Another Fabulous Summer Day!

Wheelbarrow in Bay View

Posing for us.

  I did this quick little sketchbook painting this morning with my watercolor class.  The paper is Zerkell Frankfort Cream.  Sounds yummy, doesn't it?  Good enough to eat.  It isn't a watercolor paper, but I really like the way it handled.  I was never really able to get dark darks with it, and thought about using some ink line, as I often do in my journals.  However there is something about the almost  faded, middle-value, simple look that I like, so I didn't use ink.


This is the last week of summer watercolor classes.  The summer has gone all too quickly!!!  I have a few things coming up, but the rush of summer is over. Kinda sad.

Another Beautiful Day

Painting in Karen's Garden Again

This is a quick little sketch of some things in Karen's garden.  My classes painted there last week, and the weather was perfect.  It is such a nice, relaxing place to be.  Just as an example of how relaxing and pleasant it is, the neighborhood mailperson eats her lunch in this chair.

The guys in the family planned a road trip to visit some car museums in Indiana, so I hitched a ride downstate with them to the Lansing, MI area where my brother and sister-in-law live.  I promised to sit in the back and keep my mouth shut.  I'm sure they didn't believe me, but they took me along anyway.  I DID NOT GO TO THE CAR MUSEUMS WITH THEM  -  not that there is anything wrong with car museums.  My sister-in-law and I bummed around some funky little galleries and art supply places in Lansing, and I found some nice decorative paper.  It wasn't easy, but we made it our goal for the day.  We had a great time, and she has salsa all over her purse to prove it!

This week is pretty calm  -  two classes, and then a painting day and bookbinding day, just for fun.  I have a lot of summer de-briefing and fall promotion to get going on.  So  -  if it doesn't rain, I am going to take my computer outside under the canopy and get some work done.  Oooops  -  rain!  Does that mean I don't have to work?

Palette

Fun

Who'd think filling a new palette could be so much fun?  I bought a new porcelain palette (as opposed to an OLD porcelain palette?!).  Because it is arranged like a color wheel, it only makes sense to fill it like a color wheel.  

My friend, Cathy, bought one also, and we decided to fill them together.  No, this is not the first palette I have ever owned, and hopefully not the last  (it is certainly the heaviest  -  does that count for something?), but everything is more fun when you do it with a friend.

Somewhere, on someones blog, I read about painting small squares of watercolor paper and putting them in your palette to see how the sequence of colors works in your color wheel palette.  I use a very limited range of colors, but Cathy had a lot of paint choices, which made the whole process entertaining  -  playing with all those colors!!!  It was great.

Middle granddaughter then made a chart for me with the names of the paint colors on the little squares, and then she squeezed the paint into the wells on the palette.  This one little project kept three of us entertained for a couple of hours.  Who could ask for more?

Now I am off to teach Tuesday morning watercolor in friend Karen's garden.  It is very overcast, but we're goin' for it.  We don't want to miss this chance  -  it is a beautiful place to paint.

This and That

The Last Chicken Sandwich and a Blue Chair

At the Afternoon Tea last week (was that a whole week ago!?) I drew a little sketch of the last chicken salad croissant on the plate.  Not only was the sandwich alone on the plate, it was alone on the page, so when I sat on Karen's front porch one evening to draw the blue chair, I put it on the same page spread.


Today is a little like that  -  a little of this and a little of that.  I don't have any classes today and I am puttering around, cleaning things up a little. When I come in from a class, I dump out my bags of books, palettes, sketchbooks, etc., and the stacks were beginning to overflow onto the back porch.  We spend most of our time in the summer on the porch (eating, reading, talking), so I thought today was a good time to put things in their proper places and sweep out the spider webs.


Wednesday night I was getting ready for Thursday morning's class, and I commented to my husband, " I have the best job in the whole world."  There I was washing vases, cutting and arranging flowers, squeezing out fresh paint.  I am doing exactly what I want to do!

Makes Me Smile!

Just Hangin' Out.

Are these the cutest things you've ever seen in your life?!


When the California grandkids were here, one day they sat out under the backyard canopy and painted little clothespin people.  Yesterday, as I went to grab some more clothespins, I walked past these guys.  I just couldn't resist using them.  They made me smile every time I walked past them on the line.

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea at the Terrace Inn

What a fun afternoon!  There were nineteen of us, painting in our sketchbooks and enjoying high tea in the Victorian dining room.


