My instagram posts are not really synced up with my life. This drawing is from my trip to Massachucetts but I’ve been back in Brooklyn for two weeks now. Next I’m headed to Boston and then onto Maine. You won’t see those drawings for weeks though. It’s an artisitic time warp.
Day Lilly
A Day Lilly.
Pink Hydrangea
I’m a clueless botanical illustrator. There is not a flower on earth I can name. I stroll around the garden and say stuff like, “maybe I’ll draw that thing.” This one was so big and heavy that it was bent over and resting on the ground. I didn’t think it would last another day so I clipped it and stuck in a homemade vase. I found out it was a hydrangea days after I drew it. Made me feel a little smarter. Because it has rained more than any time in history this summer, there were mosquitoes everywhere. They were no match for my zen buddhist, meditating, concentrating, empty-headed focus while I drew.
Circumstance
Circumstance. That is the reason I drew all these flowers. My wife and I were buried so deep in the woods of Massachusetts that getting to civilization was a bit too much work. The flowers were the easiest visual in reach. Getting lazier in my old age.
Pine Cone
Pine cones are good with a scoop of vegan ice cream.
Day Lilly
We’ve been hanging out in the Berkshires which is the mountains of Massachucetts. Our place is remote and deep in the woods. I drew a few of the flowers living the the wilderness. First up, a single day lily.
Bees
I recently attended a seminar on bees. Funny enough, the best thing we can do for bees is to stop mowing our lawns. Stop the weeding too and no weed killer on anything. This will insure them plenty of salad bars. Unfortunately I don’t have any lawns at my many properties but trust me, I wouldn’t mow an inch.
Nature During Pandemic
I recently watched a beautiful documentary called, The Year Earth Changed. It’s narrated by David Attenborough, of course. The film explores how well nature did during the pandemic because humans stopped driving cars, flying, boating, polluting, and creating so much sound and noise. The Ganges oxygen level rose by 80%. In parts of India, the Himalaya mountains were visible for the first time in four decades because of the disappearance of smog. In Alaska, humpback whales found the underwater environment 25 times quieter as cruise ships were cancelled and marine traffic was absent. In this silence, scientists found that humpbacks were talking to each other more often and across farther distances. Nature has now told us to tread lighter.
Travel
Me passport hasn’t been stamped in two years. That’s right, I said me.
Marbled Paper
Back to illustrating on marbled paper. I like cutting out the shapes and gluing them down. I always wonder what will happen once I start drawing. It's a surprise waiting to happen. Here's the result.
Toys
My nephew has outgrown toys. He plays video games and watches cartoons where all the characters use the f-word. So in order to do a drawing when I visit him, I have to scrounge high and low to dig up a few old mangy toys that have yet to be purged. This is the best I could do.
Escape
Recently 40 beef cows escaped from a slaughterhouse in Pico RIvera, California. They roamed through the suburban neighborhood after leaving death row. It took the prison authorities all day to round up the escapees. I was always under the impression that once a cow escaped a slaughterhouse they were given a reprive. Seems I was wrong. Only one inmate was sent to an animal sanctuary. The others were electrotcuted and ground into patties. Oh well.
Website
I do have a website where you can see tons of my rubbish all in one easy to digest place. Hours of fun for the kids and grandma too. It has some nudies too. Pervs will love that section. Go to tommykane.com if you want to get sucked into the vortex.
