinela.

Vanessa is a true gem. Just thinking of her makes me smile. Her comments are so full of energy. When she writes that she has tears in her eyes, I really see the tears in her comments. But when she says she is laughing, watch out, I have the biggest grin in my face and I scream AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

Oy Veeeeeeeeeeee!!!



Bella (dots), Ces (stripes) and Vee (geometric shapes) on The Sisterfriend Express during Sisterfriend Day.

Non sequitor - Along The Trails, My Sky and Oak

Be careful when clicking to blow up anything:

Ah, let me derail your thoughts from the Tears Series for a moment as I post previous drawings illustrating my interpretation of Illustration Friday's "Trail" topic. It's a good diversion for me as I draw these fabulous women and force a tear out their beautiful eyes.

From The Illustrated Abecedarian Series: G - Garbriela and Ghalan on the trail (grove) of the gentle giant (above). and H (below) - A happy ending for the hound and the hapless heir. These are 9"x12" pen and ink drawings on Bristol board.

On the trail of the storm, not the same storm that fried the desktop but the one outside my office window yesterday. I love it when my fellow employees alert me and ask : "Did you see the sky?" They know I love clouds and think of me when they see interesting cloud formations.

Last Christmas, my beloved sisterfriend Deborah sent me two acorn seedlings. I let them stay in their beautiful nursery boxes for months and finally transplanted them last week. These are the Quercus chrysoplepsis, massive oak trees. They will stay in the pots for a while, perhaps transplant them to bigger pots as I look for a canyon because, after all, they are also called Canyon oak.

THANK YOU!!!
THANK YOU!!!

To all my friends who made my birthday a very special day in the blogs:

Bella Sinclair, Shirley Ng Benitez, Deborah,
Thank you for the special birthday posts and drawings
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Arija, Manon Doyle, Bimbimbie, Lakhsmita Indira, Amalia K, Anne Huskey-Lockhard, Lori Ann, Steveroni, Audrey, Marie, Valerie Walsh, Diana Evans, Atelier Brigitte, Aimee, Jan, Pam, Karin Bartimole, Jenea, Eric Barclay, Linda Cardina, Caroline, Vanessa Newton, Francisco Martins, Sarah, Angelique, and last but not the least - my beloved Gemini twin sister Buckram and Bembo ♥♥♥♥♥♥