When my eldest was younger, she forged a relationship with our dog. Watching this friendship unfold was so special. I started sketching what it might evolve into in a few years. These are now factually true sketches which once were a daydream. Drew in quick sketches at first but the two-tone watercolor was needed to add the binary relationship of excitement and warmth (yellow) with the comfort and calm (blue). These five are a sampling of a collection.

All art is ©Ashley Stuart and may not be used without explicit permission.

Small break from my watercolors to experiment with acrylic and line art. Lines fascinate me and always have. They create texture, depth, definition, mood with one organic stroke of my hand, one meditation of my brain saying, "A line here. A line here. A line here." The end result struck me as it's a kind of self-portrait. I'm excited to explore this.

A mini collection of original watercolors will be listed this weekend. I'm seriously in love with each of these ladies and am excited to see where this mini collection takes us.

Happy Mother’s Day to my Mama and all the mamas, mamas-to-be and carers in the world 🧡You may not always feel it but you are loved, appreciated, strong, beautiful, and overall awesome.

This illustration is from the viewpoint of my kids. They have been seeing a lot of this view lately, from behind the green tape, as I work on the 2020 collection, a commission piece, developing the shop, creating doodles and so forth. I have that heavy mother’s guilt some days when I explain I need to work instead of play, a new concept for them. I’ve been with them nearly everyday of their lives.

But also from this view, they see their Mommy creating her dream, fulfilling the “When I grow up I want to be...” question (answer: artist), struggling and persevering, learning, figuring, succeeding....
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It eases the worry I have just a bit 😊

I'm not crazy about sneaking out, but it's the only way I'm able to get a run in these days. Otherwise, it's "I want to go! I want to go!" followed by tantrums unimaginable prior to COVID 19. 

Getting my yoga and meditation practice in during COVID-19 armageddon has been interesting. My eldest is home from school and is a constant noise maker. She can actually hum loudly while she eats, it's fascinating. My youngest is a copy-catter (word?) in the cutest sense of the word but I often find her crawling under my down dogs. And the dog is so enamored by my use of his kind's positions that he sits nearby wagging his tail, waiting for the opportune moment to lick my feet or sniff my bum. Any guru would probably say this is the perfect way to practice but I'm not so sure.... Maybe it'll be quieter tomorrow.

How is your practice coming along at this time? Any issues to relate?