Anna Karenina

 When I was a little kid (and already obsessed with drawing), I took a lot of inspiration from the books I was reading. On lazy days, which I had a lot of because I was homeschooled and indoors-y, I had this kind of routine where I would read until some image caught my imagination and I had to draw it, and then go back to reading  until it happened again. I drew a lot of mice and medieval scenes because I was obsessed with Brian Jacques' Redwall series.

Anyways I was reading Anna Karenina about a year and a half ago, and would have similar surges of wanting to draw after reading certain scenes. It's a very visually inspiring book- and I'm obviously not the only one who feels this way: Vogue featured a stunning editorial shot by Mario Testino with Keira Knightly in Karenina-esque dresses, some of which are her film costumes.

My illustrations came first, of course- these are over a year old. I had more scenes I wanted to do, but only got these three.

The first is Anna and Kitty at the ball, obviously.

Did anyone not have a vivid mental picture of these scene, of the black dress? Obviously not me and not Mr. Testino either:

This is the scene where Anna is at her dressing room mirror and Karenin is confronting her about her scandalous philandering ways.

And here we have Vronsky (who is always escribed as having a mustache, which completely ruins it for me) in the stable checking out the horse Gladiator. I love drawing horses, provided I can have some kind of muscle/anatomy reference to guide me. I think I looked up the musculature for this picture; I don't remember but I must have. 

This whole post makes me miss my childhood and all those days when I was free to loaf about reading and drawing whenever the fancy struck.

These are the drawings that I referred  to on my post on Sept. 29. Obviously this past year and my exposure to Hopkins and the great pharmaceutical romance of modern medicine is seeping into my art...

I drew this first, when I was doing Christmas cards last Dec. and then of course didn't give it to anyone, because who wants to get THAT as a holiday greeting?

These next three are a bit more recent...I first did some sketches of the man and woman on the syringe (which, I would STILL like to do another version of...I did a bunch of doodles and kept changing the perspective and realigning their bodies to suggest maximum abandon and exuberance...but the rainbow took so long to make nice n smooth that  I finally just reconciled myself with this version) and a friend of mine encouraged me to make at least three on the same theme. If you are in Seattle, you can purchase the originals from this art-vending robot at The Hideout, a bar on First Hill:

http://www.hideoutseattle.com/earl.htm

 Or perhaps not; perhaps someone has already purchased them. 

 

 

I like the last one best. I wanted it to look like a Tiffany ad, or something Kate Spade would come out with (btw how amazing would it be if Kate Spade's next crop of bags were covered with tiny stylish pills?)

My friend is getting married.

Not exactly a surprise, because we were roomies back in 2008 when she met this boy and spent two semesters mooning around in a constant crushed-out state. The cutest thing ever. I'm so happy for them.

A friend and JHUSON ex-classmate of mine asked me to make a poster for the clinic in Liberia where she is working. The idea is to promote these pregnancy centers...it is a little frustrating to be reminded of the work I WISH I was doing, namely nursing, but I also like contributing and on some level I'm aware that, at this point, talent-wise, I am more able to make a unique contribution with my paintbrush than I am as a totally inexperienced nurse.

The idea is, the licensed midwife (in the blue uniform) is welcoming the pregnant woman and her traditional midwife (who is wearing ordinary clothes, but is recognizable by her nametag). 

some of my favorite doodles

As hard as I try to draw things in sketchbooks or on nice paper, inevitably some of my favorite things end up being drawn in a lecture or on a bus, on the back of an assignment or an envelope. Often I give these away to whatever amused friend is nearby, watching me draw (or in some cases said friend was the inspiration for the doodle, as with this first one- my friend Erica was going on about her desire for a kitten in her no-pets apartment):

This is another one I gave to Erica; I'm sorry about the quality of the cell-phone picture, but the little caption reads, "As a preteen, she left her bra under her pillow for the Boob Fairy to fill":

Here's something I did on an envelope. I have this great Hello Kitty patterned duct tape so I thought maybe Hello Kitty could escape and wander across the paper...

This one I ended up giving to a visiting lecturer who spoke at my nursing school. Her research involved rats and I honestly can't remember much else, only that the friend I was sitting next to as I drew convinced me to give her the rat drawing at the end of the lecture.  I was nervous, because I didn't want her to think I was zoning out during her talk (because of course I wasn't; drawing really helps me listen by occupying my hands, but I don't always know if professors will get that) but the lecturer laughed super loudly when I gave her the drawing and I think she liked it.