Memorial Garden View

Memorial Garden One More Time,
but probably not the last time.

This is not a huge garden, but the views are amazing, inside and out. I'm always telling my students not to try to paint the whole world in one painting, and if it's in a sketchbook IT"S A SKETCH. Looks like I got a little carried away here. Maybe I will go back today and do a view in another direction. There are several views I want to do from the inside looking out, but I need a nice warm day to sit in the shade.

Right now, as we speak, our house is surrounded by a lot of big excavation equipment. "Hey, guys, it's not us. You do know that, right?" It wouldn't be the first time someone has had the wrong address and started to do something drastic to our property. Guess I'll go check this out. Whatever it is, it is more distraction than I need today. Remember how the big, hairy, drunk guy's little red car kept me running to the window? You can imagine what lots of excavation equipment could do to my day.

Educational Gardens

Finally ~ a nice evening for painting.

I spent the evening painting with a friend who had never painted before. That was fun, and she really enjoyed it. She is even carrying her sketchbook around with her everywhere she goes.

My class schedule is light this week. July is always very busy, and I hate to see it wind down. I like the structure of it, but I certainly couldn't keep it up all year. Now I have time to notice what a terrible mess the house is. Every surface is covered with watercolor paper, sketchbooks, palettes, books . . . .

I am afraid of slowing down and diminishing the creative impulses, but maybe my next creative thing should be to figure out how to make the piano look like it really does belong in the kitchen. Is that even possible?!

Contour Drawing

Contour Ink Drawing of the Back of the Bay View Post Office

We were able to have classes outside for a couple of days (after a COLD weekend) and then the rain hit again. I am packin' my bags and heading for . . . somewhere. Looking through my sketchbooks, I see that last summer wasn't much better, so if this is becoming a trend, I'm outa here. Idle threats. I'm staying.

I am teaching a multi-media drawing class this week, and we are doing ink, charcoal, and pencil. The above sketch is a contour drawing (my favorite kind of drawing) of the back of the Bay View Post Office. Contour drawing is so forgiving - what are a few more wiggly lines, and the perspective never works out anyway. I like to use contour to get the information about a subject before I get serious with it.

Contour drawing, by the way, is starting at a point on the paper and drawing the entire object without lifting the pen. If you haven't tried it ~ do! It's really fun.

Memorial Gardens Again

Another journal page done at Memorial Gardens.

I always say I could paint here everyday, and I'm coming close. My classes always want to paint here, and then they want to return.

This has been a hectic week. I have had fewer classes, so what makes it hectic? I dunno ~ it just is. You know how some weeks are like that. It has all been good. It has been filled with things like packaging and delivering cards, framing and delivering paintings, getting things ready for classes, doing the classes, helping a friend hang window treatments (if you know me personally, you will wonder why she ever asked ME to help with window treatments!) getting things together for a yard sale (and if you know me personally you'll wonder how THAT is ever going to happen), and the week is only half over.

I am going to try something different for tomorrow's morning class. I will have them do some flower studies - three paintings - zoom in, zoom out, and leaf detail. I'll let you know how it goes. In the afternoon I have a private lesson with a man and his grandchildren. Sounds like fun.

Hope you're all having a good week!

Terrace and Maple

Huddling on the Corner in Bay View.

A very cold day to be outside painting. We actually huddled in a tight group to keep warm. It's a good thing we are using limited painting supplies ~ it is easier to huddle that way. Everyone seemed to have fun and they really turned out some great watercolor sketches. What a group ~ they didn't even complain when we did the octagon house on the hill. The perspective of a house on a hill is pretty different anyway, and then to have it an octagon! They did a great job.

It was just tooo cold for the morning class to go out. We stayed in and worked on composition. They have been such good sports about the weather. Maybe next week we will be able to paint at MemorialGardens. We keep trying! I think maybe summer starts tomorrow.

Bay View Library

A Demo Sketch from a June Watercolor Journal Class

Another class starts tomorrow and rain is predicted again. NO! I can't stand it!

