<![CDATA[Misgiven]]>https://misgiven.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHlm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff932998a-dea9-458d-a8ac-78b5f96b49ab_1280x1280.pngMisgivenhttps://misgiven.comSubstackFri, 10 Apr 2026 07:55:52 GMT<![CDATA[Lake Walk]]>https://misgiven.com/p/lake-walkhttps://misgiven.com/p/lake-walkTue, 28 Oct 2025 05:20:39 GMTAnother from the recent trip down to Oregon. The trails around Henry Hagg Lake were beautiful.

]]><![CDATA[Grand Lodge]]>https://misgiven.com/p/grand-lodgehttps://misgiven.com/p/grand-lodgeThu, 23 Oct 2025 15:24:50 GMTWe stayed at the Grand Lodge hotel down in Forest Grove, OR over the weekend. One thing those McMenamins places get really right is the lighting. Orange always seems to be my new favorite color when I emerge from one of their hotels or restaurants.

]]><![CDATA[First flight]]>https://misgiven.com/p/first-flighthttps://misgiven.com/p/first-flightThu, 03 Jul 2025 02:08:40 GMTQuick sketch from our recent trip to Virginia. It was my son’s first time flying and he handled it like an ace. He didn’t hate the in-flight meal either. I’ll post a few more as I get time.

]]><![CDATA[Light in the woods]]>https://misgiven.com/p/light-in-the-woodshttps://misgiven.com/p/light-in-the-woodsSat, 07 Jun 2025 04:14:03 GMT

]]><![CDATA[Cats]]>https://misgiven.com/p/catshttps://misgiven.com/p/catsWed, 07 May 2025 04:45:20 GMTOne more from the Procession.

]]><![CDATA[Butterfly]]>https://misgiven.com/p/butterflyhttps://misgiven.com/p/butterflyFri, 02 May 2025 18:52:09 GMTAnother one from this year’s Procession.

]]><![CDATA[Walk in the woods]]>https://misgiven.com/p/walk-in-the-woods-e67https://misgiven.com/p/walk-in-the-woods-e67Thu, 01 May 2025 15:29:08 GMT

]]><![CDATA[Procession]]>https://misgiven.com/p/processionhttps://misgiven.com/p/processionThu, 01 May 2025 02:04:50 GMTThis past weekend was Arts Walk in Oly, Saturday afternoon was Procession of the Species. Lots of good material for sketching. One of my favorites favorites was the lady wearing the flamingo rig. The word costume doesn’t really do justice to a lot of the things people come up with. I took quite a few pics and will be posting more sketches soon.

]]><![CDATA[Pillows]]>https://misgiven.com/p/pillowshttps://misgiven.com/p/pillowsTue, 29 Apr 2025 15:13:32 GMTAnd eventually she acquired so many pillows that she became one of them.

]]><![CDATA[Eclipse]]>https://misgiven.com/p/eclipsehttps://misgiven.com/p/eclipseSat, 26 Apr 2025 20:30:22 GMTSketch of my wife and son during the 2017 total eclipse. We were at the Edgefield McMenamins in Troutdale, so it was only like 96% of totality or something like that, but it was still amazing.

]]><![CDATA[The Cat and the Jedi]]>https://misgiven.com/p/the-cat-and-the-jedihttps://misgiven.com/p/the-cat-and-the-jediThu, 24 Apr 2025 14:01:24 GMTMy old cat Ophelia. First pet I had when I was out on my own.

The boy in his Halloween costume a few years back.

]]><![CDATA[Color and light studies]]>https://misgiven.com/p/color-and-light-studieshttps://misgiven.com/p/color-and-light-studiesWed, 23 Apr 2025 03:22:30 GMTDid these two in Procreate this morning and this evening. Didn’t let myself fuss over them too much, and I’m not sure if I’ll turn them into anything more polished. The first one especially seems about right the way it is.

]]><![CDATA[Woods Sketch]]>https://misgiven.com/p/woods-sketchhttps://misgiven.com/p/woods-sketchTue, 15 Apr 2025 02:44:00 GMTIn a monochrome mood lately. With a bit of color balance tweaking afterward.

]]><![CDATA[2nd looks]]>https://misgiven.com/p/2nd-lookshttps://misgiven.com/p/2nd-looksWed, 12 Mar 2025 02:15:43 GMTThese are drawings I started a few weeks back and didn’t care for at all, so I walked away from them. I still seem to do a lot of that. But the last couple evenings I picked them back up and reworked them both. They’re in the shop as cards and journals now.

