Honing My Strengths

“The Mouse Of Amanita” (wip)

I didn’t think I would be able to do it but I got my idea of a mouse with mushrooms to fit onto an artist card. I started off working at a larger size but it didn’t seem to look right to me. I’m beginning to wonder, by me being so accustomed to working on such a small scale, I now have difficulty working at a larger size? It’s like my brain can’t fathom such a thing. Then again maybe working on a small scale is really just my natural disposition and I should just hone my strengths rather than worry about my perceived weaknesses. Unfortunately I often get the impression from the art world that there’s much more interest and focus on large works of art that can fit the span of a living room wall. Due to that, at times I feel this pressure within, to match what I see and strive to stretch myself and to do something on a much more grand scale. But in all honesty, I find something cozy and quaint about small works of art that suits me more than I like to admit. As an American, born and bred in a culture that likes to do everything BIG, it seems almost unAmerican to churn out these little works of art, especially when I have some people who ask, “Why don’t you do anything larger?”
Anyhoo, so far this little scene fits nicely in the space provided and I’m excited to see how it’s going to turn, which is a good sign because if I’m not excited about my work it becomes so much harder to do.

Of Mice And Wheat

Based upon a suggestion from my previous post, I decided that my next drawing project would involve mice. I had to forewarn my dear hubby of the subject matter because when he was a child he had a bad experience with a house mouse and has been terrified of the little creatures ever since. So I had to give him the heads up to avoid any freak outs on his end since he can’t even tolerate seeing pictures of them. I don’t tease him about it though because spiders give me the hee-bee gee-bees and since we have an attic, those little buggers have a tendency to just drop down out of nowhere when I’m walking down the hall or cooking in the kitchen. So he gets rid of spiders for me and when our cat died and two months later our house was invaded by a family of mice, guess who had to set the traps and get rid of them? So we have a nice little arrangement for who does what when these creep crawly terrors invade our personal space.


What has been a little surprising to me is that while doing a bit of research on mice I learned that there are a number of different mice. I always thought there was only field mice and house mice but no, there’s more. There’s the deer mouse (also known as the field mouse) that’s called such because its fur is the same color as deer, Then there’s the cactus mouse, the cotton mouse, the wood mouse and the harvest mouse. Of these I chose the harvest mouse to be my subject simply for it’s adorableness and because it’s known to be found among cereal grains which I thought drawing one or two of these mice among some wheat would create some intricacy in the drawing. So far I’ve been working on some preliminary sketches to get familiar with drawing wheat and mice since they’re both new subject matter for my visual vocabulary. And as usual I anticipate that drawing the fur on these little creatures will be challenging because trying to draw fur realistically in pointillism is always challenging but I think this project will be fun as well as stretch my skills a bit. ๐Ÿ™‚

Tree Frog Blank Pocket Journal Set

New to my growing line of stationery are my handmade Tree Frog Blank Pocket Journal Set. I sliced, folded and threaded these up over the weekend and they’re now available for your quick notes, doodles and rambling thoughts. I just adore tree frogs so these journals so far are my favorite, I even made a set for myself. So be sure to check them out at my online store and get yourself a set or two. ๐Ÿ™‚

Strike A Pose

Strike A Pose” by Q. Rumbley

Well I now have this little cutie all finished and ready for a new home. It was fun working on this but I think, for now, I’ve had my fill of tree frogs. Still got my Tree Frog journal sets to complete but after that I’ll be looking for a new subject to tackle. Feel free to drop some suggestions for new creatures to ink in the comments section. ๐Ÿ™‚

Close up of “Strike A Pose”.

New Journal Set

Tree Frog Pocket Journal

Got to making the first journal for my upcoming new set of Tree Frog blank pocket journals. This is the first set where I’m using the threaded saddle stitching on and I really like the look. The thread gives the journals a more handmade feel to them that is much more appealing to me. The cover illustration is a reproduction of my ACEO drawing “This Little Fella”. I plan on making the cover illustration for the second pocket journal from my ACEO drawing, “Strike A Pose”, which I’m currently working on. I’m excited about this new set of journals so be sure to stay tuned to see the end results. ๐Ÿ™‚

Close up of threaded saddle stitch.
Inside view of threaded saddle stitch journal.
“Strike A Pose” (wip)