For the dogs

Some pieces for a benefit. Dogsdeservebetter.org

Askaird

Did some drawings for a Halloween-themed show.

Eh. well, it's sorta finished.

I finally sent in my half-finished sketchbook. And it's been digitized. It's like a monument to half-assery, but you know, I was busy. Next time, next time.
http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/bbauswell

A true blue doodle.

Oh, lord, please help me...
will this semester ever end?!?

(this is sideways)

Skeeeetchbook

I've actually been able to do some drawing. Here and there. Mostly at school or work.
The theme has been abandoned, and I am using the sketchbook as a "journal." In other words, just drawing aimlessly. But isn't that the way it is?

A selection of my progress...

This one happened back in September. The first night of my diagnosis/treatment planning class.


Did this one at the dining room table. That might be me as a child.


Community Services Board. Between clients.


Did this in the front row of class (still in progress). Right in plain view of my professor. Quite ballsy. I promise I'm learning how to do awesome treatment plans.

Got til January to fill this thing up. 24 more pages.

Obsessive Doodles for Children

My friend asked me in January if I would do a piece for her nursery.
I said, "Of course!"
Her daughter was due in July, and I felt that I had quite a bit of time to make it perfect.

She requested a tree, but a "lighter tree," a "softer tree."
I get it. She wanted nursery-friendly.
She liked the aged look of my paperback covers, but she wanted a larger size.

I purchased watercolor paper and "aged" it by painting it with tea. Luzianne works wonders.

Because of it's size, I couldn't scan the whole thing, but I like the result.
(It's a bit tilted, as well.)
Must be seen in person.

And I need to figure out how I'm going to add the family names that are supposed to be hanging in the tree.
Hmmm.

A sliver of the drawing (click to see details)

eleven by fourteen.

Egads.

I very much like working on small drawings. 8" X 4" is perfect.
But I purchased some larger paper for a friend's "commissioned" piece, and now the doodler in me feels a need to use all of this nice, BIG watercolor paper.

I also have a yard sale picture frame that I'd like to fill.

So do bigger drawings. Not a big deal.

Except, I really like to make small drawings.

I had fun with this one. I did it while watching "The Parent Trap."
The one with Haley Mills.
Notice how much space I left on the paper.
And the image is just horrible because I couldn't fit the whole thing on the scanner.

But I will continue to experiment with larger sizes. See how it goes.

Figures.

So, during the last few (several) months I have been relying on the same excuse: I am too busy to tend to my *cough* artwork.

Then, I signed up for the sketchbook project (see last post) and that relit a fire in me. Unfortunately, I have hit a bit of a rough stitch. I was ambitious and opted to have a random theme assigned to me rather than choosing my own from the list of possibles.

My theme: Figuring Yourself Out.

I haven't the foggiest. I'm just going to use it as a sketchbook and work off-theme. Take that!

However, I did attend a figure drawing class a few weeks ago. My first in two years. I thought, "Figures, "figure yourself out," figures!" Why not? Then I remembered that I am not great at figure drawing.







Also, it's difficult to draw bodies in a tiny 6" X 8" sketchbook (My own. Not the one from the "project")

Alas, I am not going to be drawing many more figures. But I'm going to use the next week to get some projects finished. I just drew a really great tree for a friend.
My best yet.
Little victories!

Sketchbook!

I received my book in the mail today. Despite a full schedule of school and internship and marathon training (I think), I am excited to be a part of this. More updates coming soon!

That Dog Won't Hunt

Ach. School. So tired. I haven't had this burnt-out-on-school feeling in years and yearsandyears. Only a few more weeks. I have some art that I need to be working on: A piece for another friend's nursery, an engagement thingy, and thank-you card otherthing. I'm putting those off until May.

The only doodling I'm doing lately is the purest doodle one can doodle: Bored in class.

I filled almost a whole page in my Addictive Disorders class. When the professor saw me scribbling furiously, I had to take a few notes at the bottom. You know, to throw him off my scent.



I drew this little bird in a bear mask.


Here is a duck in a bear mask, trying to fit in with the bears. I'm going to perhaps flush this out into a finished piece.

When I find the time, of course.

This is my great-great grandmother, Edith. She lived in St. Louis. I just like the picture. Can you imagine wearing a dress like that everyday?

schlemiel

Roget's Thesaurus

Aha, I am still finding book covers on which to noodle and doodle. This one was a thesaurus. This one took shape while I made pecan blondies from scratch. I was also avoiding midterm studies. I've eaten about 20 blondies today. This one. I don't know about this one. Antlers that look like tree-branches and vaguely flame-like trees.

How Toys Become Real

I found a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit in my mother's bookshelf on Saturday, just a day after I had completed this doodle. (This doodle was inspired by said book.) I thought that it was my copy, and I even said, "You have my old book!" My mother corrected me, telling me that she had used the book with her clients when she was a therapist--"To help them with themes of reality." She had written her name in the front cover. I swore that it was my book. My mother told me, "No, you just liked to write your name in everything when you were little." And there it was, my name, written quite messily, a few pages into the book.

Later in the day, I picked up a porcelain dog that my father had brought back from Japan or somewhere. Some little imp had drawn on the bottom of the dog's feet with a pencil.

So, themes: Love can make you real. It's hard to love something that's shiny or pointy. Just because you write your name in something doesn't necessarily make it yours. As a child, I was sort of destructive. Coincidence is fun.

Freehand Herringbone

So, I lied. I still have some old book covers lying around. I didn't think I'd have the time to doodle, but, I was wrong. In fact, it turns out the stress of doing research can drive a body batty. I was looking for any excuse to take a break. Going for a run, mopping the floor, doodling a little bit. I did this one with my note-taking pen. Then I slapped on a bit of paint. It only took ten minutes. Maybe the whole "sketch and plan" thing needs to be scrapped for good. At least, for therapy's sake.

My doodles are usually very geometric--lines, grids, cubes--but only when I'm doodling (not paying attention) in class.
When I doodle at home, usually a result of craving the feel and smell of art supplies, I return to this avian theme.

I can't stop thinking about sweaters and shoes. Stuff I can't afford.

Time Not Well Spent

I started classes again on Monday.
(I could rant here about the idiots who text/facebook during class, but I won't.)
I had hoped to get some "fun" done during my two-week hiatus, but such was not the case.

If anything, I decided to wrap up the whole "book cover" series and start some larger-format pieces.
And I'm teaching myself calligraphy.
But a glance at my syllabi for the semester has me convinced that these two doodles will be my last for quite some time.
There's always fall break (or winter?).