Sketches on the road

I am drawing each of the servers

And faces along the way.  I will keep updating my progress.

 It took days to ready for trip, pack, and prepare for house and cat-sitting but we are on our way to the sunny Southwest. Took several days for planning and packing art stuff, two hours for packing clothes...On the other hand, packing for the warm southwest is easy-peasy, though we are missing our warm sweater today in Idaho and Utah.

I invite you to stay with me and hubby on the road. We said our good-bye to Ziggy and Rose. Zig will not miss us much, but Rose might. A couple of hours anyway. They like Joan who likes them back. Food. Water. Sleep. Repeat.

Henning Mankell

As when any favorite author or artist dies, the recent death of Swedish author Henning Mankell saddened me.

Drawn from a photo on back cover of one of his books, 1998. 

Drawn from a video of a recent interview.
I drew on painted paper and regret the rather
ghoulish spots on Mr. Mankell's face. 

Probably is was the Steig Larsson trifecta that got me enthused about translated mysteries, but it was Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender series that hooked me for good. Quite by accident, my first read was also the first in the Wallander series, Faceless Killers...and maybe that I read it while in Paris helped increased my  enjoyment with good memories attached. Or that the BBC series on PBS began about the same time. No matter,  I had to read them all. And then I sought out other translated mysteries and found so many more authors: Karin Fossum, Karin Alvtegen, Jo Nesbo, Ake Edwardson, Arnaldur Indridason, Jorn Lier Horst, Camilla Lackberg, Juddi Adler-Olsen, Häkan Nesser, to name a few. And, though written in English, Donna Leon's Venice mysteries always satisfy.

And, in case you are a nut like me, did you know that you can get uncut versions of the Swedish Steig Larssen series? Because they are subtitled, you have to pay attention but it's a great rainy night diversion, and the uncut versions have many more details from the book. And if you are a Kurt Wallander fan, Netflix and Hulu stream a Swedish subtitled series. Just sayin'. 

A spot of tea perhaps?

I have had lots of the British and Australian in my life most recently and feel the need for tea or warm beer.

"While WWII rages across the Channel, police detective Christopher Foyle reluctantly remains on duty in his quiet English coastal town. The battle comes to Foyle in its own way as he probes war-related cases of murder, espionage, and treason. Mystery blends with history, moral complexity, and period atmosphere in this splendid British series."

I discovered and fell in LOVE with Foyle's War, the BBC series. Go find it. On Netflix, unless Acorn TV has captured all the rights to it in the past few days. While each 90 minute episode completes a mystery, it is valuable to watch the story in succession as the character relationships develop.

I also discovered and watched in marathon, The Fall, with Gillian Anderson. Another fine mystery. this one should be watched from start to end. I watched it on Amazon streaming.

I am taking online courses from Jane Davenport and Liz Steel, Australian delights, both of them.

And there's always, Downton Abbey, isn't there?

Colleen McCullough

Wow. Lots of news last week. The first that I wanted to respond to is here….but by the time I was done, lots of others faces in the news.

When first I read Colleen McCullough's obituary, I was offended about the reference to her looks, even before the reaction from others made the news.  To further irritate, was the skimming over of her lifelong talents and skills (she was a neuroscientist, for Pete's sake, and wrote 25 (!) novels).  Also the apparent surprise that she could be witty and warm, despite being "plain" and overweight. Huh???

So glad to see the reaction this obituary by Australia's national newspaper received.  Neil Gaiman said it well: "Although his beard looked like he had glued it on and his hair would have been convincing as a wig, he married a rock star #myobituary.

Meanwhile, I further insulted her by having to write the headline right across her face to cover up an error I couldn't fix. Terrible, unforgiving paper to do watercolor on. Sorry, Colleen.

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:

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….

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.

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At the museum

In the Palette Cafe at the Phoenix Art Museum where cool
portraits hang around . Menu looks great. Hoping food is as good!





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Posting Good-bye

Pages from my sketchbook greatly reduced. I enjoy sketching faces; some work, some don't, but I sure learn a lot about what's in a face!  This is my May and June submission for a postcard exchange I participate in.


