Could not walk down a little farther to the makeshift bridge.
He jumped right across the river
Above the spawning salmon.
It happened so fast.
A melee ensued.
The salmon scrambled,
The three not-so-blind mice wanted some,
And the owls swooped them up
Which cleared the way for the gnome to run home to safety.
The spoon had a date with a can of pork and beans,
So the fork ran away with the dish.
Egg yolk tastes good said the fish.
Aaahh, dear friends: let not my drawings and posts give the false impression that I have all the time in the world. I don't. I am physically still recovering from my frenzied and hectic week, two weeks ago. It is still busy but I stopped pushing myself to the point that I was popping ibuprofen for muscle aches from stress every four hours. I promised to write emails and letters. I promised to mail packages. I have not done them. I am just tired. See? I am not a superwoman. I just happen to enjoy drawing. Oh and another thing. I fell the other day and badly injured both knees. They are so much better now except they look like small blueberry pancakes. I jump and scream in agony when Daisy and Wheezy greet me with their whacking tails and nudges.
Sometimes when he or she is looking back, I look at someone I love, and I keep on gazing at him or her, and just try to be aware of my feelings...I gulp and I choke and have to catch my breath, then look away otherwise I will cry because I am so happy. The intensity rattles me. Sometimes I just look at a photograph then close my eyes. I hear their voices. They are so near. I keep on remembering and recalling. I cannot help it and sometimes ask why things happen. I can hear my agonizing scream in the midst of silence. There are some things that affect me profoundly. I am madly in love and love those I love. It does not matter that some of them are no longer here. I love them just the same. My saving grace is that there are not very many people I truly love. I would not know how to handle it. I cannot be a liar and a hypocrite and say that I love many people. I don't. In fact, I abhor so many, but I also like many. I would never trust anyone who says they love everybody. One loves humanity but not every person. The people I love know I love them.
Tatty Dumpty. No.5 in a Series of A Dozen Eggs Known As The Lesser Known Dumptys.
The Good Egg Photographer Photographing The Good Eggs' Class Photograph For Posterity
8"x10: Archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board
In honor of my Father, who was a photographer. I love you Tatay. A friend of mine from childhood and elementary school with whom I reconnected through Facebook left this message for me: "Ces, I came across some old photos of my dad's and guess who the photographer was - your dad! Wow, what a legacy he had left you all." That was so heartwarming for me to read.
This drawing is also in honor of all my friends from elementary, high school, pre-nursing, college and university classmates who have been busy arriving from all over the world to attend the many reunions happening everywhere. Can you believe my elementary school class is planning a reunion in Illinois in the fall?
And one more thing, thank you dearest Bella Sinclair. I've never had so much fun drawing many happy little faces!!!
Other Lesser Known Dumptys: Humptoro-D2, Thinky Dumpty, Uppity Dumpty, and Dainty Dumpty
Dainty Dumpty. 8"x10" archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board
Uppity Dumpty. 8"x10" archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board.
Humptoro-D2. Archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board
While their cousin Humpty Dumpty was famous, these lesser known Dumptys achieved more by simply not falling apart; although some of them were clearly cracked in their pursuit of heights and widths. I actually drew these first two illustrations especially for IF. Most often I just hope what I am drawing will work for the prompt. I did however, want to draw some Mother Goose Rhymes-inspired characters for a new series. Oh look! They look just like acorns. On the left, Tanoak acorn.
My Brothers. 8"x10" Archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol Board
Passion Flower photographed by Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio
I have written this before. You know what a good brother does for me? He reminds me never to lose hope in men. I have two brothers. They remind me that they always have something to offer, that they care and love and are smart and intelligent and a lot of fun, that they will protect me and support me and love me no matter how stoic they are and how they never say how much they love me. I just know that they do. I know they hurt as much as my sisters and I did when we lost our sister. They were there at her bedside when she was ill, constantly, quietly. I sometimes wonder how they felt. I never saw them cry. They just looked in the distance or within. I love my brothers. I love them even though when I was a little girl growing up I mercilessly fought with them under unfair rules. They were not allowed to hit, neither was I but nothing stopped me and I got away with it. It's a good thing they were older because they just had to hold my arm up in the air until a kicked and screamed for them to let me go.
This past weekend, I worked at home for a project implementation. In between work sessions I managed to start a drawing, a tribute to my brothers. I have been looking at my brother Ernesto's photographs of plants and flowers. I hope he likes this and won't complain that I put him and Nonoy Danny in the middle of the garden. My brother Daniel is actually a plant lover and quite a gardener. While I have never seen Ernesto plant anything, he loves to take photographs of plants and flowers and read in the garden. This is my tribute to my brothers.
