These Five Muses...

...are Rochester bound...

anxious to bond with some artistic art sistas

for a wonder filled 4 day

art retreat.

(Play time, laughs, and girlfriend bonding

highly encouraged.)

YESSS!!!

Please click on image for a really clear view...;)

"The most potent muse of all is our own inner child."
~Stephen Nachmanovitch
(American musician and educator)

Raw and Unedited...

NOTE:

Please click on each image for a clearer view...

Sorry about the pixelation problems here...

scanner issues I assume.

AARGH!

...some artful pen play...

retrieved and posted

by my Muse

from the cobwebs in her mind

and

several long ignored pages of my "Musings" sketchbook.

 

"Drawing

is a frame of mind,

a loving embrace if you will."

~Susan Avishai



Aspen Starfall...Remembering Sue

Susan V. Krahenbuhl

November 26, 1960-March 23, 2012

We continue to hold you gently in our hearts

and
think of you with a smile
each time
we remember the sparkle in your eyes...
the love in your heart...
and
the never ending strength in your spirit.
We see
you in the twinkling stars of the desert night sky...
we hear you
in the soft rustle of the Colorado aspens...
we feel you
in the soothing warmth of the western sun.
You are always with us.
We will
always love you.

"To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die."
~Thomas Campbell,
Hallowed Ground

Getting Back...

...to making fabulously free and wonderfully wonky drawings

in my illustrated sketchbook.

Each is made

lead free...ink straight in...

and watercolored a few days later, at home.

Sometimes, 

I feel like I need to draw...just like I need to breathe.

I have truly missed you, girl!

Ahhhh!

 

"Drawing is a frame of mind, a loving embrace if you will."

~Susan Avishai

Down on the Farm...

 ...a wonderful, serenely glorious, girls day out!

 

"Everything is blooming most recklessly;

if it were voices instead of colors,

there would be

an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night." 

~Rainer Maria Rilke,

Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

A Special Birthday Remembrance...

...of a beautiful, love filled soul: Aunt Gretchen... on this day, may you continue to joyfully fly with the angels, brightening our hearts, and landing softly on the shoulders of those you love... comforting and guiding us along our way. We miss you greatly.   "May God grant you always... A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you."

~Irish Blessing



With Forward Focus...

...I present here

my driving forces for 2014...

exploding like a cosmic blossom from my heart...

colorful, determined, and strong:

Draw,

Leap,

Cherish,

Love,

Inspire,

Give,

Learn,

Be.

That should just about cover it.



I Need to Go To Rehab...

...to take care of this week long (ARTzona withdrawal)

MIGRAINE I have been having!!!

I really miss
all my artistic sisters
and all that wonderful 24/7 addictive art fun we had.
Things are artfully quiet these days.
I think my migraine felt the void and hopped right in!

Actually...

I cannot really blame ARTzona for my discomfort...

although my Muse wouldn't agree.

Unfortunately,

my migraine situation is

definitely a very, very fierce reality...and

I felt just like I look in my sketch above...all week.

 Fortunately, 

thanks to Imitrix, the pain seems to be easing

a bit...good news.

I am certainly glad I am not a die hard Denver Bronco fan

as I don't think my brain would

bounce back to normal...

ev-er!

"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."
~Kenjii Miyazawa

"Hmmm, I'm not too sure of that, Kenjii..."
~Me...;)

No Rhyme..Nor Reason...

...Just a massive "End of the Year"

sketchbook blog "dump"...of unpublished (unblogged) drawings

taken from the pages of my

Red Hand.Book.

No holds are barred here.

Hence...you will see the good...

the bad...

and the ugly...

as well as the finished and the unfinished...

the colored and the "ink only"...

the single day and the multiple day...

waiting room...television watching...feel like drawing

doodles, and scribbles,

and 

just plain "pen dancing" events of my sketchbook life.

Each page was made "ink straight in"...

no lead sketches or markings or guidelines...

just raw pen markings

finding their way across my sketchbook pages....

which were usually balanced uncomfortably

on my lap.

No wonder there is a bit of wonkiness

to this collection...;)

Enjoy!

And, now...a collection of "drawing" quotations

to inspire your artistic Muse

and

help you jump start a new year of artistic

exploration and fun!

;)

"Drawing

is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression,

a species of writing:

it reveals,

better than does painting, his true personality."

 ~Edgar Degas

"A drawing a day keeps the cobwebs away." 

~Robert Genn

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing."

~Vincent van Gogh

"Draw everywhere and all the time.

An artist is a sketchbook with a person attached."

~Irwin Greenberg

"When my daughter was about seven years old,

she asked me one day what I did

at work.

I told her I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people

how to draw.

She stared back at me, incredulous,

and said,

'You mean they forget?' " 

~Howard Ikemoto

A Sign of the Season...

...a solitary "ghost pumpkin" at twilight...

all snuggly and happy...

nestled within some early autumnal foliage...

looking skyward...

patiently

awaiting the sparkly splendor of

the coming nightfall

and the rise of the long awaited harvest moon. 

I love this time of year!

“The true harvest of my life is intangible...

 - a little star dust caught,

a portion of the rainbow I have clutched."

~Henry David Thoreau

September...Already????

...Just how can this really be???

As you may have noticed...or NOT noticed...

 there has been an enormous

lack of any kind of activity here on my blog...

even

 after I faithfully PROMISED to you all

that this year would be different.

Well, in reality, it actually has been...different...

...sort of.

There have been a number of remarkable "firsts" that

have occurred during the past 30 days.

The past month has found me driving a couple of

thousand miles...(a recent "first")...

and seeing a region named after a couple of thousand islands

(an actual real "first").

It has found me

drawing and painting a "bajillion" artist trading cards...

(not really a "first"),

and...best of all...it had found me

visiting family in beautiful upstate New York...

(definitely the BEST "first" of them all!).

The artist trading card above was inspired by

 my grape loving cousin Cathy

and the glory of being in a Cranberry Lake

"state of mind".

I find...blessed by the golden wisdom age provides...

that

there are those special moments in our lives

when the stars seem to align

 and

all seems perfectly right...

the exact way it was somehow destined to be..

from the beginning of time.

Cranberry Lake made that happen for me

and

 memories of my short time there

will bring a warm happy smile to my heart...

for a long, long, long, long time.

"What is the definition of a good wine?

It should start and end

with a smile.”

~William Sokolin 

An In Flight Illo...

...letting my mind wander and dream as we flew

over the quilt like ranches and farmlands of the central plains...

a "no holds barred" peek at some

imperfect pen dancing.

“Dreams are illustrations...from the book your soul is writing about you.”

~ Marsha Norman