Last night in the living room, Glenn gave pets to Mandu but this time he was awake and watching a History Channel show with me.
Mandu has now begun eating vigorously and is lapping cream as she did a week ago. Perhaps she is adjusting to the shock of blindness. Maybe she’s finding her way around […]

After making sure that Mandu was safely tucked into her bed, we went out to take care of some errands and stopped for lunch at a little cafe where we had previously enjoyed a coffee break. While our meal was coming, I took advantage of the opportunity to draw the surroundings. We shared a roast […]

Another of this week’s series of drawings of my husband with Mandu. Time is running out for her, so I am determined to make this a focus of my drawing this week while I still can. He was much more awake this time, and Mandu was moving her head in a lively manner, causing […]

Thank you everyone, again, for your kind and supportive comments about Cat Mandu’s health. She walked around a little outside yesterday. I think what little sight she has is helped by the bright sunlight. I was glad to see that although tentatively, she was exploring her environment. She is eating very little, just drinking a […]

Last night, Glenn cuddled Mandu on our sofa and gave her some comfort. It appears that she has likely gone blind, as she looks around in a disoriented way and does not react to visual stimuli as she once did. We will probably put her to sleep as soon as our vet gets back into […]

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My friend Katherine Tyrell is teaching a wet canvas class in drawing and sketching in public, so it thought it would be fun to participate in some of her assignments and challenges. It sort of takes all the surprise out of it when I come up with my own challenges and it’s […]

A week or so ago, the Illustration Friday theme was “Spotted” and my first thought was of that British raisin pudding called Spotted Dick.
(No, really, there IS such a thing …. See the dick here.)
However, I didn’t feel like drawing a can of suet and sultanas. But I still loved the sound of the name.
And […]

Greco-Roman mummy?
Temple virgin?
Keeper of secret knowledge?
Mute muse?
La Moleskina knows … but she’s not telling.
Acrylic and gesso in my Moleskine, scanned and embellished in Photoshop.

Someone please tell me what possessed me to try to paint white poppies on a Moleskine page previously toned with darker paint? As a first attempt with a difficult flower it would have made a lot more sense to use watercolor paper and reserve the whites. But no … I had to do it the […]

A different view of an opening magnolia blossom from Descanso.
As part of an ongoing experiment with some art friends, I painted the background with Van Dyke brown watercolor, then scumbled some white gouache over top. When that was dry I drew the flower and stems and painted it with watercolor and gouache, and touched it […]