Here, Have an Apple!

For the TwobyTwo this week, I took the concept of Eve and that darn apple and gave it a modern twist. In our house, if the man thinks he's been wrongly accused of something, he responds with, "It wasn't me. I wasn't there. It's. Not. My. Fault."
If blame is being dumped on me for something that isn't (entirely) my responsibility, I hold out my hand and say, "Here. Have an apple." Therefore, I give you this photocomposition from public domain, royalty-free, non-attributable images.

A Thoroughly Modern Eve

As a photographer, I am asked occasionally if someone can use a photo I've taken. I am thrilled that anyone would be interested in my work, so I thank them.
Then, it's time for an education. Here, a brief copyright tutorial.

A photograph is copyrighted material, almost right out of the box anymore. That's because of the digital data that is stored with the image that describes what equipment was used, when (and sometimes where) a photo was taken down to the second, and if set up, who owns all that. It's called metadata, a bunch of binary info hidden in the background. (But, should you want to uphold your rights, you need to make application with your country's copyright office. That part is not automatic).
If you wish, you can pass photos and images into the public domain. That means anybody can use it in any way, shape or form. I call these Gifts to Humanity; others, quite properly, identify them as "freebies," as they are being given away, without compensation. You may find that this is the default mode for your cellie or other "camera." If that's not your intention, make sure to copyright your work. In Photoshop, you can add that to your metadata, a valuable course of action should you post your work on Pinterest, Instagram, Blogger or even eBay.
Watermarks, a digital signature on an image, are another choice, but can be visually distracting.
So, someone wants to use your photograph, say to make a painting. (Anything other than the original is called a "derivative" work). You can ask for a fee-for-use (a license) up-front and/or a royalty payment if and when that painting sells. The license could be under $100, the royalty fee, ten percent. All negotiable.
And, most definitely not "free."
It used to be okay to use another's picture if you changed it at least ten percent, such as taking a color photo and turning it into a black and white. This no longer holds up; just ask the folks at Cycling Magazine that used someone's photograph for a cover (the cyclist was filled in with all black...this was a while back). In that case, permission would have been a LOT cheaper than begging forgiveness in the court of law.
Definitely NOT free.
Then there's proper attribution, letting the public know where the image came from in the first place. If you were to paint Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers, you would say you painted, "After Van Gogh." In the digital era, you identify who owns the copyright.

Okay, class, that's enough for today. I could bore you silly with this stuff. Yeah, I'm the kind of geek that reads the US Tax Code for kicks. So, let's get back to something more fun!

For the EIM, a koala I found on pixabay, a photo sharing site that requires none of that stuff I just prattled on about. Looks like Einstein, doesn't he? Love the "hair!"

For the Diva, sixteen square-inches of diabolical insomnia-inducing NOT ZEN. The past three nights I've pondered what to do with the striped string thing going on. I am sooooo glad to be finally DONE with this!

That's Squido, I think (straighten me out if that's not right) weaving in and out of the stripes, with Nipa in graphite.
Oh, the Diva can be evil.
Yeah, have an apple!

Pink Flamingo

I've had many a visit to different parts of Florida and have seen flamingoes. I gather they get their bright coral color from the shrimp they like to eat. I have some photos from those trips, but do I know where they are? Of course not. So I borrowed one from pixabay.com, a photo sharing site that lets you use other people's photos. For free. Without attribution or compensation. How that works, I don't know, but I'm giving it a whirl for the EIM.

We shall see!

For the Diva, it's a look at Molygon, an official Zentangle tangle from HQ. I started and realized I liked it right here. So I stopped right here.

I'll probably fidget with it and color it. I'm thinking flowers for Mother's Day here, I guess. And I'm offering it up to you for you to do with it what you want. I'd like to see what you do with it and would appreciate attribution and linkies back to me.
Hope you have a brilliant day!

