Today is the final day of Cephalopod week 2018! I couldn’t miss it so here’s a special Friday blog post!
The cuttlefish is my personal favorite cephalopod, which is kind of like saying chocolate is better than pizza — I am so lucky to live in a world that has it all! All cephalopods are incredibly cool creatures! But if you absolutely HAD to choose, which would be your favorite? The always charismatic octopus? The cryptic nautilus? The huge-eyed squid? Tell me in the comments.
I hope you had a wonderful time yesterday celebrating the father(s) in your life, whether he is your brother, friend, son, in-law, grandpa, or simply your dad.
I used Crayola crayons to draw this father bat-eared fox and his kit. Not only are they adorable with those huge ears, these foxes have heartwarming family dynamics. There are many other examples of wonderful fathers in the animal kingdom as well that are fascinating to learn about. Marmoset monkeys, for example, are extremely devoted to their young. The large Rhea bird is also a diligent father who looks after his chicks with great care. Do you know of an animal father who takes a leading role in child care? Tell me in the comments.
Every year I like to make a crow and orca drawing for my beloved Nick’s birthday. This time I used Crayola crayons on a very small scale. This piece is only 3″ x 5.5,” the smallest crayon drawing I have made yet.
I love the back and forth of black and white, light and dark, in the orcas and crows. There are definitely challenges working on such a small scale because no matter how I sharpen the crayons, they apply very thickly onto the paper. By pushing myself to work within these constraints, I’m forced to embrace the medium and relax into whatever the crayons can give me. For example, the rough texture of the wax becomes unmistakable. Nick says this one is his favorite so far.
Take a look at the previous orca and crow themed drawings I made for Nick by clicking on this link.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday. Here’s just a little crayon drawing to celebrate motherhood. I drew it thinking of my own mother and how tenderly she has looked after me.
For my mother’s birthday, and sometimes for Mother’s Day, I like to make something with her favorite flower, the sweet pea.
This year I also included her favorite thing to find on the beach: sand dollars.
Drawn with crayons, I found it much easier to get that intense vibrancy of the sweet pea flowers than with other media. Those petals can almost burn your eyes, they are so bright! I also enjoyed making sand and water ripples with the play of light and shadow.
Did you know sand dollars are often purple while they’re living? Once they die, their skeletons get bleached by the sun and that’s why we see them as white most of the time. They also have millions of tiny wiggly feet! Watch this video on YouTube Live Sand Dollar Walking.
I love my mother. I believe I inherited my artistic spark from her. Even though she does not paint or needle felt, she is an avid knitter and seamstress. Growing up there were always fabric particles all over our house, bright bits of yarn, and the occasional stray pin. Beyond the example she modeled for me as a creative person pursuing her own artistic endeavors, she was and remains one of my greatest supporters. She always encouraged me in my art and still gives me kind words and genuine reactions to my work. Thank you, Mom, if you read this, for everything you have done to help me grow as an artist.
Here are some past pieces I have made for my mother.
I entered a poster design contest last month for an affordable housing event by Silicon Valley at Home (SV@Home). The theme was “It’s time 4 yes, Silicon Valley.”
I am proud to say I won second place! It will be framed and placed in the San Jose SV@Home office.
This was a really fun challenge. I have never taken any courses in graphic design, so I looked on Pinterest for ideas and then I sketched out a number of different concepts. I talked with my friends and family to narrow down the best design. (Thank you for your help and support, guys!)
Inspired by a comment made by one of my friends, I decided to draw these adorable and bizarre fish — lumpsuckers. The first time I saw these little guys, I could not believe my eyes. They look exactly like vacantly staring pompoms. Just little fish lumps that stick to things with their sucker fins. I kept looking and looking for some clue that they were real and my husband (boyfriend at the time, on our second date) had to pull me away from the display tank so we could get out of the California Academy of Sciences before it closed.
I never did find convincing evidence that lumpsuckers are real and not just pompoms.
I drew this continuing my experiments with Crayola crayon fish drawings.
Ayyám-i-Há is a Bahá’í holiday celebrating the intercalary days of the Bahá’í year (days that fall “outside” the calendar year of nineteen months of nineteen days). These four or five days are a special time for savoring God’s generosity by gift giving, helping the poor and sick, and really appreciating life.
I like to celebrate it by making art that brings smiles to people’s faces. And eating good food!
“Joy gives us wings!
In times of joy our strength is more vital,
our intellect keener, and our understanding
less clouded.
We seem better able to cope
with the world and to find our sphere of usefulness.”
~`Abdu’l-Bahá
This year I made a crayon drawing that I hope tickles you a little.
Puffer fish are always funny to me, especially when they focus in hard with their big eyes. Here this little guy is thinking about those snails … or maybe you!
Wishing everyone out there, whoever you may be, Bahá’í or not, religious or not, a fan of my work or not, a truly wonderful couple of days! Happy Ayyám-i-Há, world!
Reading fairy tales and folktales is a passionate hobby of mine. And although I love the Brothers Grimm and the Hans Christian Andersen varieties, nothing gets me more excited than fairy tales from non-Western cultures, especially anything from Africa. Not only are those cultures much more rare (and therefore precious) to encounter in my English-speaking Californian locale, but they are personally dear to me. I was born in Botswana and lived there for the first three years of my life. I have grown up with stories of Africa and music of Africa and friends from Africa. Not only that, my brother-in-law is Ethiopian and I have been granted the great joy of visiting his home country three times already. It is a wonderful place!
I would like to share with you this amazing website I recently discovered that has compiled nearly three hundred folktales from the various regions of Ethiopia: Ethiopian Folktales
The stories have English translations but you can also read them in Amharic (yay!) and the website even has the original sound recordings, collected between 1997 and 2001.
I find the stories fascinating and intensely inspiring. Here is a snippet of an Ethiopian folktale and an illustration I drew a few years ago.
The Donkey and the Hyena
Long ago, the hyena lived in the sky. Every night she opened her mouth and began to sing. She sang very loudly. Everyone on the earth below could hear her.
The donkey heard the hyena too.
Who is singing like that? she thought. What a beautiful voice! I want to meet her. I want to be her friend.
So the donkey prayed to God.
“Please,” she prayed, “please bring the animal with the beautiful voice down to live on earth.”
Familiar Oddlings 