Some quick doodles.  They are a combination of male human anatomy and animal anatomy.  These are so much fun because they have a wonderful flow; from the head to the tail and lots of ellipses thrown in.  Lately I tend to draw them a lot because of the opportunity of "gestural calligraphy" of which I had learned from Mark Westermoe and Paul Wee many years ago. 

Been so busy with work, personal projects, kid home from school (summer break), and getting rid of lots of stuff to Goodwill and Salvation Army; cleansing my home and continuing the fight of keeping my landscape alive thru this horrible heat.  Only been to the beach once.  No time to paint (traditionally) but I am making progress with the most gorgeous business card and hopefully will have it done soon~and printed.  Then I can finally do a bang up job on doing the final pencil on Shoten Zenjin now that I have the printer up and running~YAY!

How has your summer progressed?

Another side project~I've been also making some incredible jewelry to sell; combing the local Swap Meet for tiny vintage pieces and beads and wire wrapping them into petite and unique necklaces and bracelets.  Everywhere I go, women want to know where I bought my jewelry and once they find out that I make them want to know if I will be selling.  Currently I've made about 10 beautiful and precious pieces and will be selling them in Ojai~dat's the plan and then have some available on the internet.  But not ready yet.  Will be creating another blog to feature these remarkable pieces inspired from the past that you can wear but not just yet.  I'll keep ya posted.  It is just another extension of how to create color harmonies from vintage and antique pieces while paying attention to silohuettes and materials~based upon my understanding and experience with painting and illustration.  It's inspired by the Victorian and Edwardian Age, of which I've just fallen in love with~KMZ

Also been playing around with some Photoshop brushes that I found free online.  I've heard some really good digital paint artists say that the brushes do not matter, but I beg to differ.  I have been so frustrated with the brushes that I have and maybe it's because I like to paint traditionally and know this method intimately and expect more from digital brushes.  But switching from traditional paint methods to digital is really like learning a new language, at least, for me.  This is a re do for my new business card.

Just a quick little lunch acrylic sketch.  Honestly, I have had no time to do anything traditional these days, but you have to keep the hand loose and the mind engaged.  Bought some "rounds" (brushes for sketch) online from Utretch for Mother's Day gift to self and just now am playing with them.  This is done on a sketch tablet (real paper here, people) Strathmore Drawing Medium pad which I use as my traveling sketch book for now.  These are great; I carry a few 6"x8" tablets because they are light and don't get the attention a bigger sketch tablet might for discreet sketching in public.  The late Barbara Bradley of The Art Academy had encouraged me to use these instead of a heavier bound sketch book.  They can handle sketches as well as paint, altho paint colors are muddy because the paper is not the best quality.  I still like my Bristol Vellum papers which help to capture the colors in the fibers instead of dulling them out like the Strathmore sketchpads.