Gemini

Despite the rain and miserable weather we've been having lately I managed to snag a few days of relatively fine weather to work in the garden and found there is so MUCH  to do as we head into June. Today is Queen Victoria's birthday and unfortunately for all you working people, the weather has taken another dive. I'm going to use this gray day to write this post in celebration of our new zodiac sign, Gemini.

Well, these two don't look exactly like twins but they could represent the dual nature of people born under this sign.

I've always been fascinated by the idea of twins. There's a theory that we all begin as twins but that most of us are born singly after having eliminated our other in utero. Supposedly we singletons are the result of some inside hatchet job. Oh, the guilt!

This painting is called THE MARBLE GAME. I wonder which one wins.

Sometimes twins are brother and sister...which shoots down the earlier theory somewhat. I called this painting SPIES IN THE NIGHT. It's one of my all-time favourites.

So there you are, Gemini people, so lucky to have been born in spring. 



Old Sketch Book

I was looking through an old sketch book to see if there was anything worth sharing or even developing into something more profound and although nothing screamed at me, "Oh, yes! This is genius!" I decided some sketches are at least worth sharing. I hope you'll agree.

Gesture drawings like this are meant to prepare you to see the overall subject, to get its movement and to loosen you up. The idea is that doing a few rapid gesture drawings will prevent you from getting too detailed and tight, a common problem if you haven't been sketching for a while. Eliminate the fear factor by scribbling.

Blind contour drawing like the above one I did of my hand is a way to train your eyes and hand to work as one. You look only at the subject (hand in this case) and slowly outline its features without lifting your pencil. You can use any subject, just don't look at the paper. If it looks too perfect you haven't done it correctly.

Here's a series of quick sketches I tried out for Artist Trading Cards. It was meant to show mermaids doing yoga but I found that in order to do yoga one needs legs so I abandoned that idea and did another  series with cats in yoga poses.

This study of irises got me ready to paint a watercolour.

It's called 'In May'. And now I'd like to dedicate it to all mothers for Mothers' Day, especially to my own Mom whose middle name is Mae. She passed away a few years ago but she shared my love for flowers and all living things. And she did get to see this painting before it was sold.