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)

Memorial weekend musings

Over a month and not a post... I'm truly sorry to any of you who actually check! ;)  I think I likely have no true followers at this point.  But just in case, I am alive and well and busy!  Lots of things have transpired in this month plus... finishing up my first year of drawing classes, our youngest son's return home for the summer from College in NYC, the shower (at my home!) and wedding of our dear friends daughter, play dates with the grand-darlings, our 32nd Anniversary so much more.  Here are all the pages in my 'square a day' sketch diary since the last one I posted (in February!) as proof of my doings. 12 weeks worth!  (Enjoy the super lazy, therapeutic chronicle, just for fun art! Start one yourself, and let me know you have ;))

Thought I'd pop a pen onto this page to give some size perspective of the sketchbook.  ;)

This week, I had this fun idea to use masking on the outlines and a small space within each rectangle, then to wash some fun colors on the exposed paper.  However, the soft paper in this journal just ripped loose when I tried to remove the masking!  Thankfully the paper is thick, so there was still paper left behind once the masking was lifted, but a lot of paper went with it.  It ripped the edge quite a bit and I won't try this again, which is a bummer, because it looks pretty cool. 

If you worked your way down to the bottom of this entry, here's a virtual hug, ((((( YOU)))))). 
I'm considering changing this blog and it's name, or starting another dedicated to my drawing classes... but I haven't settled on a plan yet.  My whole life is so different in key areas (family/church/daily routine) than when I began (and I wasn't all that clear on what this blog was to be, even then!) that I am not sure what direction I want to go with my online presence.  So far it's been a place for my thoughts and sharing the happy crafts I'm up to and maybe that's okay.  I don't know.  I don't know much about my life these days.  Just trying to figure it out. 
*Regarding Memorial Day (tomorrow) I am deeply grateful for the sacrifices our armed service members have made to keep our country safe, strong and free.  I really am saddened at how little this holiday represents what it was created for anymore.  Barbecues and family gatherings are AWESOME, but please don't forget the great cost others have borne so that we might enjoy these things in the abundance we do.

Seasons, Back to the Two of Us

This summer brought the passing of a season that I was not looking forward to relinquishing. The season of active motherhood, homeschooling, and enjoying the final period of having our 3 boys living at home.  One by one they flew... Z  into marriage and now fatherhood, stayed close to the 'nest', thankfully!  His dear wife and 2 darling girls are a rich joy to us.  Then J left for Bible College in Portland OR, and will be wed next month, remaining in Portland (for now).  2 weeks ago we put our 'baby' on an airplane to the other side of the continent where he is attending a small private University in big, secular, New York City.  Phew!  That is a lot for this 'defined by raising boys' mama.  Thankfully it was a slowly emptying nest, but this last little fellow left with a flourish and a finality that has us proud of his courage, but feeling the sting of a very empty and quiet house. All told this season of having then raising our sons lasted from 1981 to 2011... 30 years.  We'll always be parents, I'll always be a mother, but from here on out, it will be different.  I mourn and I rejoice.

So I welcome this new season, like it or not.  I'm determined to 'like' it as much as possible. Ha ha.  My husband and I are feeling a new sense of oneness as we still have each other and are looking forward to doing some things that we've always hoped, but never been able to take the time to do.  I think both of us are a little excited about being able to focus on one another and reconnect to our 'couple-hood'.  This is good, and as it should be.

I'm teaching small art classes to homeschool kids to help contribute to the family budget.  I've been a stay at home mom for the majority of the past 30 years, so even though the classes are in my home, I feel like I'm entering the working world again!  Planning, teaching, and organizing these classes is time consuming on the front end, but it's good for me to be busy.   I hope to have more time to spend nurturing my own artistic endeavors and to hike and exercise more.

So this is how a new season begins.  Here is a quick sketch I did recently in a free booklet I found at the Asian Market.  The book is on Buddhism, but I just like how it looks as a background for my doodles.  It suits my title for this entry... The Two of Us.

Keeping a Travel sketchbook

I made a small travel sketch book from an old calendar to journal and sketch about our recent trip to NYC

 Here are the first pages...
1) A cartoon map doodled on the plane tracking our flight.
2)The adjoining page was used as a pallette, then to record our first sights in NYC from the taxi.
3) Elphaba from the Broadway musical, WICKED, which was fabulous!  Sketched from memory and fantasy.  We checked in to our hotel, headed to Times Square, then Broadway to find the Gershwin theater; stood in line 2+ hours and luckily got 3 amazing seats from a cancelation.  Whoop!
4) Snapped a quick shot of the Empire State Building on our taxi ride into Manhattan, sketched this from the camera screen afterward.  We spent 2 days at the ESB where we were checking out a College with our son, this was the reason for the trip.  But we turned it into a mini vacation as well. 

More pages coming soon, if anyone is interested.  :)  This is my first 'travel journal'.  The pages are smaller than 4" x 6" and were sewn on top of the calendar pages.  Rough, but it works!

Everyday Matters

or otherwise known as EDM, Everyday Matters is an online sketching support group, of sorts.  I discovered them recently via flickr where there is a pool that members can contribute photos of their sketches into.  EDM  has a very long list (287 so far and counting!) of 'drawing prompts' which I've printed out to give me ideas and inspiration for my doodles.  The creative prompts have been helpful for me in getting back to my love of art.  Here are some of the sketches, and simple watercolors I've done so far, oldest to newest... 

