Sunday, March 31, 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Literary Friday - Double Book

I'm doubled booked once again. Sometimes you just can't make up your mind. I initially picked up Wicked Ways by Donna Hill about murder and revenge. To my great joy while searching the library catalog I found out that Alan Bradley wrote another Flavia de Luce mystery, Speaking From Among the Bones. I have read all of his other books in this series and I have never been disappointed. Flavia is a 12 year old mystery sleuth that also dabbles in chemistry. Flavia stumbles across another dead body, thus begins the mystery. Whenever I read one of his books it as though I am there. I love his detail in describing everything. Check out the cute little video below of one of his previous books. The illustration is mine of Flavia.


Flavia de Luce


Thursday, March 28, 2013

Keeping Up With 2013 Motto

Draw, Draw, Draw
Although I don't post everyday I have been drawing. Here are a few more portraits in pen. This has been a wonderful practice for me.





 

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Practicing in Pen


I needed to practice making portraits with ink, which you cannot erase if you make a mistake. Here are my first two.

Literary Friday


I am currently reading The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.“What are you reading?”
That’s the question Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting room of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Will and Mary Anne share their hopes and concerns with each other—and rediscover their lives—through their favorite books. When they read, they aren’t a sick person and a well person, but a mother and a son taking a journey together. The result is a profoundly moving tale of loss that is also a joyful, and often humorous, celebration of life: Will’s love letter to his mother, and theirs to the printed page. ( Excerpt from Goodreads review)

I love reading books with books included. Joy fills my heart when I have a shared read with others. Here is my list of shared books with the author and his mother:
Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott
Jane Austens Books
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Mureil Barbery
The Holy Bible
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Alice Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Charlie & Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Howard's End by E.M. Foster
Anne Frank: The Dairy of a Young Girl
Loed of the Flies by William Golding
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Toni Morrisons Books
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
William Shakespeare
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien


Illustration Friday: Swim

My submission for Illustration Friday word of the week - SWIM. The idea is right before the swim. I remember how much fun it was to go to the public pool and swim with my sisters and friends. What I hated more than anything was being pushed in.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Creative Everyday: Black & White

Please don't step on the daisies.
My weekly submission for Creative Everyday word challenge black and white. Thanks to Pink Sherbert Photography for letting me interpret her picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/212673112/in/photostream/

Friday, March 15, 2013

Literary Friday

My current read is The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. It's okay but not a page turner. I picked this book because I liked the cover. I remember getting letters in the mail. I still have a collection in my scrapbook. One dates back to 1974 from my best friend Terri. I also have letters from my mother who past away when I was 21. It's funny how as you get older you see things in the letters you didn't see before. Current technology has stopped this form of communication. I can't remember the last time I received a letter.
To learn about this book watch this short video:


Illustration Friday: Eyeglasses


"As he glanced through the side of his eyeglasses he knew that it was over." My submission for IF. I did some other illustrations but I chose this one.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Creative Everyday: Black & White

Another entry for Creative Everyday Black & White. I drew this hoping to add color later. Black is a color.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Literary Friday

I  am currently reading Fearless by Tim Lott. It is aimed at the young adult. It's a futuristic book were the young who are labelled troublemakers are taken from their parents and made to work under the pretense that it is a Christian School for girls. One girl named "Fearless" refuses to play by the rules.
I finished The Sandcastle Girls it was a huge disappointment. I kept waiting for something to happen but it never did. I did however learned about the Armenian genocide of 1915 other than that it was a huge bore. Since I was not enjoying it I doubled-book myself and picked up an easy read called "Give up the Ghost". It was a teen novel about a young girl who can talk to ghost. They know all of the inside gossip on her classmates, which she uses to get revenge. There is also another plot in story but I won't tell. You will have to read it for yourself.

Illustration Friday: Yesterday















When I was growing up converse sneakers were the top of the line sneakers. Everyone wanted to have a pair. It's amazing how yesterday's fad is still current today.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Creative Everday: Black and White

The Glance
New post for Creative Eveyday the challenge word is Black and White. I love to practice painting portraits in Black and White.
 

Saturday, March 2, 2013

IF: Talent

My submission for Illustration Friday. The challenge word is talent. "whoever can carry the most, has the most talent".

Literary Friday

I am currently reading The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian. He is an excellent fiction storyteller. Hopefully I will enjoy this story too.
     
I just finished reading Shift by Charolette Agell about a fifteen year-old Adrian Havoc's world. . The end of the world as we know it, or is there some plot by the Homestate a.k.a. government to manipulate us. Homestate rules every aspect of society: identity cards need to be carried at all times, evolution is a forbidden topic of discussion, and religious education is enforced in daily "rapture" doses. A rumor is being spread about a Shift in the universe. Can it really be the end of the world.

I enjoyed the story for this young adult book. What I did not enjoy was the use of profanity. I did not expect such language to be appropiate in a book directed at the young. My children said that I would be shocked if I worked at a high school.
The plot was good. This was a easy read if you are looking for light. A book that draws you in as you read and makes you want to know what happens next.