day 14

day 14, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

Drawn from a photo I took last year at Portland's Japanese Gardens. A stone lantern... there were so many beautiful ones there! Micron pen. Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge.

day 13

black necked stilt chick sketch, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

Was a delightful sketch done from the beautiful photography of a flickr contact, Todd. Here's the link to his darling photo of this sweet little Black-necked stilt chick. So cute!

day 12 (unfinished due to heat!)

It pains me to upload this.  It started out well enough, but soon I was too hot, and rushing.  (I had just taken a swim and was sitting under the umbrella, dripping wet...yet this is the desert, and it was 110 degrees today, so not my best idea!  The heat eventually forced me to stop before I'd finished adding shading/texture to the pine boughs.  Not likely to be finished, ever. 

day 11

day 11, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

This was done with a variety of colored Stabilo pens. Exploring different marks for the background foliage... not quite what I had hoped for, but a learning experience.

day 10

day 10, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

Tonight I turned to a more familiar subject...people. Specifically copying a master's painting. I drew Gainsborough's 'The Blue Boy' in blue ink. NO pencil pre-drawing allowed. I enjoyed this one.

day 9

day 9, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

A rather too fat Cardinal... this challenge allows no pencil predrawing, so once you start a line... you must commit. Unless you have Da Vinci's fabulous sketch technique, which I love to copy in pencil... drawing light lines first until you are happy with placement then you make it bolder and continue. I will have to read up on his sketches and see whether they were done in ink or something else. For these daily exercises, ink is required.

days 6 & 8

Here are snaps of days 6 and 8 of the 75 Day Sketch Challenge (day 7 was done while waiting at the hospital for my xray disc, and they were so fast I really didn't get to complete the sketch, so I'm not posting it)

day 6: items from my art desk top, done in continuous line contour late at night on a rough day... sheer determination, zero inspiration;

day 8:  a lovely old cabin in the Tennessee woods, found online.  In process, and then the quickly done finished sketch.

If I haven't posted a link to the source of this challenge (I should have!), here it is;  http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com/2011/07/75-day-sketch-challenge.html
Brenda's artwork is lovely, enjoy her blog!

Day 5 of the 75 Day Sketch Challenge

day 5, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

Linking from my flickr page to save time. Have had a rough week, thank goodness for calm moments getting lost in my sketch book. :)

Days 2, 3 & 4...

Here are my ink only sketches for days 2, 3 and 4... (because Jessica wants to know);)

Some collected seashells...
 




















Petey at my feety...

 

This day I used colored, water soluble felt pens, and added a wash (2nd photo)

ready, begin...

ready, begin..., originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

Inspired by some sketchers (Teri Casper, Leslie Fehling) I admire I have begun this Challenge created by Brenda Swenson. More on the challenge here; http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com/2011/07/75-day-sketch-challenge.html

May to June Doodlery (doodles + diary = doodlery)

Most recent completed 'square-a-day' pages, which I've just invented the word 'doodlery' to describe!

(you may notice a few days where a short note is penciled in without any doodles, those were the days I was sick and then in the hospital... didn't have this sketchbook with me)  Been home for nearly a week now and feeling so much better.  ;)

gluten free crusty boule

gluten free crusty boule, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.

I made this from the book Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day, and it's excellent! You can google 'gluten free crusty boule' and find the recipe, a you tube video showing the process and more. Heaven!  Click on the photo and you can see it coming out of the oven, and sliced after it cooled some.  This would definitely hold up as a chowder container, or would be terrific with warm spinach/artichoke dip... or any other way you like to have french bread.  There is a regular wheat version that is delicious too, but we can't eat that anymore.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual ."A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." via Soulemama.

The last day of May...

On the 31st of May I joined a little group of outdoor enthusiasts at Veteran's Oasis Park where we listened to Naturalist, Laurie (of the Maricopa Audubon Society) teach us about dragonflies and damselflies.  At 8 a.m. it was already well into the 80's with not much of a breeze.  However we saw lots of  different specimens, a few of which were identified by Laurie.  We also learned some fun information about various birds at this reclaimed water-park and bird sanctuary.  Above is a damselfly (not identified), the tiny blossom of a native plant which Laurie identified and I have forgotten (grr!).  And also a green heron who wanted us to leave so he could get about his fishing business.  Some more photos from the morning are below. 

Another unidentified damselfly...

a Familiar Bluet damselfly... (with many hungry minnows following!)

A closer view of the Familiar Bluet...

The resident desert tortoise...

Other fauna seen but not photographed were; Anna's Hummingbird catching bugs to feed her nestling(s), Great Blue Heron, Swallows, Great Egret, Turkey Vulture, Thrasher, Pied-bill Grebe, Cormorants, Pond turtles (not red-eared sliders), Wandering Glider (dragonfly), Red-tailed Pennet (dragonfly), Coots, and quite a few more critters!  A photo of a Common Gallinule is coming up next for a wordless Friday post for the 'this moment' series.  I love Veteran's Oasis park.