Belted Kingfisher

TGIF, good riddances to that week.  Too tired to give much today.  This is a colored pencil sketch of a Belted Kingfisher.  I see these a lot in the summer on the shores of rivers and lakes here in Maryland and Virginia.  I have seen its cousin in the Middle East and Africa, but that is a post for tomorrow.

Niman Katsina

This is my rendition of a Hopi Niman Katsina, which is a representation of a Hopi deity associated with a Home Dance or Coming Home Ceremony.  Hopefully, I got that right.  I really like the simplicity of the design of these and the color.  I did my best to capture the color but it is never as good in 2D as it would be in 3D.  This I drew with pastel pencils and it gave me a gritty texture which I am undecided about.  This is a drawing purely for fun and for my own sketchbook.

Doodle Revolution

This last Sunday morning, I caught a story on CBS Sunday Morning News show about doodling.  One of the interviewees was Sunni Brown, author of "Doodle Revolution."  I am going to order the book but the gist of her story is doodling is a way to unlock ideas, improve comprehension, and to develop creativity.  Hallelujah, I now have proof I was not goofing doodling in those meetings.  I know my feelings of calm and better retention of the meeting's topics is not my imagination.  Another interviewee was a college professor who draws heads and encourages his students to doodle in his lectures.  It is nice to actually learn something good on the TV for a change.  Above is a doodle of a co-worker in a mass mandatory meeting.

Snow Day

So DC has slowed to a crawl, and I am not talking about congress, we have a snow storm and DC drivers are not too good at driving so everything is shutdown.  This is the view from my living room window.  It is a living room "Plein Air" oil painting.  All the fun of painting a scene from life without the hassle of snow, wind and cold.

Hopi Woman

So to complete a thread of Hopis, from child, to girl, to woman, this is a pencil and colored pencil sketch of a Hopi woman.  I did this sketch from the Hopi book I had picked up and throughly enjoyed.  The book is an expansion of a National Geographic article from the 1990s.  The Hopis are a very interesting Native American tribe located in the southwest of the US.  They live a life very close to the seasons along with an annual series of rituals and dances.

Hopi girl

This is a pencil drawing of a Hopi girl.  The picture was in the Hopi book I have and this is a quick sketch for fun, enjoyment, and skills improvement.  This sketch resides in one of my sketchbooks.   I have about 30 in various stages of completion.  Some are themed and some are just the general everyday sketches (mostly everyday).  She is in my native american sketchbook which is about 1/4 full.  Sketchbooks are a capture tool for ideas, experiments, and general creative fun.

Hopi Baby

This is a pencil drawing of a Hopi Baby strapped down in a cradle from a Hopi book I have picked up. I loved the juxtapose of the baby with the red accents in the cradle hood and the blanket.  It was a fun little challendge and I enjoyed the results.  So now you can enjoy the results.