Every Day in May

An annual event, this is the first time  I've signed on to this "assignment' to myself. We are provided a daily drawing task, similar in format to Everyday Matters and Sketchbook Skool. Since  I will be cruising down some European rivers starting in mid-May, I thought it would be fun to sketch or draw something each day in a different location. We'll see if I can keep up with this and how well the internet cooperates. It's so much fun to look at what other participants do

Today our task was to draw a favorite food. I have oh so many, but the artichoke reigns. If a dish or recipe includes artichoke, I usually look no further. With melted butter?  Oh, my.

On the left, drew first in permanent ink (Uniball vision), then watercolored. On the right, painted green shape first with various greens. Then inked it. 

An anniversary of sorts.

This was my first post on Blogger seven years ago almost to the day. Just for a second look, okay? As old as this post is, it truly is in the category of buried treasure.

I had been blogging for a few years before that with the Mac web app that looked great but didn't work all that well and then was discontinued by Apple anyway. We Maccers had to scramble for something else. Which was fine; it was time. Except most of my genius was in those blog posts, ya know? Gone forever. Probably a good thing. You can't go home again.

Thoughts of friends, Back to Skool today, and a Happy 4th to you all!

I am thinking of my southern California friends today and wishing we could be there to enjoy the visit of another migrant (but to the other Washington). Old times rehashed, new experiences shared, glasses raised to future adventures. I tried. There is no such thing anymore as a last minute air fare deal. Trust me.

Here's my sketch to start Semester 2 of Sketchbook Skool on "SEEING."  These are what I see with. Not the same as observing, mind you. As is pointed out so well in these Klass sessions.

Here's a link to some cool sketches from last semester's klasses.

Everyday Matters 24: Draw a piece of fruit.

So I drew a banana.

Spouting Off

Everyday Matters 269: Draw something annoying

For an Everyday Matters entry, I have vented my frustration at those glued down spouts on milk-and-the-like containers. No amount of finger manipulating works, and the first instinct to use a knife is even more hopeless. Pretty soon I just rip it to shreds, and so much for a sleek and beautiful pour. Think drips and drops instead. Do these guys ever try their own products?? And by the way, same goes for the way bread is wrapped these days. There. I feel better now.

Summer Shoes

I started this in the middle of winter. I finished it today. No grass grows under MY feet.

Everyday Matter #1: Draw a shoe. 

Getting Ready to Get Ready

I decided to draw my newspaper experience from yesterday into an Everyday Matters contribution that had been eluding me. Drawing something I am thankful for (#42) was an overwhelming idea ; too much to choose from, a happy problem to have. But with this week's sale of the Washington Post, maybe it's time to express my gratitude for the daily paper. And my Seafirst Bank mug, sturdy, tall, and a memory of my first days in Seattle 18 years ago this week.

My clippings await, but first, a mental warm-up to a day of preparation for my upcoming trip to Italy, Prague, Budapest, and Paris. What's a trip to Europe without Paris, methinks.

Besides reading and taking some notes, and learning a little more French (read, very little, I fear), I want to decide on journal and sketchbook format. Like these artists I highlight below, it is one thing to plan for sketching and painting one's experiences, and quite another to have time or energy or patience of traveling partners to do them. Also, I learned long ago that I do best when I carry light signature sets of pages instead of full journals. I am also a variety junkie. With that in mind, I will soon decide how to divide up the trip to meet all these self-imposed demands and begin to prepare some luscious and/or fun pages: a little of Mary Ann, a little of Molly - two very different approaches to travel journaling, I might add - and a lot of me.

Always enjoy finding new artists and sketchers. And so glad they share.  I just found two that speak to my travel journal mindset today. I found both  from Wendy's (Quirky Artist) post in the Ticket to Venice Yahoo group.

There is a whole lot of artistry out in them thar woods!

Daisies Are Us

Our daisies are full and tall and exhuberant. They've taken over their plot with gusto. They're very handsome. No..wait. Roses are handsome, daisies are cute.

I have noticed that real daisies look like doodle daisies. Every attempt to make them look realistic came out looking like the happy doodles they really are.

Two New Books

Some books
:
A Kiss Before You Go, a new illustrated sketchbook by Danny Gregory, author of Everyday Matters and An Illustrated Journal, is a book I would recommend to anyone who has lost a spouse or other close person - or will - which includes us all. Here is a review by Roz Stendahl, a fellow sketchbook artist, that says it all.

And, a new book by my lifelong friend, Jeannie Vansickle, is on the shelves. Called The Long Ride Home, it is a raw accounting of Jeannie's trip through the painful process of grief after the sudden death of her husband. I've been there. But even if you haven't yet lost the person closest to you - consider yourself lucky, first, and for now - each of these books reminds us how much we take for granted and, just as the recent sad events also did, how important each normal day is in our lives. And so so easy to take for granted, aren't they?

Put a stripe on it!

Bought a pair of warm and fuzzy slippers. They are black-and-white. I cannot resist black-and-white stripes. Or polka-dots. I just cannot. And, yeah, they are comfortable  and sassy. I like 'em!

