Day 210: Monster

"Every woman is supposed to have the same set of motives, or else to be a monster."

-George Eliot

Day 209: Stare

"A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare."

-W.H. Davies

Day 208: Being cool

Day 207: Searching

Day 206: Cozy

"Sanity is a cozy lie."

-Susan Sontag

Day 205: To imagine

"Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick."

-Gwyneth Paltrow

Day 204

"We must be our own before we can be another's."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

This sketch started out based off of a photo, but I ended up changing the eyes a lot, so it's not really a drawing of the person that I set out to draw at first. Thus, this drawing really has no theme.

Day 203

Why is it that it's summer and I still feel like I have no time to draw anything on a lot of days, and thus hate everything I draw? Grrrrr.

Day 202: Peace

Day 201: Platinum Blonde

"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know that I am not dumb... and I also know that I am not a blonde."

-Dolly Parton

I'm a big fan of the platinum blonde hair with dark eyebrows look. I think it's so chic and modern looking. If I weren't a redhead and thus at risk of making a significant number of people legitimately angry by dying my hair, and if I wasn't so freckled, and if my hair wasn't so thick, I would love to wear my hair in a platinum pixie cut, like this picture:

Day 200: Chic

Another super busy day with time for just a quick sketch. 

Day 199: Pouty

Day 198: Beach Dolls

"The cure for anything is the salt water- sweat, tears, or the sea."

-Isak Dinesen

I'm not a big fan or the beach myself (unless it happens to have a good amount of shade on it) but it's summer vacation, and I feel the need to draw something beach-related anyhow. 

I wanted to do something really fast, so I did a couple of the dolls that I've been doodling a lot lately. I can't really draw realistic looking people without looking at a photo yet, but cartoonish doll-like things are really easy.

Day 197: Ballerina

"In life, as in dance, grace glides on blistered feet."

Ballerinas fascinate me. They're artists and athletes at the same time, and probably one of the most disciplines groups of people in the world. The amount of time and physical discomfort that ballerinas must put into what they do is quite amazing.

Day 196: Ballet

"Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery."

-Robert Caro

Day 195: Clothes

"The finest clothing made is a persons' skin, but, of course, society demands something more of this."

-Mark Twain

During my three hour long calculus class today, I had a little bit of time to do some doodling. I ended up sketching a couple outfits that I wish I owned/ could pull off (and added color when I got home).

Day 194: Green Dress

"Age becomes reality when you hear someone refer to that attractive young woman standing next to the woman in the green dress, and you find that you're the one in the green dress."

Day 193: Gotye

"I guess Surrealism has a draw for me because it's an unknown world. It's a world of subconscious. Some things you can't really get your hands on very easily. Things that are kind of nebulous and they feel like they're not completely formed. You have to feel your way through that."

-Gotye

Day 192

Day 191

Once again, no access to a scanner...

Day 190: More Marilyn

"I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it."

-Marilyn Monroe

Day 189: Sunflower

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do."

-Helen Keller

Day 188

I hate having to blog when I don't have a scanner. Taking a picture of a 2D picture with a camera always makes it look weird and distorted.

Day 187: Valley

"Ever crag and gnarled tree and lonely valley has its own strange and graceful legend attached to it."

-Douglas Hyde

There's something about this quote that I really like. I'm not sure why; I think I just like the idea behind it.

Anyways, I finally had time to draw today, so I decided to go fully pastel, which usually takes me a bit longer.

Day 186: Lips

"Humans are the only animal that blushes, laughs, has religion, wages war. and kisses with lips. So in a way, the more you kiss with lips, the more human you are. And the more you wage war."

-Jonathan Safran Foer

4th Quarter

This is just an extra sketch from last almost a week ago. On our last day of orgo lecture, my professor had us all trace or hands holding up four fingers, symbolizing something about the 4th quarter being ours (I can't remember what that was a reference to...) and, not surprisingly, but the end of the lecture, my hand tracing turned into this. 

Day 185: Inferiority

Another super quick sketch scribbled down while studying...it'll all be over in about 24 hours, though! Assuming my brain doesn't melt before then. There's only so much organic chemistry that one brain can hold, after all!

Day 184: Happy Mother's Day!

Some quotes about mothers:

"A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people. promptly announces she never did care for pie."

Tenneva Jordan

"The phrase 'working mother' is redundant."

-Jane Sellman

"A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary."

-Dorothy Canteir Fisher

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!

Day 183: Still Studying...

"The bitterness of studying is preferable to the bitterness of ignorance."

Day 182: Finals



I hate not having time to do things well. I'd rather not do them at all. Seeing as I spent most of the day taking a final, and the rest studying for my other finals, I didn't have time for anything but this quick scribble/sketch.