This is a demonstration page I did to kick things off.  Everyone did beautiful  sketchbook journal paintings, and it was such fun to walk around and see the various choices of subject and interpretation.  Someone even did a a small painting of one of the very fancy crystal chandeliers!  There were paintings of teapots, tablescapes, sandwiches, petit fours, bud vases  .  .  .


No beach chair-and-jeans-out-in-the-sun-painting for us yesterday.  We were all ladies at a tea party  - painting up a storm.


Thank you to everyone who attended.  You made it so much fun!

Trees and Flowers

Bay View Demonstration - Trees and Flowers

This journal page spread is a couple of demonstrations done in my Watercolor Sketchbook Journal class last week   -  birch trees and bright flowers against a dark background.  I get a little colorful with my birch trees  -  gray is just not all that fun. I use the colors I would use to get gray and let them mix (a little) on the paper.

Yesterday was a fantastic day for clouds  -  huge, very white, and very dense.  I didn't paint them.  Today's class is meeting at a park along the shoreline of the bay, and I'm hoping we'll have some interesting clouds and colorful water.

A couple of frustrating things right now  -  my merchant VISA won't deposit!!! and my computer won't let me access any weather reports!!!  Where does this weird stuff come from?!

And Blogger won't let me use the font I want.

Education Garden

Education Garden/Arlington Garden

I have always called this garden Education Gardens  -  I even had a pamphlet about it with that name.  Now I see there is a sign near it that says something like Arlington Park and Gardens.  Whatever.


It is divided into several sections that are taken care of by different non profit groups.  Some of them are beautifully cared for, and some not at all.  There-in lies the education, huh?  See what happens when you don't take care of your garden?!


I am not pleased with the view point in this little painting.  My intent was to show the house way up at the top of the hill, but after squeezing the layers together, I more or less missed the point.  I do, however, like the painting - so, time well spent. I'm happy.


After a busy week of classes and getting ready for an art fair, I really feel like a free woman today, with no outside obligations.  Actually, the reason I have no outside obligations is because I have no vehichle! I don't have classes scheduled for today, so everything can be done by phone and email and maybe a walk downtown.

It's a beautiful, sunny day  -  a good day to take my sketchbook out in my own backyard.

Journal Class

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Painting

It didn't rain enough to stop us.  We kept painting.  


This was a contour (continuous line) drawing, and I was having trouble "connecting" with the line and talking at the same time.  That can be a problem when I'm teaching  -  trying to explain what I'm doing and why.  But it's a good example of "just keep moving  -  it's a SKETCHBOOK" - mistakes, raindrops, and all.


This is a great group, and they are painting up a storm.  We are hoping for sun this afternoon when we go down to the waterfront.  We could use some sparkles on the Bay to make it more fun to paint.  However, we'll take whatever we get  -  it's all about being in the moment and in the sketchbook!

Bird House

Cathy's Birdhouse

 I have painted this birdhouse several times and never get tired of it.  I like the angles and the neutral colors in the worn wood.

This was a demo last Friday for the two-day bookbinding/journal workshop we did at Cathy's home studio.  The weather was perfect  -  rain on the day we spent inside making the books and beautiful the next day when we took the books outside to paint all day. It was a fun and talented group  -  they made some beautiful books and painted some wonderful journal pages!

This afternoon I am off to a new Watercolor Sketchbook Journal Class  -  four consecutive afternoons.  We meet on the porch of one of the old buildings in Bay View, and one time when we were standing there in a circle introducing ourselves, a bat fell from the rafters right into the middle of the circle.  I always check for bats now.  I know some artists would have used him as a drawing subject  -  not me.

Gnarled Tree

Gnarled Old Tree Across the Street

After yesterday morning's class, I went over to paint with my friend Karen on her front porch. It was hot hot hot, and it was so pleasant on her porch. Many of you who have been in my summer classes know how beautiful Karen's garden is. So here I am painting this old gnarled tree across the street. It just called to me. It is all twisty turny and many shades of gray. I'll go back another day to paint some of the bright pots of flowers.

This week's classes met down by the river, near the spot where it dumps into the Bay. Sometimes I take all of this for granted. I mean, how many people actually live within walking distance to the place where a river dumps into a bay?! I need to remind myself now and then to pay attention. We all need to pay attention - where ever we live. There is beauty all around us if we look for it. I find that I look harder and with more appreciation when I have my sketchbook with me.

And this just happens to be the first entry in a new sketchbook.

