We live in a 100+ year old house.  At some point, one of the previous residents decided they wanted indoor plumbing.  My studio/office space is a room built off of the back porch to include this water pump.  State of the art, eh?  We find remnants like this all over the house.  My favorite is the closet in Girl1’s room.  They built an access to the eaves into the closet, and hid it with a bookshelf, just like in the old horror movies.  Girl2 has a closet in a closet.  We call that the ugly kid room claiming that was where they shut up their ugly kids when company came over.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine let me dog sit for him while his family moved.  The family and I loved having that great dane, Thor, around.  We decided we wanted one also.  When Thor went home, we drove four hours north in the snow to get Loki Motive.  He was a great dog.  He died entirely too soon.  When he passed, we were all torn up.  We decided to get another dane, but this time we would get him a companion so he would have a playmate while we were at work.  That is how Odhin Joy (pictured) and Miss Chievers came to join our family.  A few short months later we went from having two great dane puppies, to having eight great danes.  Odhin chewed through a wall to get to Chievers.  “I understand”, I told him, “We’ve all been there.” We are down to just Odhin now.  Tonight’s EDM challenge was to draw an animal.  It was either him or Girl2’s gold fish, Nemo.

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EDM 45: Draw an animal

My beautiful young bride and Girl2 stayed with the inlaws for the last couple of nights.  That left me without much incentive to go to bed at a decent time.  Then when I did go to bed, I had too much room.  Tonight, I’ve brought them all home and life is good.  Except that it is 1am and I am still uploading EDM and TAD!

Tonight’s Thing-A-Day is just a quick rendering of a hatching raptor.  I think I want to be a paleontologist when I grow up.

Tonight’s EDM challenge was to draw something china or ceramic.  This lovely tea cup is supposed to have a rose print on it.  Maybe I’ll tackle that the next time I run through these challenges.  I really think that I will continue the Thing-a-day even after the official challenge is over.  And I think that I will run through the EDM challenges again in a different medium.  That’s easy to say when I’m not even a quarter through the first time around.  We’ll see how I feel come August 1st after I have completed the first 200 challenges.

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EDM 44: Draw something china or ceramic

I have scantily clad women as wallpaper on my PC.  I tell myself that they are for figure drawing practice.  I have over 2000 of them.  Tonight, my manequin assumed the provocative pose that was on my monitor.  I tried to capture it in Rose Art watercolors.  He’s a naughty manequin.

Also, tonight’s EDM challenge was to draw something I am thankful for.  This one was tough considering the parameters I’ve placed on myself for this challenge.  I thought of my family, but how do I represent my whole family on a page that’s 3.5″x5″?  I thought about my home, my health, my job…  The problem is that “What I’m thankful for” isn’t a thing, but an abstract idea.  No, what I’m most thankful for is Time.  Time to do the things I love.  Time to work.  Time to myself.  But most importantly, I’m thankful for the time that I get to spend with friends and family.  My time with my loved ones is limited, and I cherish every second of it.  God speed, Mike, rest in peace.

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EDM 43: Draw something you’re thankful for

Chickasha, Oklahoma had a large military presence during WWII.  The local airport was a major fighter pilot school.  What we now use as our county fairgrounds was a P.O.W. camp.  There was also a huge hospital for injured soldiers and P.O.W.s. Grady Memorial Hospital is still there, but it is nowhere near as big.  Most of where that hospital and it’s supporting barracks were is the local high school.  One of the few things left is this water tower.  It has been converted into a storage/meeting place for the local Boy Scout Chapter.  Today’s EDM challenge was to draw a landmark of my city.  I chose this one.

Today, I took my brush pen and sketchbook out to Starbucks for a coffee.  This is kind of a big deal because the nearest Starbucks is 40 miles away.  It was a nice ride on the bike though, and very good coffee.  I’m not sure it was FOUR-DOLLARS good, but it was pleasant to sip while playing in my book.  I haven’t been concerning myself with colors lately.  Mostly, because I’m bored with all the black and brown coats.  I am so ready for spring!

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EDM 42: Draw a landmark of your city

The 39th EDM challenge was to draw at a museum.  I had to postpone it because it happened to fall on a Thursday evening.  Today, Saturday, I loaded up Girl2* and my beautiful young bride and we trekked off to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.  As soon as you walk through the doors, there is a saurapod poking his head out of his display and looking at you.  That’s when the sqealing started.  The poor child was so excited that only dogs and dolphins could understand what she was saying.  There would be a stream of incoherent high pitched syllables followed by shrieking laughter before she would run off to the next exhibit.  I spent about 20 minutes coaxing this Saurophaganax maximus into my sketchbook so that I could bring him home.  He’s my Thing-a-day.

For tonight’s EDM challenge, draw at a museum, I present Eryops megacephalus.  A resident of the the lower permian age, around 295 million years ago.  Also, I give you a very large dragonfly.

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EDM 39: Draw at a museum

*Edit: I must have had Gilr1 on my mind when I original listed her as the child I took to the museum.  It was, as Gia pointed out, Girl2 that went with us and squealed with glee.