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Ahhhhh. Let me settle in here. Sometimes when I look at your drawings, G., all I can manage to think is how the fuck does he do that. It's just lines, scribbles, but jesus it makes a face. I don't mean to call your work scribbles, I mean to call art scribbles. You practically capture Leonard so often. Kurt Cobain? Dude, for real. I find it near impossible to get lines to match life.

p.s. Hi everybody!!!!

abby wrote:
>Ahhhhh. Let me settle in here. Sometimes when I look at your drawings, G., all I can manage to think is how the fuck does he do that. It's just lines, scribbles, but jesus it makes a face. I don't mean to call your work scribbles, I mean to call art scribbles. You practically capture Leonard so often. Kurt Cobain? Dude, for real. I find it near impossible to get lines to match life.
>
>p.s. Hi everybody!!!!
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wow, thank you, abby - it means a lot. i am often unsure how a picture will come across to others, so feedback is valuable. i know what you mean about struggling to get things right, it's frustrating, and there is no easy solution. for myself the best modus operandi is to come home, put on loud energetic music, relax and not try too hard - but that might not work for everyone.

the images you posted here a while ago were interesting, and i loved the octopus. just carry on and see what happens. thanks again for writing, and 'hi' back to you
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today's effort.

dar wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 6:41 pm Hi Lisa,
I used to ride a Yamaha 250 two-stroke. The one where you had to mix the gas and oil. It was pretty fast and I would ride it out in the desert. While learning to ride I had problems and went from pavement to desert sand more than once. Been on many long distance rides with ex-husbands and experienced all the "fun" stuff...like rain, wind, bugs, cold, heat, sore butt (since I was the passenger on those trips). I'm past those biker days but if I ever did take a ride again on the back of a bike it better be some old farts massive Harley with the huge seat with stereo, cooler, chair arms...hell, make it a recliner on back. That'll work.

Oh hello Dar. You are literally the coolest.

abby wrote: ↑Sun Apr 13, 2025 10:15 pm

dar wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 6:41 pm Hi Lisa,
I used to ride a Yamaha 250 two-stroke. The one where you had to mix the gas and oil. It was pretty fast and I would ride it out in the desert. While learning to ride I had problems and went from pavement to desert sand more than once. Been on many long distance rides with ex-husbands and experienced all the "fun" stuff...like rain, wind, bugs, cold, heat, sore butt (since I was the passenger on those trips). I'm past those biker days but if I ever did take a ride again on the back of a bike it better be some old farts massive Harley with the huge seat with stereo, cooler, chair arms...hell, make it a recliner on back. That'll work.

Oh hello Dar. You are literally the coolest.

abby wrote: ↑Sun Apr 13, 2025 10:15 pm

dar wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 6:41 pm Hi Lisa,
I used to ride a Yamaha 250 two-stroke. The one where you had to mix the gas and oil. It was pretty fast and I would ride it out in the desert. While learning to ride I had problems and went from pavement to desert sand more than once. Been on many long distance rides with ex-husbands and experienced all the "fun" stuff...like rain, wind, bugs, cold, heat, sore butt (since I was the passenger on those trips). I'm past those biker days but if I ever did take a ride again on the back of a bike it better be some old farts massive Harley with the huge seat with stereo, cooler, chair arms...hell, make it a recliner on back. That'll work.

Oh hello Dar. You are literally the coolest.

abby wrote: ↑Sun Apr 13, 2025 10:15 pm

dar wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 6:41 pm Hi Lisa,
I used to ride a Yamaha 250 two-stroke. The one where you had to mix the gas and oil. It was pretty fast and I would ride it out in the desert. While learning to ride I had problems and went from pavement to desert sand more than once. Been on many long distance rides with ex-husbands and experienced all the "fun" stuff...like rain, wind, bugs, cold, heat, sore butt (since I was the passenger on those trips). I'm past those biker days but if I ever did take a ride again on the back of a bike it better be some old farts massive Harley with the huge seat with stereo, cooler, chair arms...hell, make it a recliner on back. That'll work.

Oh hello Dar. You are literally the coolest.

Aw, that's sweet. But realistically, rather than romantically, most of the cross country trips with ex's on some really fast bikes were literally macho power trips by those men - driving too fast, scraping foot pegs on turns, and actually scaring the shit out of me quite a bit. It's all fun and games til someone hits the pavement. They could have been wonderful trips through beautiful winding roads and valleys, instead those assholes ruined the experiences for me. But thanks anyway and I'm still cool.

& that's exactly why you're the coolest- behind that image of you on the bike (awesome) is a complicated truth of equal value. Men can be so simple & disappointing. So much love to you.

Geoffrey wrote: ↑Sun Apr 13, 2025 11:40 am ...today's effort [Salvador Dali]

Fabulous portrait of Dali -- I love it! I love Dali, too -- he was so wonderfully creative and bizarre! One of many highlights of visiting Paris is the Dali museum in Montmartre -- it is a joy to wander through it and see such a variety of Dali's works, including a lot of marvellous sculptures.

P.S. I've noticed that the way you are signing (or not signing) your pictures has been quite variable as of late. Is that a conscious decision each time, or...?

LisaLCFan wrote:
>Fabulous portrait of Dali -- I love it! I love Dali, too -- he was so wonderfully creative and bizarre! One of many highlights of visiting Paris is the Dali museum in Montmartre -- it is a joy to wander through it and see such a variety of Dali's works, including a lot of marvellous sculptures.

thank you so much, lisa. i too love dali's work. you are so lucky to have visited that exhibition. there are many richly illustrated books available, and of course the museum is online - but nothing can compare with actually walking amongst his creations.

