Faces in the news

Today's Seattle Times:

As far as has been announced, only one of these speaks French. 

Answers to the questions lie below:

Go with the FLOW

Have you found Flow Magazine yet?

It really is quite wonderful. It is a magazine with quite a different look, few ads, lots of color, patterns, images, artist spotlights, and little surprises within, and it comes from the Netherlands, printed in several languages. It's pages are thick and sturdy matte pages ready for journaling, printing, scrapbooking, envelopes, and paper crafts. Lots of attention to illustrators, artists, painters, artist studios, interesting places and products. Barnes and Noble carries it and you should check it out.

Or go look at their web and Pinterest sites.  You will be lead to artists such as

Dinara Mirtalipova

And Dick Vincent…who talks about his process for illustrations like Anatomy of a Pocket Knife

and who created this:

Copyright Dick Vincent

.

Love my indEpeNDenTS

Independent bookstores give me joy. In my top ten things to do…browse without a timeline in a special bookstore. Read all the "Staff Favorite" notes. Make lists. Enjoy the reader atmosphere. Get a jolt of whoopee finding a used version amongst the new ones.

Snapped at University Bookstore, Seattle

Oh, I admit it, I've ordered from Amazon, I miss having a Borders around,  and I'm always glad to see a Barnes & Noble in an unfamiliar city in case I need to quench my book thirst. But again today I was reminded just how much I value my three favorite local independent bookstores for books and merchandising that beat the box stores anytime.  And when I'm in Portland, I buy at Powell's and Reading Frenzy; a trip to Denver is incomplete without The Tattered Cover. I plan my trips to other cities around bookstores noted in My Bookstore (Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop, Ronald Rice, editor.)

Third Place Books, Elliott Bay Books, and today's visit to University Bookstore always, always leave me feeling deliciously woozy with Book Lust.  (And a good word in for Secret Garden, though I am not a regular shopper there, a bit out of my way.) They carry and promote books you just won't find (even if they are there, sitting unnoticed on a shelf  at BN. I spend too much on books. Always have. Always will.





Have you seen Julia Rothman's Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts  & Pieces of the Natural World  (similar to another of hers, Farm Anatomy)? Love it for its diagram my feel and interesting tidbits, not to mention great drawing models, for when you need to draw your next katydid.

Then there's Lost in Translation: An illustrated compendium of untranslatable words from around the world.  Author/Artist, Ella Frances Sanders.

gezellig (Dutch)

                            

or the Arabic ya'aburnee

                             











Journalers and sketchers, check out China Days:  A visual journal from China's wild west by the wonderful Henrik Drescher.

Also could not resist What Would Jane Do?  Quips and wisdom from Jane Austen.

I'm certain all of these books cost less on Amazon. but I have special attachments to my books from the independents. All of these stores  recognize their loyal customers with small rewards, but even if they did not, my heart would break at the news that any one has to go away because we readers don't buy their books in consistent and great enough numbers. Books are costly these days; I can't buy everything I want to read, but that's what my library card is for.  (And don't even get me started on libraries….I treasure libraries!)

Blue sky...

Check. 

Green all around.

(But  this was my favorite cute green thing.)

Check.

Outdoor seating. 

Check.

Seattle skyline.

It's there!  Straight ahead. 

Check.

The only thing missing from my feels-like-spring walk to the gym today are the buds and blossoms of April. Otherwise, in the mid 60s, you'd be fooled today... and there is no snow anywhere except on mountaintops.

So, Phoenix, LA, San Diego?  ....I'll meet yours and raise,  this lovely January day.

Starry starry sky

While listening to Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Hogan, I drew "Louis" - Robert Louis Stevenson.  I think I would have liked that handsome, skinny guy….

More sketching at Starbucks

Done with Sensa digital brush with Paper 53 app. A couple of different poses of the guy sitting next to me. And today I tried the caramel sea salt cake pop...or something like that.  Actually wasn't too bad. Less guilt attached.

You're only young once, Francie.

I drew Francie Peterson-Baugh with my  "Pencil" and Paper 53 on the iPad. Bit of a learning curve.

 Some other resolutions as they evolved  on a new page. Really does sum up goals for the year.   Well, besides the French, Photoshop, and world history/geography thing in my last post. Yah I had forgotten that geography goal. Tired of not knowing where all those African, South American, and Asian places are at crossword puzzle time.

A brand new year makes me

I greet each new year with mixed emotions. Especially as my own time on this earth is growing shorter at a pace I can't wrap my head around.  I like the idea of a fresh calendar representing a fresh new year. However, I haven't yet lapped up all the joys of the past year. I'd like to sit on that tuffet for a little longer. But 2015?  Oh, man. Never has The Unknown loomed in my brain as much  as it does now. Even a better reason to enjoy each day as the day that will never come again. Live it. Do something nice. Do something fun. Appreciate.

On a less abstract note, this year I plan to learn Photoshop, French, and World History. Yup. If not now, when?

A Happy Happy Happy New One to you all.