Not Your Ordinary Doodle

Wow! I'm not a "Zentangler"of any quantity, though I enjoy dabbling. I am a doodler. Meet this artist: you may never find this form of doodling applied any more creatively. The artist is Margaret Storer-Roche and is a member of Everyday Matters where I found her. You should go to  her Flickr page too, if you have the courage  to be so awed :).....amazing detail.

Drawing a Day: Day 11

I have a love-hate relationship with my dentist. Well, not love. Tolerance. Because she keeps my teeth in good shape. And she has the latest technology. And lots of technicians all dressed in black. All women, although I didn't do that on purpose. Very slick quarters. I mean, it's all good. But I just hate going to the dentist. I know. It's my failing. Give me points for going. I usually keep my eyes closed. But, wow, I opened them today and saw a very scary-looking iimage. 

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Revisiting Red Chair Admiration Society

I am weeding through my email, especially my huge Everyday Matters mailbox. The place reeks talent, which is why I set it aside until I have time to enjoy the work that's posted. Time to list 5 favorites I found or renewed acquaintance with in this endeavor. Certainly didn't take me long to find them, but it may take me all day to complete my task! (Don't really have time for it, but it's a great procrastination tool.)

ONE...

Margaret Storer-Roche. I found her last month and posted a slideshow of her work. Really beautiful detailed lovely pieces.

TWO...

Anita Davies has been on my blogroll for quite awhile but every once in awhile when I need inspiration to get my paints and pens out and do more, I look at her work. She is my drawing/painting hero. My latest ohmangottaseethis is her Prep Travel Journal for an upcoming trip to Italy. Having been to some of the places she will go, it especially inspires me to go back to my photos and try to turn them into paintings. Before my first trip to Europe, I spent many hours putting a journal together for each place we would see, but mine was filled with photos, travel forum bits, and advice. I loved doing this; it extended the journey even more and raised the anticipation. Anita's goes much further; she has painted from Flickr photos and other sources (she gives credit to the photographers) and illustrates her itineraries, travel bags, and places she wants to see. She will have such a great time; not only is it Italy, after all, but she will know what she wants to see and do and undoubtedly be ready for surprises to draw and remember.


                     

Note: Assuming her actual trip travel journal would have the same awesomeness, I searched it out. Anita didn't get to take this trip after all this graphical and amazing preparation! Her father became ill and undestandably she did not want to leave. She sent this sketchbook of her preparation  to the Sketchbook Project where it will live and be admired by many others.  I hope she'll be able to get ti Italy sometime soon!

 THREE...

Another traveler/sketcher (though the drawings are hardly sketches but well-detailed drawings) who visually documents travel experiences with talent that can only be described delicious candy for the eyes. Terry Banderas's site is "A collection of art for the world to see."

FOUR...

Wendy Shortland's Flickr Photostream (The Digital Fridge Door) has some cool Everyday Matters contributions.

FIVE.

 Debra Morris lives in Hong Kong and her sketches and EM pages are reflections of her environment. Not only because of her talent, but also because of the subjects of her watercolors, is she on my ever-growing Admiration List.

gotta stop. more later.

Everyday Matters 36: Draw in public

#23 - Draw your foot.

I drew my shoes during a great drawing and painting weekend held (awhile back) through LaConnor Art Workshops, Washington. (A very cool place.) Caroline Buchanan was the instructor. It was a 3-day workshop on travel journaling, and I took a personal day off work to be at all 3 days (and treated myself to a bed-and-breakfast to stay overnight even though I'm within driving distance (60 some miles). I went in expecting a watercolor emphasis, so, at first, wondered why we were doing all the drawing lessons. It turned out to be one of the best classes I ever had; it moved me up a notch or three in my ability to sketch a scene or design a painting. She went over contour drawing, scribble drawing (I don't know if that's the real name of it, but it's done with a series of fast, little loopy scribbles, "fast sketching," drawing from photos, geometric shapes that build the body...I've always considered myself reasonably good at drawing, but always for copying something directly, not for drawing without a picture to look at, and certainly not drawing "on the run." That weekend changed my whole view and made me a better artist, for many reasons, not the least of which, recognizing where and why the errors are in my sketching to be able to keep getting better.

Something that absolutely amazes me is how well the blind contour drawing works, at least for me. I have especially enjoyed sketching people at airports using this method and to get the right pose. Almost always, without looking at the paper, I'm able to outline the right shape of the pose. Drawing people is becoming one of my favorite things to do. Anyway, the top of the page is my blind contour from an "assignment" out of Keys to Drawing; the bottom are my own feet. As I remember, I blind-contoured the outlines only, then filled in the details. These are very comfortable shoes, by the way, and I've bought 2 more just like them. I see them around a lot, but I don't remember whose they are. I get them from Zappos.com, along with my favorite brand, Softwalks, which I walked on all over Italy and France without my feet EVER hurting. And my feet hurt with most shoes and I can't STAND it when they do!

But I digress...

#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.

#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.

#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!)