Thirteen birthday cards

This was perhaps the biggest part of Asha's birthday gift. I drew & watercolored thirteen cards, and wrote a memory of Asha in each.

This may not seem like a big deal, but the thing is, I can't draw birds. I have never really understood their shapes, or anatomy. I've never even been much of a bird person, or thought about them much, except for pigeons. So this took a lot of research and practice. I did at least one, sometimes 4 or 5, full color figure studies for each, to figure out how to make them look right.

Selecting the birds was also a big project, but lots of fun. I really wanted to play with their forms- the king fisher with the large head, the kiwi is nearly teardrop shaped, the asian blue quail might as well be a fancy jelly bean. Several were chosen for their colors, I loved the black and white birds, some greys, mixed in with the bright tropical ones. I picked the Japanese crane for it's dance, and the flamingo because it was the only bird I was excited about drawing in flight. Anyway, by the end, there was something very special about each!

Proposing part eleven: 2 turtle doves

A simple gift. I wanted to spend that Friday evening with Erik, and knew I had a lot to do the next day.

The funny thing is, while I was drawing it, he walked over and handed me a little thank you card, gave me a hug, and told me thanks for all that I do for him..... On the back of this drawing, before I started, I had written "Thank you for being my friend<3". Ha ha! Did I mention we also managed to get each other the exact same birthday gift this year? (a particular type of sake pitcher, designed for serving sake chilled)

Please note the colors of the birds, for the next post.

propsing part seven: 6 geese -a- laying

At first, I wasn't sure what to do about six geese -a-laying. I mean, they're basically in labor, right? I considered wither doing the geese or the eggs. At one point I had it written down in my notes to make 6 truffles shaped like eggs. It would have been cool - back there would have been nothing to keep.

I decided to use a pun again. 6 lazy, chubby, white geese, laying around. I did a couple of test drawings, and wound up with this one. It was another gift that was last minute - and I stayed at work late one night to finish it. But, it's become beloved. Erik said it was his favorite, and I've heard similar things from a few friends. Of the small cards that mirrored the gifts, this one had to be my favorite. Their little feet are just so teeny! And I couldn't even draw beaks that tiny.

So here are the lazy geese. Love them or hate them - they don't really care what you think. Or what they think. They are just too tired.

I ran out of stamps!

So only half of these went out today. Sorry!

Also I took a long walk sun, and wrote a lovely post for you about it, which blog press (my iPhone blogging app) promtley deleted. When I stop being annoyed, I will re-write it!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Columbia Rd,Seattle,United States

Happy new year!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything! We've had a very busy Fall, and in the coming months have decided to take it easy on travel & visitors. So, I thought it would be a good time to start up with this blog again.

I may have posts in the next few weeks about our travels, but for now, I just want to show you the thank you cards I made today. The water color paper was really tricky! it was very prone to bleeding. So, some were a little wonky, but I really like others.




These are the flowers Erik brought me when he picked me up at the airport a couple of weeks ago. I don't usually draw from life, but I was very inspired by their pretty lines and fading colors.





I also decided to try to draw this cactus for some reason!


Others include overipe kiwi's clinging to a winter vine, a dandelion clock, somewhat blurry beets, a hugley fanned gingko, medlars, pears, medlars and pears again, a giant radish, a unicorn, and one more kiwi vine.