Category: writing

Inspiration and Sea Monsters

Inspiration can come from…anywhere. This sketch was inspired by the shadow of my bathtub faucet when backlit by candles! The shadows created by my hands when I photographed the sketch with my phone added unintended depth!

Cat Sketching

This summer I’ve been sketching my cat at least once a day. Sometimes I sketch the friendly squirrels of Baltimore too. (They are especially friendly if I have nuts.) The sketches prime my creative pump and get me started for the rest of the day, no matter if I paint or write, or both!

Writing and Awareness

As I work on the craft of writing, I find myself observing people more closely. Here’s one sketch based on a gesture that happened within two seconds.

My Cat Is Cute (acrostic poem)

Marvelous soft fur

Your sharp teeth and

Claws may scratch my skin but whether you

Are running or meowing or sleeping you are

Tabby extraordinaire

Idly mischievous

So

Cute curled

Under the couch

That I don’t care if you claw the furniture

Either.

Pigeons

I’m an urban naturalist. That means that I love my city (Baltimore) and enjoy wandering around looking at its denizens-pigeons, squirrels, sparrows, starlings, seagulls, and the occasional cardinal and junco ( a sparrow size bird with white belly and black head). There is a pigeon roost near me-an abandoned building with concrete bricks that the pigeons adore. Here’s some pictures!

Baby

I don’t usually paint from photographs – preferring studio still lifes or plein air painting. But someone posted a picture of their beautiful child and I was inspired.

Watercolors Whirling

Lately I’ve gotten back into watercolor painting. The tree paintings were inspired by a photograph by my friend Sooyong Kim. I found a caterpillar pencil sketch from summer and decided to color it. The abstract came from testing colors on a scrape piece of paper but I really like it!

Inspiration by Internet

Recently I watched several videos of watercolor painting and decided to try a looser hand than I normally use. I played with this in my studio while dreaming of warmer days.