In Karen's Garden

Spending an Evening Painting in the Garden

I realize we are about a month into the season, but I am still catching up on posting journal pages.

This page was done one evening sitting in the beautiful garden of my friend, Karen. We did some painting and a lot of talking. So nice!

Here we are now, five days into July. I have no classes today, so I think I will spend the day getting myself ready for the week. There are still plants unplanted, the house is pretty much a wreck, there is no food in the fridge, and it is raining. That's good! I'll clean up some projects, make a good grocery list (and shop!), and get things prepared for my two classes and a two-day bookbinding/journal workshop I'm doing this week with my friend, Cathy. She is preparing the bookmaking kits for the workshop and I am sitting here blogging. Time to get going.

I hope you take a minute to sketch something today. Two minutes. Really. You can do it!

Pretty Much Picasso Patunias

Purple and Lime-green Petunias

Whoa - I love these! Lime-green and purple. What a great color combination! I planted them in a hanging basket with light blue lobelia.

It's the 4th of July and I am still buying and kind of planting flowers. It is actually too hot to do anything today, but I am not complaining. I have complained about being cold for two years, so I am not going to complain now about being hot. It was a good excuse to do nothing, and we really enjoyed it. We sat around on the porch and read. Perfect.

This is the last page of this sketchbook. I have a couple of blank sketchbooks made up, so now I have to decide which one to use next. Life is just full of decisions, isn't it?

Bay View Library Again

The Bay View Library Door, 2010

This is a demo page from my journal class in Bay View last week. It was, as always, a great group of people, and they really got into the "journal thing". They didn't try to do masterpieces, they did journal pages, and did them beautifully. This week I did a drawing class there, and they were great too. I saw some real progress in four days, and they were such a friendly group - fun!

I am switching mental and emotional gears here. After having the California grandkids around for most of the month of June, it is very quiet. They left Wednesday morning. It helped to have to hurry off to my classes. It was a great visit!

July already! My busiest month for classes and workshops! I have no classes today, so I may run a few errands and find a good book to read on the porch. I may also finish the last page in my current sketchbook. Big deal stuff, huh? It's called relaxation.

Don't forget to carry your sketchbooks around with you!

This is a Test

Testing the Waxed Thread

I had mentioned in a previous post that the waxed thread in the handbound journals had caused an area on the paper to resist the watercolor when I painted over it. Well, never mind. When I deliberately burnished the thread on the paper to leave a thin strip of wax, it didn't resist the watercolor. So - no great discovery here. Not that it was going to be that beneficial to anyone, but I thought it might make a nice line in leaves.

The first of my summer eight-week classes started today and it was cold. Those students don't care - they just want to paint - they don't care if it's inside or out. My Journal class was drizzled on a bit, but they didn't care either. Can you imagine spending the summer with groups of people that want to paint, talk about paper, talk art, discuss paint brands, paint some more . . . . I love it!

Lunch at the Bistro

The Back Door, Another Salt Shaker, and Lunch

I have these posts of the pages in my sketchbook journal so out of order! I'm going to post them anyway - it is presumptuous of me to even think you are paying enough attention to know in what order my sketchbook pages come in my life. If the pages weren't dated no one would ever know (except the friends that do these things with me) how mixed up they are.

This week I wrap up two of my spring classes, and begin one of my summer classes. They really begin in earnest next week, with seven classes in four days. I love that! I just go from class to class meeting with wonderful people doing painting, drawing, watercolor journaling . . .

Let the fun begin!

If you are local, take a look at the class line up. Maybe you'll see something that looks good to you.

Shoo!

How Bold!

This is a beautiful deer, but I would really rather it left the gardens alone. As it walked past the neighbor's door on the way to drink from the bird bath, it didn't even care that I sat right there and took pictures. It had been eating a LOT of plants from the garden. This is too much - too bold in broad day light! We live in the city.

Between the deer and the six inch slugs chomping their way through our gardens, we aren't going to have much left. I am trying to figure out what they don't eat, but year to year they seem to be quite inconsistent.

I am working on binding a book for a gift, working on lesson plans and class schedules, printing cards, and I wanted to post some pages from the Summer Kick-Off. The problem is the grandkids - they are not here today and it is too quiet! Focus, Cath, focus.

Salt Shaker at the City Park

Another Salt Shaker Added to the Collection

I love to take my sketchbook to lunch - or dinner. I've started a collection of salt shaker drawings just for the fun of it. They can be done very quickly, and I don't have to paint them if it seems inappropriate at the time to get out my little palette and a brush.

