this is the first in a series of daily catboy watercolors i'm not going to do featuring one of my extremely intelligent cats, wyatt earp.
sometimes just thinking about what's possible is good enough for me.
i don't have to actually do anything.
at my old school there were 2 v. annoying personages with clipboards who liked to walk around and take notes of what we ignoramous teachers were not doing. a friend of mine and i referred to them as salt & peppah.
they looked nothing like these shakers, but i was reminded of them briefly while i completed this sketchbook page.
my tulips are hiding copic marks left on the paper. a big splashy picture hides them nicely.
if you look closely you can see some of the copic marks peeking through the watercolor.
on the school front i've been taking lots of pictures on my iphone to remember my days at the little school in chinatown.
there is a mandarin dual language program here. i like seeing what the cute little 1st graders are doing in their classrooms.
writing stories!
drawing pictures!
this teacher always has such beautiful child-centered displays outside her classroom.
which i enjoy v.v. much!
mumu gave me a giant bag of squishy chinese candy. i'm going to illustrate it and show you.
i'll leave you with a crazy copic rendering of myself. drawn straight out of my spoleto blurb book.
that's all she wrote!
Love, love, love all these sketches, especially the Spoleto self-portrait, Wyatt and the tulips! As always, thanks for the ongoing inspiration!!
Hey Mary Ann! I love the rendering of your cat … and what a cute name! I recently did renderings of some cats, which are on my blog.
With Copics or Sharpies, I usually just paint over the next page so my marks are covered, but your tulips look great and I can barely see the bleedthroughs.
I especially like the child’s drawing with the open mouth full of teeth!
Thanks for the entertainment!
This entire post is oh so delicious and inspiring. Those clipboarders are all over the place. They are also vv annoying when they clipboard you from downtown via email. Six more semesters. BOOM.
I love the kitty portrait, I met a vv friendly kitty the other day who smelled my entire face!!!! Sweet.
xx
Gabrielle
I just arrived home from a torturous session with the physical therapist. Entered the house, turned on the “puter” and there you were. It was just what I truly needed. Lovely Wyatt,salt and peppah, darling art from the children and you signing off from Italy. I laughed so hard and now have a huge grin on my face. Thank you from the bottom of my heart it is just what I needed. Now I am off to Margarita Lille and a good book called “The Simple Living Guide”. Sharon
PS I LOVE the tulips.
I like Wiley Coyote’s official portrait. It is quite regal.
Ms. M–this entire posting is So delicious, all I can do is smile wide. Thank you..”just for being yourself.
Love the Spoleto selfie so much.
Happy weekend .
Hugs,-
Sass
Well, I’m keeping tabs on what you’re DOING , sans clipboard. I drop in here nearly every day to see what’s happening at Moss Cottage.
The pics of the little kids work is very nice…and these youngsters did all their own calligraphy???? Amazing! I have often wondered why learning a second language wasn’t mandatory in all public schools. Most of the world is forced to learn English, yet we don’t require such language arts in our country where they only offered as electives. Very strange what one country considers valuable as opposed to another. My step-father was Italian, could speak the language fluently but didn’t teach us as the whole family wanted to be “American” and not considered old county bumpkins! ACK!
Lovely self-portrait Miss Moss! All dressed up with someplace to go!
What an awesome and colorful snapshot of what you are up. You look smashing and wonderful in Spoleto Miss Moss, just a girl out exploring and seein what needs to be seen. I am totally enraptured by your watercolor and copic flowers, such yumminess and kid’s art, gotta love it. It is cool to see how they are taught to write in their native language. So intricate and detailed. I can tell ya, if I had to learn to write that way I’d have not done well, I remember all to well having my fingers smacked with a wooden ruler by nuns who had no patience for my uneven, flawed and cat scratch scribbles. What these wee kids are pulling off is an art form disguised as words. So very delightful. Thanks for sharing a peek into your day as always. 🙂
Love the self-portrait. It looks like you’re saying ‘Bring it, Universe! I’m ready for an adventure!’. 🙂
We also have a “clipboard person” at our school doing the same thing – keeping tabs on us. One of the art teachers in my hall decorated all of her peeps in this hallway a clipboard as a tongue-in-cheek comment. We enjoy them and have a good laugh about “clipboarding” each other. We aren’t sarcastic or anything. Nope, not at all. Love all the children’s work and your stories about your school. Smile! It’s almost Friday!!!
Connie,
Cantonese is the primary language for most of the parents. But some also speak Mandarin and 5 or 6 different dialects of Chinese. Most I’ve never heard of! It’s all very interesting. Nearly all of the children were born here in the U.S. and speak English. The Mandarin program has hispanic, black, white, cambodian, vietnamese children in it also, not just the chinese students. How cool is that?
The childrens art is just so wonderful–I wonder what the story is in the one where it looks like one person is laying in bed tossing a baby into the air! Love your ttulips and your self portrait!! you look quite sassy!
I love your self portrait, but really I am a curios cat …and I click…but nothing I see ! What I make wrong?
From Valencia breakfast hour with smiling face after your post!
Darling! You look superb and brilliant! I have been flying under the radar but keeping peeps on you. Been doing lot of gauche if that is how it is spelled. WIting for your next installment of inspiration class. Xoxo
LOVE your Spoleto self portrait! Also Wyatt. Also that the kids in your school get to learn their native language (!) in addition to English. They’re not being completely Westernized; I like it. Happy week! xo