Friday, October 28, 2005


BLIND CONTOUR FRIDAY #13
This is my adding machine. Or at least, this is supposed to be my adding machine. This might explain what my checkbook does not add up.

Happy Friday

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

I have been Tagged - 20 Things About Me.

This tag brought to you by Felicity who was tagged by Maggie.........

1. I was bitten by a monkey at the zoo when I was a little. He also pulled my braid until a zoo keeper rescued me. (Oh, I mentioned monkeys on my blog, so now my blog is officially about sketching and monkeys!!)

2. In the middle of the night a bear sniffed and snuffled at the end of my sleeping bag while I was IN IT, during a camping trip in the wilderness section of Yosemite.

3. To get me to hike to the top of Yosemite, my husband, when we were first dating, had to lie to me saying we were not going all the way up, just a little bit further. If I had known there were going to be bears in our campground that night sniffing my sleeping bag, I would not have gone at all.

3. While the dentist was in the middle of cleaning my teeth, I was so afraid that I jumped out of the chair when it was still horizontal rushing out of the office with the green bib still chained to my neck. My husband had an appointment with the same dentist that afternoon and got to hear all about it.

4. I still have my tonsils.

5. I am addicted to lip balm.

6. I drive a car.

7. I don't wear a toe ring.

8. Once I...oh never mind, that was somebody else.

9. I wish I had a kayak.

10. I just had jury duty.

11. When I was little, I was knocked unconscious while playing outside running around with a bunch of friends. When I came to, I thought I had just fallen asleep on the ground and apologized for doing so.

12. I am an only child, but when I was growing up I had invisible friends. My brothers and sisters were invisible too. You could see my parents.

13. I once taped a PBS special about when Richard Feyman was still alive and his quest to travel to Tortuga. I loaned it out and it was never returned. I wish I still had that tape.

14. When I get tired of playing Monopoly, I cheat to lose so I can quit playing.

15. I can't play the violin. I can't play the tuba either, for that matter. When I tried to take violin lessons in sixth grade, my teacher told me to quit. I think his name was Mr. Watermelon or something that sounded like that.

16. I had a flu shot this week.

17. I almost died last year. (Every day Really Does Matter!)

18. I hate anchovies.

19. I did not use my spell checmk to write this list.

20. My cell phone gets lousy coverage.

And, now I am tagging,
Amy, Teri, Jes, Gabriella and Lynne. Surprise! So, now you need to write 20 random things about yourself and then tag five others.

Monday, October 24, 2005

EDM Challenge 38 - Halloween



I was leaving the grocery store today passing by a Halloween display set up and I realized, it would be perfect to sketch to fufill this week's challenge. There was even a small table and chair nearby, my Moleskin was in my purse; so I sat down and started sketching away. I got so involved with drawing Hobbs (he was rather chatty, he was thrilled with the attention I was giving him), I forgot all about the ice cream and frozen dinners in my shopping cart! Opps. This was fun though. It is not something I normally would have probably sketched. Thanks for this week's challenge, Karen. Hobbs thanks you too, he thinks you have very fine taste picking this weeks' theme!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Blues Festival - More Drawing in Public

Here are some of my sketches from the Blues Festival this past Sunday. One thing I do like about the Moleskin, is that you can draw right across the middle of the page.

These figures were hard to capture, because once again, everyone kept moving. For instance, the woman in the middle of the page stretched out - the minute I finished drawing her toes, she curled her feet underneath her. A minute later, she stretched out on her back with her hat covering her face from the glare. Some of the others would just get up and walk off as I started to draw. However it was a great day of sketching and music. Maybe I will go back to an open studio session to treat myself to a drawing session from a model that will actually stay still. But I have to say I think I prefer drawing "live", trying to capture the moment. You can't duplicate the overall experience in a "posed" open studio session.

BLIND CONTOUR FRIDAY #12



oK, here it is, my drawing while not looking at the paper, for Blind Contour Friday #12. Okay, here is a hint: it is a weather vane.

Check out the other BCF participants on inkfingers site: http://inkfinger.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/10/blind_contour_f_2.html

Sunday, October 16, 2005

All That is Left



The name of this mixed-media piece I just finished is: All That is Left. I made it in reaction to all the recent natural disasters and the losses people have suffered that is totally out of their control.

This is a closeup of the center. It consists of transfers of my sketch (see the child's face?) and some of my photographs of old structures. The transfers are on silk organza overlaying silk gauze over white canvas. What you can't see in this picture is this 8.5 x 11 piece is mounted on a larger black canvas background that is embellished with acyrlic paints, cheesecloth, safety pins and buttons. I just wanted to post the closeup because of the sketch I used. I love the ghostly effect it has with all of the layers.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

EDM Challenge 36 - Drawing in Public


This is one of my favorite challenges so far. Here are some very quick studies, once again, done at the airport. People are difficult because they move around so much; even ever so slightly, can throw me off. So, I try to capture the "essence" of the pose and don't worry too much about the details. The funny thing is, even with these quick sketches, a glance back into my sketchbook immediately brings back vivid, detailed memories!

This month I have drawn at the airport, in a book store during a book reading by the author, at the first gig of a garage band, at the beach, in a bar, at a baseball game, on a bus, in a park and at a restaurant sitting outdoors until the "breeze" blew the lettuce off of my plate and into my lap.

The more I draw in public, the more I don't really think about it. I immediately get absorbed in what I am doing. An added benefit it is a great way to pass the time when you have to wait. It is also relaxing. It is starting to become a habit. The other day I started to "write" in my journal and after a sentence or two, found myself making a doodle of my foot. My drawings don't always turn out the way I want. At the bookstore for instance, I sat right up in the front row to attempted to draw the famous author giving a reading from her book. The drawing was a disaster, but I was thrilled. Why? Because: I sat in the front row and attempted to draw the famous author. It was the process I was thrilled with, not the results.

I have gone from being afraid to draw in public, to posting my work on a blog. We are all at different levels with our art. We have good days and bad. It is all a learning process.

EDM Challenge 27 - Book


I drew these books for EDM Challenge 27. (Obviously I like to jump around, since I started with Challenge 1 and went straight to Challenge 27.) This is a charcoal drawing.

Here is a photograph of the bookshelf. However, I did not do the drawing from the photograph. I stood about five feet away at an easel and extended my arm holding a chopstick, using it as a site/measuring tool, since the charcoal was too stubby to be used for that.

EDM Challenge 1 - Shoe


This is a drawing of my shoe for EDM Challenge #1. I have spent a lot of time in airports this year - so I have several drawings of my shoes. My last one was this past weekend while stuck in what the pilot referred to as a "conga line". We were number 16 in the line of planes waiting to take off, which eventually grew to 40 planes in all!

October 15th, 2005


The only reason I named my blog Sketch Monkey Blues is because after selecting a user name, and then a password that I could possibly actually remember, I was then put on the spot with this free trial blog to now come up with a title for my free trial blog. Believe it or not, Sketch Monkey, Blog Monkey and of course, the ever-popular Sock Monkey was already taken. It was supposed to take five minutes to create my blog, however, it took me that long to come up with the password that I won't forget. I don't even know why I wanted anything with Monkey in the title in the first place, but once I was refused, I became more determined.

So, here it is, my blog. I mainly created it to post weekly challenge sketches to the Everyday Matters Group http://www.dannygregory.com/weblog/ and to participate in Blind Contour Fridays. Also, to learn more about blogs.

And, if you want, you can sign up for a free trial too, but be warned: Sketch Monkey Blues is already taken!