Seeing Spots

This is one of my favorite times of year. The skies are (mostly) clear, the trees have leafed out creating dense shade and/or are working hard on creating next year's harvest of fruit. The pool is almost ready for the first swim of the season.
Pollen is flying everywhere. Everything is some shade of yellow.
And just when I started working on my most creative project of the whole calendar, I caught the flu bug. I thought I was in the clear, but noooooo! So, I sent off the appropriate forms to get extensions on filing all those tax papers. Yes, I waited until the last possible moment, as always.
[Dear Mr. IRS, Please note: I take it as my responsibility to pay my fair share of the tax burden and as such, do not get "creative," if that's what you're thinking. But do tell, what, exactly, does the Paperwork Reduction Act actually "do?" because I'm not seeing it!].
Thus, I'm glad I started working on some of these challenges--am I alone in disliking the word "challenges" to describe the art prompts? There must be a better word--last week or maybe two ago.
Over at EIM, the word is ladybug. I like seeing ladybugs as they are known to consume aphids, which attack my roses and some other plants. I can count how many I see each year; I'm up to "one."
My take on the theme:

I didn't follow the Diva to the letter of the law, but rather loosely painted watercolours with some splatter and splotches. Done with Sakura Koi paints and after that dried, my trusty Sharpie:

Then we get to the TwobyTwo. The keyword is..."key." I didn't take it too literally. If you've stopped by over the past couple months, you may have read about my son and his autism. He is a very fortunate and high functioning young man. What we're trying to do is help him negotiate this new part of his identity (his reaction to the official diagnosis was, "But I don't FEEL different!") as well as put together the pieces of his puzzle that will help him achieve his definition of success in this world.
It's also happens to be Autism Awareness Month and the logo for the biggest organization working on autism is a blue puzzle piece.
What that means to me is that I'm doing a LOT of reading, everything from biographies of autistics, scientific and medical treatises (is that the plural of the word?) and cookbooks.
And playing with puzzle pieces.

So there you have my contributions this week. Only fair, the IRS has theirs.
Thanks for visiting, have a brilliant day! Be sure to check out the creativity to be found at the other artist blogs and how they interpret these "challenges."

For the Birds

The EIM for the week is "woodpecker." I tried to get a photograph of one that was poking around in a mesquite tree, but even though he's quite colorful, he was very hard to get a good picture of. So I kind of borrowed an image from someone else and made a watercolor out of it.
I recall our home on Cape Cod where we had a very industrious woodpecker. He'd knock out knots in the cedar shakes and leave gooey sweet goodness for ants to find there. The ants would find the sweets, then the woodpecker would have lunch of sap and sugar-coated ants. The bird knew enough to set up shop right under the second-story eaves where we couldn't bother him because we couldn't get close!

To get caught up, I've included the last few birds--a rooster, who happens to be the mascot for a local egg company (huh?!), a green heron and a bunch of rubber duckies.

Which means the only thing missing for the inchies is a horse, of course. Just HAD to go in this direction:

I have to thank my lucky stars that the Diva this week chose a simple theme for Zentangle, to stick with tried-and-true tangles rather than fancy or complicated drawing. Headquarters calls it going with the MacnCheese, Ms. Diva Kraft Dinner; we call it, Blue Box, Please! (It might be just the thing for dinner tonight! Every once in a while, it is just right).

Simple:

And simpler:

If you've been wondering what we've been up to, the previous post spells it out pretty well. Other than that, it's been a LOT of yardwork! After all the rain (15 inches so far this year!), the sun came out and warmed things up considerably (90s, 32+ Celsius). Everything is growing green and fast; faster than I can weed or trim. At one point, the grass was three feet high! I read in a desert gardening book that March is supposed to be a month of leisure and enjoying the fruits of my labours.
Ha. Ha. Hahahaha!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a brilliant day!

Moo!

On our first trip West with the kiddos (age 3 and 6, they're now 23 and 26), the youngest saw cattle grazing alongside the road and yelled, "Look! COWS!".
It goes down as one of those crazy road trip tales as the driver took that to mean, "Look out!" and proceeded to do some crazy road trip driving.
We can laugh about that now.

Now our homestead is nestled in the foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains and our little hamlet is entirely "open range."

THAT is FUNNY!

That means ranchers can let their animals roam anywhere. That means we can wake to the sound of cows mooing as they graze on the prickly pear cactus just the other side of our fence. It means we often get dangerously close to very large hamburgers with feet while night driving.

I don't know if you can see that; I tried to approximate what it might look like driving head first into a steer on a country road.

What does any of this have to do with art? It's the EIM this week, "cow."

That's from a child's search and find puzzle book that I found in my stash of piles of magazines. (Yeah, yeah, I need to do the dishes!).

Elsewhere, the objective is a lot of hearts for Saint Valentine's Day. For IAST 182:

For the Diva 303, my Valentine to you (I followed Laura's lead and went with the Hefty Hack method:

And I revisited 302 as I realized that I didn't have the hang of that tangle. At. All.

(The central tangle reminds me of Mummenschanz, which I saw at the Wang Theater, once upon a time. Have you ever been? They're still performing!)