I broke my brother ukulele once. I don't think I will ever forget that, nor forgive myself. They are both engineers. My brothers never complain about me. They are peaceful men who read a lot. They never criticize me. They only smile at the things I do. Ernesto and I discuss a lot of politics and religion. We argue a lot. I love my brothers. I am so proud of them.
When I was in the Black Hills, I met an old man at Wall Drug Store who told me a secret. Tall tale perhaps. We were high up there in the mountains, after all...
This is one of five drawings I started almost four years ago. This one was inspired by the Black Hills,where there is a little known tale about Trout Lake. It's not really Trout Lake, the real name of the lake is some obscure Indian name which translate to "The water hole below two mountain witches."
According to the old man, the mountain witches were once two beautiful sisters who constantly fought and bickered and did not want to do anything with each other. One day they were fighting so loudly, it irritated the mountain god who turned them into stones immortalizing their angry faces. Now they look at each other day and night unable to say anything to one another. They are surrounded by their posses of even uglier friends. But telling that legend is not my intention. Instead, I am going to share a secret. You see, according to the old man, Trout Lake cannot be found anywhere on a map. The only landmark is the humpback tree by the road after the second Needle in the wildlife circle. There are no entry ways. Cars cannot park on the side of the road because there are no shoulders and so the fishermen have to walk for 45 minutes from the nearest parking lot. By the humpback tree, the fishermen have to descend from the main road by climbing down the boulders. I think there are snakes...
There are no trails. However, one fisherman's clever wife left a Fiesta carafe along the path pointing the spout towards the right direction. Sometimes, some mischievous fisherman would point the spout to the wrong direction, so instead of going down the river, the other fishermen end up in a campground by the First Elephant Hall. When they see the rock walls, they will understand why people call it such. Very few fishermen ever find this fishing hole. Everyone wants to be the lucky one.
Sometimes there are Boy Scouts hiking from a campground farther west. When the canopy becomes thin and the sky is visible, the lucky fisherman knows he is near the lake but dangers abound. There are wild animals living in dens, one wrong turn and he ends up in their territory.
Worse, he gets in the middle of gunfire during hunting season. When he finds himself in the hall of the second elephant, he can start relaxing for he is well on his way...
But all is not clear. There is another den just off the Calavera. Otherwise, congratulations to him. He found the perfect fishing spot.
Now, I cannot really vouch for this story because we had to leave the next day plus I did not want to spend on a fishing license. Plus that old man kept on referring to the masculine gender. Hmph!
Noodle. 4"x4" archival pen and ink drawing on 6"x6" Bristol board.
Hello there! How are you? I am very busy with work. That's all I have been doing lately. Just work, sleep and eat if I don't forget. I go home exhausted and spent. Here's a little something I doodled yesterday while waiting for my screens to refresh and eating lunch at my desk. Now, I know some of you will say, it is not a doodle; but the truth is, it is just a bunch of noodle-like pen strokes. Okay then, if you don't think it is just a doodle, let's call it a noodle. Alright, that is so corny. My daughter will roll her eyes if she reads this. I am really in serious need of downtime, if only to refresh my mind and tell better jokes. Take care dears and thank you for stopping by.
Here is something you can do. Do you admire an artist? Print an image of the work and blow it up 50%. You will see the secret. Just a bunch of lines. What are you waiting for? Start doodling. It's not a big deal. It's only pen and ink. Go ahead, show me. You should see my early illustrations... What am I saying? You have seen them.. You cannot be afraid of the pen. You have nothing to lose. Just develop your own style.
Weeping Willow. 8"x11" Archival pigment ink on 14"x17" Bristol board.
Thank you for kind and supportive comments on my previous post. I woke up with back pain today, probably from fatigue and exhaustion from Friday night's on call duties. I kept getting paged every hour or two just as soon as I dozed off to sleep after resolving each problem. By 5:30 AM on Saturday I was so tired. I spent Saturday morning asleep in bed. when I woke up, I was still sleepy and then achy, I started this drawing. I had to use a magnifying glass to draw some sections of this drawing. The woman's face is tinier than the fingernail on my little finger and the mushrooms are even smaller.
Instead of sitting down, I decided to draw standing up, so I set up one of my oil painting easels that converts to a drawing table but instead of setting it flat, I set it upright so I can stand. This is what I did today. I drew standing up to nurse my back pain which felt better if I stood up straight. However, because I was asleep yesterday, I was not able to do laundry. I did laundry today and in between each load and folding, I continued drawing. I finished it this evening. What do I see? I keep boring myself. I am drawing the same things, trees, grass, rocks, plants, woman...ah!
I hope you had a blessed and happy Easter Sunday celebration. This week I will be preparing for my project implementations next Sunday. It will be a busy week for me. Wishing all of you a safe, productive and happy enjoyable week. Tsup!
P.S. My back is better. It was just from being up one night from being on call. A weekend of rest helped a lot. Thank you for your concerns. Tsup!
