Back to basics

For some reason I am having a hard time jumpstarting my drawing and painting habits lately, so today, following the example of some people from SketchKon who are newly enthralled with Brenda Swenson's continuous-line pen drawings, I decided to go back to basics. I took myself out to breakfast after my chiropractor appointment this morning, and did a couple of china-and-cutlery drawings while waiting for the food to come, and then drew my English muffin
with jam.

When I got home, I watercolored them, and then decided to try an experiment in a completely different style from my usual. This drawing is also continuous line—I didn't lift the pen once—but the doodley nature of it makes it easier to hide the crossovers and weird places where you get stuck and have to back up on a line to get to the next bit. This one was big fun—I think I'll try some more!

Thanksgiving recipe

This is my new go-to vegetable recipe for big gatherings, so I decided to turn it into art:

It again proved popular this year, except for the mushroom-haters in my family. But even they have to agree that it's better than the infamous mushroom-soup-canned-beans-french-fried-onions sacrilege. I hear the howls of outrage from all of you who love that, but I'll bet it's all just a nostalgia thing and if you tasted my haricots verts you would give it up forever!

Uniball pen, watercolor, all done with the scent of carmelizing onions pervading the room!