The Sunday Papers:

They're souvenirs, not stuff!

"Souvenir. Even the word is beautiful. It has that gentle, whispery sound of memory brushing by...."











We now conclude our broadcast day.

"Remember when you had to wait for the TV to warm up before you could watch it?....eccentric pining for the primitive electric hiss and sputter of a 1960s childhood."

Painting some Italian memories

Some recent watercolors painted for Molly Hashimoto's class. I used photos from our trip to Italy last year.  I have dozens: so many memories.

the quintessential Tuscany view

garden walkway

Practicing "greens" on market cucumbers

iconic memory

This lovely and so peaceful statue became my iconic symbol for last fall's art retreat at  Adventures in Italy in Orvieto Italy.  I have both sketched it and painted it.

 
 

idea grab

new reads

An eclectic mix....

inspiration, part many-many

I have been enamored by several lusciously richly photographed magazines, non glossy Anthropologie-catalog-like pages...so have treated myself to some paper or digital new and
back issues. I know you can find current issues of Sweet Paul and Kinfolk at Anthropologie and a few other similar stores. They are pricey, although digital issues and back issues are less so. But they are well over 100 pages loaded with good ideas and gorgeous photography as any similar book so, actually, they are bargains! she said to justify her obsession.  Oh, and also, far fewer ads than most magazines.

Sweet Paul   instagram.com/sweetpaulmagazine

More later,,,,
Chick Pea
The Simple Things

Uppercase

leaf me alone

'cuz I'm painting. 

Food Rules yes it does

I'm hooked on Maira Kalman so it's no surprise I had to have this book I found today at the UNiversity Bookstore. And more. So many books yada yada...

delicious

A bit of catching up

Oh my I see I let August and September fly by with few visits here. But indeed I was a busy girl this summer...

tiling an outdoor table (we break a lot of dishes around here)....

 painting....

pictures for the walls...(inspired by Jill Mayberg)

and the walls...Good-bye turquoise: you were fun but it's time to go.

sewing....

colorful bedcovers (using a collection of vintage hankies)...

and new frocks for windows, 

downstairs.....

and up....There's those hankies again!

I still managed to read a lot of books, tho hardly touching my pile.

...and, best of all, having lifelong friends visit us for games (lots and lots of games), hanging around, and a side trip to Vancouver over the border, a hop skip and jump from Bellevue. 

The Husky Clipper in person

I always say it helps to be connected. (Yes, I really do say that.) Thanks to Becki and Jason for connecting  us to a personal tour of the shell house where the real Husky Clipper is on display. And we got a tour around the building to where current boats are stored and launched, as well as stories and items in the world of rowing.

It always amazes me all the things I don't know! Like, how did I never hear about the amazing story behind the boys in the boat? What else am I going to discover on the downhill side of life? I can't wait.

I put together a little video from our book club meeting and the visit to the shell house.
Every time I watch this, I think to myself..."My God, I love summer." 

Row Your Boat.

If you haven't done this yet, do yourself an enormous favor. Read The Boys in the Boat.




http://youtu.be/n58w0BctOvs

   

An amazing true story that will make you feel SO good!

You want drama? Check. You want local, national, and world history? Check. You want a good story? Got it. But the best thing about this book is something my friend Ruth said about it: it is a tale about the human spirit. Something to lift you up in these days of grim happenings around the planet.

 Author talks about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blb3k8VTsTM

A tour of Daniel Smith

Lucky enough to be local to the best watercolor paint manufacturer in the world.. a free tour of their plant today. And time to play with some of the paints.

 

How to Write Your Name….

...in case you didn't know.

I wrote a slew of draft posts waiting for one thing or another I never seem to get to or complete. Here's one I started a ways back. I imagine I held it back until I could post a photo or two of  the books I had just received from her direct from the UK.  Love this artist. I have mentioned her several times here. I could never replicate her style, nor would I want to. She is her own style, as it should be. And I do not have her patience and deliberateness and if the good Lord said either draw like that or eat liver, I'd have to eat the liver.

But oh I do admire her talent and humor and approach to life's little treasures. And since she is a featured artist in Sketchbook Skool this semester, I'm sharing this with you now.


http://youtu.be/0NJcMc4QYAo

Quick sketch at Starbucks

This woman was a serious worker at her computer the whole time I was there. Even after I drew her using Paper app on iPad. Still on a learning curve with the app.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mapaholic Alert

Jill Berry and Mary Nassar...and all other cartophile friends....Have you seen this? 