This drawing was done while I was having lunch with friends, and I added the color later, just for the joy of playing with color.

Yesterday was my Kick-Off Summer Journal Workshop. We spent the morning outside until it started to rain, and then we came inside, turned up the heat, and made hot tea. Everyone came up with some great sketches anyway. It just goes to show you, there are things to paint wherever we are.

Keep your eyes open and the brushes movin'.

More from the Bookbinding/Journal Workshop

Cold Pizza and Oranges

My favorite lunch. Unless someone else is fixing it, and then it can be as fancy as they want. There is something about pizza slices and orange wedges that I like drawing. I seem to have a real attraction to variations of triangles, so that may have something to do with it.

I realize I posted lunch from day two of the workshop before I posted day one (the strawberries). That's just the way it is. I may still have some California sketches to post also. I have enough trouble with the chronology of my life, I just can't try to fit my sketchbook and blog posts into a time frame also.

Today is my "4th Annual First Friday of June Summer Kick-Off Journal Workshop". Could I have come up with a longer name for it? I am really looking forward to spending the day with this group of nine talented women as we paint, eat watermelon, and usher in the summer painting season!

Strawberries

Strawberries at the Workshop

This is another journal painting done on the Arches Cover paper. When I made this journal and tied off the thread, which I had added in the middle of the book, I left the tail a little longer than usual. The thread is waxed, and it left some resist marks on the paper.It shows up on the bottom and left strawberries. Have I discovered a new painting technique? Pressing waxed thread onto watercolor paper for a resist design? Or using it as masking? Hmmm - veins in leaves, texture in wood, tendrils, stamens . . .? I'm absolutely sure this is not a big (or new) discovery in the art world, but I'm going to play around with it.

Willow Chair, Second Workshop

The Willow Chair Again

This is a journal painting demo for the second bookbinding/journal workshop. I thought this was a great subject - I loved the way the sun hit the fern and the crazy shadow it made was fun. So I did it for both classes. It was hot, and we could put the chair in the sun while we sat in the shade to paint it.

This is some paper that I am not (was not) familiar with. I can't even remember why I ordered it (but I just ordered more). It is Arches Cover, cream. It is heavy and soft and takes watercolor surprisingly well. Has anyone tried this, and what else is it used for? It folds and stitches well for bound books - I am going to put in more than just a few pages next time.

I'm getting ready for my summer Kick-Off Journal Workshop coming up on Friday. The whole idea is to be outside for the day - "they" are predicting thunderstorms! I have been getting flowering plants that hopefully will be perfect on Friday - the deer ate some of them last night! We're gonna be okay. I have a plan for rain, and I will bring in the plants at night.

Cathy's Chair

Journal Page from the Bookbinding Workshop

This huge fern traveled all the way from S. Carolina to spend the summer in this willow twig chair. Sitting there in the sun, it was a perfect warm-up for our day of journal painting.

Here it is, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. I finished up my stretch of classes yesterday (next week I only have two) and I'm feeling pretty relaxed today. That could be because I am not out of bed yet! It could also be because I have a lot of errands to run, but have no vehicle for the day. That eliminates part of my to-do list, and I can concentrate on house and garden things.

Yesterday's class really got into foliage painting. It is so nice to be able to go outside now to paint. I love teaching foliage painting - it seems like such a break-through when we realize how much we need to keep it simple. It is the outside edge that tells the story - we don't need all that interior texture.

Go outside today and paint a tree in your journal. I will too.

Birdhouse at the Workshop

A Demonstration Page from the Bookbinding/Journal Workshop

My friend Cathy and I just did two, two-day, back-to-back, bookbinding and journal painting workshops. The journals were beautiful! The second morning we unveiled them (they have to sit under weight over-night) and jumped right into painting in them. Everyone got over that fear of pure white pages in about two minutes. The weather was perfect, and Cathy's studio is in a woodsy area on a lake. Fun!

Today is the end of my nine day stretch of classes and workshops. I have a class this afternoon and it looks as if we will be able to paint outside.

For some reason, I am feeling very hyper and stressed this morning. Shouldn't I be calming down a little? I'm wrapping up a fairly intense nine days ( some of the classes I haven't taught previously). Maybe I function better in that intense "zone". Or maybe it's all that laundry waiting for me, the science projects in the fridge, the garden that needs to be cleaned up before my next workshop . . . .

