today's bear sketch..

Camouflage is a wonderful thing....

The week no books would die...

 

Even if I didn't work in a couple of libraries, I have enough book-loving friends to remind me that this is ALA's Banned Books Week. I am always interested in what makes the list of most challenged books and why. The message for me from this whole publicity campaign is to keep reading, and not to let others dictate what is and is not acceptable reading (rather, you should read them and decide for yourself - a typical librarian attitude, I suppose). Most years I do not participate by reading something currently on the list. This week, however, I intend to reread one of my favorite books that has made the "decade lists" for 20 years:

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck. It was #16 on the list from 1990-1999, and #80 from 2000-2009. Set in a small rural community during Calvin Coolidge's presidency. It is slow-paced, full of descriptions of farm life and animals. My favorite scene involves the grey squirrel and the chocolate cake. I won't spoil it - you need to read it. It will change how you view both.

Ursine surprise

I got a new journal/sketchbook thingy. Most of the pages have pre-printed patterns on them, which I usually avoid. Drawing on plain white paper is usually my preference. But I think one or two of these pages might just work out fine. For now, I'll grin and bear it!

Earthquakes and Sherlock Holmes

When I get stuck on a drawing, I often work it through by thinking about something else entirely. Today it was earthquakes. Earthquakes usually need to be over 3.0 on the richter scale before I feel them. However, this morning's 2.7 banged into the studio when I was working (see above map courtesy of the USGS). For some reason, this map made me think about Sherlock Holmes - I don't know why, I haven't read any of those stories for years. One of the things that always drove me nuts about those books was the way Holmes would meet a shady character then declaim to Watson later that he couldn't have been the murderer because the ink stain on his right hand clearly means he was right-handed and the knife was obviously wielded by a left-handed man wearing Ugg boots (or some such). Below is a photo of my hands at the end of letter writing yesterday. Tell me, Sherlock, what hand do I write with, huh?

Roadworks photo essay

I usually shy away from putting my photos on display - they tend to be crappy. However, last Saturday we went to the SF Center for the Book's Roadworks event. My sketchbook came out long enough to allow my younger daughter to make vegetable prints using tempera paints (which took forever to dry). I didn't take the time to sketch - I was too busy looking. We wandered the mini-fair area. I bought a new journal from the pickypocket booth and discovered the cool cards made by Clandestine Press. At the end of the block lithographic prints were being made on the street using a construction steamroller. It was super cool as the following photos show....

unBEARable posts

I have taken on yet another project that is bigger than what I thought I was signing up for. Isn't that always the way? You think to yourself, "Oh, sure. That'll be easy." But it's not and you have no one to blame but yourself. For the moment, I think I'll stop obsessing over it (because I have learned that obsessing never solves anything) and go back to drawing bears. There aren't any here, which is plain unBEARable!

Little kindnesses

My garden is in my front yard - because the front gets more sun than the back yard. As I have spent time tending the plants in it over the years I have gotten a chance to chat with my neighbors as they walk by. There is no fence. As far as I can tell, no one takes any of the veggies I grow. Every now and then orphaned plants arrive by anonymous hands. This past week I came home to a bag of bulbs on the porch. There was a lovely note attached (see below) explaining

Let's hear a cheer for friends.

If you look closely at the right side of the second photo, you will see the statue sketched here - though I drew it from the other side...

Today I am thankful for friends and the way they keep me sane when all else seems to be falling apart; for friends who remind me I have something to give; for friends who surprise me with the unexpected.

One of the better visual examples of an unexpected surprise are the following photos my friend, Stephanie, took during our visit to the Legion of Honor last June. 

The photos are shown here....

caught bear handed

Another image from my vault -

probably meant to illustrate Goldilocks & the Three Bears. Though what the bears are doing living in a fabric warehouse, I no longer know... Done in gouache, or possibly watercolor.

It's funny how one image leads you to another.... 

This next sketch is from a trip I took to Yellowstone in 2001. 

ballpoint bears

For all of the fancy pens I own, I still like drawing with a ballpoint pen. If I haven't used one for a while I get surprised all over by the range of grays possible. 

I just like the way these two different sketches seem to work together.

I come Bear-ing sketches...

When I got the latest scientific name for the Illustration Smackdown, I spent some time staring at the ceiling trying to remember a class I took nearly two years ago. The class was on wildlife illustration, and while I knew we had covered bears, I couldn't remember for a while if I had previously drawn Ursus arctos, the American Brown Bear. Once I got home from work, I was able to go through...