I think that's about it, for now. Thanks for dropping by. Be sure to check out all the other artists' blogs, there is so much creativity in the weird wide web.
Hope you have a brilliant day! And watch out for cows!

Proof Positive

I just finished reading a book by Dana White titled, "How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind." It's a hilarious take on real-world cleaning strategies. (Spoiler alert: Do the dishes).
I'm sure you're thinking why would anyone as organized as I need to read about home management?
HA!
In reality I'm just a crazy old cat lady hoarder-in-training. I mean, I don't even have one cat yet! I'm not so old! But if there were need of any proof that I have the hoarder thing going on, here is my entry to the Every Inchie Monday this week:

This is a clipping of a child's sweater from the Fall 1999 issue of Family Circle Easy Knitting magazine. I'm not sure why I still have the periodical, my knitting skills are not very, well, skillful. One of these days I'll actually knit a sweater. Maybe. It won't be that one.

For the Diva challenge this week:

The objective, to use Hamadox in a sentence (Ah ha!). Here, I put a few tried and true tangles to work. I'm really enjoying drawing with Prismacolor colored pencils and I'm trying to keep notes of which colors I'm using for future reference. (Yeah, like keeping a knitting magazine that is soooo last century. But, you have to admit, it came in handy this week!).

My last entry is for the TwobyTwo, where the word is "news." I like reading and am grateful that I can access whatever it is I need to know on the Internet. Otherwise, the papers might pile up ad infinitum. It could get out of hand.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a brilliant day.
I have to go do the dishes now.

Grand State of Mind

Everyday brings news. Some of it good, some of it not so much and a lot of it just needs to....be ignored. The last several holiday seasons has brought big, massive and decidedly in the not-so-much category sort of news.
Still, we carry on, don't we?
I, of the optimistic, glass half-full mentality, persevere.
When life hands you a bar coaster, you know just what you're going to do with it. First, you're going to squeeze fresh citrus and blenderize a margarita. Then, you're going to draw. This is what happened when I tackled the Diva's weekly challenge, number 301, a Diva Dance/Paradox duotangle:

This is an improved version, a tackle-it-after-coffee-infusion. An I'm not too worried about what I accomplish today version. It wanted to be a butterfly and butterflies are free.

At the EIM, the word is donkey. Doing some research on donkey made my head hurt and I'm not quite sure why I got too carried away with that as I knew right off what I was going to do. South of here, surrounding Lake Pleasant is a very strong population of wild burros (small grey Mexican donkeys). They are cute, but they are a hearty bunch that is overwhelming the environment and native species. You can adopt one through the BLM.
And hopefully NOT meet one by accident on the freeway. These signs were installed last year to try to prevent such incidents. (I tilted the sign 45 degrees to make it square instead of diamond-shaped).

Other than that, there's the TwobyTwo for next week. The word is "news." Hopefully, it's of the good news variety. I'm working on that, won't you join the fun? Anything can happen there, as long as it fits into a two-inch square.

Thank you all for visiting and your words of kindness and encouragement. It all makes my heart sing. I can't carry a tune, but my heart seems to know the words.
Have a brilliant day!

Out of Practice

It's not really that I haven't been creating, just not as actively as I'd like. Feeling guilty about that isn't going to help or change the world, but it did lead to not chatting about it. I have a stack of little artworks laying around, mostly tossed into a corner or three when guests came to visit through the holidays.
Then the calendar flipped and things really got out of hand. Let's just say that there is a little order that has come of the chaos. Life can be....interesting, and it helps to embrace that instead of trying to fight it, right?
I was going to start a botanical drawing class, but the instructor wanted a list of art supplies of which I have NONE. Hard to believe that's even possible! But I have the book and am digesting the ideas before I commit to a totally new set of (Faber-Castell) colored pencils. I'm already invested in Prismacolor and Spectrum Noir, isn't that good enough??
I say all that as an introduction to Diva 299 with the latest official Zentangle tangle, Drawings (think: draw wings). Working on light direction, foliage coloration and subtle shading.

Then there's the EIM that I'm working on. Here we go with the first four of 2017. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself, but I didn't want to lose that fabric swatch, as I'm bound to do.

The first one is rabbit (and you never have just one!), the hampster dance, a cat who looks as happy about the weather as I do (the cold, the rain! just stay inside!) and the dog (which, for whatever reason, one repeat along the selvage had all green shading. weird).

