Dead Animals

It's been awhile. I went to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum the other day,

 here's some drawings!

 African Lion

Ferruginous Hawk

Mountain Lion

 

Greater Kudu

Also here are just some photos from my little excursion. 

 ^ these guys are SO EXCITED ^

 A few weeks ago some friends and I also went to the NHM for their annual Bug Show, which was amazing. I held a scorpion. They glow in black light! Whaaat!

 Spoon Flies, one of many amazing, exotic bugs that were available to add to one's collection.

And finally, some random drawings from the past month:

I wish there was more to show, but work keeps me in a constant state of exhaustion. 

But I'm trying to do more.

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sketch adventures and silks

soo now that my show is over at La Luz de Jesus (you can still view the image gallery under "2013" HERE - there are some pieces left over!) I have been doing lots of sketching and other random projects that I hadn't had time for before now. Here's some pictures! 

 Sketchbook pages, the two on the right are from my recent trip to northern California - 

my family has a little flock of parrots, which were fun to draw, and, of course, airport people.

more random sketches from here and there

 This afternoon I went for a short look at the horses at the LA Equestrian Center - 

they were all giant and lovely and shiny 

 This little sketch page was featured over on The Scribble Project, which you can see HERE! So fun and random. This was done at the height of Pocket's paintbrush-stealing spree, which was driving me insane. Thanks to Lisa for inviting me to sketch for her!

 and, finally, some more silk scarf dyeing! I love doing this. I should have them up for sale in a while, I have more colors to add and more styles to try.

and, because they are fun, here's a little animated gif of one of the scarves in the wind!

 

 the end!

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Current Events

 Some things I've been working on. Big excitement coming!

First off, I made a new quilt. Here is my sketch, although it changed and simplified a little.

 here are the pieces, squares arranged and ready to be sewn together:

 of course, Pocket helps a lot in this process, by jumping on all the pieces as I moved them around, because obviously I only do this for her amusement. And here is the nearly finished quilt, I just have to tack the centers of each square together with a stitch or two. it is quite cozy.

 these are some quick color studies for a new project I'm starting on. It's going to be amazing.

 here's a hint: it has something to do with my fancy schmancy new business license:

 

and now, some other pages of sketches. 

above, a storyboard (!) 

and below, various thumbnails for a new body of work I am getting started on.

 

aaaand finally, because I am super cool, here are some pictures of new plants I got (downtown LA is amazing. These both are super happy and big and only cost $2 each. woo!) and an obligatory blog cat in the window photo. Isn't she pretty?

 the end!

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Upcoming Events and Giving in

 so! looking for something to do this upcoming Earth Day (Sunday, April 22nd) ? I thought so! Come to my Lifecrowd* Session in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles! 

Sign up for Lifecrowd here

*lifecrowd is basically facebook/a social media site for people who want to get out of their houses and do things with other humans in their town! they have all sorts of activities, everything from fancy grilled cheese making to dodgeball!

I will be bringing piles of dirt, stones, succulent plants and cacti, miscellaneous vessels, trinkets, and refreshments, all you have to do is sign up! $30 gets you a mini terrarium to take home, a reference guide and a fun evening! Bring a friend for free! Yay!

More information here! 

in other news, i made a tumblr. we'll see what happens.

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desert time, 5 hour paintings and aimless projects

 last weekend i went with some friends to Joshua Tree National Park. it was amazing. and super windy and freezing at night. we camped at Jumbo Rocks and there were...lots of jumbo rocks!

 these pictures are from Hidden Valley, where people hid stolen cattle back in the day.

 last night i painted the lovely Maude. this was a five hour session at Korpus School of Art, and it was lots of fun. it was a lot smaller painting than i usually do at these (9" x 12"), but i think it worked out okay.

 also a duplicate picture because pocket was investigating, and that's why you don't put wet oil paintings on the floor to photograph them!

 

 

and then i made some pouches and a brush holder for my makeup brushes, 

cause i have lots of cool fabric and should use it for something, right?

 aaand some drawings from a short figure drawing session this week.

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more painting, some new developments and stealing fruit

so! more progress on some paintings, who are making a long journey soon.

both need more work, the top one more so.

this photo is a sneak peak to a new project i'm working on- 

here's a hint- sign up for LifeCrowd.com now so you won't miss it!

and some fun-to-me things happening in my house; growing green onions, which i have a strong addiction to, in a mason jar..easy peasy- the tallest one went in probably a week ago and already 3" tall! magic! just put the white ends you cut off in about an inch of water, and change the water every few days. it seems to work faster than putting them in soil, which i have also done.

 cabin fever set in the other day and i went for a walk around my neighborhood, which has a large number of lemon trees, which all are laden right now, so ...free lemons! don't tell my neighbors (although to be fair, the little ones were from the ground * and then washed* and the big one was from a branch hanging over a fence into an alley, with about 30 other lemons that obviously weren't going to be eaten. No one makes that much lemonade...but they should.) they are about 23 times juicier than store-bought, and nice to know the ancient los angeles orchards that used to be here are still producing. and by "ancient" i mean the 1900's-1950s...if that..

there were also a lot of mostly barren avocado trees, which would be awesome if they were covered, because i love avocado more than any other food...maybe soon they will appear. i was tempted to grab a handful of kumquats from this tree that was overflowing with them near an alley, but a) i don't know what kumquats taste like and b) it was juuust a little too high/on the fence to casually grab some, unlike the lemons...