We are having a nice sunny weekend, so I guess I shouldn't complain. It's a lazy, relaxing weekend after a very busy, productive week. Today I want to work in the garden a little, go to the grocery, finish the book I'm reading, get things together for next week's classes . . . . Maybe I shouldn't have been quite so lazy and relaxed yesterday.

Contour Flowers

Contour Drawing Demo for Class

This is a quick contour sketch for my drawing class. I did it to show how easily and quickly we can capture the basic shape and gesture of an object. It is far from perfect, but this is how this bunch of flowers "felt" to me.

Just had a phone conversation with a friend about perfectionism. It sure can stand in our way! It can actually keep us from doing what we want to do. Why do we let it do that!?

I am a little overwhelmed this morning. I don't have to be anywhere. I don't know what to do with that. I have a lot to do ~ things that really need to be done ~ you know, as in making-a-living-type-of-things. I am still in my jammies and really need to move forward into the day.

Hope you all have a great 4th of July weekend. Whatever you do, or don't do, I hope you'll carry your sketchbook with you. Oh yeah, and open it and make some marks in it. Have fun!

Karen's Arbor

Karen's Garden on a warm, beautiful evening.

"On a warm beautiful evening". Did ya catch that?

If you live in Northern Michigan you know I didn't do this sketch this week. It has been cold and wet all week ~ how can it do that for so long?!

It has been a good week anyway. My afternoon group is the most enthusiastic drawing class I have ever had. They want to try it all! I am sorry for my morning watercolor classes that they can't be outside, but they seem to be having fun anyway and are turning out some good work.

I have been running in and out, doing some classes in the studio and some away, and dumping art supplies, books, etc. all over the house. Tonight we are having guests for dinner and I am not even sure I can find the dining room table! I've got to come up with a creative way to make all this look OK, and I have just about a half hour from the end of my last class until their arrival. You probably wonder why I am sitting here writing this. Me too.

Memorial Garden Again

Allium at Memorial Garden, Bay View

I could paint at Memorial Garden everyday. There is something to paint in all directions, and the garden changes daily.

And speaking of painting at the garden everyday ~ that is where we planned to be yesterday and today, but it is COLD and rainy. You know, Mother Nature, this is NOT what summer is all about! Oh well, it is still fun to get people together to paint, inside or out.

For yesterday's afternoon class in Bay View, I wore a thermal shirt, a turtle neck sweater and a very warm fleece jacket. I was comfortable in that ~ and we met indoors.

Okay, enough complaining about the weather. I have some great class participants this summer and I'm having FUN! AND I get paid for that!

A Bay View Porch

It was a sunny, warm, wonderful week to paint in Bay View.

I also had a couple of watercolor classes along the Bay. It was hot, but there was a nice breeze and we had shelter there. It just seemed sooo good to have it actually feel like summer.

Last night we walked home from the park in the rain with the kids, then spent the evening reading and playing checkers on the porch. Now, that's a summer evening ~ complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, and root beer floats.

Sturgeon Bay

I took my sketchbook ( and my husband) to the beach today.

I had intended to really sketch up a storm, but I felt really fuzzy brained in the sun and this was all I did. I didn't read. I didn't even think. I was just there. Nice.

Now I am trying to shift gears to be ready for classes tomorrow. Shifting gears is about the hardest thing I do. If I didn't shift, I would just kind of drift into neutral, and that wouldn't be good, so here I go ~ paints packed, sketchbooks packed, clothes ready, rain plan in place . . . .

A Nice Life

Sketches from the Concert in the Park.
The Northern Michigan Chorale

It was a beautiful evening to sit in the park and listen to this great group of people who obviously love singing together. One of the fun things about living in a small town - we can just grab our chairs, walk down the hill (oh yeah, we drove) and sit with friends and neighbors for an evening of entertainment. I am still waiting for Van Morrison or Leonard Cohen to come, but . . . nothing personal, Northern Michigan Chorale.