]]><![CDATA[Some new and old things]]>https://misgiven.com/p/some-new-and-old-thingshttps://misgiven.com/p/some-new-and-old-thingsTue, 25 Feb 2025 02:44:40 GMTI think my experimenting with different print-on-demand services is about done, and hopefully less of my time will be given over to fretting over whether that site over there might be a better deal. Back to just getting things into the Etsy shop. The catalog is up to about 50 items now, and I hope to add one or two more each week. I’ve put some new things on there, like this one:

And some older drawings/paintings that I’ve reworked, like this sketch of Glacier Bay:

As well as a few things I disliked when I made them but view them less harshly now. That seems to happen a lot. Like with this aviator goat:

There are also some things that I liked at the time, but for whatever reason hadn’t really thought about putting them on a card or journal. Like these rabbits:

I began this post before work this morning, and have since come down with the crud. Had a couple more things to fit in, but I think I’ll save them for next time. But have a look at the shop. Most of the above are available as journals/notebooks as well. Thanks! :)

]]><![CDATA[Bee and shark]]>https://misgiven.com/p/bee-and-sharkhttps://misgiven.com/p/bee-and-sharkThu, 30 Jan 2025 04:35:57 GMTFeels like my mind has been firing in every direction at once the past couple weeks. Or trying to. Head full of resolutions and trying to pursue too many goals at once and not getting very far with any of them. So I let myself go scrolling through recent photos for a subject to draw. I don’t draw a lot of flowers or other botanical subjects and drawing all those little leaves was really meditative and calming. Even when working digitally.

This one was done a little more quickly. It’s from our yearly New Year’s Day trip to the zoo. Sort of. The kid is now 5’10” and almost a teenager. He’ll probably clear 6’ by the end of the year. But when I sit down to draw he is always this size.

]]><![CDATA[Sunflowers]]>https://misgiven.com/p/sunflowershttps://misgiven.com/p/sunflowersFri, 17 Jan 2025 04:42:57 GMTOne Spring when my son was 4 or 5, he and a neighbor kid got into the bag of sunflowers that we’d bought for the birds, and with their little shovels they “planted” a crap ton of them in the garden boxes in our front yard. So for a couple of years there the only things growing in those boxes were towering clusters of sunflowers. And whenever he walked under them I always felt like the flowers, with their long craning necks and stooping posture, were watching him. Now he’s 12 and taller than me and probably taller than many of those sunflowers. Also he recently discovered the song ‘Don’t fear the Reaper,’ by Blue Oyster Cult, playing it on repeat. That part wasn’t an inspiration for this picture, but it was playing in my head a lot while I drew.

I’m hitting pause on the graphic novel for awhile. I need to do some rewrites on a number of the later scenes. And I have two partially finished kids picture books that have been beckoning for awhile. Just need to switch gears for a bit. But I’ll be posting progress on the picture books here, and adding slowly to the card shop. The drawing above is in there now, because why not. :)

]]><![CDATA[Walk in the woods]]>https://misgiven.com/p/walk-in-the-woodshttps://misgiven.com/p/walk-in-the-woodsThu, 19 Dec 2024 02:40:19 GMTNo graphic novel page this week. I tinkered with this illustration for a week or more before deciding to post it. It started as a sketch loosely based on a photo I took on one of our of our walks through Squaxin Park (formerly Priest Point). I’ve also been looking at a lot of pictures by Lisbeth Zwerger and Arthur Rackham lately, which seems to be leaving a mark.

Adding this one to the shop as a greeting card and a print.

]]><![CDATA[Page 66]]>https://misgiven.com/p/page-66https://misgiven.com/p/page-66Tue, 03 Dec 2024 02:18:07 GMTDidn’t do a lot of drawing the last week or so for holiday reasons. But I did get a page done last weekend.

And another illustration of the kid. This one I actually did a few weeks back and didn’t really like the finished product at the time. Not sure why, because it seems fine to me now. I think the perspective on the chair and desk and fireplace didn’t seem quite right, but it obviously bothers me less now than it did at the time.

And another one of the pup. Most everything I’ve done lately has been digital, and I’ve obviously been experimenting with a lot of brush sets and background textures that imitate various traditional media. I think of all the traditional media I’ve used in the past I’ve enjoyed colored pencils the most. They’re also the time consuming with all the layering that’s needed for a really vibrant illustration. But this one I was able to do in under two hours. So I think I’ll be doing more with the digital colored pencils on future illustrations.

And as always, the full page with words for paid subscribers below.

Read more

]]><![CDATA[Badgers]]>https://misgiven.com/p/badgershttps://misgiven.com/p/badgersTue, 19 Nov 2024 03:17:55 GMTWe went to Northwest Trek wildlife park yesterday, and except for the fox (who never comes out) and the bears (torpor, underground), I think we saw everyone there. And most of them were really active. The wolves even howled for us for several minutes while we were at their enclosure. On of the badgers was pretty antsy and kept going down into their den to wake her sister, who was having none of it. I can’t remember their names. After reading the Redwall books with the kid recently I just keep calling them Constance and Bella.

No graphic novel page again this week. I’ve been getting distracted with other things. Planning to sit down a few evenings this week and hammer out a page or two though.

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