Sarah Burke, X Games Gold Medalist, 9/3/1982–1/19/2012


Maria Colvin, journalist, 1/12/1956–2/22/2012

Dick Clark, producer, 11/30/1929–4/18/2012

Nora Ephron, writer, 5/19/1941–6/26/2012

Andy Griffith, actor, 6/1/1926–7/3/2012

I'll have what she's having.

"Though Nora had no delusions about being forever young—she famously felt bad about her neck, concealing it beneath turtlenecks and scarves (though, honestly, it was a perfectly pleasant neck to look at)—she remained forever curious, engaged, out on the prowl. That’s what was amazing about her. She never fell into that older person’s trap: that closed feedback loop of the same old friends, the same old war stories, the same old movies, the same old DVR’d programs, the same old recipes, the same old restaurants. In every sense, she stayed hungry."

Enjoy this short and humorous tribute to Meryl Streep by Nora at her best. 

To women, "Be the heroine of your life, not the victim."

Faces in the news

These people made an appearance in NYTimes 4/6/12 edition. I drew from the newspaper photos.

I am having fun drawing faces. Made a little game of it today.

Latest face and some Pinspirations.

I find that it takes very little effort to get inspired now that I have the incredible resources of the blogs I follow and Pinterest. So much talent out there. It amazes me that I actually look at the blank page and think "what shall I make/draw/paint today?" when I am surrounded by books and blogs. And yet...

Well, I did paint something yesterday. It started out trying to be Harry Belafonte - why not, it was his birthday and he has a bee-u-ti-ful face -  but alas, no Harry here.  But it's still a nice face; he looks like a friendly guy, don't you think?  I'll try again.  I'm determined.  I'm enjoying using Ann Bagby's "Grungy sketchbook" style because it combines my journaling style (well, one of them, she said schizophrenically) with my enjoyment of drawing faces. (Ann, one of my favorite artists, has a new DVD through Creative Catalyst.)

Not Harry.

And, here are some artists and delectables I have discovered from my morning on Pinterest checking up on one of my favorite pinners, from Seoul, South Korea, "Moline." (And, she shares my last name - no wonder I found her!)

Notice how worldwide we all are these days.

Pikaland - a juicy "catalog of artists and illustrators" filled with resources - because you needed even more, yes?Amy Ng from Malaysia.

74 Lime Lane  - Kellie from Australia. loved her Read/Watch/Make/Inspired/Covet/Check out/Home/Be/Get recommendations! Ah...even more links. Wake me when it's over :)

Also, if you're fond of digital desktop calendars, you will find many snappy ones through this great new (for me anyway!) resource.

Geninne's Art  Blog and her pinterest site. OMG, another day trip. Geninne lives in Mexico.

The Pink Couch - found some classy shabby paper creations there!

Enjoying the Jesse Stone marathon while I spend a chunk of the morning here. But, now, I really must stop and draw or walk or clean the studio.  Really.

Courage on my mind

Sketched from a small photo in newspaper story about her death. When I looked her up, I would say it's not a very goo facsimile of the real Marie, but then again, neither was the newspaper photo. 

This is a sketch of Marie Colvin, an award-winning journalist, born and raised in NYC but who worked for the Brtitish Sunday Times. She died while covering the siege of Horns in Syria recently. 

She had previously lost an eye in a Sri Lankan skirmish while covering the event. She married another war correspondent who worked for the Spanish press. He committed suicide because, according to a close friend, "the world was not a kind, nice and dignified place anymore."

Something about this whole story made an impression on me. I am still trying to sieve out the many thoughts and emotions connected to it. Sometimes there are reminders of a world far away from the stuff of blogs, tweets, and follows that cannot be denied.

People in the News

 

 

 

 

A few sketches from newspaper stories...

A recent very cool find!

This image is from a site Danny Gregory blog led me to. It is a very cool piece from video portrait artist Laurie Munn. Among other works (presidents, first ladies), she's done portraits of all the members of class of '65 from a yearbook she found. They're amazing, as is the video story that accompanies it. Especially fun for one like me who graduated about the same time - true nostalgia! Go find her!

Checking Michael Nobbs blog - randomly selected from my previously-posted "web of sketchers" and remembered why I enjoy it so much. One of his portraits made the NY Times set of artists portraits submitted by readers. Check it out here.
or the December 5 "City Room" edition online.

Some others: