A Monster at Breakfast

"breakfast"

He had a monstrous appetite in the morning.


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

A ripple in the ocean

"ripple"

This week's IF topic was "ripple". I did a cheerful interpretation first, but then I learned about the Ripple sketches project, which is raising money for helping the creatures affected by the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill.

The idea is that artists create a small artwork on the subject and the works are available through the Ripple project for a mere $10 donation to The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies or The International Bird Rescue Research Center.

My art tends to come from a happy place, so I did not find a sad and depressing issue like the oil spill inherently inspirational. I wanted to contribute to the project, though, so I've done a watercolour and coloured pencil illustration of a brown pelican. The brown pelican is one of the creatures affected by the spill. If you want to help and get a piece of art in the mail, go see all the available works here.


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

A good source of drawing prompts

"crowded"

I've been using the Illustration Friday topic archive for drawing prompts. It's working well for me to have these little "assignments" since it gives me some direction, while still being open to interpretation and inspiration.

Update: I created a set to collect together all my Illustrated Words.


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

An outing to the Amstelpark

windmill!

Last Saturday we biked out to the Amstelpark. It was a glorious summer day, sunny and warm, but not too warm. For keeping score on the cheesy-tourist-sights list, we were pleasantly surprised to see an old-fashioned windmill right next to the park. But the real reason we went was that I had read about the park having a showy "Rhododendron valley" and I wanted to see it before the Rhododendrons were done for the year. They were perhaps a bit past their prime, but lots of lovely flowers still to be seen.



The Rhododendron valley is only one small part of the Amstelpark. There are lots of little paths and different types of gardens. Some areas are more cultivated and others seem to be untended woodland.


water garden

After some wandering and a visit to the ice cream stall (I had lemon and strawberry), I settled on a bench to draw and read, while D studied Dutch. I did some scribbles of the ducks, but they were mostly moving around too much, so instead I did a drawing assignment based on the word "regal".


"regal"

The park is closed to bicycles and it was much, much less busy than the Vondelpark. These two factors made it a tranquil getaway within the city. We took a circuitous route home and biked up along the Amsteldijk. I'd love to follow the waterway down the other way, since to judge by google maps, we'd quickly be out in farmland. Here are the rest of my photos from our Amstelpark outing.


red poppy


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

drawing assignment: slither

"slither"
I decided to try following the illustration friday flickr group for some random drawing assignments. This week's theme was "slither". Snails and snakes are the only two things that really come to my mind for the word "slither", and snails are much cuter. That's about all that went into my decision to draw a snail.

Update: If you're looking for a list of topics to use as assignments, here's the archive, which I am working through.


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Sketchbook scribblings

Some recent pages from my sketchbook. I'm glad I packed a mini-art-kit in my luggage since our boxes won't be here for probably another month, due to various bureaucratic shenanigans.


birdhouse


toadstools and critter


A is for apple.


B is for banana.


All Photographs and Artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Painting ... a wall

flowers for the house
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I've been busy lately making my home feel a bit loved. I bought some more flowers, this time from the grocery store. I'm finding myself drawn to pink and white lately. I always make up my own mixed bouquets from the 2-for and 3-for buckets since I find the grocery-store-prepared bunches are always a bit random in terms of colour and flower type.


new wall colour
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

This past weekend, I also painted a wall with the beautifully named colour "Ocean Air" (Benjamin Moore 2123-50). This wall had previously been a bright spring green (you may have noticed it as a backdrop during green week). I liked the cheerful colour, but it was so bold that I noticed it all the time and consequently I was ready for a change. A bit of paint, a few coats painted while listening to some fun music, and it's a whole new space. Definitely worth the time involved.


burst idea sketching
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

And for those of you wondering what I've been doing for the Burst wordplay challenge, um, well, I've mostly just gotten ideas. I've done a mind-map kind of brainstorming, but I still haven't done my finished piece. I think it's a classic case of "student syndrome" ... waiting until the last possible minute before it's "due".

Draw yourself as you were

age 16
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
Recently, there was a challenge to draw your teenage self and then draw yourself as you are now. I did sketches of myself at 14, 16, and 28. It's a mix of embarrassing, amusing, nostalgic, and fun.

Self-portraits are always tricky. There's the difficulty of getting it to look like what you recognize as "you". And then there's also how much to put in of the things that you admire or despise about yourself. Pretty much no one but you notices most of those little details, but they're part of your self-identity and translating that onto paper is a challenge. I hope that some of you try this out, even if you keep the results to yourself.