My First Coffee Shop Sketch

 

I've never done one of these before because I was always afraid of angering the person I was drawing. I've been reading Elizabeth Alley's blog and Derrick Dent's advice on doing this, and I finally tried it. He didn't seem to mind it at all.

I'm glad I tried this out -- I will be doing more of these!

It's definitely raccoons in our attic. It's a mother with one or two baby raccoons. We sprinkled some stuff that's supposed to make them go away, but, upon further reflection, I don't think she can take the baby out until it gets older. I feel bad for sprinkling the stuff - it's supposed to be like pepper spray.

Work in progress

What I did today

Pope Francis, 2013

 Oil on paper

12 in x 12 in

Violets

I once tried to do a series of portraits of violets. It failed because I took it too seriously- I imagined that the violet had a violet family, and I tried to make a portrait the other violets would recognize and even appreciate. I realized how insane this was when I showed it to my first grade students, and one of them asked me how long it had taken me. When I told her that each violet had taken an entire day, she gave me an incredulous and pitying look. "Really?!"

I think I will finish it next spring, though.

Obama

This painting is for sale.

Bicycling

Sometimes I think that life is truly all about bicycling.