HAPPY POINTY HOLIDAYS!

I was so busy making my online Advent Kalendar I forgot to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM POINTYLAND

This illustrated a gift-buying guide for the Christian Science Monitor. Below are some details.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

BONNE ANNEE ET BONNE SANTE!

Sneaking Around

I snuck over to the greenhouses at Wellesley College yesterday for an hour or two. I didn't get too far but I did make two drawings that I like. The greenhouses are a generous place: they soothe my spirit and enliven my imagination. Their quiet rooms are perfectly warm and calm on these sullen and cold winter days and the amazing diversity of plant forms yields many surprises to my appreciative eyes. If I'm feeling out of sorts, this is the place to go to set things right.

One of the horticulturists at the greenhouses, a passionate fellow,  confided in me that he loves the place because "he's surrounded by living things". Think about it: chances are, you and I are generally surrounded by things that are most definitely not alive (computer, desk, books, paper, chair, tea, a pencil, etc. ) …well?

What do you think about that!? I hope you can spend some time in a cozy conservatory this winter.


Bonne nuit!

a view from the cacti & succulent room at the Wellesley College greenhouses

Plumbago indica
The flowers are actually a brilliant pink and the stems are green of course.
I wouldn't advise making a salad from any part of this plant!

Does God Doodle?

An actual page of my doodles.
These were done with colored pencils.

In the past few years  I've developed a wonderfully wicked habit of actually imagining that I'm most fully alive when I have a pencil or some other drawing/painting tool in my hand and a sheet of paper in front of me. Blasphemy!

It helps if that paper has words printed on it. Words that have very little to do with the doodles I make on the paper. It also helps if someone, or several people are talking to the group of which I happen to be a part of at the time. I hear what they are saying and keep track of things and get excited if I think I have something useful to contribute. But basically, I am doodling.

I go to church and I sit in meetings. These are great times to doodle a while. I always carry a few pencils or at least a ball point pen in my pocket. However, Summer's go a little flat because there are fewer meetings and church services. I look forward to the Fall because I'll see familiar faces again …and I'll get to doodle more often.

Here are a few doodles from last Sunday.

2012 Calendar

A very limited number of these posters are available from my ETSY shop. They are not free. Please consider purchasing one. I'm sorry for any confusion.

2012 Studio Calendar
18 x 24" offset printing
ships from the USA

detail

detail: I've included a very short story

the colophon identifies the images and the fonts used.

Just Peeking!

Snapshots from my studio today, Friday. It's the day after Thanksgiving and there appears, for the moment at least, some deep relaxation happening here, in this house. It will change.

Feel free to poke and peek around.

Bonne journèe.

studio still life: painted rock & lava

doodle & captured phrases

that maralavous magenta & a Chantelivre bookmark

le moment de creation: l'Histoire de Thè

Bayard Jeunesse invitation, postcard, 2012 calendar proof

work in progress: collage

book in progress (for Francesco e Bernadette)

Happy Birthday!

11-16-11

Church Doodles

Room for Waiting

"The Waiting Room"
Oct. 30, 2011
collage, mixed media

detail

A toast then to those moments (or are they only yesterdays?) where we find ourselves possessed of the duty to wait for something that hasn't arrived yet. These moments could be the spaces between words or the spaces between our idea of what our lives are and someone else's idea of what our lives will be.

Who is this "someone?" God? Our future self, or selves? The Fates or the Furies?

Here's a happy fellow. His knapsack is full but not too heavy. He has a companion who sleeps comfortably at his feet. He looks out of the waiting room window. It's an old space with a worn linoleum floor. Perhaps he just had some tea or sake. Or maybe that vase needs to be refreshed.

Inside and Outside don't seem very different; they are just opposite sides of a common wall. So we wait and we not-wait… the two halves of the whole darn thing!

Bonne journée!

The Ending is Beginning!

What would you do?
11-04-11

Solo +1

« Pensive Cormorant »
15 Oct. 2011
gouache, crayon-resist, ink

I wonder what he's thinking about? And that black shape looming behind him. Is it some grim thing advancing or just an unhappy place being left behind. He looks strong. He doesn't look beaten. I think he'll be okay. His wings can carry him anywhere he wants to go. Ah, if only he knew where! Maybe toward that light source on stage right.
He needs a friend doesn't he? If he is a character, he needs a companion to add to his story. As I've presented him in this single drawing, he has few options. What if he were like this Bear?

« Bear & Butterfly »
19 March 2011
colored pencil, gouache

Besides being a "sweeter" moment, this picture presents a few options for our characters: maybe the butterfly is giving the bear ideas about what it is like to be able to fly. Or maybe the bear realizes that they are opposite types of creature. He is long-lived, ponderous and white and she is evasive, rainbow-hued and fragile. This dynamic (there could be many others) begins to get the gears turning.
The Narrativity Elves™ can begin their work. Let's go guys! Stop gold-bricking!

bird brain

"Bird Brain"

blogged here

Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

(from a can, mind you…)

Our hapless hero enjoying his predictable repast.
The End

The Small Cricket's Tall Tale

September: this is the time of year when crickets try to outdo each other telling stories of dubious validity. This little fellow: Napoleon is his name, is the loudest in the barnyard. Why is he singing from the top an old pile of cow dung when he used to sing at La Scala with the great Maria Callas? C'mon Monsieur Napoleon, we are all ears!

image © 2011 Rob Dunlavey

The skeptical Rooster

the gullible Cow

The Heron, who is nobody's fool!