Arnold Schwarzenegger in three minutes! A contest is happening at Station Amotica not your usual contest, but a fun one at that! Draw a magical unicorn or a picture of Arnie from memory! This is what I came up with..the old image from Terminator. 

 Sketching should be fun, and not always accurate, so I throw this out with Arnie and his attitude!

We could all use a little magic from time to time, this is one movie that no matter how many times I have watched it, if I am remote racing, and find it, I have to stop and I am there until the end.  

This particular drawing was one that I did for someone who is very special to me! Someone who taught me that friends are like sisters!

I did the original sketch completely in charcoal, and wanted to add a bit of a twist for my friend Jilly…aka Carol - so I scanned the original drawing and did a bit of photoshop work with a variety of  brushes. 

I found one awesome dragonfly brush that I added touches of in the corners of the sketch, adding color to the sultry lips of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman and by adding the dark background, it brings the two of them to center focus.  I added a bit of foggy mist around the background, to give a more haunting effect to the two characters. 

I love taking the original sketches I have done and adding a bit of a digital twist to them, with the amount of software packages out there, the possibilities are endless.  I gave Jilly this on a nightshirt as well, iron on transfers can be alot of fun, and can also give you another outlet for your work. 

It is titled “Top-Shelf SRV Music”  from Vintage Guitar Magazine. 

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Friends was released a few months back, and IMHO, no matter what Stevie plays on, or who Stevie played with, his style and his sound was always recognizable.

A true fan thirsts for the next album, the next concert, and the next street side appearance but in the case of our late great blue’s legend that will not be happening, we can only continue to enjoy what has been released and continue to be hopeful that there is more hidden in the archives and estate.

Have we heard better Stevie? I would say absolutely, someone gave me a track of Stevie performing I’m Crying and the lyrics are classic  heartache, soul searching and down to the knitty gritty of blue’s music.   The track I got, seems to date back some many years, but is it signature Stevie, I can hear it, and there is not a day that goes by that I don’t listen to at least one of his famous tunes and the scream of his guitar shakes my bones.

Everyone can critique Stevie & Friends in their own way, but for those of us who; no matter the day, no matter the mood, when you hear that first cord hit, you immediately feel a smile embrace your being, and you instantly are thrown into the depths of what Stevie Ray Vaughan was all about.  He was a man that walked a road not much different than most of us, with questions and uncertainty as he states in his AA speech on page six  he says….

I used to think that if it wasn’t done my way, that it was completely wrong and it couldn’t be anything close to right because you just didn’t know. I know it’s kinda, it’s…sometimes I found out that it’s real comfortable not knowing everything…

Chew on that a little while..as my husband always says to me.. stop being an “in-charge”  do something that envokes your passions, do something that you love, and remember…..once in awhile, to use the words…”no doubt” they can be profound.  

I will confess, the spirit that guides me through life, aka - guardian angel, spirit guide… always uses the expression, “no-doubt” so I felt it fitting to add that to the bottom of Stevie’s Ray Vaughans Hat.. No Doubt, either don’t doubt what’s in front of you, or in awe.. you can sit back and revel in what is truly a miracle happening around you.

I painted Stevie’s Ray Vaughans Signature hat, because of it being an icon and a statement. I started this many months back on a solid semi-gloss back ground of a shabby piece of particle board, it had divets and grooves, that lent a bit of a challenge factor to the entire piece, trying to get the curves of the hat correct.  This was done entirely in acrylics, with a smidge of enamel paint for the edges of the hat, and the feather for texture.  

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Snow, Snow Go away!

Can we have any uglier weather?  Fog, snow, rain and just plain old garbage, I realize somewhere at this very moment that people are out listening to the surf, beer or margarita in hand, and watching the pelicans hunt the fish…and I am stuck in Chicago!

I sent this enamel painting down to Missouri, where they obviously miss the snow!  I obviously do not! My husband plows snow for the Village, and I know he certainly doesn’t as I can hear the snores escalating as he falls to sleep for the third time today, after missing the entire half of Super Bowl XLII, because he was plowing!

I miss the cats and the deck with a twelve pack of corona light, and my friends down there!

Done on a six paned old antique window with mullions in tact, these two sweet chickadee’s and chipmunk look over the holly and the berries.

I used a thick enamel paint to create the mounds of snow below the 3 furry friends.  With a bit of silica sand added in, adding a glistening effect on the holly and spread through out the painting.