Another quick sketch

I know I need to do more, but I was inspired to draw this quick sketch last night.

Donovan was watching TV and our cat Meatball hopped up and used him as a podium to look out our back window.

They are best buds, can you tell?

6x8, graphite on paper

Quick Sketch

of the guy sitting across from me in a waiting room yesterday.

pen & paper

I'm home!

a plant in the room I stayed overnight on my partner's ranch. Micron on paper  

Oh my goodness, I'm surprised I'm not as exhausted as I feel I should be. 

For the past six days, I got up no later than 6 got on the road and after driving for no shorter than 10 hours, dropped the prisoner off at a jail and then checked into a hotel room no earlier than 8pm.  Today, up at 6, dropped off our last "passenger" and then drove to from Elko, Nevada to Dayton, NV, then to Patterson, Calif to my partner's home and then an hour home drive to get back a little before 11pm.  

Thank you for the well wishes everyone!  All prisoners ended up thanking us and telling us we were the best transport they've ever had (even though they were both going to jails or in one case a Federal Prison).   

I miss my kids ( I have to wait until Saturday though because the ex is taking them to Tahoe in the morning), my pets, my bed and all my blog buddies!  Oh, and I am surprised as to how much I miss my art!  I can hardly wait to wake up tomorrow and start painting.  For now, here are a few of the quick sketches I was able to work on.  (Difficult when you're driving 12 plus hours a day)  We went to several states I've never been, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  I had been to Oklahoma and Nevada before. 

 Again, it's good to be home and I'm glad to be able to reconnect with my friends.  Super Cyber HUG~

The motel's washer with my uniform inside mid-trip....my entertainment for the night.  ballpoint pen

Newly incoming women waiting for the medical screening.  Althought it was only 8pm, sleeping is a common way to cope with stress in this environment.  These were not our transport prisoners. This jail had a very loose environment.  No one was handcuffed to the bar as you can see, the males were located on the other side of that half wall, the adjoining room had holding cells with a couple of doors open so the prisoner could just walk out if he wanted.   Very different form the four other facilities we went to.

ball point pen on copy paper I asked for from the intake secretary.

Limber Linda's daughter

Thanks to Angela Elledge's encouragement, I'm posting a second sketch from my visit with my friends.  This is her daughter that I was able to bribe to sit for a few minutes so I could sketch her.  She's only 10 but she is very sharp.  She's currently learning Japanese and Mandarin and being home schooled by Linda.

8x10 graphite on paper

Limber Linda

[Thanks to Liz Holm for the title inspiration]

I went to visit some friends the other day.  Linda was just sitting so casually but in such an interesting position I had to try and capture her.   As I look at this again, she reminds me of a cat poised on top of the ottoman.  Then again, yoga guru and pretzel also popped up in my mind.

8x10 graphite on paper.

Historic Day

Whether you voted for him or not today was a historic inauguration of our 44th president. I was compelled to do this quick sketch from the CBS broadcast of the First Couple after they finished singing the National Anthem.




Historic Day Graphite on paper, 8.5 x11 inches
$15

On a lighter note I was just "tagged" by my friend and fellow artist Judy Mackey. I'm supposed to revealed 7 interesting things about myself and then tag 7 other artists so they can do the same. Let's see if I do this correctly.

1. I found out I had a half sister who was born a year ahead of me when I was 36 years old.

2. My grandmother Sophie Borodkin was a chief for the Eyak tribe in Cordova Alaska and one of two native speakers until she died a month after I learned about her existance. My mother and she had a falling out when my half sister was born and I never had a chance to meet her. My grandaunt was the last native speaker of the Eyak language and was featured in many forms of media when she died last year.

3. I didn't know my parents (my dad is second generation and my mom half) were both interned in Camp during WWII when they were teens until I learned of this piece of history in College. Now my son is learning about this in Middle School.

4. I was the first Asian female to be hired at my Police Dept. The only female in my Police Academy class and the first female to be selected to be a traffic officer and Internal Affairs Investigator at the same Dept. I was also a Hostage Negotiator and a Trauma Support team member for other employees. My favorite co-assignment during my last years was being part of a team of Press Information Officers. They always asked me to talk to the Press ( TV, Radio and AP) when the tough cases came because they figured they (the press) would go easy on me. NOT!

5. I had my last child just before I turned 43. She's now a feisty sixth grader and gets along well with her older 14 year old brother. Both my kids are artistic.

6. I played co-ed intermural basketball in college and being the only gal on the team where one of the players was George Foreman's younger brother they called the team, "Sheila's Army".

7. Though from the time I was about 10 to the present, life has thrown its challenges and taken me to very dark places in the world and in myself, I choose to focus on the light ahead of me and take the time to tell my kids and people I meet why I appreciate them every chance I get. I know life is fleeting and precious and I may never get a chance to let special people know how they've given me their gift of friendship or support and do it when I can. Blessings to you all.

I'm tagging:
R. Garriott, Ed Burton , Diane Hoeptner, Margaret Mayer, Dana Cooper, Kristen Duer and Paula Villanova.

I apologize in advance if you've been tagged in the past.