Sketching at Work

I took a little break at work today to sketch this cupola. I have a nice view of it from my window. It was done very quickly with my favorite .005 micron pen in my pocket-size moleskine sketchbook. I love that little thing - the smooth, creamy paper, the way it lays flat when open, the sturdy leather cover, the bookmark, the back pocket, the elastic that holds it closed...love it.

In real life, those shingles don't look quite so...messy. I didn't have the time to draw them carefully.

Beth's Garden

My neighbor Beth is good at gardening and has lovely flowers around her yard. This morning I sat in a canvas chair and sketched a section of her front garden while she fed me and gave me coffee. Nice.

This was done super quick with a micron pen (.005) and filled in with watercolors later, as I had less than hour before I needed to get ready for a facepainting gig. I wish I could have spent more time on it. It was so beautiful here today. It finally feels like fall.

Boxanotions

I joined a new Yahoo Group called Ephemeral Notions. Seems like a fun bunch of creative people. One of the swaps they do each month is called Boxanotions. The moderator of the list picks a theme and then each day of the month posts something related to that theme. Participants look around their art areas and place things in a box that correspond with this. At the end of the month they are matched up with a partner and they send each other their boxes of goodies. Make sense?

For example, this month the theme is colors. Each day of the month two colors are posted. You can pick whichever one works best for you. I have a Cobalt pencil sharpener, Aqua heart-shaped beads, a Navy Blue colored pencil, etc. in my box so far. One of the colors was kiwi. I couldn't find a darn thing in that peculiar shade of greenish brown, so I drew a Kiwi instead and made an ATC out of it. This is going into the box.

Sketching

Today a neighbor friend called to see if I wanted to go sketching with her after work. I have always wanted to sketch with a friend, so I told my husband our date was on hold and met her after work. We walked over to a neighbor's house who I had never met and she knew kinda sorta. To my surprise, she said, "Hi, we're artists. Can we sit in your yard and sketch?" I wanted to back away slowly and hide behind a bush, but the people were very nice and invited us into their back yard, which abuts the Sakonnet River. The sun was just beginning to go down, so there wasn't much time. I drew these little boxes and then filled them in with details from their yard and the water as quickly as possible.

The best part of the experience was listening to the children's conversations behind me on the swingset. There must have been 7 kids out there, laughing and talking, aged 4 to 12. I wish I could always listen to that as I drew. It's better than TV.

Window ATC #2

Here is my second windows-themed ATC for Nici. I had fun experimenting with layers of paint to get a sort of burnished look on the front. Then I stamped a text stamp all over it. The inside is a transparency I bought at ArtChix Studio that's been attached to white paper. This is what I love about ATCs - the freedom to try new things without feeling like I'm wasting paper or materials.

Drawing people

I came across this terrific site, portrait-artist.org, that takes you step-by-step through drawing people. I had taken private lessons on this in highschool, but have focused entirely on animal portraits the last few years. This site is a great refresher on all I had learned.

My Dad fell asleep in his chair while reading his favorite poem by Elizabeth Bishop. It's so much better drawing people in real life than from a photo! And a sleeping person is even better because they hardly move. I am happy with this sketch. It's a real likeness of my father.

Travels

I've been gone for a few days, first to Maryland to visit my brother, then NYC on business and then VT, where my husband ran the Stowe Marathon. I managed to do some sketching while I was gone. I've discovered that almost wherever I am, there is usually a chair to draw. The other scene is of Shelburne Pond, this gorgeous, peaceful spot in Shelburne, VT.

It's good to be home!

Window ATC

I made this ATC for the September swaps on the EC group. This and another one with the "windows & doors" theme will be going to Nici. I drew the various leaves based on the ones in a fabulous little reference book called "Trees of North America." I use it all the time, both for drawing and just for information.

I painted each one in acrylic - those fall colors were really fun to use. You can't see it in this scan, but each leaf was topped with a layer of metallic paints in various shades of gold and bronze. Since I planned poorly, I did the background last, but it still came out okay.

I added the black "window" with strips of cardstock. I haven't done an ATC in a while. It was fun.