Illustration Friday: Flying

My dog, Milo, has a one-track mind. He loves to play fetch. He would fetch all day long if he could. I drew this picture while sitting on the banks of the South Fork of the Boise River, and while I was drawing the landscape, Milo kept dragging all manner of riverside debris over to me to throw, so he could retrieve it. An osprey flew overhead just as Milo was dragging a large stick (which some people may have considered a log) to my feet. Milo looked intently at the bird, and I could almost read his mind.

This drawing was done in my Moleskine with colored pencil and India ink. Text was added in Photoshop.

Illustration Friday: Drifting

My household is into racing. This all started with my husband, who has a car that he raced at our local circle track. I am a mechanical engineer by trade. We regularly watch NASCAR. We have traveled to NASCAR races, like the Daytona 500; we've also gone to Cup races in Phoenix and Vegas (my husband has been going to these races since 1992.) So yeah, when I saw that this week's word on Illustration Friday was "drifting," I didn't think of the typical pictures like "drifting on the sea," or even "drifting through life." Drifting, to most, gives a picture of a gentle breeze, perhaps; or perhaps a ship in the doldrums. When I saw the word, I instantly thought of drift racing. This illustration was done in a few hours in my Moleskine sketchbook with colored pencil and India ink, using a photo for reference.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

What can I say? I love spring. That a plant can emerge from a tiny seed is so incredibly amazing. My garden has been the focal point of my life these days, so when I saw that this week's work for Illustration Friday was unfold, all of the new plants that I've been caring for came to mind. This one in particular is a petunia - an Eagle Red Star to be exact. Petunias are one of my favorite flowers. They come in so many different colors and patterns, providing endless inspiration for me. This illustration was done in my Moleskine with india ink and colored pencil.

Back roads to Idaho City

Back roads... gotta love them. I love going for drives, especially ones that include back roads. I love it even more when the route winds through territory previously untraveled by yours truly... and there are lots of those here in Idaho, mostly because I haven't lived here that long. So, a few days ago, my husband and I decided to go fishing and decided to head over the foothills into the Emmett valley and through Black Canyon into the Montour WMA. When we got to Montour, we were greeted with stinky, nearly empty ponds and an overflowing Payette River... not especially friendly to the angler. So we continued on to Horseshoe Bend and decided to take a drive from there to Idaho City along Harris Creek Road. It was a gorgeous drive; the wildflowers were out and in full bloom. When we got closer to Idaho City, we saw all of the dredge tailings from the mining operation along Granite Creek that was active as early as 140 years ago. We pulled off the road and Greg decided to try fishing the creek. I sat on one of the big dredge tailing mounds and sketched him fishing while Milo sat patiently at my side. Milo is my German Shepherd dog (and my running partner/bestest buddy/bodyguard). It was such a gorgeous day and the sun was going lower in the sky, producing excellent light that flooded the drainage in brilliant colors. The dredging tailings made me want to learn more about the mining history in Idaho, so I think I will be heading over to the Idaho Historical Society this week to check it out.

P.S. Greg didn't catch anything... better luck next time!

Road Trip

Today we drove to Pendleton to pick up about 350 lbs of beef that was raised by some relatives. I love homegrown beef; it is so superior in taste and freshness to anything you could buy in a grocery store. We met them at the Wildhorse Casino which is owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and about halfway to their house. That was quite an interesting place. It is in the middle of nowhere - rolling hills all around. We wandered through the casino and overall I was saddened by what I saw... lots of elderly people staring blankly through thick cigarette smoke at the pale glow of 800 slot machines (as advertised on the sign near the freeway). Later we went into Pendleton which has some really stellar old architecture which I happily snapped away at with my SLR as the sun traveled lower and lower into the sky. I got some great texture shots too. We headed home after we were too cold to continue.

Above is the spread from my Moleskine from the drive. The road was a bit bumpy, and so are the lines, which I think gives it character.

I also must give a shout-out to Tommy Kane for sending me his awesome armed squirrel stickers... check out his blog at tommykane.blogspot.com. His art is awesome. I put a squirrel sticker on my Moleskine to inspire me...thanks Tommy!