Trees @ 70 MPH

On our recent drive to Chicago I was experimenting with my Pitt Pens landscape set - I won these but had never used them - all the EDM'ers seem to like them so I thought I would give them a whirl -

I would search the speeding landscape for a particular tree - fix it in my mind --- and then sketch it - QUICK - a good way to force visual memory -

I also decided I liked the pens and bought three other sets along with 4-5 new sketchbooks - watercolor brushes- full sheets of several different papers-and many other things that I can't remember - Shopping at Dick Blicks was HEAVEN!!!

P.S. I have a very bad case of BEAS Disease*

*(Buys Excessive Art Supplies)

Gram's Barn for Ashley & Lars

This is the pastel I have been working on it is about 17" x 11" on Wallis paper. It is a gift for my son Lars and his wife Ashley.

Lars and Ashley were married in a lovely outdoor ceremony on April 12th 2008, not 100 yards away from this magnificent old Kentucky horse barn. The barn belongs to Ashley's "Gram" and it is well over 100 years old. It was recently painted a very vibrant bright red. I hope in the years to come when they look at this painting they will remember the beautiful spring day when they began their life together-and know how much we love them both.

A Little sketch & Thanks ALAN

This is a small sketch I did in my accordion folded sketch book -- it is a scrub oak tree that has a great silhouette-- it is on the way down to my rocky beach. This is the kind of sketching I want to be able to do - and slowly I think I will get better at it - I think I am trying all sorts of sketching methods, materials and mediums and at some point will find a way that suits me and my style and will enable me to make the quick sketches I am aiming for.

Also thanks to Alan on the 3rd stone - I received my ATC in the mail today safe sound and extremely well packaged - http://alanonthe3rdstone.blogspot.com/ It is a wonderful piece and I am honored to have it -

Tomorrow I'm off to Chicagoland YAHOO!!!!

I hope she didn't copyright this

I sent 13 copies of The Creative License to various family members. My sister Jan, a confirmed non-artist, just sent me this scan of one of her first sketches after reading the book.

My response was:

OH MY GOD !!!! Jan your sketch took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes - REALLY !!! it is so wonderful - I can't believe it - WOW !!!

Jan responded to my compliment:

Aw, shucks, I was hoping for a positive reaction but this is TOO much! Especially coming from you. Anyway, it is my favorite sketch so far. As you see, I’m not sure how to draw trees, etc.; but I thought the dark windows and lack of brush was a nice metaphor for the emptiness the Goodrich was without you …

The sketch is of a cottage where we vacationed with my sister for about the last 15 years - This year was the first year we did not go - I missed her too.

Thank you Jan & Mike from Gunnar

Thank you for the enlightened gift of the perfect Buddhist Tees for Gunnar
(metallic water colors do not scan well Buddha is a perfect gold & robe is jade green)

Goat Skull #2 the sketch

The thing is - this blog is about learning to SKETCH and I keep drawing -
This Goat skull is woo hoo ... a sketch ( in ink I might add) - while not loose and lovely - it is a sketch - and it took under 10 minutes maybe only 5 --

The other thing I am trying to learn here is to draw from life (or death if I am drawing skulls - I do have another and some great catfish bones too!)

Most of my artwork is done from photos - flat two dimensional images that translate directly into flat two dimensional art works -- But to take a real life 3 dimensional view and put it onto paper -keep it alive and 3D -- now that is much more difficult for me - ( along with learning when to stop)

Goat Skull - from not so bad to worse

I just love this goat skull my DH found it ( for free) @ an estate sale and brought it home to me -- Absolutely one of the best gifts he ever got for me - I sketched it with pastel - and it was pretty nice - then I added a shadow - ummm not as nice -- and then I colored the back ground to cover the shadow and toned down the colors in the skull -which basically ruined what was good in the original sketch - I keep forgetting to quit while I'm ahead and stop way before I think I'm finished.

Will I ever learn to STOP messing around and leave it alone -

I so admire simple, clean, understated sketches -- but, boy oh boy, it is really hard for me to stop!!

You will be seeing this goat again - soon I hope -

A Bluebird in honor of Ann @ Bluebird Hill

This just goes to show you how affirming and encouraging the EveryDayMatters group is. I have been honored by
Ann @ Bluebird Hill- because she gave me this... TA DAAA!!!

a Brillante Weblog Award.(see at right)
Thank you Ann.

The rules of acceptance are:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

This is so fun -- now I can say thank you to the people who inspired me to blog and work more seriously at becoming a better artist. My first three go to people who are not EDMers but I have been following their blogs for some time and they are all great artists. The others are EDMers whose work I admire.

Here are my nominees (participation is optional)

Debby Cotter Kaspari - Drawing The Motmot
Michael Naples - Michael Naples A Painting a Day
Jenny - Sharon Ct daily Photos
Tracey - Tracey's Creativity Place
Margaret - Water Blossoms
Vicky - Vicky's Journal
Delph Courret - Kazumiwannabe

Their Links are to the right because I couldn't figure out how to insert a link in blogger correctly.

EPHEMEROPTERA (aka Mayflies)

There was a hatch last night - when I walked the dog the air was thick with them. Today there are thousands of dead and dying mayflies everywhere. They live for less than 24 hour as mayflies but have spent a year in the lake getting ready for their big day. Today they fly, they mate, the females lay eggs and they will die. These hatches begin in the spring. Some are much heavier than others this was a very BIG hatch.

Today I sketched outside but it was HOT - I also worked on posemanic site for awhile - now that is challenging.

No Onions so #178 Something Red

I wanted to do the EDM challenge and do some onions but I didn't have any so I picked some tomatoes and did a watercolor sketch in the little accordion fold sketchbook - I don't think watercolor is my thing - but I don't know what is -

- I am pretty much done with my big pastel project but I can't post it yet as it is a gift and I believe at least one of the recipients reads this blog -

Rosemary's Garden

Sketched on Rosemary's front porch in 95o heat with a glass of wine - this was the first sketch in my little homemade sketch book - I used water color crayons, ink and my ASW $1.00 brushes lots of fun - (It may have had something to do with the wine)

EDM #169 draw a piece of cake

No ink --water color wash and colored pencil - This is a leftover from dinner on the 2nd (see previous post)- the model was devoured shortly after I completed the sketch - food does not last long around here.

PS I made an accordian folded sketch book from a sheet of arches water color paper today -thanks EDM'ers for showing me how!-- It was fun to make -- I can't wait to try it as I do not like to watercolor in this plain paper moleskine sketch book -even with soap-

Dinner of Summer Fruits

I am making an attempt to make the journaling neater.-- Working on page layout. and experimenting with the $1.00 water brushes I received today thanks to someones post letting us know about the great ASW sale --

Long before I was a sketcher and even now I am primarily an eater-- so I was unable to sketch our wonderful dinner of fresh homemade bruschetta with french bread lightly brushed with olive oil then toasted --and a divine homemade strawberry shortcake -- So the sketch above shows the remains of the makings