Yesterday I bound a new sketchbook - red cover, black and white polka dot end papers in the picture above. I still have a lot to learn about book binding. I over-compensated for all the mistakes I made last time, so NEXT time I ought to get it right, huh?

Next week I have a very busy week of classes - seven in four days. I love it! Actually I think the next few weeks are like that, but I am afraid to look at the calender more than one week at a time. So if I act dumb when you ask me, it is because I am trying to live in the moment. And loving every moment. Last week my youngest granddaughter said, "Grandma, you have a nice life." Yep, Sweetie, I sure do.

Radishes

Radishes from the Farmers' Market

It was a beautiful morning at the Boyne City Farmers' Market. I love it there. It has such a feeling of community, and the produce, baked goods, fish, cheese, ETC are wonderful.

I am really not a radish person, but when I saw these with the sun shining on them (through them!) I had to take them home with me. It was either that or stand and look at them, holding up the line for awhile. I decided it was more appropriate to give the guy my $1 and move on.

There was a little nibble out of one of the radishes and the market guy said, "Everybody's hungry this time of year". I kind of hope the hungry critter was a little mouse and not a big slug. Wouldn't you have to have teeth to nibble a radish?

1st Friday Summer Kick-Off

A Demo Page from my Workshop.

3rd Annual Watercolor Sketchbook Journal Summer Kick-Off

Did we ever luck out with the weather! PERFECT! And what a fun group of journal painters! Everyone was so enthusiastic and talented. We all have to be reminded at the beginning of "journal painting season" (called summer in some places, but we don't seem to be having that here) that the journal pages are very personal and we put what we want in them ~ what a we want, how we want.Everyone picked up on that in a hurry and really did some beautiful pages!

Thanks to everyone who attended ~ you made my day!!!

Now today it is cold again, but we have been pretending all day that it is summer. We sat in the sun and read, had lunch, painted outdoor furniture, etc. We are SICK of being cold, so we are pretending to be warm. It worked pretty well until the outdoor temp dropped to 45 late in the afternoon, and it was only 62 in the house!

Maybe tomorrow is the day summer begins.

Pineapple and Strawberries

Plans for dinner: Sketch first, cook second.

We had friends over for dinner last night, and when they arrived I was sketching the food instead of cooking. They're very patient people - it was okay.

We made fresh pineapple and ham pizza, and a salad of red leaf lettuce, strawberries, oranges, toasted walnuts, and Gorgonzola.

By the way, does anyone have a tried and true trick for getting red wine out of a white table cloth, a butcher's apron, and tennies? It is probably already too late to say "Please hurry", isn't it?

Cute Little Red Car

Where's the big, hairy, drunk guy?

Yeah, I know. This has nothing to do with art, but I'll zero in on any distraction that comes my way. For those of you who know me personally, you may know that I love incongruities.

So ~ about 2:15 A.M. two cops haul a big, hairy, drunk guy out of this CUTE, shiny, little red car, and stuff him, handcuffed, into the police car ~ just like in the movies. In the morning sun this car is as happy and innocent looking as can be. But why is it still there? Is the drunk guy coming back for it when he gets out of jail in 30 days? It has no plates, just a permit. Permits don't last forever, fella.

Living in the city, on a corner, can be pretty distracting. We have had some interesting things happen, literally, just a few feet from our bed!!! I won't bore you with it. I'm sure we all have things to do today.

SUMMER CLASSES 2009

My summer class schedule is posted on my CLASS SITE.

I hope one or two of these will fit your summer schedule. This is such a great area to find "paintable" subjects!!!

SUMMER KICK-OFF

Third Annual Summer Kick-Off
One Day Watercolor Sketchbook Journal
Friday, June 5th, 10:00-4:00

Please check out my class site for more information.

Plants and more plants.

A Carload of Plants.

And more in the backseat ~ a lot more.

My friend, Karen, and I started out this morning at 9:00 to hit a couple of garage sales, a resale shop and two greenhouses. We were having so much fun, we just kept going. . . and going. . .

