Still Life With Baseball Idioms (or Spring Training 2024)

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day 2024! Has a baseball term ever made you hungry? This post's for you! How many idioms can you spot in this illustration?

[Memory lane:  2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Still Life with Cactus and Grapefruit (or Spring Training 2018)

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day 2018! This year, I went with the first fully formed idea that popped into my brain. Sometimes (especially when one is in the middle of a difficult baseball-themed picture book dummy) it's nice to not think too hard about scenes and movement and characters, and just play around with color and shape and mark-making and wink-wink whimsy 

So go forth, young pitchers and grizzled catchers (and vice versa.) Get thee to the Cactus League of Arizona and the Grapefruit League of Florida. Bring on the baseball, universe. In so many ways, I'm ready for spring.

[Memory lane:  2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017]

Kids!

I've been drawing an awful lot of adults lately, mostly for Every Reds Hall of Famer. Which is cool and all, but it's time to draw some kids.  So I took to Facebook to see what my youngest relatives had been up to lately and gave 'em the old pencil and paper treatment.

 

Happy summer!

Illustration Friday: GROUNDED

One morning she found an unusually large turnip... When she pulled it up she was surprised to find that it left a hole
through which she could look down upon the green earth.

For this week's topic, I decided to dig into my old work a bit.  These two pieces were created back in college to illustrate the folk tale "The Girl Who Climbed to the Sky."  The story tells of a girl named Sapana who is kidnapped by a porcupine man, forced to marry him, and kept captive in his kingdom in the sky--so she's grounded but actually far above the ground itself. With a little digging, a little ingenuity and the help of a few bird friends, Sapana makes it back home safely. 

She hung there for a long time, swinging back and forth above the trees..."Come and help me," she called to Buzzard. The bird glided under her feet several times, and Sapana told him all that had happened to her.

Art? You want art?

Does this count as art? One day I'll post a recipe to this blog for the finest muffins in all the land, but today I bring you the finest brownies in all the land. Enjoy. I know I will.

Illustration Friday: UNDONE

Two years ago, I responded to the Illustration Friday prompt word "juggle" with a picture of a chef juggling the ingredients for strawberry shortcake. Maybe you remember?

Then this fall I had an art show at a local restaurant and sold that illustration. Hurray, right? Yes, but someone else wanted to buy that piece. So I was commissioned to do another drawing like... well, a lot like that one. With a twist, to keep things interesting. This is the result:



A recipe is just a finished meal undone, right? Broken down to its most basic elements.

...and more food art!

I love red onions. I'm not sure if they taste better than their less colorful cousins or if I just like a little purple on my plate...

warming up

Getting back in the swing of drawing with something fun and simple... food art!

The almighty mason jar

My first foray into canning last weekend didn't just result in 60 jars of tomato sauce, whole tomatoes, applesauce, and apple conserve. It also birthed the idea for this illustration. Five people + ten hours + one kitchen = production on all fronts!

Well, hello there!

It's been nothing but crickets here lately, hasn't it? Maybe my longest creative dry spell since I started this blog and re-started my art production two years ago.

There were lots of reasons, but what do they matter now? I'm back in business! I don't know how many local Cincinnati readers I have here, but if you're in town, stop by Habanero in Clifton sometime in the next few weeks. Their salsa is divine, but their walls aren't so bad right now either: I'm exhibiting my illustrations there for the next month or so!!

I've shown work in a few collaborative shows in the last few years, but this one's all me--a first. The opening reception is Friday. Maybe I'll take some pictures so you can see how delightful it all looks. :)





















Updated! Scenes from the opening...

Scenes from the green isle

Pastel sketches

Look, ma--no pencil sketch first! Just some idle doodling, directly in color.

FABULOUS!

And while I'm at the blog, I totally forgot about a "Your Blog is Fabulous" award I got from Nikki way back in December. I've been tagged to share five obsessions of mine.

1) I'm not a random TV watcher, but I do get quite involved in the shows I take the time to watch. My obsession with all things The West Wing is already well-documented here. My current TV obsession is Lost. It's mind-bogglingly fabulous these days. I like my television like my acquaintances: literate, witty, and with a big heart.

2) The Cincinnati Reds, of course. Pitchers and catchers report on February 14th, and, meanwhile, football season ends TODAY. I am a happy camper.

3) Anytime I get the chance to go to a garage sale or a thrift store, I take it. I love treasure hunts, bargains, and one-of-a-kind finds. Right now I'm wearing a church sale blouse, sitting at a Goodwill desk, with a garage sale mug holding my pencils, and with my back to my World's-Longest-Yard-Sale art desk.

4) The library! Cincinnati has one of the best systems in the country, and I take full advantage of it. There are many things I miss about living in Washington, DC, but their library system has got nothing on ours here. I'm definitely a regular at my neighborhood branch (where, recently, I spotted the back of Sarah Jessica Parker's head. Long story.)

5) I really, truly love grocery shopping. I live around the corner from an IGA, so I go several times a week, for a few things here and a few things there. I also make special trips once in a while to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and in the spring and summer, I can't get enough of the various farmers markets near me. I love reading labels, exploring new foods, seeing what's on sale or in season, and thinking up recipes.

Thanks for thinking of me, Nikki!

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest
Oh, let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King...

-"Shed a Little Light," by the incomparable James Taylor

It's a big week! Martin Luther King Day of Service tomorrow, inauguration on Tuesday, Lost season premiere on Wednesday, and I'm back on my blog today. (Yes, I recognize that there are strikingly different levels of bigness in that string of events. I'm just being thorough.)

p.s. This is a re-imagining (this one in pastel on paper) of an earlier piece (that one in paint on a canvas apron.)

p.p.s. Happy 2009!

Illustration Friday: SIMILAR

Everyone knows that you don't have to look similar to have everything in common.

I've been in a pencil sketch mood lately--I think the air's just way too dry for me to want to mess with pastels. In other news, I've just discovered Books for the Future, and it's fantastic! As are this brownie recipe, this cookbook, and Christmas carols.

Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day, a day when millions of bloggers world-wide have made a commitment to write (or draw, in this case!) about issues related to poverty, in an effort to raise awareness, prompt action, and get a conversation started.

I've chosen to focus on fair trade. According to Co-Op America, "fair trade is a system of exchange that honors producers, communities, consumers, and the environment. It is a model for the global economy rooted in people-to-people connections, justice, and sustainability."

For more information on fair trade chocolate, including where to purchase...

For more information on fair trade coffee, including where to purchase...

For more information about what you can do to promote fair trade, visit TransFair USA. (Now's a great time, because in addition to today being Blog Action Day, October is also Fair Trade Month!)

Finally, a shout-out to Illustration Friday visitors-- the only strings I could find in this illustration are the strings that connect it to my last post, the preliminary sketch for the chocolate illustration. Thanks to Aimee for her insightful comment on that one, which led me to take my drawing a step further and ultimately inspired the coffee piece, too. Another testament to the wonders of blogging!!

Illustration Friday: SUGARY

Just a sketch today. I'm hoping to get this finished for Blog Action Day on October 15th. Happy October!