Miriam Badyrka is The Doodler

Happy Earth Day

Wire and Twine, a group of "people who make stuff" (like this cool t-shirt!) has come up with a list of 50 easy things people can do to help our planet. Love the icons all together. (via Swiss Miss)

From geoGreeting, send an email message in an awesomely spiffy font made up of photographs from Google maps. Not only that, but as you type your message it tells you where in the world each letter comes from, like this heart from Turkljaca, Croatia.
(from Jess at How About Orange who always finds the coolest stuff!)

Simple Gifts

Mixed media (or collage) artist Debbie Overton had a neat idea for her 50th birthday. No cake, no party, just share happiness in a blog post.How is she going to do this? By simply asking us to post things we are grateful for in our lives.

Sharing the things you are grateful for can’t help but make you happy, and it reminds other people to think of what they are grateful for.

For life, even though I have squandered far too much of mine.
For love, which I have given freely.
For love, which I have received, far more than I deserve
For laughter, compassion, strength and kindness.
For light, warmth, colors, shapes and forms, which allows us to see beauty and smiles.
For ears, which allows us to hear music, voices and laughter.
For hands, which allow us to touch, to make and to share.
For the people and pets which keep us from walking through this world alone.
For the stars, and the sea, the mountains and forests, plains and deserts, which remind us that we ourselves are insignificant, and just a small part of something which is much greater.

Thanks, Debbie,and a Happy Birthday to you!

Patterns, Patterns Everywhere (Cement, Stone and Metal)

I love my camera phone. Actually, I don't care much for the phone part, but I love having a camera in my pocket. Yesterday, I downloaded all the pictures I randomly snap as I wander around on my walks. 

All of these things interest me enough to take a picture. As a group they say something about what strikes my fancy and inspires my art.

Cement is the opposite of dainty. I always think of it as strong, utilitarian and plain. Look at the strength inherent in this pile of blocks.

And yet, look how lovely and lace-like these examples are. I really like the patterns that are made with common cider blocks.

I love this fence, with it's interlocking circles. Isn't it gorgeous?

Look at the  rhythmic  pattern created by this tile roof. We don't have too many of them up here.

I would love to see a structure built of these circle in a square blocks. Plus, there is a lovely bit of an old wire fence (Oh yeah, you can click on any of these pictures to see a bigger, better picture.) behind it. It is made of narrow loops. That is so much better than your basic chain link fence.

Unless it is this one:

I have never seen another fence with these curlique, or wave pattern, which is right out of Patterns People Have Made Since Antiquity 101.

I wish I could have gotten further away so you could see the entire thing, but this fence is on a narrow alley, and I was as backed up against the fence behind it as I could get. There is a lot of patterning going on in one small fence.

I like the divison of space here in this doorway. Look at the lines and hapes made by the combination of trim, the security door, and the glass bricks. Very pleasing.

I also like the railing on this porch with the pillars and the framed space of the window. Look at the way the light seen from the window echos the curve on the pillars.

This fence, just needs to be seen, it's got everything!

And finally, the rusting railing of the railroad bridge. I like the composition created by the combination of the  various fencing.

 

Doodle of the Week

Circles and squares this week. Whooo, look at me, I'm branching out!

Pen problems for the Doodler of late. Last week we had the nearly dead pen. This week we bring you the brand, spankin' new, juicy pen. Which bled. So these look a bit fuzzier than usual. Click on the picture for a bigger, clearer view.

It snowed this morning. It has never snowed this late here. The latest snow date was March 10th, according to NPR. It is all gone now, but I have photographic proof that it really happened. This is a picture from my back door that I took this morning.

I know why it happened. My niece is in Portland for business, and she is from San Diego.

'Nuff said.

Foggy Dew

Z and I went out for a run this morning and you could hardly see 10 feet. It was the same old run, but the distance seemed to expand and contract in the fog.

You could hear the ducks and geese in the slough, but you couldn't see them from up on the levee because the fog was so thick on the water.

I love fog. It makes everything new and mysterious.

This is a spiderweb from my yard this morning, looking for all the world like a doily casually draped in the branches.

And, just to keep you in the mood, here is a vid of Sinead O'Connor singing 'Foggy Dew' with the Chieftains on The Long Black Veil. A lovely performance from one of my favorite recordings.

Alberta Street Fair

Tomorrow is the annual Alberta Street Fair.

Bring your family and enjoy the fun on the street. There will be live music, street vendors, activities for the kids and a parade!

I will be working at Talisman's street sale in front of the gallery from 3 - 6 pm. Stop by and say Hello.

Sideshow Bob

My rose, which I call Sideshow Bob after the Simpson's character, does this once a year. I just wanted you all to see. Too bad there is no smell-o-vision.

Art Hop

The 5th Annual Alberta Street  Art Hop is this Saturday, May 10th, beginning at noon.

Aha! Eyes on Alberta, a special one day exhibit and competition, will be at Studio 1627. This is my entry, 'Watchers'.

Talisman Gallery artists will be doing demos on and off through the day. Other galleries will have special events to mark the day. The All Alberta artist this year is Philemon Reid, whose paintings, drawings and prints interpret the African American jazz culture.

There will be bands, strolling performers, impromptu street performance, sky-high bicycles, neighborhood kids hawking hot dogs, or the hundreds of artists displaying/selling their own creations street side, there is something to delight anyone open to "the surprise of art."The parade starts at 2:30 pm. Bring your family and be prepared to have fun.

Monday, Monday

Some weekend doodles for you.

Did you have a lovely Mother's Day? I did. It was pretty sedate though. We went for a hike up in Forest Park. Not the best hike ever, but fun and good company. It was a figure 8 loop trip, so extra points for that. We strung the hike together with two trails and a couple of fire lanes. 

I want to showcase this little doodle from this page because it is all line work. Different. Scribbley. Unique for me. Normally, I go over and over the same line until it is all built up and juicy because it is soothing and meditative. This time I didn't.

Git on up there!

I did these horses while watching Winchester '73, a great old cowboy flick starring Jimmy Stewart.

They are maybe a bit more like sketches than doodles, but I had no idea that I did them until I looked at the page the next evening. So they count because of the unconscious factor.

Notice that I only draw the horses, not the cowboys or Indians or tack. No need to psychoanalyze, I don't normally doodle figures much, and when I do they look like hieroglyphs.