EDM #1 draw a shoe

EDM #136 - Draw or paint something that's alive - a living thing - animal or plant

EDM #34 Draw a fall leaf

EDM #44 Draw an animal - a pet, a zoo animal, a stuffed one

 EDM #116 - Draw something green

Everyday Matters  #287 Draw Something Colorful

Everyday Matters #235 'draw a butterfly'

Today I did this colored pencil sketch 'en plein air' at a park while waiting for Jesse to get out of classes.
EDM #22 draw the moon 

If you are interested in joining the sketchy folk at Everyday Matters here are some pertinent links where you can find more information.  The Yahoo group is FULL of very encouraging artists of all levels, including some impressive authors and professionals too!

The Everyday Matters Yahoo group

Danny Gregory's blog, which EDM grew out of back in 2004

Everyday Matters Flickr group

Recent art endeavors

Just some photos of this summer's sketching progress in my nature journal.
(clicking on each photo should open it up in a larger format, easier to see and critique!

A Gilded Flicker enjoying the saguaro fruit in our front yard.

 

The molt of a Calfornia Spiny Lobster found while walking at Doheny Beach.

Some wildflowers found hiking South Mountain and at the DBG.
I photographed the flowers in March, but just finished this page last week!  

And this unfinished page still in progress is of 3 black butterflies...

A Recent Project

I recently completed a fun acrylic project.  I used to do LOTS of these wall plaques, and other acrylic tole art projects along with lots of wall murals.  Because styles have changed, this one was enjoyable as it brought an 'old' craft form into a 'new' look, more in line with contemporary designs.  (most tole painting is traditional or folksy, which is fine too)

So the project was at the bequest of my step-sister whose baby girl was turning one.  I had painted plaques for her 2 other girls who are quite a bit older (in their teens).  Baby Sofia's room is in a pink and brown asian theme, featuring a damask crib quilt of intricate cherry blossom design.  Here's what I came up with...

First I scoured the internet for Asian themed fonts and graphics.  I printed out my choices, seen below.  Then I sanded the plaque and sealed it with an off white acrylic base coat. 

                            (click on photos to view larger, if desired)

Next I sanded the sealer coat and painted another coat of base color on (this one a soft golden beige by Cremacoat, which I prefer.  I used the Plaid brand for the sealer coat).  Then I drew the designs on the plaque with transfer paper.  And began painting the blossoms, like so...

First light pink, then adding darker shading and highlights...

Next I used a dark brown acrylic to paint the stems and letters...  (several coats required, here's the first layer)

You can see the transfer lines here and there, so the next step is to use a soft eraser and get rid of them all.

Since the baby's crib bedding had a frosted gold satin finish, I added some metallic gold highlights to the flowers and a thin glaze of frosty gold acrylic (Cremacoat) over the whole plaque.  I painted the birds eyes with gold and repainted their wings with brown, to stand out from the frosted bodies.  Here's a close up...

Lastly I painted the beveled edge of the plaque pink, and coated the plaque with several layers of clear acrylic top coat.

The whole project only took a couple days, working intermittently, and was fun.  My lil sis loved it, and that's the most important thing.   Hopefully Sofia likes it too!  She's the cutest baby... almost as cute as the grand-darling.  ;o)   (now, if I could just get some inspiration to finish that huge asian landscape I'm doing for Jesse's room!)  Hope you enjoyed my little project.  Bye for now.

Nature Journaling

Last fall I embarked on a goal of keeping a more formal Nature Journal ala 'The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady' (google it) Mine, being done in a small moleskine on watercolor paper, is nowhere near as lovely.  I am having fun with it, but I am ever struggling to actually be sketching the pages concurrently within the actual month it is. For example, it's April and I'm still not finished with February. In the words of Pooh...'Oh bother!'

Anyway...here are some of the pages thus far.  (click on them to view in large, these small shots lack the detail of the actual pages)  This leaf was originally in my travel sketchbook (a more informal project) but that journal was mostly ruined by a ruptured water bottle in my trunk, I salvaged this page and pasted in the front of the moleskin, since I drew it in October while at a womens retreat near Williams Arizona.  The photo below was taken before the deluge, and is from the previous sketchbook.

 I am always mad at myself for being too lazy to produce nicer handwriting... I am capable of it, I just am in a hurry by the time I get to the journaling.

This bird, was very fun to discover.  On a morning hike I saw this bird behaving very oddly.  Based on it's size and coloring I first thought it a Mockingbird, but then realized it was not.  I took lots of photos of it's funny behavior.  It was jumping to and fro, fanning it's feathers in a menacing way, all around some fallen saguaro bones (that's a cactus, it has 'skeleton' when all the cactus flesh erodes).  I think it was trying to spook some small critter out from it's safe hiding spot.  I later learned that this amazing little bird breaks the neck of it's prey, paralyzing it, then impales it on a sharp stick and eats it alive.  Nature is so blunt!

In December we finally began to see some fall color upon the trees (trees that don't naturally belong in the Sonoran desert!).

I also learned about another new (to me) bird, the ladderbacked woodpecker.

On Christmas day we had a large covey of Gambels quail file through the front yard.  ;o)

January's pages...

 scenes from the snow covered paths at the Grand Canyon...

Various birds at my backyard feeder...

In February I finally spotted some nearly 'barren' winter trees...

I also shot lots of photos of, then later painted the water fowl at Discovery Park...

and that's where I'm currently at in the journal.  So behind!  I need to finish February and March, so I can begin April.  Oh well... it is a fun hobby and forces me to at least do some small artwork.  I'm really just teaching myself water color. Previously I mostly worked in acrylics, or just plain pencil or ink.  (the quail is colored pencil and some of the grand canyon, it's a mixed media sketch)  Hope you enjoyed!