>P.S. I've noticed that the way you are signing (or not signing) your pictures has been quite variable as of late. Is that a conscious decision each time, or...?

after scrolling back i see what you mean. sometimes, if the picture is in a sketchbook, perhaps it's not really necessary to add a signature; it's just another page. also (disregarding the loss of potential revenue), one could say that stealing a picture from the internet is a genuine compliment. sometimes a signature can be less obvious, as in the 'nirvana' pic.

anyway, we are on the threshold of easter. schools are closed, people are free from their jobs, and there's a lot of visiting and partying going on. this means there may not be much time for forum activity. let's see what happens.

thanks again, happy holidays - and cheers

Geoffrey wrote: "sometimes, if the picture is in a sketchbook, perhaps it's not really necessary to add a signature; it's just another page. also (disregarding the loss of potential revenue), one could say that stealing a picture from the internet is a genuine compliment. sometimes a signature can be less obvious, as in the 'nirvana' pic."

& I'll say this. My mom was an artist, often she worked in stained glass, mostly in oil. Never signed anything. After she died we sold her work out of necessity & it wasn't worth anything much but should have been just for the technical skill & boatloads of talent. In the house I grew up in there was a staircase. Along the staircase was a Dali print of a beach, not the one you find if you google Dali + beach. A quick search didn't locate the one I saw everyday growing up. But the damage is done, the image is burned into my brain as it were, subtly. Just like Dali would've wanted. I guess? It was a woman sitting on a beach. The woman was a mom & a nose. Don't ask how I know that I just do.

Lots of love to you, G., in your house with your loud music & your time well spent [you know, blackening (or brightening) pages]. & lots of love to you out of your house, doing your thing.

abby wrote:
>I'll say this. My mom was an artist, often she worked in stained glass, mostly in oil. Never signed anything. After she died we sold her work out of necessity & it wasn't worth anything much but should have been just for the technical skill & boatloads of talent. In the house I grew up in there was a staircase. Along the staircase was a Dali print of a beach, not the one you find if you google Dali + beach. A quick search didn't locate the one I saw everyday growing up. But the damage is done, the image is burned into my brain as it were, subtly. Just like Dali would've wanted. I guess? It was a woman sitting on a beach. The woman was a mom & a nose. Don't ask how I know that I just do.

your mum sounds like the type of person i wish i could have had. if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, as they say. it is surely from she you inherited an appreciation for pictures. the people i grew up with made a living mostly by traveling around different villages, so had no real opportunity to create art in stained glass or oil. years later, when reunited with my father in a busy coastal town, it was a culture shock to see the large art reproductions on his walls. the ones that burned into my brain were mostly those by bosch and canaletto - just studying the details. the dali picture you describe seems to ring a bell, but i have not searched for it.

>Lots of love to you, G., in your house with your loud music & your time well spent [you know, blackening (or brightening) pages]. & lots of love to you out of your house, doing your thing.

thank you, abby. only a small part of the time, when home, am i occupied with the making of pictures. i make food, watch movies, entertain guests - like other people. outside of the home, apart from visiting friends, hanging around the shopping centre, going to cafes, etc - there is not a lot to do. sometimes there is ballet or a concert at the kulturhuset, but not every week. i will post a picture of my home town, and you can see for yourself what a lonely, isolated place this is. of course people rightly say it's beautiful, and that's ok if you want to paint landscapes or still life, or write about nature, but for a creative extrovert looking to be inspired by a little more than snowdrops and seagulls it is like being buried alive. this is exactly why people flock to big cities!

here is today's dinner. half of a pizza bought from a shop, with added tomato, onion and sweetcorn on top, plus a sprinkling of oregano. served with clotted sour cream. not exactly cordon bleu, but better than a slap on the cheek with a wet mackerel. home

abby wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 4:08 pm ... In the house I grew up in there was a staircase. Along the staircase was a Dali print of a beach... It was a woman sitting on a beach. The woman was a mom & a nose...

This one?

Lisa:

OMFG YES

No fucking wonder I thought she was a mom & a nose.

& mouth.

& chin.

Geoffrey, you said:
"your mum sounds like the type of person i wish i could have had. if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, as they say. it is surely from she you inherited an appreciation for pictures. the people i grew up with made a living mostly by traveling around different villages, so had no real opportunity to create art in stained glass or oil. years later, when reunited with my father in a busy coastal town, it was a culture shock to see the large art reproductions on his walls. the ones that burned into my brain were mostly those by bosch and canaletto - just studying the details. the dali picture you describe seems to ring a bell, but i have not searched for it."

& well well well. Well well well indeed. It isn't often one feels kinship of this sort. Speak for myself shan't I? My mom was no saint, G. You'd have the scars to prove her love as well as the line quality

Then you even went on about what you had to eat, so let me go on. I took myself out to dinner. I'm going through a temporary & amicable separation from my husband & so it was a solo dinner. I am offering photos. But more, I drew my soup in the bookstore where I went after dinner. It was a Greek soup of chicken & rice with lemon. Lots of lemon. After squeezing the lemons into my soup I ate them, including the seeds. Why the fuck not? xo

incredible sketch, abby - and being allowed to compare it with the photo only adds to the interest. this gallery is greatly enhanced by the artistic contributions of others, so i hope you will do this more often.
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often referred to as canada's 'penny black' due to its rarity, this canadian postage stamp, issued a few years ago, was quickly withdrawn from sale due to some legal dispute.