February 26, 2009

The above image is of a stuffed toy that sits near our television. It is sitting on a stack of magazines on a little child's chair. It is supposed to be a mythical creature from H.P. Lovecraft's works.

Anthony finally convinced me to go to a walk in clinic regarding my chronic (and annoying) cough and my difficulty breathing. I was disappointed that Dr. Swift was not in. He had surgery and so Dr. Lucy was looking after the clinic. She thought my lungs sounded very congested and thought I had double lung pneumonia. She also said my blood pressure was particularly high. She suggested I get chest X-rays done to be sure.


It was too late to go for X-rays by the time I got out, so I went home, sat on my sofa, and drew the brush above, that I use to remove pencil dust and eraser crumbs as I work on my art. The mug you see above was a Father's Day gift from our son to Anthony when our son as quite small. It was done at a mall and they took an image of our son ittle head and put it on Superman's body on the mug. The other side says "Happy Father's Day". Anthony keeps some of his treasures in this mug. There is a parrot pen that our son gave him, a Charlie Brown pez dispenser, and a "Super Dad" super hero sculpture that our son made (out of pipe cleaners, paper and a bead for the head.) for his father when he was little. He made this to help his dad recuperate from heart surgery. All the treasures Anthony keeps in this mug were special gifts from our son  Anthony keeps these near his end of the coffee table so he can look at them whenever he needs a "pick me up".

February 22, 2009

My family got me a strawberry chocolate Boston cream cake for my birthday. It was delicious. I had the last piece on February 22 (which is not too bad considering my birthday was on the 19th)! I also used this as an EDM (Everyday Matters) assignment: draw a shadow.

February 20, 2009

I used this as an EDM (Everyday Matters)assignment

February 12, 2009

Leena and Ingelbert surprised me with a visit. I have not seen them in ages, especially Leena. When Leena lived here, in London Ontario, she and I were very close. She was my best friend and I shared everything with her. Since she has moved back to the States, we are still close but it is difficult with her so far away. I really miss her.

We had a great visit, but it was too short.

The above was done while I waited for them at Williams Coffee Pub (one of my favourite places to go because they have excellent coffee and food, comfortable chairs, and great atmosphere).

Leena gave me some lovely birthday gifts. I have illustrated them below.

February 2, 2009

Most Monday nights, for the last little while, I meet with my friend Patti Murphy at Williams Coffee Pub for a coffee. Patti comes into my end of London (Ontario) from Lucan (Ontario) on Monday nights so that her son can attend a soccer practice at a local high school. It is great seeing her once a week.

Last night I arrived a bit early so entertained myself by drawing in my new Moleskine sketchbook. I drew what was in front of me on the table. The sketchbook is 3½" x 5½" so this is a pretty small drawing. Since so many things were incorporated in this drawing, I decided to use this as a submission to several EDM (Everyday Matters) challenges (listed above). The above sketch took about an hour to do. I started it while I waited for Patti and finished it later, at home (added the shading). That is a lipstick stain on my mug.

You can see the bleed through from the first page (the pen & ink) that I did. Although I liked the way the ink laid down, I did not like the bleed through. The graphite worked very well and smoothly.

Tools used on above sketch:

• Moleskine sketchbook
• 2B Mechanical pencil
• Kneaded eraser

February 1, 2009