Branding

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Inktober 2022 Portraits

I did a few portraits – my brother, Ron, above. His birthday falls at the end of October.

Then a lifelong best friend and mentor, Phyllis, and again, my baby brother who passed 2 years ago this month. A way of commemorating those I love as I practice portraiture.

I did Aaron’s picture with a large brush and quick strokes. Time does not heal the pain of loss. It eases the sharp edges, but they are still there and I think time teaches us how to step around them without doing such raw injury to ourselves. Time gives us the ability to remember the softer, gentler, happier times.

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Bandits

This is Notch – I think she may be a first time mother. She has at least 2 babies so she got bold enough to come up to the deck. It seems they get hungry about this time of year. I also see them in the deep winter when the snow is thick. Otherwise, they only visit at night. How do I know? My tomatoes growing on my second story deck keep disappearing.

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Inktober – 2nd half

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A combination of things (including Christmas commissions) added to the 2nd half of the month not being a daily, but I still did quite a few, as well as some gesture sketching on the busy days.

Inktober was fun, and I quit worrying about the prompts, but did get a couple more in such as #15 Legend – our own local celebrity cat – Pirate Cat.

I hope to keep up the weekly sketching (not daily – way too much happening in the next 2 months, but I do not want to lose that momentum of sketching. It is excellent for studying a subject and getting to know them.)

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Above- our local Cooper’s Hawk, stalking out feeders.

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A bit of fan art for James and Margaret – a pair of California Ravens I follow on Instagram and Facebook. @thedailyjames

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I love the little Black and White Warblers we see each year. And below is a Summit Lake Bald Eagle – reference photo by Patrick D. Conner, one of our local birders on the Facebook page, Indiana Birdography. You will be seeing more of these in various mediums, as I am practicing to do a watercolor for my nephew.

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Capturing Moments

A gift for a friend was a book that captured the building of her new house and the move day activities in 2016. This book was created through Shutterfly because of the price break on a 20 page hardcover. It seemed a safe way to create my first photo book and I am pleased. And it makes a very special gift.

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Cloth Patterns

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I have always been fascinated by patterns in cloth. They have to be “just so”, but when they are, I fall in love. No, I can’t explain what “just so” is, but I found it in a purse this week and bought it.
Lesson: If you can find that special ingredient, people will willingly part with their hard earned money just to own it.

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The Gifts I Love to Give

Our boss bought an old restaurant across the pond from our rented office this year. He then renovated it into a state-of-the-art IT facility with all sorts of amenities, not the least of which is a huge back deck that will be in much use next summer, I am sure.

We moved in Thanksgiving week. This view is looking from the old office across the pond to the back (and deck) of the new place.

I love giving these types of gifts (that capture an important moment in someone’s life) more than any other. It is probably why I have continued doing this for over 30 years.

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