I'll be posting more jpurnal pages from the workshop.
Hope you have a sunny, stress-free day. I'm gonna.

Orange Tree Over the Fence

Another California Sketch

Here is yet another sketch from our California trip. I have just finished four days of Bookbinding/Journaling, and will post some of those sketches as soon as I get myself together. And because I never expect to really get myself together (and that's okay) I will post them anyway - in a day or two.

Friday I spent the day at an elementary school with ten classes - one every thirty minutes. As one of the kindergarten classes was leaving, a little girl came up and thanked me for the painting demonstration. As she started to walk away, she turned around, pointed to me, and said, "Great outfit by the way." CUTE kid!

I have a class coming this morning, and I want to get the backyard canopy up so we can enjoy this beautiful northern Michigan morning outside with the birds - and the Wednesday morning garbage truck, the recycle truck, the guy down the street with the leaf blower . . . . but it's okay - we have loud birds.

Sketch something today!

Orange Tree - California Sketch

Orange Tree in the Backyard

I love the shape of this orange tree, although I don't care for the taste of the oranges. Almost as soon as I had finished painting this, the gardener trimmed a lot of it. He really did a great job of keeping the shape - it still has that graceful swoop and asymmetrical slant. I absolutely LOVE citrus trees - those shiny green leaves and that gorgeous, sparkling orange or yellow fruit - the shape of the trees - the aroma of the blossoms!!!!

Getting back to reality here in Michigan. I have a few errands to run to be ready for some workshops coming up, starting tomorrow, and I have a class this afternoon. I don't seem to be taking enough time with my sketchbook. A sketchbook is such a good place to slow down, chill out, and just "be". But right now I have a date with my scanner and printer.

Have you set up a date with your sketchbook?

Pinecones of Viola

Sketching the Pine Cones of Viola, California

Back to California sketches. We were sitting outside eating breakfast and painting in our sketchbooks. The air was cool and the sun was strong. The creek was higher, faster, and louder than it had been the day before. What a beautiful place. We walked some trails to a clearer spot to get a good view of the mountains. Breathtaking!

Now, back home in the city, in a very different part of the country, I am enjoying my sketches. They all remind of the things we did and saw there. Even this simple sketch of the pine cones reminds me of the mountains.

Every little thing you put in your sketchbook journal is a big memory.

Geranium Still Life

Still Life for Class

I did this watercolor sketch in my journal "as is", with no regard to editing or composition. What ya see is what ya get. When I set it up for class, I didn't really arrange the objects, but left it to the students to come up with the composition that worked best from their positions around the table.

For me, taking the still life from three dimensions to two, makes it easier to compose. I can see more clearly what I need to move around and edit when I'm looking at the journal page.

I could have just done some thumbnail sketches and called it good, but color is better! Better, as in more fun.

I have a lot of class things coming up, starting this week. Let the fun begin! One of the things is being a "presenter" (?) at a Young Authors Day at an elementary school near by. Looking over the schedule for the day, I see there is no nap time! What the heck?

Hot Sauce

Hot Sauce, Lime, and Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

We picked up the ingredients for this recipe at Trader Joe's in San Jose. I LOVE TRADER JOE'S! The closest one to us in Michigan is at least four hours away. The cherry tomatoes were beautiful, but it was hard to tell which ones were ripe because of all the strange colors. The only way to tell was to taste them, and then, of course, it was too late. The ones that were good were very good, and they were all beautiful.

The original recipe called for ground turkey, but I thought the guys would like the beef better. I am also wondering if it would be good with beans and rice instead of meat.

I am missing the California weather, and really missing our kids and grandkids. However I am busy here at home - lots of things to do before next week when I begin a series of classes and all-day workshops for nine days without a break. Without a break - who am I kidding - this is fun stuff! If you are local, check out my class link in the sidebar and see if something sounds good to you.

My mind is going a hundred miles an hour, so I am going to slow down and go to the green house to buy pansies. My favorite "slow down and take a big breath" thing to do this time of year.

Have a great day - I hope the sun is shining where ever you are.

Thai Delight

Everything Tastes Better with Chang Beer

My husband is a fan of only American and Italian cuisine. He was willing to give Thai food a try in California, so we rewarded him with a beer to wash it down. He didn't know until the next day, when I was eating his leftovers, that there was tofu in those noodles!

