Waiting for Alice, 32x42

Alone in a cabin in Maine....
....I spent the evenings contemplating what I was going to do.  Roby-King Gallery had decided to make their December show based on the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland.   This was not exactly in my comfort zone.....but why not give it a whirl....

One evening, with sketchbook sitting in my lap, I began to let my pen wander across the page with only a minimum of conscious control.  As the drawing developed I realized that I was putting down what was going on just before Alice happens to enter Wonderland.

From where she is she can't really see Lewis Carroll riding by behind the tree, or the other characters behind and above her.  It's one of those quiet moments just before something momentous happens.

We have all experienced these pivotal points and how, on one side of that life changing event we are going along pretty normally, and on the other everything has dramatically altered.

Here is the initial sketch plus some of the extra drawings I did to work things out.  Not all made the cut.  The opening of the show is this Friday, December 4th at Roby King here on beautiful Bainbridge Island, WA.

There are more drawings but you get the idea.  Thanks for stopping by.  Leave a comment if you have time.

ADDENDUM:  Here we are on opening night....

Cottenwood Down II, 12x14

Hand warmers, toe warmers, long underwear and rain gear....it was still cold but so worth the little discomfort to be able to stand in front of this scene for an hour.

It is now more than a year from that day.  Yesterday I took a workshop in 'gouache resist' from a very talented person with 27 (I think) children's books in print.  She has used this technique for many of them with outstanding results.  Pierr Morgan's website is HERE and her blog is HERE.

There has been a children's book on the way back burner for a long time but I never found a technique that I wanted to use for it until I saw some of Pierr's work.  So I took her one day workshop and played and learned about it.

I've painted with gouache for well over a decade and never heard of 'gouache resist'.  Because dry gouache is still water soluble the whole idea seemed bizarre.  I had to know more.

After several attempts in the workshop I was searching for something else to do when I spied Cottenwood Down II hanging across the room, leftover from the Friday artwalk.  OK.  Now realize that this was my first experience with this technique and there are many things not going the way I expected.....but this is what I got using that painting more as an inspiration than a guide:

Not bad.  Possibility.  Certainly playful.

Here is another from the book idea:

Pretty cool.  Check out Pierr's website for more information on the technique and examples of her books.

Cool Red Nose 2, 6x6

These clowns spend their free time....when they aren't clowning around....visiting the kid's wards at hospitals, boosting immune systems with laughter, a la Patch Adams.   I think I could be good at this.  Wonder where I can get an application.....like I need one more project.

This guy had 'glow in the sun' pink hair but he looks better with it toned down a bit.  All of these small paintings were done with a 3/8  inch and 5/8 inch soft bright brush, sometimes held on its side for small places.

Have you ever wanted to be a clown?

Remodelling

I'm taking time to remodel....but still had to throw in some art.  This is a digital painting from one of my 'critters' that I draw in moments of whimsy.   Should be back posting in about a week.  Keep drawing, keep painting, keep on.