I wanted to get some pots of flowers going so they will be ready for my journal class the first Friday in June. I got a little carried away and bought things I really didn't need to get at this time, but that's the way it is this time of year ~ SO tempting. I want to have it all!

Oh ~ I have to plant this stuff?!

What a Mess

This is what my studio tables looked like Monday morning!

We had a fun weekend with the kids - lots of messy art projects, trips to the park, the library. . . But Monday morning was back to reality (isn't it always?) I'm still plugging away at my illustration project and firming up my class schedules so I can get them posted.

I finally gave in to a sinus infection and went to the doctor. So with my little packet of antibiotics and a nap now and then, I am doin' okay. After I finish up some current obligations (obligations to myself to make a living!) I am heading for the greenhouses! Can't wait to smell the dirt and see something blooming!!!

More Sketches of . . .

I'm still thinking of the great time we had in California. It is still cold and dark here in Northern Michigan, and just looking back through my sketchbook keeps the memories intact.

Everything here at home is still brown. That's not true - the grass is green now, but that is it for color. Yesterday I raked a little in the yard, and there is promise of plants to come - and eventually to bloom.

I suppose I could do something productive to be ready for our short summer season. Something like firm up my summer class schedule, get a couple of illustration deadlines off my list, and then paint porch furniture. All of those things sound fun - and that's what it's all about right? Fun?

More California

The Lemon Tree

This is a beautiful little tree, absolutely weighted down with fruit. The fragrance of the citrus trees right now is fabulous.

That orange thing in the bottom left-hand corner is a petal from a bright orange California poppy. We were going to go down and sit on the sidewalk and paint them, but something more interesting came up ~ ice cream cones, I think.

California

A Two page spread in my handbound sketchbook.

I took sketchbooks and paints etc for the grandkids and they were completely uninhibited about painting at the table in restaurants. Every restaurant had something suitable for painting - flowers on the table or something within view. They were eager to paint anywhere and everywhere. We had a great time.

We're home now and it is cold here!!!

WATERCOLOR CLASSES, SPRING, 2009

WATERCOLOR CLASSES

Spring, 2009

Please see my class site for information on the Wednesday and Thursday six-week classes that are beginning April 29th and 30th.

We all need some splashy COLOR about now, don't we?

Asparagus

Some Spring Green

Unfortunately I ate this bunch of asparagus before I did a good sketch of it. I guess it wasn't unfortunate - I was hungry. I am pretty indifferent when it comes to asparagus ~ I don't get what the big whoop is, but I do love the look of it!

I roasted this bunch and it was really good. Google it on allrecipes.com. It is sooo easy.

I have had a couple of very busy weeks and it's not over yet, but I am working my way through my to-do list. It is all good busy ~ you know, as in positive stuff ~ painting deadlines, framing, packaging cards, delivering, classes, family togetherness. And the level is all relative, isn't it? I have been careful not to say "whew, I'm so busy!" to my daughter and daughter-in-law. You can just imagine what their level of busy is ~ young moms with full time jobs and all the stuff that goes with it.

I know ~ I have yet to do "Z" from my alphabet series. I will. We do need closure on that, don't we?

Have a good one! Here I go, back to the list.

Gerbera

I love gerberas!

Don't gerbera daisies look like something someone made up? Maybe a seven year old? I love 'em.

We woke up to lots of snow this morning. Not a pretty sight. And the Bay is just as white and frozen looking as it was in mid-winter.

I just realized that I never finished the alphabet squares! I still have "Z" to do. I knew from the beginning what I was going to draw for it too - so what's my problem!?

Figures and Landscapes

Small Landscapes and simple Figures

These little landscapes could be habit forming. They're fun to do in various color combinations and compositions.

The figures were done from old photographs. I tried concentrating on the shadows to give a simple form, using very little detail. My Wednesday class is so interested in figures that they are beginning to convert me. Trying to keep one step ahead of them, and at least come up with some simple demos, I have become interested in drawing and painting figures also. I always thought it was definitely necessary to know how to do figures, but could never quite get enthused. I'm almost enthused.

