Moving to Typepad

I've moved on over to Typepad. This blog will remain open but not updated so visitors can see previous posts. My website has all the pictures posted here and the site and blog both have links to each other.

So, come on over and visit. If you'd like to link to me, it's http://janeysjourney.com.

Thanks for visiting

My blog is moving - but not yet. My blog will be moving to Typepad. I'm redesigning my website to match the new blog. The galleries on the left take you to my site which links back to the new blog. If you have a minute, have a look and an opinion or suggestion left here would be nice.

Illustration Friday Challenge Alone (2) - A poem by Auden reminded me of a Egon drawing which in turn prompted a 2nd Illo for Alone. Here are the lines from the poem (in case you can't read my scribble):

A raged urchin, aimless and alone,
Loitered abut that vacancy; a bird
Flew up to safety from his well aimed stone:
That girls are raped, that two boys knife a third,
were axioms to him, who'd never heard
Of any world where promises were kept
Or one could weep because another wept.

Illustration Friday Challenge Alone - Here's that last piece of my favorite pie on my one green dish. The pie is unfortunately store bought and the dish is a thrift store find. Both are the only one of their kind for now. And pretty soon that green dish will be the only one of both kinds in my kitchen. It's a very simple drawing after all I'm still practicing heads and haven't gotten to pies yet.

My blogger email notification isn't working so I don't know when a comment has been left. If you would like to contact me, please use the link on the left.
Well, now it's working - Maybe I'll try Typepad!

Everyday Matters Challenge Organized Chaos - Ok, I didn't want to draw a pile of things. I've done my pens before and a pile of pizza boxes would be rather boring. So how about a field of flowers. The first time it appears as if everything is all over the place, just a riot of color without any order. But there is order. Not a plan but order. We just can't always see it. There's an ecological reason why these flowers and grass and weeds are here. I could look up it but I'd rather just enjoy the chaos. This is done in art markers (what else).

Postcards for the Asking - These are postcards I sent out a few days ago. They're 4X5 .

And these postcards are drawings of Alexander Calder sculptures.

A Little Practice, A Few Doodles and some more Twig and Berries - These are only a few of the ones I've done in the last few days. They're all over the place. Just no time to work on my site.

Biking - Hey, is your bike is sitting in the back of the garage or with a flat tire, get it out and get it fixed and go for a ride. I like riding my bike as much as I like drawing. I even rode a bike in NY which was kind of hard seeing as I lived in a 4th floor walkup and had to store my bike(s) in the basement and they kept getting stolen. My last bike was a throw-away someone gave me. I spent all of $40 getting the brakes fixed and new tires. It was still stolen. I always tried to think of the thief as someone who needed that bike more then I did - wishful thinking huh? But I digress.

Living in Florida is perfect for biking. There's a section of the Everglades called "Shark's Valley" which of course is not a valley. It's about a 1/2 hr outside of Miami and I'm about 1 hr from Miami so it takes awhile to get there. Shark's Valley is a strip of concrete that stretches straight into the Everglades 7 1/2 miles and loops back 7 1/2 miles. So, it's a good 15 mile ride which isn't much right? Try it in August, 92 degrees in Florida. You can loose a few pounds in sweat. If you park outside you don't have to pay the Park entrance fee, you just ride your bike in.

They have a 10am bike tour also. You ride along with a Park Ranger and stop along the way for little lessons. I asked the Ranger why she carried a gun. She said the alligators don't know you're just site seeing. You're breakfast to them and then gave us a little lesson on how to run away from an alligator - now that was fun. When you get to the 7 1/2 turn around there's a tower about 3 stories high. You climb the tower and look down and can see for miles across the Everglades. At least you can after you get over the shock of seeing about 40 or so alligators napping in the mud at the bottom of the tower.

I usually ride out to a small park about 10 miles from where I live. It's just the most lovely spot. And there's no one ever there. There's a few benches and a little playground and fishing dock on a large canal. There's lots of trees which camouflage the houses and not much traffic. There's a sign that says Beware of Alligators so I just sit far back from the water. I like to just sit there and close my eyes and listen to the silence. I would never have found that park if I wasn't riding my bike.

Wow, it's late, gotta go to work in the morning. I just wanted to tell you about my bike.

Illustration Friday Travel - Travel means transportation so here's my favorite mode of transportation when I travel. And here's a story about my bike.

First, my bike isn't these colors, I wish it was but nope. I bought it last year after I got tennis elbows. I don't play tennis so how you ask did I get tennis elbows? I like to ride and Florida is ideal. It's flat, very flat. The only hills are overpasses and garbage dumps. So I would ride for 30 miles which would take about 3 hours. I wasn't training for the Olympics just like to take in the scenery. Well, my bike was unfortunately not made for someone 5' 2 1/2 so I had to lean forward and put pressure on my arms for 30 miles at a stretch. And I got tennis elbows. After a year of physical therapy and no riding, it was time to buy a new bike. And my new bike is thing of beauty - not really expensive I mean they had bikes for $3,000 so $400 was not much. The handle bars are adjustable so they are high up and the seat is pushed closer to the bars. I can ride sitting up and no pressure on the arms. And it's got shocks and a very big seat. I love my bike yes I do. I know it's a long story but I like to write stories for my drawings.

Softie Two - Meet Florence, Diogenes' little friend. Now Diogenes wasn't named after that Greek guy but for a dog name after that Greek guy. Both Di and Florence are named after characters in my favorite Dickens novel. It's only in the 70's today so Flo is wearing her scraf.

Well, back to drawing.

Softie - I haven't sewn since I started drawing again and I just had the urge. Why else would I be up at midnight. Since Softies are all over the craft blogs and sites I thought I do one too. So here's Diogenes but you can call him Di. He's 10" tall and wider when he stretches his arms out. I usually give away the dolls I make but I just might keep little Di and maybe make him some friends tomorrow.

Me and Mom - Today is The Delray Affair. It's a big, big art festival in the next town over. I'm an art festival junkie, I go to all of them. This one is the best and biggest. So I called Mom and told I was going to the festival. She said "but it might rain". I said "but it might not". And that's the difference between me and mom. She lives her life as if it might rain. I live mine or try to as if it might be sunny.

Practice, Practice, Practice - My new moto. There was a quote on someone's blog that "you learn to draw by drawing" which I think equates to practice. I have a hard time doing real people. So, I'm compartmentalizing them. Right now I'm drawing heads, that's why there's so many of them. I think if I get the body parts down right, I'll be able to put them together - sort of like my own grid system.

Next up is a series of heads with expressions, happy, sad, angry etc. Then it's on to hands - lots and lots of hands.

Thanks to Jim and Steve for all the suggestions.