IF – Poise

Since spring is taking its sweet time getting here, I think it's fair to skip it and start dreaming about summer. I originally sketched this figure while sitting on a grassy hill outside jazz fest (or was it blues fest, or folk fest?) in Victoria last summer. The grass beneath us and the rest of the crowd was soggy but no one seemed to mind, relaxed as they were, sprawled out in various summer-chillin'-without-a-care-in-the-world poses. Poised to enjoy the summer.

I haven't pulled out the pencil crayons in forever, but tonight I just really wanted it to be me and a piece of paper, with no screen-staring involved (until the final moments anyway). It was fun.

Now, bring on the barbeques, swimming and picnics please!

IF – Intricate

Darryl and I went to the aquarium a few weeks ago, for the very first time. I passed three happy hours gazing into all of the intricate underwater worlds they had created for the fishies.

The plants captured my attention as much as the animals – all the underwater foliage seemed so curated, with shapes, colours and ways of moving coming together so beautifully. I love the ocean, the beach, and everything to do with it – the Pacific Northwest exhibit was one of my favourites, with the kelp and sea pens and all the life that thrives beneath my favourite swimming spots. If I had some magic abilities, I'd use them to shrink myself to the size of a little fish and learn to breathe underwater, so I could go strolling around that intricate terrain.

A side note – those bubbly shapes in the background were made with some NaturePrint paper my sister gave me years ago. I found myself at home on a sunny (!) afternoon yesterday and jumped on the opportunity to make a sun-photogram. So paper + little gold seed beads + sun became the perfect bubbly waves for my sea-scene.

IF – Breezy

Tonight I was in the mood to doodle, to have some couch-and-pen time rather than computer time.

Is she breezy? Is she not? Maybe she's feeling the breezy barely-beginning of spring outside, but doesn't quite have the energy to rise to breezy-ness herself, yet. Or maybe she put on a dress that she was hoping would make her feel breezy but it was lumpy and ill fitting instead. I'm right now in the middle of going through my closet to purge and try to insure myself against this kind of unfortunate thing happening to me ever again...

At any rate, this is the perfect chance to post some other lettering doodles from my sketchbooks that I've been meaning to share. These are from my morning commutes on the days when I don't feel like staring my fellow passengers down for long enough to draw them.