The grandkids and I tried to keep our sketching in restaurants a little simpler this time. We just sketched in pen or pencil and added color at a later time. Soooo much easier with six of us at the table not to get out all the paint, brushes and water. I think the waiters appreciated it too.

California Cabin and Sketchbooks

Accordion Sketchbooks (left to right) Granddaughter's, Daughter's, Grandson's

A Weekend at the Cabin

We spent a wonderful weekend with our kids at their cabin in Northern California.

The grandkids and I took our sketchbooks out and sat in the middle of the road to sketch the cabin. It was a little complicated with the angles of the dormers, and we didn't want to spend all day on it - we had other relaxing things to do like eating lunch by the creek, going for a walk, building a bonfire, playing UNO . . . .

The drive up late Friday afternoon was great - driving toward Mt Lassen and Broke Off Mountain - just beautiful. When we arrived that night, we had to hurry up and make accordion sketchbooks so they would be ready to paint in by morning.

It is an absolutely beautiful spot, and of course, there is nothing like a relaxing weekend with family!

Pot of Flowers

Painting with Isabelle

I played around with "blob and smoosh" while my youngest granddaughter sat beside me and painted sparkling, fancy ladies. She watched me do the printing for awhile and then did some with her pencil. She didn't want to use the pen - I offered.

I have discovered that I can use the dip pen nibs without the handle. Yeah, I know, it sounds awkward, but it takes up soooo little room in my small bag of sketchbook materials. To me, that's what it is all about - SMALL.

I'm going to spend the next few days getting in some family time, so my blogging may be hit and miss. It always is hit and miss, but may be more so. I hope to get in a lot of sketching time also.

I have some classes posted on my class site. More to come.

Dahlia

Dahlias Sketched on April 20th.

I'm Back.

In my previous post I said my blog would be "hit and miss" for a few days, and it turned out to be just plain "miss". We were in California and I was using a new camera, and everyone had a new computer that I wasn't familiar with . . .

The computers and iPad were great. The camera not so great. I am going to have to play around with it a bit before I can post my sketchbook pages - or use my old camera - I like that idea.

It is cold here in Michigan and we actually had to BUY a bag of oranges when we got home. When we were walking the kids to school one day there were some oranges that had fallen from a near-by tree into the gutter. When I told the kids we would have to pay $1.00 apiece for those oranges at home, they looked at me like I was crazy.

Going from Pacific Time to Eastern, I am now operating on Jet Lag Time, which I will try to use to my advantage for at least another week.

Trying Something New

Blob and Smoosh

"Blob and smoosh" is my "technical term for "softening the edges". It's all about drawing the color out a little to soften the edge of a shape. That's what we are doing in classes this week.

What's new here is the lettering done with watercolor and a dip pen. I hated dip pens and threw mine away. Fortunately, my friend Karen tried this watercolor thing and just happened to have enough pen holders and nibs for both of us. What fun! You can fill the tip with watercolor and keep adding a bit of another color to keep it changing. Something new for our journals!

Maybe these aren't actually dip pens. The nibs are the kind that have two layers that hold a little ink (or in this case, watercolor) in between the layers. Does anyone know what these are called?

In the Backyard

Sitting in the Sun

It feels soooo good to be sitting in the sun! It feels soooo good to be making workshop plans for the summer. I always dread getting all the info together and trying to make sense of a schedule so other people can understand it, but once I get going, I love it!

This morning I was planning an afternoon tea/watercolor journal workshop at one of the historic inns in the neighborhood. Does that sound fun or what?! As soon as I figure out how to say it so you will understand it (it's not you ~ it's me), I will post it.

In the previous post I mentioned that I needed a reminder to tell me to check my calendar and to-do list. Well, I haven't figured that out yet, and yesterday I forgot a meeting. It's kind of like I didn't forget the meeting as much as I forgot to go!!! Sad, huh? I knew earlier in the day that I was going to the meeting, but the next time I remembered it, it was too late. Oooops.

At the Waterfront

Mid-April View at the Waterfront

We have had some wonderful spring-like weather. My friend, Karen, and I went down to the bay to do some watercolor sketches in our journals. It was a perfect day.

The green of the grass is so bright, but there is really very little other color (except brown!) right now. The water and sky were even a little dull. But it FELT wonderful!

Now that I can feel summer really coming, I am getting a little panic stricken about being ready for summer. I always think I have a little more time, and then the weather changes and I realize maybe I don't. I am working on getting out my spring and summer class info. It's always a little more involved than I think it will be. Isn't everything?