Is it Spring yet?

In the sketchbook I made a couple of weeks ago, I put in some brown. acid free, lightfast construction paper. I love how it works with Prismacolor colored pencils. This is the first time I have scanned the sketchbook. An open spread just fits in my scanner. I didn't plan it that way, but I guess if we want to scan our sketchbooks, it is something to consider.

It was a little disappointing to wake up to a very gray sky and more snow this morning, but it can't last much longer. Tell me it can't last much longer.

Y is for . . .

"Y" is for Yard.

The snow is receding and the little green shoots are appearing. Finally. We still have a long way to go before spring-like weather here, but every ray of sunshine helps.

One alphabet square to go.

X is for . . .

"X" is for St Francis Xavier.

This is a view of St. Francis from our front window - over the rooftops and through the trees. It is only a few rooftops away ~ kind of kitty-corner across the block. It is visable from the water front, out on the bay, across town. I like being able to see it from the dentist's chair ~ I know home isn't far away and I'll be there soon. We all need these little landmarks in our lives, don't we?

The second finished page of the alphabet project.

Two letters to go.

W is for . . .

"W" is for Watercolor.

This is my tiny watercolor palette that I made in an "Altoids Smalls" tin. Painting this little square was the first time I have used this palette.

I have had a couple of people asked what's next. I only have X, Y, and Z left for the little squares project (maybe this isn't big enough to be a project - big as in important). What I plan to do is go with some themes. Just looking at the finished squares bring to mind a few ideas. For my ancestor square, I can see doing some things along the lines of ancestors, family, antiques . . . I could just kind of expand the idea and do four or five drawings or small paintings a week in that catagory. Some may even turn into "serious" paintings. That would be good! I could use a serious painting or two right about now. As small and simple as these drawings/paintings have been, I do think they are good for taking a chip at the old painter's block that crops up now and then.

V is for . . .

"V" is for Vase

On the bottom of this vase is "Albion Ware". I can find a few pieces of Albion Ware on the Internet, but only one vase that is at all similar. It is called a tapestry pattern and it is a little glittery. It is not this yellow. If anyone reading this happens to know that it is very valuable and we could sell it and be set for life, let me know, okay?

U is for . . .

"U" is for utensils

I have done this pot of kitchen utensils previously in another sketchbook. I LOVE the red whisk.

I was thinking of doing "ultramarine" for "U". The dictionary says ultramarine, besides being a pigment, means "beyond the sea". I like that! However, one of the rules I have set for myself for this project (I don't very often set rules for myself - or follow any one else's if I can help it) is that I have to be able to see what I am drawing. It can't be a fantasy, in-my-head subject. Right now ultramarine, beyond the sea is a fantasy here - our Bay is as white as white can be. It is going to be awhile before we see ultramarine out there.

And Daughter, if you are reading this, please tell me what I should have done with "else's" in the preceding paragraph. Yes, I know, I shouldn't have started this sentence with "and".

T is for . . .

"T" is for Thread

I was surprised to find these very small, beautiful, jewel toned spools of thread in a box in my mother's sewing supplies. The colors surprised me - they are like little shining gems. I wonder where they came from. She wasn't a little sewing kit kind of person - she had serious supplies.

Recently I have been obsessed with the idea of making a bound sketchbook. My poor husband got pretty sick of hearing about it as I planned it out for two weeks - out loud of course. He never really said anything, but I could tell by the way his eyes glazed over, that he had heard enough.

I did make it (can't seem to get a good photograph), and it was really fun. I made a few mistakes, but that is what learning to bind a book is all about - or learning anything, right? I am certainly not going to go into the bookbinding business, but I will definitely make more.

COLD and WINDY here! One of my students this morning turned around and went back home, one was rear-ended at an intersection, three had to take detours . . . THINK SPRING.

S is for . . .

