"Gray Mouse" pen

Hickory dickory dock,

the mouse ran up the clock.

The clock stuck one,

the mouse ran down.

Hickory, dickory, dock.

"Brown Widow" pen

I kid you not, this is a brown not a black widow. It is a spider of a sienna hue with a speckled pattern on it's back. Another sketch in my pest collection.

"The Fisherman" pen

This little doodle just kind of grew out of a drawing of a nose.

"Little Fly" pen

After the wasp drawing I thought of other pests, and the king of all bothersome midges is the mosquito. It carries death to over 2 million people each year in the form of malaria.

"Wasp" pen

These guys are the original party crashers. Just one wasp can cause the toughest, biggest, and meanest guy run like a five year old girl.

"Bird Doodling" pen

Busy day.

"The Palomino" pencil

How to draw a horse: When drawing the head show all bumps. Make sure all of the legs can be seen. And don't be afraid to show all the "junk in the trunk".

"Starring" pencil

Sketching someone in a starring contest.

"Griffin" pen

I was looking at coat of arms today, and the images of a griffin struck me. It is a cool mishmash of predators.

"Bird boy" pen

"Holy Cow" pen

A sketch of the Brahma bull of India.

"Balancing Trick" watercolor pencil

Here is a one trick elephant.

"The Green Dodo" watercolor

'To go the way of the Dodo'

"Forward, backward, inward, outward, come and join the chase! Nothing could be drier than a jolly caucus-race. Backward, forward, outward, inward, bottom to the top, never a beginning there can never be a stop to skipping, hopping, tripping, fancy free and gay, I started it tomorrow and will finish yesterday. Round and round and round we go, and dance for evermore, once we were behind but now we find we are be-forward, backward, inward, outward, come and join the chase! Nothing could be drier than a jolly caucus-race. For backward...I say! You'll never get dry that way! "

The Dodo, Alice in Wonderland

"Gold fish" pen

I have been doodling more fish for today.

"Beta Fish" pen

Here is a beta fish for today's post. They are beautiful but mean little fish.

Still playing around with photography today.

I was back down in Scipio this weekend. These photos are of a little one room house built by my great grandfather in 1944. It is on a piece of property north of town. The house was built out of railroad ties, bricks, and plaster. It is the type of bunk house with room for a bet and a cook stove. This is where my grandparents spent part of their honeymoon.A nice quiet place free from distraction.

"Hidden" digital photo

Here is my little girl "hidden" among the grape vines.

"Brook Trout" watercolor

I am still using up the green paint for this little brook trout. It has been awhile since I have been fishing, The hot weather makes it harder to catch these guys.

"Papa" watercolor

Papa Hemingway is today's subject.

"Butch Cassidy" pencil

Congratulations to Sarah, Britta, and Dad for making the comments and winning the rooster print. Today's drawing in the sketchbook is of the old western outlaw Butch Cassidy.

Win this print!!!

"Rick" lino-block print

Those who know me, know that I have had a thing for roosters. Scene my first two-man art show in 1998 until today. This is a small lino-cut print, approx. 4"x5". It is a small edition of only 10 proofed prints.

I am going to try something new with this blog. I will give away a print to the first 3 people to make a comment to this post. I will announce the winners by Wednesday 8/11/10. I will ask the the winners to email me their address so that I can mail out the print to them.

"Raven Brother sketch" pen

I was attracted to this bird because of the wings which transformed from an extension of the birds body, into something of it's own.

"white rabbit" pencil

This is a small sketch from a sculpture that I saw on a coffee table.

"Thirst Pig" pastel

'That's some Pig!!!"

"In the Garden" marker/watercolor

The roughness of this sketch is supposed to reflect it's theme.

"Scout" watercolor

I am still looking to old portrait photographs for inspiration.

"The Astronomer" watercolor

This morning I read an article about the astronomer who discovered the moons of Mars. His name is Asaph Hall. In 1877 Asaph spent several consecutive nights watching the planet Mars at the US Naval Observatory. It is while doing this that he observed two objects which appeared to be moving around Mars. He named the moons after the sons of the Greek god Ares (the Greek version of Mars). Phobos (fear) and Deimos (dread) are both irregular in shape, an now astronomers believe that they are asteroids which were captured by Mars orbit.

Yes I missed making a post yesterday!!!

I was out of town in "rural" country for a family reunion.

These are some photos that I took this weekend of the old milk barn on my grandparents farm.

I remember getting up early in the morning to help my grandma herd the cows to the coral to be milked by my grandpa. It was a small barn, we could only milk 4 cows at a time.

I was fascinated

by watching the milk travel from the milking machine through tubes into the oth

er room where it went into the bulk tank. We would skim the cream from the top of the milk and give it to the cats to enjoy. One of my chores that I distinctly remember is clean-up the barn after milking. This basically entailed me shoveling out a lot of manure.

Not the most pleasant job, but an important one. I think that I was given that job specifically to learn one of "life lessons". And trust me, those lessons are still used in dealing with the "manure" that life likes to dish out.