IF: Instinct

Border Collies have a strong herding instinct. Here is a painting of one who is thinking about herding something in his backyard, probably a flock of birds or some of the cats he lives with.










(gouache and watercolor pencil on paper)

What did you do this weekend?

I painted pictures of Moochie. Here is one of them (the other has been moved to IF: Instinct).

gouache and graphite on canvas board

The canvas board painting was an experiment, actually. I'd never painted on canvas board before, so I wasn't entirely sure how it would turn out. I think canvas board is mostly for thick paints, like oils and acrylics, but it took gouache and graphite like a champ. Canvas board is not ideal for thin paints, though, because the pattern of the canvas fabric shows through. In this case, however, I think it helps emphasize the cartoon-like quality of Moochie in the painting. It's nice when stuff works out.

The other painting was painted on my favorite type of paper: cold pressed watercolor board. It's a joy to paint on. Even the subject of the painting appears happy to have been painted on cold pressed watercolor board. Observe how pleased he looks: His calm countenance; the secretive smile. He's like the Mona Lisa, for Pete's sake!

It's time for a drink now.

IF: Celebrate

more fun with graphite wash

I'm in love

I bought a new graphite pencil last week. It's one of those ones you can use with water. I love it. This sleepy cat is graphite wash on a watercolor test strip.

IF: Flawed

This is my somewhat flawed retelling of King Arthur's conception, inspired by the movie Excaliber. Naturally, the comic contains sex. So if you are uptight about that sort of thing, you should probably leave now. Enjoy the show.

All images on this web site © 2009 - Laura Marsh

IF: Climbing

Today I watched Jean Cocteau's 1946 version of Beauty and the Beast. It is one of my favorite movies. Here is an image inspired by the film. It is of Belle, under the spell of the Beast's enchanted glove, climbing through the wall into her father's house.

Nice doggy

Idol sketching

Pachyderms on a pilgrimage

Madame Mina's Wagon of Supernatural Delights

Anyone watch the Inauguration today? I doodled this during some/most/all of the televised festivities. It started as just her toes & now look at it.

Goofing off

I've had the same thought for several weeks now.
The voice inside my head (the creative one) has been asking:
How cool would it be to have a blog devoted to extemporaneous art?

And the answer is: pretty dag-gone cool.

Here's a true story:

I used to know an artist whose work I still admire from afar. One day she showed me a sketch of a beautiful woman who unfortunately had a messy, squiggling line scratched through her form. I told the artist how much I liked her drawing, and that it was too bad the body was obscured by the errant marks (I assumed that someone had carelessly scribbled on the creation). But the artist told me that if it hadn't been for the scribble, the drawing wouldn't exist. The beautiful woman was born out of the scrawl.

It took me a while to fully appreciate the sentiment. It's part of the reason I've decided to listen to the creative voice and start this project already. We'll see how it goes.