"S" is for Spoon

Spoons are challenging, but fun. There is a surprising amount of dark value when drawing shiny objects. The bowl of this ended up too rounded, but - oops - we weren't going to judge, were we? Sometimes I will draw spoons "around the clock" - that is from the 12:00 angle, the 5:00 and so on. This one, I would say, is the 8:00 or 2:00 angle.

We are digging out this morning from last night's blizzard. The snowplows dumped an amazing amount of snow at the ends of our driveways and REALLY socked in the cars on the street. The sun is shining now, so all is well.

R is for . . .

"R" is for rocking chair.

This is one of those subjects that you could spend hours on, trying to get it correct. Since that is not my objective with these two-inch squares, I had a few relaxing minutes of concentration, getting into the zone and not worrying about the outcome. A few minutes of lower blood pressure.

It could go either way, couldn't it? If it's a difficult subject we can drive ourselves crazy trying to do it right - make it good enough. Then we raise our blood pressure and wear out our erasers. I think it all depends on the reason we're drawing - are we drawing for the fun of it, or do we really need a good rendering of the subject. One reason is just as valid as the other, but we seem to have to give ourselves permission to just draw for fun.

Forty-three degrees here right now! That is something like sixty degrees warmer than it was a few days ago!!!

Q is for . . .

"Q" is for quilt.

No, I didn't do the pattern from a real quilt. I was going to, but I was a little distracted, so this is what we get.

I was working on some very simple landscapes today with figures in them to show distance, scale, and a center of interest. Fun. They didn't scan well and it is past my bedtime. I'm feeling a little blurry eyed and fuzzy brained, so until tomorrow . . .

It's ten degrees tonight. It's warming up.

P is for . . .

"P" is for Pottery

I think, from what I have found on the internet, that this is a Hopi Pot. It has been in my family for more years than I know, and I have no idea where it came from. I'm really not sure why, when things were sold, given away, or split up among family members a few times, why this made the cut. It must have meant a lot to someone, and I'm glad it did. I think it is beautiful - sooo old and so comtemporary at the same time.

It has been a very quiet weekend around here. Too quiet. I didn't accomplish much of anything and I didn't really enjoy the nothingness of it. Lethargy - " the quality or state of being sluggish, lazy, or indifferent" (according to Webster) and I say if you're going to be in that state, you should at least enjoy it. It is 5:00 p.m. I still have time to accomplish something, or at least adjust my attitude toward my lethargy.

P.S. I had an email from a friend that says we have to have "nothing" weekends once in awhile to let the week catch up with us. Thanks - I needed that. I just fixed fried potatoes and french toast. Feelin' better now.

O is for . . .

"O" is for orange,
or it could have been "onion", but the oranges are really good right now and, of course, more colorful than an onion.

I just wanted to show you that I actually am working on something larger than two inches. I'm trying out this "test" mat to see how this quarter sheet watercolor is working out. I had not intended for it to be a finished painting. I was just playing around with some very dark darks and backlighting. Then I got to a point where I thought I could probably crop it and have a decent small painting, and then I thought, if I'm going to crop it, I may as well play around with the rest of it - it was an experiment after all.

It might be okay. I'll have to live with it and see what I think.

N is for . . .

"N" is for Nickel

This is the most boring little drawing I have ever seen in my life. You should have seen it before I added the funky green. I had intended to do Nuts and Bolts. I went down the basement - and I don't do that any more than I have to - and looked through every little drawer on my husband's workbench. Nothin'. Evidently the nuts and bolts are all out in the garage, which seems pretty simple, but here it means putting on my boots and coat, wading through the yard, uphill, blah, blah, blah . . .

This has nothing to do with nickels OR drawing, but this morning I noticed the bird feeder was empty, and I knew it wasn't last night before we went to bed. It is one of those finch feeders that is a tube with perches and small holes (not slits). It didn't seem as if a raccoon could have reached in there and pulled out the seed, but maybe. When I went outside, I checked to see what kind of tracks were around it, and there were deer tracks! What do they do - stick their tongues in there!!!??? The tracks came right up to the window, and when I followed them around the house, they went right up to the bathroom window. So not only does this deer think he's (of course it's a "he") a finch - he's a peeping tom! He's creepin' me out.

