Warren Creek Dredge

Warren, Idaho is a small town located 50 miles outside of the popular vacation destination of McCall. Gold was discovered there in 1862, causing the settlement's population to expand to nearly 2000 people shortly thereafter. After a decline in mining initially, dredge operations were set up in the 1930s, which included this, the Warren Creek Dredge. Dredging was done all around Idaho, leaving large piles of rock around creeks and often negative environmental impacts. You can see some of these dredge piles in one of the sketches from my Moleskine that I posted a while back, here. Warren's current population is between 12 and 16 full-time residents. Many of the historic homes in the town are now used as vacation homes and cabins.

I did this drawing a few years ago on commission for a friend, who has a cabin in Warren (she and her husband own the dredge foreman's former home, I think). She had some old photographs of the dredging operation for me to work from. It was a lot of fun, and I thought I would share it with you here. I am thinking of making an edition of prints of this drawing for sale and I will post more information here when I do. Enjoy!

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.

February Gallery Show and New Website!

Ok, ok, I am a very lame blogger up to this point... two posts in the last 3 or 4 months just does not cut it. Work has been very busy for me but that's not really an excuse. The good news is that I've made a commitment to really start working on my art this new year.

Today I hung several of my photos at a gallery at St. Luke's, a local hospital in Eagle, ID. The gallery is an "Artist of the Month" gallery, and the Eagle Camera Club has it for the whole month of February. I'm really excited about that. I also built my new website today, and though it is far from finished, you can view my photo gallery and link back to this blog. One step at a time for me!

My new website is www.girlingearstudio.com and you can also check out the Eagle Camera Club at www.eaglecameraclub.com. The club is great, and it has really been a great creative outlet for me... and it's helped me set deadlines for myself and get some things done that really needed to be done.

Ciao for now!