Friday, January 06, 2017

Which one is the real one?


Which one is the real one? A too-fast sketch of Geraldine James in Jewel of India (1984), though she looks obliquely Frida somehow. With the somewhat crude tool I am using, a $2.75 bamboo reed that I love that blots and dabs, that you struggle with to draw, makes the attempt at, approach to, discovery of a more expressionist figuration in the depths, deliberate.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017

'the attraction' - pen & ink sketch


'the attraction seems not so much at the heart of it but wheeling outside it' (Larkin), ©Brenda Clews, 9"x12", pen and ink on Fabriano 140lb 100% cotton watercolour paper.

Original note at 1am a few nights ago: Loosely drawn. The sketch, fairly quick. The figures from different time zones. And yet, how strikingly real this seems.


Saturday, December 31, 2016

Dahlings! Happy New Year!


Dahlings! Wishing you an extraordinary 2017 in all ways, creative, spiritual, financial and in your relationships. Overcome oppressions with true tidal fury!

(costume I patched together to perform Tidal Fury, a book about overcoming oppression)
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Sunday, December 25, 2016

Wishing you the best of the Festive Season






Wishing everyone a wonderful festivity of giving, love and feasting! Happy Christmas, Hannukah, Shab-e Yalda, Yule, however you celebrate the birth of the light!

(The most perfect tree ever - it is real, yes!)




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 brendaclews.com

Friday, December 23, 2016

Kitty is Improving


Some tentative good news - my kitty, Aria, is lightly using her paw again when she walks. Not every time, but definitely last night and this morning a little bit. Which implies that it was a bad sprain (the vet's original diagnosis when I took her in a week before the appointment where he took x-rays). I've seen no sign of an embolism - both eyes blink fine, breath out of both nostrils, both sides are fully sensitive and getting stroked on either side elicits loud purring, just a sore paw that seems to be getting better. She sleeps, she eats, she's playful, she's demanding, she sweet, she's fully herself. It's been 2½ weeks since I first noticed a limp. She still scoots around on three legs, but there is slight improvement (it's that right front leg in the photo) and, hopefully, she is healing.

I am quite happy indeed. The vet may have been right in his diagnosis on our first appointment.
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 brendaclews.com

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Wishing You a Brilliant Solstice


Happy Solstice! When the sun is furthest, the night darkest, the return begins. Immanence, beginnings. Yeah, and also, be the shining light you are.
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 brendaclews.com

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Simple sketch of Aria


I thought my pussy cat had broken her leg, but it turns out there is no fracture and it may have been an embolism. She's only 4 years old. Here's a simple little sketch because I would like to paint her. No idea what the final prognosis will be, or what's coming. She is the sweetest little companion ever.

(Different crops suggested by PS of the same little simple sketch - she didn't sit in that position for long enough! Sort of drew everything while she was sitting near me by calling her and then she'd look up and I'd draw, except for the ears, and the whiskers, she was gone by then and they are mostly guesses...)

Here is a little watercolour painting of her where I did not particularly try to get a good likeness.


I'll post some photos when I have some new ones. Rather heartbreaking to see her scampering about on three legs and always holding one paw in the air, and I have no idea how I will afford the vet care.
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 brendaclews.com

Woman with Flowers 7.1

(7th sketch in series, first iteration of this one) Woman with Flowers  Flowers, props  upholding the woman. The flowers, fragrant, imaginar...