The objective at last week's TwobyTwo was happy. Too many ideas were trying to work their way through to the cerebral surface. One of my other goals this year is to tackle Illustrator. Again.
While this was created in Photoshop, some of the methods to make it were borrowed from what I know about Illustrator (slim-to-none). This simple thing took me an hour! UGH.

With many an apology to all of the artists who have gone before me in this, along with a special nod to Robert Herrick, who may have been the first to use the smiley in text as :) in 1648!
And we think we're so clever!

If the hamster dance music is driving you as crazy as I: Don't worry, be happy!
I bid you a happy and brilliant day! Thanks for dropping by!

It's About Time

Imagine if you will.... Oops, wrong show.

If you are of a certain age, you may remember a short-lived situation-comedy called, "It's about Time." Don't worry if you don't, as many of my friends peer at me warily when I mention it. I've been known to rattle off the theme song as if it were on the telly last night, and it has been fifty years since it aired! Eee ghad!

At the EIM, the theme this week is wormhole, a theoretical space-time construct that would allow travel across the universe. So, if we're talking time travel, let's start by going back to 1967:

Alrighty, then!

Let's see if I can improve this post ever so slightly with my contributions to the Diva, numbers 292 and 293:

Quartet of Bar Coasters

The objectives here were to use "Keeko" as in the top left and "Eazy" as in the bottom right. That was kind of fun. Soon I'll release them into the wild....

At the TwobyTwo, the theme is yarn. I've been knitting as therapy. (I would prefer to crochet, but it hurts my fingers; they don't quite curl like they did before the accident).

Yarn

I'm making washcloths, or they could be used as dishcloths. The yarn is 100 percent cotton and these knit up at ten inches. I'm trying to sell them to help with my hospital bills, if anyone is interested. Email me at 1xeritas@gmail.com and I'll give you the details.

In different news, what has been captivating my time is making woobies. Through a friend, I found out a clinic at Luke Air Force Base has been looking for blankies. I have a stack almost ready to deliver. I'm so happy they can put these to good use.

Keeping these fingers VERY BUSY! It's not like I have work to do! HA!

Bingo!

Dedicated to Freebird

If you've been around these parts and you follow links to other challenges, you will find Freebird and her beads. But, perhaps, this week, she may be silent as she lost her mother AND her brother in the space of eight days. 

I was thinking of her the other day while I was making spaghetti sauce. She posted a couple weeks ago that she tried a recipe from that weird wide web called the Internet and found it to be just dreadful. Using her creative brain she was able to save that day's dinner by adding some salsa!

I'm posting my recipe. I never make it exactly the same way, but it seems to get to the same result every time, for me anyway. (NB: there's a reason why I'm not a baker. I mostly wing it in the kitchen with whatever floats my boat that day or whatever I have in the fridge to work with). 

My prayers are with you, Free! And if I could drop in, I'd bring a big tray of lasagna. Food is love and the recipe will just have to do. For now. Just follow this link!

Onto other things.

For the TwobyTwo, for "tangled," I went with a spider and it's web in Loteria fashion. Loteria is, essentially, Mexican "Bingo!"

Loteria card #33 is of La Arana, the spider. Collage with dictionary definition page of "web."

I guess it could also factor in one of the recent Diva Challenges as she's had spider webs on the brain as well. And I think it is kind of fitting for today, Dia de los Muertos. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a brilliant day!

On the Edge

Dedicated to Suzanne.

Suzanne asked the blogosphere if we'd ever stood "on the edge," no matter how literal we took that to mean. What a great jumping off point, isn't it?

What first came to my mind is "The Abyss." No, not the movie, but that's a good point. There's an overlook by the name that affords a look deep into a portion of the Grand Canyon. Supposedly, you can see rocks 200 million years old or more. If what "they" say about the Canyon that the average person stays a whopping 20 minutes, we're throwing the curve.

Most people must miss the Abyss since you have to either hike or take the bus to get there. Pity.

Even better is the view from Toroweap, mostly because of the effort required to get there. It's 60 miles off-road, about three hours from the last bit of pavement; high-clearance vehicle required. The Park Service suggests that you pack an extra spare tire as most drivers pop at least one and to get a tow truck is $2000, if you have cell service at all.

Badge of Courage

My Lexus (2001 RX300 with over 225,000 miles) performed superbly (no flat tires!) thanks to one very able driver (thank you, Gil!). I wish I had a video to send to the company so they can see what that car can really do, but I wish I had better photographs from the viewpoint. Seems as "the" shot is at sunrise and because of the cliff height 3,000 feet above the Colorado, sunrise in summer is around 3 AM.