Do I have to bring the bird feeder in at night!?

M is for . . .

"M" is for Mugs

A quick little ink drawing with watercolor - a couple of my favorite coffee mugs.

So here I go on my second page of alphabet paintings/drawings. Yesterday in the comments, Karen asked what we are going to do next. I'm thinking "themes" would be fun. Maybe a week for each theme - such as five to seven days of something like "windows", "flowers", "things that I love", "things that are red".

Sooner or later I have to do something a little more serious. Maybe a lot more serious. Some small acrylics are appealing to me right now. I have some canvases all primed - what's stopping me? Nothing! I'll keep you posted.

L is for . . .

"L" is for lamp.

A colorful little lamp base that really isn't crooked in "real life"

This what what the whole page looks like - "A" through "L".

This is kind of exciting - getting the first page of these drawings finished. I like the way it looks. Could I sustain this for - you know - a long time? I know other people do. The internet is full of them. Look at all the "Painting A Day" people there are out there. This is a two-inch square for heaven's sake. Well, we each have our own level of ambition, desire, drive, sustainability, need. . . . whatever.

Actually, the drawings take much less time to do, than it takes to do the blog.

I've been considering going on a media fast. A friend suggested that I blog about it - that people might be interested in it, but then she realized if my readers (yes - there are a few) liked the idea, they wouldn't be reading my blog anymore. AND if I went on a media fast, wouldn't that mean I couldn't write it anymore? So - that's not going to work. I have to finish the alphabet and show the whole world (!?) that I did it.

How are you doing with your little squares?

K is for . . .

"K" is for Keys.

If keys could only talk. Because they can't, we just stash them in drawers and boxes and maybe someday they'll learn, and tell us what they unlock. I threw out a bunch of keys last week that were in a small basket by our back door. If we actually needed them, we wouldn't know what they were for - but that is soooo hard to do.

Because I wanted to draw them, I kept an old brass ring of keys that I found when we went through my father-in-law's tool boxes. There is something a little mysterious to me about old keys. Also, they're fun to draw.

I am a couple of days behind in my alphabet drawings - well, maybe not - I never said I'd do them every day, did I? Or did I?

J is for . . .

"J" is for Jump,
as in Jump for Joy.

These are little scribble figures done in pencil. They are happy because they are under the fan and next to the island in my sketchbook - because I painted all day - because I have leftover homemade soup for dinner - because we didn't get that ton of snow - because I am caught up on the laundry - because I am on a news fast and not paying attention to all the stuff going on in the world . . .

I is for . . .

"I" is for Island
Mackinac Island

This is a tiny drawing of a huge bluff with huge summer homes on Mackinac Island.
The colored pencil didn't scan well, the proportions are WAY off, those yellows are really green - but aside from all that - I like it. It was fun to dig around in my old sketchbooks looking for references of summer on the Island when we are knee deep in snow here. Well, not knee deep, but deep enough, with more on the way.

Today was the first day of a new eight-week watercolor class. Such a great bunch of people! We played around with mixing darks (very dark) on the paper. Some of them brought their sketchbooks with alphabet drawings in them.

We may be socked in by morning if the weather predictions are correct. Sometimes the weather changes its mind out over Lake Michigan, so maybe not. Either way, I have a painting that I want to work on. What a nice way to spend a snowy day!

H is for . . .

"H" is for house.

This is really a cheery little house down the street. It doesn't look so cheery with the dark, midwinter sky in the background.

This is watercolor, which doesn't work well on the moleskine sketchbook paper - just kind of slides around.

The house doesn't actually have an orange door, but I think it should. The people living there have, for some reason, left the orange plastic bag with the Saturday ads in it hanging on their door knob for quite awhile now. Maybe they think the front of the house needs a little orange too.

These two inch squares are so liberating. You just put down a feeling - there isn't room to worry about perspective or detail, and how much time can you spend in a two inch square?