It might help if I were to look at my calendar and my to-do list once in awhile. Where do I put the reminder to do that?

Editing

Editing Still Life Objects on the Table

In class this morning we worked at getting some quick impressions of some objects on the table, and then we did some sketches to determine the best arrangement for a painting. One of the objectives was to figure out what we would do for a background.

On the left I drew the objects just as I saw them on the table in front of me, and on the right I rearranged and simplified, working out a composition for a small painting.

In the blue and white vase were some purple tulips. I liked the way the purple worked with the colors of the fruit, but as you can see, I didn't get that far. Maybe tomorrow.

Only about ten more pages to go in this sketchbook. It's fun to finish one and it's fun to start a new one. It doesn't take much to excite me.

A Trip Downstate and Back in Time

A Recipe and a Quick Sketch of the old Auditorium on the MSU Campus

My mother used to make "War Dish" and I hadn't had it in at least forty years. My sister-in-law made it this past weekend, and it tasted sooo good. I just googled "war dish" - nothin'.
Maybe no one else in the world ever made it.

I did this quick little sketch while we sat in the sunshine outside the art museum on the MSU campus, waiting for our guys to pick us up. Years ago, when I was in high school, I used to sit there and wait for my dad to pick me up after a Saturday art class at the University.

Wow - a weekend of memories! Fun.

Friday night we went to A Chorus Line, live at the Wharton Center. It was great!

Still Life Objects

Still Life Objects Used for Today's Class.

Today's class did some quick contour drawing and painting in their sketchbooks of these objects. They spent five minutes on a drawing and five minutes painting. We did two or three, and then set them up for a more "serious" still life.

There is something about the quick sketches that seems to give us permission to leave out details and concentrate on what it is that makes a thing ~ vase, bottle, plant ~ what it is. Then when it comes time to do the serious painting we already know how simply we can "say" that.

We have a winter weather advisory for tomorrow!!! That isn't at all unusual for this part of Michigan, but I am SICK OF IT.

Forsythia

A Few Sprigs of Forsythia in my Sketchbook

Dark and rainy today. These little sprigs of forsythia opened up in just a few minutes after bringing them inside. This is another contour ink drawing with watercolor.

I did manage to get Easter dinner on the table. The tablecloth, mentioned in the previous post, cleaned up well, but it really didn't matter - after the cat threw up under the dinner table, the tablecloth didn't seem like any big deal.

Primrose

Yellow Primrose in my Journal

Somewhere in my collection of sketchbooks I probably have every primrose I have ever purchased. Those pretty, round, colorful blossoms, those cute flop-eared leaves ~ I love 'em. I always buy a yellow one to put on my little purple bench on the front porch. It's the little things in life, huh.

I can't seem to get motivated today to start getting ready for Easter dinner. I did go to the grocery store, and I do know that all my table cloths are clean ~ that's it. That's as far as I am at this point. I work best under pressure, so it'll happen. Maybe later than sooner, but that'll be okay. Right now I think I'll go fill nail holes in the bathroom trim and maybe slap on a coat of primer.

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter!!!
P.S. Ooops - the table cloth isn't so clean anymore. It started to rain, it fell off the line, and . . .well, you know.

St. Francis

Help! I'm Completely Lost in a Tangle of Contour Lines!

I love love love doing contour drawings! Sometimes I do them verrrry sloooowly as I "feel" my way around an object, and sometimes I do them very quickly, moving from shape to shape getting all the information I can in a limited amount of time.

I knew I would be sitting on the bench in the playground across the street from the church for only a few minutes, so I did the drawing quickly - and got lost many times. I made a lot of mistakes and had to backtrack to "correct", and because I was using a pen, the corrections and mistakes are there alongside each other. If I had done it with pencil, I would have spent half my time erasing instead of drawing.

Contour drawing, by the way, is when you don't lift your pen off the paper - you just keep moving.

I'm in the mood to do some contour drawings of street scenes. The weather is great here today - strange for April. I do have a huge to-do list which includes getting groceries for our family Easter dinner. Let's see - go out drawing? Go to the grocery store?

CROCUS

One Lone Little Crocus

The sun is shining, the temperature is summer-like, and things have started to bloom. Well, this is it for our yard, but other things are beginning to look promising. After all, it is only the end of March and in Northern Michigan that is still winter.