Eight PM

Missed that by a MILE!

Erica on the Edge
Can you find her?

TJ on the Edge

Our first glimpse of the Canyon was 20 years ago. I don't know how we did it, but we found a spot where we walked right up to the edge. No sidewalk, no plaques, no guardrails. Just that giant hole in the ground. Took my breath away. That and trying to catch my fearless three year-old daughter from being, well, fearless.

Everywhere we went in Arizona, she would pick up pebbles and drop them into my camera bag. She was particularly fond of Sedona red sandstone. (Shh! Don't tell anyone). I still fish one out every once in a while.

That trip put into action wheels that turned in such a manner that here I am, in the Grand Canyon state. If I wanted to, I could be staring into the Abyss by lunch.

I've been on the edge of my seat.
I've been on the "Edge of Seventeen" (and recently celebrated my fortieth anniversary of same).
I've been hanging on the edge of numerous cliffs in search of Indian artifacts.
I've been on the edge of each side of this continent, staring out onto the horizon in all directions.
I've been on the edge of four states all at once.

I'm on the edge of a new beginning, each and every day.

So, yes, where have YOU stood, "on the edge?" Be sure to let Suzanne know!

On your way to Toroweap (or the North Rim or Lake Powell or Monument Valley...), you can take a quick detour to see Dinosaur Tracks on the Navajo Reservation. Which is a great segue to the EIM, "dinosaur," this week:

Which is also a great segue to the Diva this week. While you are at Dinosaur Tracks, you can visit the little booths set up and purchase a "Dreamcatcher" from the Dine people. Mine is frayed and frazzled. Must've been doing a swell job catching those pesky spirits.

And "Dreamcatcher" by Daniel Lamothe is the tangle focus of the week!

The pattern snuck its way into my twinchie this week, too. This wasn't anything like what I wanted to do! Somewhere I have a sheet of copper I was going to emboss, but where, oh where could it be?

So I went with a collage of Tim Holtz stickers, copper gimp, gold nail polish pen, copper beads on a light turquoise envelope and paint chips. I think I have to revisit this idea. There's still time to make something else. Indeed, if you're interested, submissions to the TwobyTwo are always welcome!

Meanwhile, I'm going to see about finding the copper that I must've put in a great place that I'd remember where. Thank you for stopping by. Have a brilliant day!

You Can't Take it With You

This past weekend was a birthday celebration, even if we started celebrating it as soon as the calendar flipped to September. There may have been some wine involved, as well as pizza and some Chinese take-out and popcorn and....I got a "free" chocolate chip cookie--one of those humongous skillet things with ice cream and fudge sauce--but I didn't have to worry about it going to waste as my kids plowed through it for me (I don't do chocolate, long story...).

I did laundry and yoga in equal measure. Painted my fingernails with a pink sparkle polish that makes me smile. I had to take care of some internet business with Yahoo! having some difficulties.  I didn't have to cook much, but for some reason there were still plenty of dishes to clean. My daughter gave me flowers and a chance to paint some more and my son gave me a chance to buy some new clothes. The love of my life bestowed upon me all of his abilities--and he has many--as we work on the on-going home improvements. The spa doesn't look so hot, but it is fully operational. That's hot!

I slept, I ate, I played. And I am blessed. Truly, what more could I ask for?

 A new mind set.

I am determined not to become one of those hoarder cat ladies and I'm on a tear to get rid of "stuff" I'm just hanging on to. If it doesn't make me happy, out it goes! (Goodwill and others are reaping the benefits. Can't just throw it away, right?)

I had a very nice briefcase. Black alligator. Stylish. And totally useless. I could get a notebook in it, a pencil or two and NOTHING ELSE! Out it went! I have to wonder if anyone can make use of it.

Which brings me to the EIM word for the week: briefcase. Anyone ever make use of the Windows program?

Me, neither.

I think I did better with the Zentangly things.

The Diva, to use only straight lines:

Straighten Up

And the IAST:

Catch a Rising Star

That's what I have to offer this week. Thanks for stopping by.
Have a brilliant day!

To Infinity and Beyond!

Since Life as we know it can be weird and coincidental, it really was no surprise that the EIM and the 2X2 had similar themes this week. For the TwobyTwo, the word was "Astronomy."

Since life gets really weird sometimes, I recently received some mail that fit perfectly. 

