drawing – Valerie's Musings

This is my 250th post as a blogger! Wow! I can’t believe I’ve made that many posts and that people actually read them!

I’ve had a couple of people asking me to post some of my artwork, so I thought it’d be a great way to celebrate 250 posts! When I make art, sometimes I simply color adult coloring book pages. Sometimes, I make crazy shapes, color them in, and as I’m making these shapes, the artwork just speaks to me on what it should be so then I choose colors accordingly. Sometimes I do decoupage or paint ceramics. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of my decoupage or my ceramics, but I do of my coloring/drawing.

Here’s a couple of my recent coloring pages:

Both of these coloring pages are artworks by Selina Fenech, an Australian artist whom I absolutely love. The one on the left is titled Within the Coffin and is from Selina’s Gothic coloring book. The one on the right is called Her Special Place and is from Selina’s Magical Minis coloring book. Selina has many coloring books available including one that’s just ponds and flowers which I really enjoy.

I’ve also found a coloring book group to be a part of on Facebook. Joanna Campbell Slan, an author I like, set it up and it can be found here. Below are two of the pictures I’ve done from there.

I’m actually in the process of coloring a few more of the “Breathe” picture so I can give them to important people in my life who need the reminder to “breathe” from time to time.

Now to share some of my “original” artwork. I’ve never been real good at drawing. If I practice for hours and hours a day, I’d get to the point where I was good, but never great. So, instead, for probably 20 years or more, I’ve made my own type of abstract art. Sometimes, I have a set palette of colors in mind when I start; a set concept for what I want it to represent. Sometimes I don’t know until I get started with it and then I will get a sense and tailor my color choices around that sense. All of these, I already had the concept in my head for what I wanted it to represent. Even still, the shape of the various shapes and the colors aren’t chosen ahead of time. That all happens in the moment.

This first one is all about anger and rage. This one I did as I was processing my feelings from our annual Staff Day. We had a speaker from the police department and at he was talking about gun laws and things like the open-carry laws in Michigan and how libraries aren’t considered protected spaces like schools are. I was doing okay with all that. Then all of a sudden he switched over to active shooters, including videos. There was a complete lack of warning about content of videos. I made it out of the room and didn’t see any of them, but I didn’t make it to the lounge quick enough and I heard the whole first video. I was livid that no warnings had been given about it. There was no “if you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t have to sit here” warning like there was the first time we had active shooter training. It seriously triggered me (and I later learned that it also triggered some others with PTSD). This artwork came out of processing those feelings and triggers.

The blue is due to the fact that often when I’m angry and raging, I cry. Messy, ugly crying. Thank god for great co-workers and friends. Also, thankfully, the speaker AFTER the police department was incredibly funny and that help break up some of the tension that was still there after all the ugly crying and breathing to stay grounded.

Line of art supplies - rolled canvas, paint brushes with paint on tips, paint jars, paint tubes, watercolor trays, and paint palettes — © Graphic Garden

The first of the following two I did at Staff Day as well. I had actually started it before the active shooter surprise. It’s simply supposed to represent fall and all the brilliant colors we see in fall. The second one I decided to do after fall. It’s winter, but I’m not that pleased with how it turned out so I’ll probably do another one soon.

The white I have currently isn’t real great. I need a new Prismacolor white. A few months ago, for one of my programs at work, I used my white pencils to trace shapes on black paper. Most of my white pencils were pretty much obliterated during that, including my Prismacolor white.

Thanks for joining me a special 250th post! I’ve got a couple of reviews coming up this week for you and other stops on blog tours as well.

4 out of 5 stars

Drawing Blood is the second book in the Sketch In Crime mystery series by Deirdre Verne. While I did not enjoy this one quite as much as I did the first one, it was still a very enjoyable book.

Drawing Blood: A Sketch in Crime Mystery by Deirdre Verne book cover - wooden table with laptop, plates and mugs, books, etc. on it - sketches hanging on wall including sketch of faceless person with short, choppy black hair.

Purchase Links: Amazon – B&N – BAM – Kobo

Brief Synopsis

CeCe Prentice and her Dumpster-diving pals are back on top . . . of a pile of trash

When Big Bob, manager of the town recycling center, goes missing, CeCe is worried about more than where she’ll score her next salvaged car. As one of the only people present when Bob’s body is recovered from under the weekly recycling haul, CeCe is able to identify witnesses and provide sketches of the scene. But when she’s startled by an unidentified woman at Bob’s empty house, CeCe’s artistic talents are challenged and her drawings come up short. With her observational skills on the fritz, CeCe joins Detective Frank DeRosa and her network of Freegan friends to re-create Big Bob’s life from the garbage up. The team is soon thrust into the underworld of recycling, where what appears to be junk could actually be the clue that saves a life.

(Source: Amazon book description)

line of jumbled short, fat pencils in red, blue, green, brown, yellow and purple — © Graphic Garden

Review

While this book is very important to the overall story arc of the series, I did not feel like the mystery portion of the book was that strong. I was far more interested in the personal drama that CeCe and Frank were going through as well as the growth of their relationship rather than who killed Big Bob.

While the two story lines converge towards the end of the story, I kind of wish they had converged earlier. It might have made me care about who killed Big Bob more. I didn’t know who the villain was before close to the end, which is a plus, but then again we didn’t even meet the villain until close to the end of the book, so that does limit being able to know who they are.

There are several things that we don’t know about until the end of the book and while some people like that type of plot, I’m not one of them. Yet, there were elements of the story that I really enjoyed, like watching CeCe and Frank’s relationship grow throughout the book. I enjoyed the part of the story line where CeCe and Frank were looking into whether or not CeCe had a daughter out there somewhere that she didn’t know about.

It was an enjoyable book overall and I do recommend it, but it was not as great as the first one in the series. Still, anyone interested in the series should not miss this book!

About the Author

Middle-aged woman with slightly longer than shoulder length blond hair, with glasses - wearing a blue turtleneck sweater Deirdre Verne is the author of Drawing Conclusions (2015), Drawing Blood (Feb 2016) and The Drawing Game (Dec 2017). Deirdre’s interest in green living inspired her to create an off-the-grid character, CeCe Prentice, who Dumpster dives her way through the Sketch in Crime mystery series. “Verne’s mystery is a winner…” Kirkus Reviews. A member of Sisters in Crime, Deirdre’s stories appear in all three NY chapter anthologies – Murder New York Style, Murder New York Style: Fresh Slices and Family Matters.