Yesterday I went to the greenhouse to get a primrose and ended up buying a dahlia also. I am not really a dahlia fan, but there in that warm sunny greenhouse with that wonderful dirt and green smell, I would have bought anything they pushed on me. Well, actually, I wouldn't. I didn't. But I did spring for the dahlia and a yellow (New Gamboge Yellow) primrose. They have some curly grass there I think I have to have, and an orange iridescent flower that would look great with hot pink! There are some new (to me) geraniums . . . .

My Wednesday morning class is really getting into their sketchbooks. In fact this morning I couldn't get them out of them. That's okay - they seem to be having fun and they are doing some great colorful and creative things.

Are any of you old enough to remember your mom's Ponds Cold Cream? The yellow primroses always smell like that. The only thing I remember anyone in my family using cold cream for was to get off the residue that bandaids leave on your skin. So when I smell yellow primroses, I have an instant flashback to bandaids, the gunky stuff they leave on your skin, and my dad rubbing Ponds on my knees.

Tomatoes

Red, Ripe, Medium-sized Tomatoes with a Crazy Shadow Pattern

I think it is hard to nail the color of a tomato without getting it a little rotten looking. Maybe it's because that red-orange has a little blue in the shadows, so we (I) end up with a muddy color. I tried to avoid this by not getting too much shadow color in there. There was a wonderful lavender highlight on each tomato. I think it was from the gorgeous blue sky outside the big studio windows.

I am on my way to the greenhouse. I am anxious to feel that heat and smell that dirt!!!

Geranium Watercolor Sketch

A Winter Geranium in my Watercolor Journal

This was a fast warm-up for our class yesterday. I am really trying to get across to my students that we can do a lot of small, colorful, satisfying paintings without fretting over them. Let's record some of the color in our every-day lives! And make it snappy!

Winter is notoriously burn-out time for artists in Northern Michigan. It is dark, cold, and long ~ and it ain't over yet! (Spell check thinks "ain't" is okay ~ times have changed) Painting pretty colors, trying out compositions and just doodling in our sketchbooks fills the void and keeps the brushes moving.

Don't think "finished product", think "journey". Journal, journey ~ hmmmm.

Journals

A Couple of New Handmade Journals

I've said it before ~ I can't stop. And my friends just keep feeding my obsession. Well, that's what friends are for, right?

My brain is in whirlwind mode. I have so many things I'm lining up for upcoming spring and summer classes ~ lesson plans, dates, promos, locations........and I should get a little painting done.

Maybe I'll just take a little time out here and make another journal.

Borders

And Your Assignment This Week . . .

It's amazing how many things in our lives have border designs ~ in my life anyway ~ I am not a minimalist. I've been looking around getting inspiration for sketchbook enhancements, and using simplified ideas from rugs, dishes, flower pots . . .

My class this morning did a quick watercolor sketch of radishes. It is so much fun to see all the different and beautiful interpretations. Their sketchbook assignment for the week is to do a few borders, and to pull something out of the fridge and do a quick sketch.

It was a nice sunny day here today. Warm enough for a walk down by the waterfront. There is still ice along the edge of the Bay, but it can't last too much longer. Well, I guess it could, and I think snow is predicted for the weekend.

Radishes Again

I Was Looking for a Primrose

I missed it by a mile, huh?

I wanted to paint a primrose, but couldn't find any, so these radishes will have to do. They just aren't the same in the grocery store ~ I love them at the farmers' market with the sun shining right through them.

Bathroom remodel update ~ the tub has been refinished! Even though the bathroom is far from finished, I had fun today at Bed Bath and Beyond looking for accessories. Do I really want to spend $20 on a toilet brush?

Daffodils

Daffodils in my Watercolor Sketchbook Journal

This was a contour drawing demo for the Thursday class with watercolor added. Just as the Wednesday class had done, the Thursday class also worked in greens. It is so fascinating to see the difference between mixing on the palette and mixing on the paper. I am trying to get a good photograph of that.

A few trips to the home improvement stores this weekend ~ I picked up a lot of green paint chips. Not that I didn't already have a lot, but you can never have too many paint chips. Anyway ~ we are going to play around this week with mixing to see what it takes to match those colors.


Working on constructing yet another journal. I don't have any immediate need for so many, but I want to be able to do them in my sleep. And when I get sick of making them, I will have a stockpile. It hasn't happened yet, but sooner or later I will have to get sick of it, won't I?

And speaking of home improvement stores ~ an update on the bathroom remodel. We are grouted!!!