Where it all began....

Recently I was looking for some document or other and came across my 'bin of remembrance'... I'm not a terrible hoarder, but I do tend to keep my drawing and writing as well as cards and letters from people. Most of the drawing of the last two decades can be found in my sketchbooks but I have this one bin of loose sheets in plastic document-protectors. It mostly consists of sketches and cartoons, concept drawings and random high school notes to friends. But among all of those I found what might be the oldest pet portrait I have saved....



Note the very yellowed paper, crumpled and water-stained, and the lovely extra touch of some amber scotch-tape residue on there. It's dated 1989, so I would have been 14 when I drew it. I'm pretty sure this one wasn't an actual portrait - that what a time when I was very into drawing cats and dogs from magazines, pet food labels and kitty litter packages (my mom owned a corner convenience store), and just about any other reference shot I could get my hands on. This one had 'Mike' scrawled at the top - and it tickles my memory that 'Mikey' was the spokesdog for a pet food at that time.

At any rate - not the most auspicious beginning. I know I drew things (especially horses) much earlier than that, but those seem to have been lost to the ether...

So that was then... and up to the now. The new studio is all unpacked and I'm finally getting back to work. It is wonderful to have so much open space and natural light! I'm still shuffling my supplies around to figure out what the perfect organization is for functionality - but that's a part I actually enjoy.


I've got several things in the works - so more posts will follow (I mean it this time!)

~ Pam