Day 181: Jenny Owen Youngs

"I've been mapping it out.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I wish that it was something else."

-Jenny Owen Youngs, "Drinking Song"

Day 180: Rain Hat

"I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty."

-Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Can you guess how the weather's been in Davidson, NC today? I love rainy weather in the summer (even though I know it's not technically summer yet...it still feels like it)! I also really love this quote about the rain. It makes me want to read the book it's from, in fact. 

Day 179: Marilyn Again

I felt like drawing Marilyn again today, but unfortunately, I don't think it came out looking like her. Actually, I think it looks more like Michelle Williams as Marilyn in My Week with Marilyn than Marilyn herself:

Day 178: Unthemed

"Be yourself; everything else is taken."

-Oscar Wilde

Day 177: Laugh

"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane."

-Robert Frost

"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh."

-W. H. Auden

Day 176: Lana Del Rey

"Oh, my God, I feel it in the air

Telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare

Honey I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere

Nothing scares me anymore."

-Lana Del Rey, Summertime Sadness

I was very reluctant at first to even listen to Lana Del Rey's music because I thought that she was just a typical pop singer. But with some convincing from a friend I finally listened to some of her music, and have been pleasantly surprised. Prior to that, all I know about her music was that she performed on SNL and got terrible reviews. But I'm actually a fan of her work, as strange as she is (or perhaps that's why I like her). Her musical style actually reminds me a lot of Florence and the Machine, who I obviously love since I just drew Florence a couple days ago. Anyways, I think Lana Del Rey's music is definitely interesting, as is her personality and her look, which is why I wanted to do a portrait of her.

Day 175: Audrey Hepburn

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

-Audrey Hepburn

I didn't know this before I Wikipedia'd her, but Audrey Hepburn, in addition to being one of the most iconic film actresses ever, was also a great humanitarian and did a lot of work for UNICEF. The only movie of hers that I've ever actually seen is My Fair Lady, but always find quotes by her that catch my attention (my favorite being the one above). Some others include:

"As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others."

"I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish more than I ever hoped."

"I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person."

"I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it."

I also was happy to discover while I was looking through quotes by her, that Audrey Hepburn was an introvert (very much like myself). It's always nice to hear that someone as successful and adored as Audrey Hepburn was introverted, seeing as most extroverted people cannot understand introverts.

"I have to be alone very often. I'd be very happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That's how I refuel."

"I'm an introvert... I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, and the sky."

Day 174: Florence Welch

"There's a drumming noise inside my head that starts when you're around. 

I swear that you could hear it; it makes such an almighty sound."

-Florence and the Machine, Drumming Song

Florence and the Machine is definitely one of my favorite bands! Florence Welch has one of the most unique voices out there, and their music is amazing. 

Here are some other lyrics that I like:

"I was a heavy heart to carry

But he never let me down;

When he held me in his arms

My feet never touched the ground."

-Heavy in Your Arms

"And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat,

I tried to find the sound,

But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,

So darkness I became."

-Cosmic Love

"Happiness hit her like a train on a track,

Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back."

-Dog Days are Over

Day 173: Evil

"People who claim they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us. It's people who claim they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of."

-Gregory Maguire

Day 172: Problems

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

-Albert Einstein

Day 171: Homicide First. Nap Later.

"I catnap now and then, but I think while I nap, so it's not a waste of time."

Yes, I've sketched basically the exact same thing multiple times before. But I'm tired and had almost no time to draw anything, and this is my go-to sketch. It's hard to try to create something that will look good when all you really want to do is take a looooong nap!

The real work of art that I created today was a fake murder for my forensic serology class. I think it came out great! I didn't think to take a picture when our "victim" was still here (the "wound" on his head also looked great), but I did think to take some photos right before we cleaned up. 

The victim was struck with a hammer:

 

 And then crawled a little ways...

 

 And then died. The victim's head was lying right about where the hand print is in this picture:

Here's one picture that my professor took of us preparing the victim. You can't really see the wound we created in this picture though.

I'm so proud of our fake murder! (Is that weird?) 

Day 170: Yawn

"A yawn may not be polite, but at least it's an honest opinion."

Even looking at a picture of a yawn has been making me yawn. By the way, apparently yawning is contagious due to the ancient, deep, and subconscious roots of empathy and social bonding. 55% of people who witness a yawn will yawn within the next 5 minutes. Yawns don't become contagious until around the age of four. I thought it was interesting that autistic children are less likely to catch yawns than other children. The more severe the condition, the less common the behavior of catching yawns gets.