#99 - Resolution

The same as always. I resolve to get through the ginormous pile of reading I always have around: library books, bookstore purchases, long time wannareads, magazines and news features. I am hopeless.

Ginormous is a new word my students are using a lot. Rarely do I pick up such hybrid vocabulary until it's already out the fashion door. But I like this word.

I'm writing this on a here-and-there gloomy day that doesn't know what it wants to be but it's the first day of my spring vacation and I'm also watching the first Cub game of the new year. The season starts on Monday and I'll be home to watch it! Sweet pleasure.

Image was carved and I did draw it! Hope that counts.

I Won't Grow Up

I inherited the family photo at the bottom. I had saved the top magazine photo because it captured my imagination. It sat around for awhile wanting to be used!

Hiding in Plain Sight

One of those days.

#8. Draw your watch or other piece of jewelry.

I am lost without watches. I have several, and all of them are fun, funky ones - the "Oh, No!" and "Life is chair of bowlies" Engelbreit designs, a rainy day watch, and other such nonsense. Time is a large element of my daily life; I am always checking it, often late but not trying to be, in awe of how fast it goes, and live with a constant dread that I won't have enough of it to do all I want to do (in a day, a week, a lifetime.) It amazes me that people get bored with nothing to do.

This watch is a Teesha Moore watch I bought at one of the earliest smaller Artfests. The band has broken, so I strung it with an elastic cord and wear it around my neck now. It always gets comments.

I just realized I forgot its hands, though.

Is there an EDM Challenge for Best Medicine?

I'm intrigued by Cathy Johnson's scheduled online video workshop for on-the-go journaling. I have admired her work, both in and out of her books, and, though I have journaled visually for years, I find I don't do mobile journaling as much as I think I want to when I start out. I bring it with me, of course, but never find enough space, energy, time, solitude, right temperature, blah blah to actually complete the task. The best I usually do are some quick sketches, mostly of people. So I'm still looking for the magic, so I can feel that lugging my art things around is worth it (I HAVE learned to minify, but then always want what I don't have with me, it seems!) Anyway, I may do this. My techie gene loves the concept of online.

I stayed home today with the biggest awfullest toothache I've had in years. Having recently had a dental checkup, I can't imagine what the problem is, but I knew I couldn't teach today. Why do I feel like I am playing hooky, though? Midwestern Guilt.

#129. Draw people doing something

While traveling with my husband, I was able to set aside nearly a whole day to linger at a bookstore while nobody waited for me to "finish." THAT, my friends (uh, oh, there's a phrase we'll hear for awhile...) is a supreme treat for me. While I waited for one of my top ten favorite places, The Tattered Cover in Denver, to open, I sat at Starbucks and watched people in conversation, reading the paper, or biding their time like me. This was a quick sketch with another favorite tool - a Rotring Artpen with watersoluble brown ink - another trick I learned from Molly. I love the feel of the pen and like to write with it, too. It's not cheap, and I seem to misplace at least one at a time - I have two, one with black and one with brown - despite my best efforts.

#76 - Draw some flowers.

Just one flower this time. A watercolor I did last summer. We have the most periwinkle of blue hudrangeas in our back yard and their bloom in July is a sight to behold. I took a garden journal class from a favorite watercolor artist of mine, Molly Hashimoto, and was inspired to paint this. The scan isn't as good as the real painting which isn't as good as the real flower. There's lots to be said for real life: digital is fine and dandy, but real is life's eye candy.

Everyday Matters #162. Draw your breakfast.

The grapefruit was much more appealing than this painting gives it credit for. I had it, but then overworked it. I always overwork watercolor, even when I'm telling myself, "Don't do this. Leave it be." It's amazing how just one teeny thing can send it over the edge. Oh, well; I'll try again. I brought the handpainted bowls back from Chianti region in Italy. Time for me go to back to get some more! (This June, as a matter of fact!)