Quote from site: The True Size of Africa" is one of the 140 maps that superstar curator and Serpentine Gallery co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist has put together for the hardcover, "Mapping It Out: An Alternative Atlas of Contemporary Cartographies." A creative offshoot of the gallery's Map Marathonthat took place in 2010, the book features maps as we've never considered them before. Damien Hirst writes instructions on how to get to his house (starting with "Call first"), former RISD president John Maeda draws a "map of the future" scribbled on a Best Western notepad, Yoko Ono contributes her poem "Map Piece" from her 1964 book "Grapefruit," Matt Mullican asks the reader to consider the calendar as a map of the future, and Sir Timothy Berners-Lee creates a map of "mingling and evolution of influences in the world wide web" (which, if you're not familiar, he invented)."

Assignment: Selfies

On both of these sketches, I used regular sketching pencils and a dark wash pencil. I did a few others in ink but then miss being able to shade for the depth and curves of a face. 

In Sketchbook Skool, we are drawing selfless - in real life with mirrors and from photos. Here are a couple of my selfies with my new goodies from Zazzle: a Sketchbook Skool hoodie (I love hoodies in the winter - so cozy!) and my bumper sticker. I also got a mug. Thankfully, I cleaned out my mug shelf a few weeks back in an effort to downsize it. So I had an empty space.

Do they look like me? A little. Parts.

A piece o' toast

A Sketchbook Skool homework assignment. May I use this opportunity to talk about toast?  There was once a brand of toasters called…efficiently…Toastmaster. McGraw-Edison made them. Now, full disclosure, I worked my way through college working summers at McGraw-Edison in Elgin, but it really doesn't matter.  There has never been a toaster like an old Toastmaster toaster made by M-E. Or maybe I was less fussy as a younger person.  But I remember perfect toast: evenly toasted all over and on both sides. Mmmm…butter melting into little pockets. Bob and I have been through at least a dozen - probably two dozen - toasters in our time together. Although we do not agree on what makes a good toaster, it really doesn't matter.  None of them pass muster. Too short, too burned, too light, only toasts one side, too inconsistent, not good for bagels, only good for bagels, oh brother. Please note the burned area of this toast and that it is only half a piece. The slots are too short for a longer piece of bread.  Oh brother. 
Thanks for listening. Now I feel better. 

Shattered dreams.

Did I get your attention?  Make that, Shattered Vases and Dishes and Bowls.  Hammering broken items into workable pieces to make a tiled outdoor tabletop.  I have done one before on a small table (we break a lot of dishes) and I love how it came out. Hope to love this one too. Although it will probably have to stay with the house if we sell. Pretty. Heavy.



And….

these are photo of a vase in pieces that will take its place among the ruins. I distinctly remember that I deliberated over a good length of time deciding which of several beautiful - and costly - vases I was going to spring for. Although I love artisan pieces and paintings and admire the talent and hard work, I only invest (which is what I consider these purchases to be) occasionally. Finally decided on this pretty thing and, sadly, within a month it was broken. (Another reason I hesitate buying expensive stuff…klutzy cats, cleaning ladies, and yours truly. 

My Michael's vases are all intact, however. :)

The Amazing Sketchbook Project

Really. Truly. Shelves and shelves of sketchbooks contributed by people from all over the world. The Sketchbook Tour Mobile library arrived in Seattle today yesterday for 3 days, parked in front of the Central Library. Much easier to access this time.

My favorite: Penelope Harris, Today I Was Inspired By  in which this Vancouver Canada artist creates art in the style and spirit of favorite artists, incorporates perfect quotations, and whose workmanship and creativity blew my everlovin' mind.

Three selections from this luscious piece of work:

Penelope Harris

Penelope is inspired by Nick Bantock and Francis Bacon

Penelope is inspired by Lynda Barry and Robert Rauschenberg

And when I found the book on SP, I also found the others she has contributed, The Science of Story, The Builder of Bridges, and Time Traveler.
wowie wow wow…  Penelope has a blog here.

And….Mike Brennan I Once Was Lost charmed me, too.

Is this a good place to remind friends and readers that I, too, have a selection in the Sketchbook Project of 2013? If you haven't had the chance, I would love a look. It's called Hometown Journeys. It is in the theme of travel, but I chose to travel to local places to which I had not yet paid much attention despite living here since 1995.  I combined parts of photos with my sketches. It was a thick book with some foldouts and didn't translate well to scans at the SP site but you'll get the gist. Or you can check out my Flickr site to which there's a link in the right column here.

The weather was photo-perfect and we sketchbookers made friends with each other as we enjoyed the work of other artists "checked out" two at a time. We passed the books around and wrote names down for later enjoyment. (Many of these sketchbooks are also digitized on the Sketchbook Project site to enjoy at our leisures.)

Three hours was not enough time, though. I grabbed a gelato at a new place called Vovito….

and maybe I'll return tomorrow. I'll once again grab the bus to town and enjoy the books and the great city. The city is so vibrant; it matters not the weather or the day or the hour. I love cities and I love Seattle!