Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

I am fairly happy with this one, especially the red. Took about eight hours total!

I am still drawing...but I haven't been able to keep up the daily picture goal. There are a couple of reasons for this; first, I've just not had the time, or given it the time, on days when I've been swamped with work and other matter.

Bananas (no. 9): colored pencil Past their prime though still tasty. The spots seemed to increase as I was drawing.

Red Knitting (no. 8): colored pencil I am knitting a bright red mohair scarf. Hopefully I'll finish it before winter, such as it is, ends. I have come to the conclusion that I can't use the scanner for scanning these drawings. It's fine for photographs but seems to choke on artwork. So, I'm going to have to photograph the picture the next day (since I am usually drawing in the evening, after the day's work is done.)

Square paper clip: graphite I am much more comfortable in black and white than in color. I need to make a color chart of the pencils I have. The only drawback of graphite is that it gets all over the hands.

This lady really stood out in the crowds of people doing their Saturday shopping in Zürich yesterday. In a town where most people wear blacks, greys and browns in the winter, she was wearing a bright red coat with a bright red hat. She wasn't that young or pretty, but she definitely drew stares - and smiles. There are more things around here in the sketch but I left them out and just left in the grey color around her.

To loosen up after yesterday's broccoli, which took about 2 hours, and because I was busy today, I just decided to do a doodle-like sketch of my cell phone, an object I can't do without but which I sometimes dread, like my computers. Done with a 3-color gel pen (red, blue, black) in about 10 minutes.

The actual broccoli from yesterday. Photographed with a Nikon D70 using a tripod and natural daylight. The paper is pale ivory, which is what may have thrown off the scanner.

I did actually do a color version of the broccoli, but the scanner totally failed to pick up the greens, turning it into a blob of yellow with green bits. I may try to photograph it in the morning when I have more light. For now this is just the preliminary pencil sketch.

A Gala apple is a medium red with a yellow-green-orange undertone, and quite streaky. Getting that streakiness is rather difficult. The apple also looks rather lanky. I haven't really done much with colored pencils before and so far it's a rather frustrating tool But I think I will stick with it for at least a month.