Opposites are Attractive

The February Sketchbook Challenge theme is opposites so my first immediate thought is Yin Yang, the swirled half circles that make up the whole. Then what duos to fit into the two windows? I came up with two immediately.  First, of course, involves cats, a quick sketch that I will scan and color, maybe using paint.net which I haven't tried yet, but I know I will:

Next, from some serious musing following the reading of Sue Monk Kidd's Travelling with Pomegranates  (hope all that got spelled right) that I found hugely inspiring and thought provoking about the transitions from feminine inclusive belief systems to patriachal domination of the God personality so this quickie of half apple and half pomegranate.  If you are not familiar with the Demeter-Persephone story, Kidd's book is an amazing journey of her daughter and herself travelling together, journalling separately, as Kidd is deciding whether or not to write a fictional book about bees, and her daughter is figuring out what to do with her life. A read not to be missed.  Happily, one of my daughters recommended the book.  It has definitely altered my relationship to creation mythology and how duality all went down.  This sketch does not honor the change in my thoughts, but I had to jot it down for starters:

Finally, trying to capture the spirit of wrens, those mouthy little keepers of the house, theirs and those of other birds when they can.  One somehow sprouted a huge tail!



Kitty Sketch

I took some photos of Smelly Cat in his regular sleeping spot in the sewing room with the plan of making some sketches from them. And now I have the first one.  He is Mr. Highly Prized, a lucky stray kitty who showed up on the front porch one day in 1996 and moved himself in. He is the mushiest kitty you will ever find, tolerates just about any hugging and squeezing you might need to give him.  He is a sweetie, getting on in years, and spends most of his time heat sucking on top of the cable box or in any sunny window.

So I turned one of the photos to black and white because I really wanted to see the light and shadow of the photo without the distraction of color. He's a grey cat so there wasn't much color to begin with. I haven't sketched like this in a very long time (count decades).  I consider sketching to be different from "drawing" which I do a lot more of the time.  I draw faces, designs, quilting line drawings, but sketching is different to me.  I don't know if I'm finished with this one but it was a good place to pause. So here is the photo and the sketch:

I think it's a good start anyway. I might do a quick pen sketch as well later today. We'll see what the day brings.