Run, Run, Run as Fast as You Can...

Every time I drive by KFC, I laugh on the inside. I know my brother and I weren't the only kids who thought the Colonel's tie was his body.

Crazy Museum Chick

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by the Norton Simon Museum for a bit to do some sketching. I did some hideous studies of sculptures and paintings and wandered around for a bit. I was there to look at the art and the beautiful garden, but I found myself distracted by the museum's visitors. There was one girl in particular who made an impression on me. She was a petite twenty-something year old wearing a bright fuchsia shirt and a powder pink miniskirt. She had gigantic legs (as in they just seemed way too big for her upper body). She was extremely enthusiastic and had an intense, childlike fascination with everything there. She was accompanied by her boyfriend, who had a lethargic demeanor and seemed mildly frightened every time his significant other found something new to be excited about. I ended up drawing a page of her in my sketchbook:

Cutesy Cute

My weekend ended on a rather sour note. Sunday I received a letter from my health insurance provider informing me that they would not grant me an individual plan because of my asthma and BMI. I've spent the last couple of days writing appeals, researching other alternatives, and filling out overly detailed application forms to other companies. Initially I was furious...now I just feel drained.

I wanted to draw some cute and happy things for myself yesterday. Things that would distract me from these unfortunate circumstances. And so I drew some cutesy hammerhead sharks in my sketchbooks.

One page of cutesy:



This is a page in my sketchbook that got out of hand. These are pencil/watercolor sharks. I threw a little digital paint on it because my watercolors were messy and they scanned even messier. (Boo!) Nevertheless, I kind of like how silly the idea is, and I'd like to do something with it. Maybe I'll make a looping animation or make a series of little paintings...

Dog Sitting this weekend..

My parents have 3 poodle-y dogs. It's funny that our family ended up with this bunch because my mom used to dislike the breed. My parents adopted them all because they were in bad homes or unfortunate situations. Julibean was a puppy whose owner would leave her unattended for days. Toby's owners were moving out of the country and couldn't take him with them. And Daisy, the newest member of the family, is a likely puppy mill survivor who was found and rehabilitated by a dog rescuer before she went home with my parents. Each member of this poodle pack has a distinct personality and a ton of quirks. I have to say, I miss living in a house full of dogs. And I know I probably won't get one for myself in a long while...so it's been fun watching after them.

From left to right: Julibean, Daisy, and Toby



This is how Julibean reminds me that it's feeding time:

In the End...

I predict that when the apocalypse comes, it will be brought not by zombies, but by flying, radioactive hammerhead sharks.

Parrot Boy and Some Coffee Shop Doodles

I went to Señor Fish tonight for dinner. The restaurant is conveniently located right around the corner from my place, and it's a nice spot to grab lunch or dinner. Most of the time I go to Señor Fish, I eat outside in their patio area, but it was extremely chilly tonight so Chris & I ate inside. As I gorged on my food (yummy orange roughy and halibut tacos), I cast a sideways glance at the TV. On it was a telenovela, and a weird scene that made me smile.

Here is a scribbly scribble, from memory:


(sorry for the crappy watercolors). It was a boy wearing piratey garb, animatedly having a discussion with some fellow in a fancy study room. The boy was also wearing a green parrot (maybe a large parakeet?) on his head and it squawked and fidgeted as the boy moved about.

Also, here are some tablet scribbles from a day or two ago. I was at Swork's coffee shop with my laptop. I ended up drawing a couple of people I saw there:

Rainy Days and Puddle Jumping

Thar be rain in Southern California! And so I did a rainy day illustration in Photoshop:


And here's the scribble:

Stuck in Line with a Staring Child

Loosely based on recent events:

I've been in this specific situation a few times in my life. I'm standing in an insanely long line at a post office, the DMV or the doctors' office, and I happen to be standing right behind a mother with a young child who is staring blankly at me the entire time. No smile, no frown, just an entirely neutral expression. It's not the kid's fault--he's probably more bored than I am and is just spacing out in my general direction. And being stuck behind a grown-up with the stares would be far more uncomfortable. But I just don't have a knack with children.






...

Feed the Berts...

Tuppence a bag. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag. Chris and I were talking about bird ladies and that song from Mary Poppins the other night. Somehow I ended up here:

A Couple More Pages

I've been trying to do more drawing lately. Here are a couple of sketchbook pages from the other night. My scanner decided it wasn't going to work, so I took photos.

1st page is a drawing of some random feller and James Dean. And a couple of hands playing with a matchbox or something..


And these are some orangey-red ladies done with brush pens and an orange prismacolor art stick (I have a ton of these guys laying around from my caricature days).

Zoo Drawings

I went to the LA zoo today with some friends from Titmouse. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do this more often. My animal drawing is rusty at best, but I found some pages to post. I will return to the LA zoo for round 2 this Saturday, with school friends (anyone who wants to meet us there is welcome! We'll probably be there around noon).

Alligators:


The koalas were awake when we got to their enclosure! And posing like Betty Paige no less:


Sadly only 1 giraffe drawing done. We got to the enclosure shortly before closing and we saw him for maybe two freaking minutes before they put him away.


Gerenuks:

Gorillas are cool! Alas, I suck at drawing them:

I drew these flamingos from memory and colored it with a highlighter and a couple of markers. It's a fun time of the year to draw flamingos at the zoo. Normally I skip over them because they're so smelly, but it's mating season and the males are now doing their courtship displays/fighting with each other for female attention: