The rhino mania merchandise is now available...

I've been waiting for this, but too bad everything is so expensive. Also they have to come all the way from the UK.

From whimsical electronic drawings to very serious gorillas in graphite

You may recognize these guys as gorillas I have drawn before, but this one is from a slightly different shot. I was very interested in the way the gorilla on the left is studying his/her hands(even though the right hand gorilla's face is more of the focal point). I've been working on these guys for a couple of days and they're 11x14, so I couldn't scan the entire drawing. I had to cut off much of the gorilla on the right, but I kind of like the crop anyway.

I slept for 10 hours last night. It seems that since I've been home from vacation, I've been out doing things constantly and then I had to work yesterday, so I was zonked last night. I actually fell asleep at about 10:00. And yes, even night owls have to swallow our pride and do this once in awhile. So, I shouldn't be able to say that I'm sleepy, but I kind of am. I think it's the mixture of the weather and the idea that I have to go to work. But I will probably wake up a bit when I actually do get up off the couch. Have been reading and computing (with a tiny exercise break) all morning.

Digital gorilla

I'm not good at painting with my laptop mouse, but this very cool program is a lot of fun anyway. I think all of the interesting textures mask the lack of skill. Anyway, this will be a quick post as I have to get ready in a minute or so. I will be staying with my friend's dogs all day while she and her husband are at the fair. I will be bringing my laptop, art supplies and books, so I will have stuff to do. So long for now...

Edited to add some digital elephants that I did with the Mr. Harmony program. It's so much fun. I only hate that you can't seem to erase, but only clear the whole drawing at once. So, if you draw a funny baby elephant trunk, you're stuck with it.



Edited again for a horsie.



Attempted self-portrait using the Harmony drawing tool again. I look a bit Rastafarian.

A badly photographed elephant and cats at windows

Here I am, blogging from up north. I have been working on an elephant in colored pencil today, but I had to photograph it with my phone and the photos are pretty crappy as you can see, above and below.



Other than that, I've been reading and eating and my mother beat me (very badly) at a game of Scrabble last night. And I seem to be taking a lot of pictures of cats at windows.

Itty Bitty Elephant

Yes, this elephant could only be described as itty bitty as he is painted on a 4x6 canvas. Well, I guess he could be described in other ways as well. For instance, he is monochromatic and he is an Asian (or Indian) elephant. Otherwise, he isn't overly exciting to look at. I had just told jb that I was going to do a painting today as I finally got some gray paint, so I decided I had better get to work this evening, after dinner. Since he is so tiny, he was pretty quick. Now I have paint all over my hands, but not in my hair which is a good thing as I just washed it.

Other than that I really don't have much to say other than I don't have much to say, which in and of itself, is always "something" to say. I was thinking about updating my Rumpelstiltskin blog as I have an idea for a post, but I just have to take tiny steps back into this blogging business and am not ready for two posts in one day, so you will have to settle for one.

Renoir Rhinos

Thanks for the comments and the encouragement during my time of slump. You guys are the best. I thought I would try to draw one of my old master rhinos this morning and that maybe that would pull me out of the slump. I had so much fun drawing it, that maybe it has. I think the cooler weather has something to do with it as well. I feel half human again (I'll let you know when I figure out what the other half is). I thought these rhinos would be difficult to draw as I thought that anthropomorphizing them while dancing would be challenging. It turned out to be quite easy, actually. I think the clothes helped a bit.

As for the weather, I'm loving it! I feels good to not be sweating. And farmer's market vegetables taste better in this weather. I had the most delicious corn last night and have been dreaming of eating the other ear.

Why can't Anne draw?

That's just a question I've been asking myself lately. Every time I try, it turns out blahish (made up word). I just spent time looking at my old blog (about three year's worth of stuff with over 800 posts) and I was all enthusiastic about drawing. I think I'm just going through a bit of a dry spell. It will come back. It always does. I found the above drawing while I was going through my posts. We had a lot of fun on that yahoo 360 blog. I had forgotten, jb, that you once paged someone named Boogie for me at the library because I couldn't do it without laughing. How you managed that, I do not know. I, of course, remember Lord Bunyan, but I had completely forgotten about Boogie.

It's raining again and from what I've been hearing this rain is going to wash that heat and humidity right out of the air. I'm very happy about that.

What did I do today, you may be wondering? I'm sure you are. I started it off at the Farmer's Market where I procured much delicious loot, including three large, juicy, red tomatoes and I'm ending it with a bit of blogging. What I did in between is all a bit of blur. I read, I drew (nothing that I was satisfied with) and I made a loaf of french bread. Not a very eventful day, I should say...

Yes, long time no blog. This is just an old rhino drawing to illustrate the fact that I've been doing lots of reading lately and not much drawing. I still have the heat of summer blahs and just have not been feeling like doing things that take much of an effort. As much as I love drawing, it does take an effort to get into it. Today I am staying at my friend's house with her dogs and it is nice and cool in here. I once again feel like myself. I have an air-conditioner and it does a good job at taking the humidity out of the air, but with the type of heat we've been having, my apartment's mercury hovers at about 80 degrees. 80 degrees is not ideal for making an effort of any sort. And as for exercise which tends to give me energy to make an effort, I did yoga the other night and I was sweating like a pig (yeah, I know pigs really don't sweat that much) when I was done. And this yoga workout doesn't even usually make me sweat, but only mist a bit. I haven't even bothered to attempt aerobics in the past two weeks.

Using my friend's internet connection really brings home the fact that there is something wrong with my high speed connection. When I download an hour long show, it takes 5 hours. It took 15 minutes to download it here.

One of the dogs keeps wanting to go outside to play fetch. It's too hot for fetch, I think.

Summertime blogging blahs...

I have not been blogging the past couple weeks for no other reason than the summertime blogging blahs. Some people get the blahs in the winter. I seem to get the blahs in the summer. I'm not a big fan of late July and August. I just tend to not feel like doing anything during that period of time, especially creative stuff. The heart of summer just tends to zap my creativity away to who knows where. Buzz buzz. I think a big part of the issue has been that this summer my car AC is no longer working. I'm not particularly hot when I'm at home and I don't have that big of a problem with heat, in general, but having to drive around in it without AC has been particularly brutal, especially this past week when it's been extremely hot and humid and I've been doing a lot of pet-sitting. I think the sun and the heat while I'm in the car fries my brain and steals any of my remaining energy. I have not been enjoying it. Fortunately, I'm at home now and I won't be having to drive all over the city because of stupid detour in order to get where I have to get. I'm done pet-sitting for the week.

Anyway, I have a painting to post today. And I have done a few other drawings during the time I haven't been blogging, so I do have other items to post, if I feel like it. My friend's daughter asked me to paint her a hippo. This will not be the one I give to her as it was an experiment with a different painting surface. It did not pass the test, so I will be re-painting the hippo on a more traditional canvas. I used illustration board for this, which is more of a drawing surface, and the paints didn't really soak in or flow like they are supposed to.