We're particularly fond of Pluto, even if it was downgraded from full planet status; it was at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff that Pluto's existence was first revealed in 1930. Last year, the New Horizon satellite took close-ups of Pluto before leaving the Solar System and the observatory was in celebration mode all year. (The plastic bead is meant to represent the satellite. Do you think that works? I'm not so sure and haven't committed to it yet!)

The stamp arrived on mail last week for a different celebration. According to my dad's calculations, I'm going to be 37. I could live with that!

Over at the EIM, the word is "Infinity." I had nowhere else to go with this one. I pasted Buzz on a photo of the M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. If you're a geek like me, APOD is one of my favorite blogs, care of NASA, from whence I found the galaxy photograph.

Over at the Diva, the challenge was to step back, relax and just do the tangle. I stepped into the zone slowly. I gathered some "real" art supplies for a change (Faber Castell Pitt Manga markers and Strathmore paper instead of my usual journal and Sharpies), as part of the intent of Zentangle is to honor the method as well as the materials; to place value on the process and the result.
To experience unmitigated JOY!

I said some prayers to Rick and Maria, the founders of all things Zentangle and to Laura, the Diva herself. You know? To instill a feeling of gratefulness. I added Jean next to my list as she was the first CZT I found on-line and how I found the Diva and the EIM. Naturally, I then prayed for Trillian, the leader of the EIM and the entire pack that tackles teenie artworks on a weekly basis. Then back to all the creatives I've met through Laura.

Oh! My heart is full to overflowing!

I poured a cuppa, cleared my desk and was instantly derailed by the antique cuckoo clock that was recently resurrected. The ticking drives me BATTY! (I won't start about the midnight cuckoos)! 

Deep breath. 

I asked the Universe for healing that comes with FOCUS. 

I drew the most complicated string I've ever done because that's the way it wanted to be and the tangles filled the spaces and the world slipped away for just ever so long. 

Then I reproduced that string and did it the old-fashioned way, for me anyway. Just me and my Sharpie (two, actually, as one was destined for the great Dustbin in the Sky).

I drew it in this orientation:

But, when I was done I rotated it and much prefer this direction:

I "do" this with "Knightsbridge"--checkerboard in Zentanglese-- often JFF*, but this was the first time I restrained myself from filling in EVERY. LAST. CORNER.

It had reached its "enough-ness." 

Since you were so kind to stop by, I've posted the string in all its glory on the G2H page. Should you decide to use it, show me your handiwork--I'd love to see it!-- and be so kind to link it back to the page where you found it. 

Thank you for visiting. I hope you have a brilliant day! 

* Just for Fun

Up in the Sky

In a funny little vignette where life met art this week, a clerk at Wal-Mart asked me, "What is UP?" Among the choices he offered were the ceiling and the sky. My response was, "Superman."
His reaction and that of my son (who I'm sure was wishing he was anywhere else than in my company at that moment) was, in unison, "Okaaaaaay."

I had already posted my photograph for the EIM--and thanks to all who ventured to my Flickr to see what I did earlier this week!--and was working on some other ideas. There are many ideas for "sky," aren't there?

Look! Up in the sky! It's Superman!
I also have the photo I took, one of the Aurora Borealis that I didn't, and a little drawing of trees at sunrise. I have only seen the Aurora once from my home in Massachusetts when it was particularly active, but it wasn't very photogenic. It still was a sight to see.

When I was in college, I would make these drawings of little trees and color in a very delicate sky.  I forgot all about them until I started thinking about ideas for "sky." I don't have any to show you, but I made this new one. I sold a few once upon a time; they must be worth millions by now.

All right, moving right along....

For the Diva, it was a monotangle of Tripoli. I feel about Tripoli the way I do about purple and petunias and purple petunias. If you dropped by last week, you know all about that. So, I attempted to make amends with all of that all at once.

Then I made this sampler. I keep this journal page as a reference.

For the IAST, I also drew two; one traditional, one not-so-much.

That is Faber Castell sepia pens on a light tan Canson paper with purple and lilac Crayola pencils. While you know by now that I generally stay away from purple, it is THE color to go to when working with brown. Something magical happens between those two colours. (Same thing applies to violet eye shadow or mascara and brown eyes. You'll see. If that is too far outside your comfort zone, try navy blue).

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to. Follow the links to check out all the other talented artists who follow these challenge blogs. Or try your own hand in it!

And before you go, one last "sky:"

Maybe all your sunrises be Tequila sunny!