Robin Arnold Art

These two birds enjoying a cup of coffee on a cold winter's day is my first ever digital drawing. For years I've wanted to try this but never got around to it for various reasons. In the last few months I bought the Mac I've always wanted and a drawing tablet. Unfortunately, it looked like my digital drawing  was going to end before I ever got started because of the pain it caused in my hand and arm. I had the tablet all packed up, ready to send back to NYC, when my spouse insisted on going to Staples and buying me a better, more ergonomic chair. I unpacked the tablet and gave it another try and it made a huge difference. I won't be giving up on traditional media but this was a lot of fun....except when I overdid the "Undo" button and lost half of my painting! This was done in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet. The painting printed beautifully on my Epson 1480 and I even made a few cards to send out for Christmas. This is for sale as a 5x7 or 8x10 print i...

I've been going through a rough stretch with my drawing lately so I was ecstatic when I finally came up with something cute and funny that wasn't a total mess. This still needs some tweaking but I like the idea. When I redo this I think I'll make the bird with the stocking smaller and rounder and bring the birdhouse over to the left and up a bit. I'm also not sure about painting them yellow. Red birds would have looked better but I thought it may be too much with the red stockings. Merry Christmas!

Gena and I are again in search of salamanders. The last 4 years put a huge damper on our evening activities because of Gena being unceremoniously dumped on afternoon shift. After 47 years of working in a lab she officially retired at the end of 2015 so we can now pick up where we left off. We went out two nights when the conditions seemed to be perfect--warm and rainy--but we didn't see anything except hundreds of earthworms. We know they're out there somewhere but until we actually find a live one I will have to be content to draw pics of what it would be like to shine the flashlight on one or two of these amphibians. This intriguing pair  were big enough to chew off a foot but fortunately they were smiling and seemed quite friendly. I have no clue where they got the umbrella!

 Gena and I have had a problem with this ever since we've had chickens. We also have tons of rabbits and every year a few of them go the Easter Bunny route. We have actually caught them in the coop, yanking eggs out of the next boxes. This particular hen has obviously made a deal with one of the bunnies in return for a pile of dew worms. This was a very fast sketch using Micron pens and watercolor. I had a fever while I did this so that might explain a lot :)

The last few days have been gorgeous in Ohio; so gorgeous that the bullfrogs are lined up all along the bank of the pond enjoying the sun. They know that soon they'll be buried in the muck until spring so they're taking advantage of this bonus weather. I sketched this little guy near the back of the house along with his snaky friend. The drink is swamp juice, a replacement for orange juice in northwest Ohio. The frogs weren't the only ones basking in the sun. This is Susie and Harriet, two of our 8 week old hens we bought from a hatchery in Polk, OH. Susie, on the left, is a Barred Rock and Harriet is a Golden Laced Wyandotte.

Sketching and painting from my photos hasn't been going well lately so after disgustedly  throwing another one in the waste basket I decided to try sketching without any reference material. I figure I'm almost 60 years old so there should there be something floating around in my head that I can pull out. The first one I sketched was this Teddy bear sitting on a rug drinking a beer and eating snacks.  I went to bed thoroughly  bummed out after spending the evening trying to sketch an animal from one of my photos . While I was swearing  I would never try this crazy stuff again I picked up my sketchpad to do who knows what. I had no reference photo and I wasn't interested in drawing a blob of fur from one of our two dogs who were already curled up in a ball and fast asleep. In around 15 minutes I had drawn this very simple Teddy bear and the following morning I added the watercolor which really made it pop. Is it perfect?...not by a long shot. Teddy lo...

I took a break from mowing grass and putting up wood duck nest boxes to finally finish my "frog on a driftwood box". I made one of these for a custom order a few weeks ago and it turned out fairly well so I decided to make another for my Etsy store. The box is made from a piece of driftwood that I found along the shoreline of Lake Erie near where I live. Driftwood has become a hot commodity so anytime I can find a good looking, usable piece I consider myself lucky. The frog is carved from basswood and painted with acrylic paints. The inside of the box is drilled out with a large bit on a drill press,  and the lid swivels on a dowel. To see more details check froggy out at my Etsy store. https://www.etsy.com/listing/230687315/hand-carved-frog-on-driftwood-box-rustic

"The very chemical composition of our blood alters slightly in spring; we sense the coming of the season in our life-stream." Edwin Way Teale Well, I feel something in my blood but it might be because I have ice running through my veins. Two more nights this week with temps in the single digits or below zero. The highway is buckling up in front of our house, our driveway and porch are falling apart and who knows what is happening with our three year old cistern. We also lost one of our sweetest hens due to the stress of this awful cold weather. Her name was Pearl and she was rescued from an egg factory in CA. She had reached the two year old mark and was slated to be gassed because she had outlived her usefulness. She was a sweet and curious little hen and she truly acted grateful that she finally had a chance to experience the life of a free-range chicken. I hadn't intended on having a chicken in the following photo but Pearl tagged along with me that morning to the...

Bear on a Box This is my latest addition to my "critter on a box" series! The possibilities for these little boxes is only limited by my imagination  and unfortunately, my skill level. I have some neat ideas in my head but they will have to be placed on the back burner until I become a Master Carver. In the meantime I'm happy doing my cute folk art carvings. If they make someone smile I've done my job. The box is made from a piece of driftwood I picked up along the Lake Erie shoreline. There are a lot of neat things-- besides burning it in a campfire-- that you can do with driftwood so it's a  hot commodity in this area.  Anytime I can find a weathered  piece of wood that's usable I'm happy. This particular piece was perfect. It has a nice weathered look but it's not so far gone that it's falling apart. Inside of Box The hole in the box is drilled out with a forstner bit and the lid swivels on a dowel. For more details click on the fo...

Cottonwood Hand Carved Decorative Birdhouse Welcome to my new blog and first post.This whimsical birdhouse is my latest cottonwood bark carving. Cottonwood bark is a popular carving medium and I'm always looking for different ways to use it in my work. Although the best bark comes from the western states I have been able, so far,  to find usable bark in the area in which I live. This type of carving is called deep relief because the back of the piece is not carved. Back of birdhouse carving The bluebird is carved from a small piece of basswood and was glued into the birdhouse opening. The carving was finished with acrylic paints, two coats of satin varnish and one coat of wax. The carving can be purchased at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/219951825/relief-carving-decorative-birdhouse