November 1st

 Scented Geranium Cuttings
Karen brought these scented geranium cuttings to share with our class.  I took a lemon scented one because I love the fragrance, and because it is curly.

I think I started doing the "Blog Every Day in November" challenge in 2007. Here we go again.  Fair warning -  as I claim every year, it's all about the quantity, not the quality.

If you are interested in what the Blog Every Day thing is all about, there is a link at the top of my sidebar.  The website explains what it is, and has a blogroll of the participants.

I have been a pretty slow blogger this year.  We'll see if this gets me back up to speed.

Salad Prep

Prismacolor Pencil on Mi Teintes Paper

with a little collage

I don't really care for the way the pencil looks on the mi teintes paper, but now I know, and that's what sketchbooks are for  -  experimenting.  The paper is rougher on one side, so as it is bound in my book, the left page in this illustration is rougher that the right page. 

On the right hand page, I had drawn the blue cheese box and hated the way the pencil looked on the paper, so I glued a piece of paper over it and collaged the end of the box onto the page.  Sometimes students will ask me if that's ethical  -  to rip out, cover up, paint over  -  I always say it's your sketchbook  -  do whatever you want.  I don't get into perfectionism in my sketchbooks, but I also don't see any reason to look for the rest of your life at a page you hate.

The page makes me happy  -  I was making a salad to take to dinner with friends, a fabulous French version of La Mer was playing on Pandora Radio, and a pair of cardinals was perched near the window.
There is nothing beautiful about the page, except the nice reminder of a very pleasant period of time.

Here we are almost into November. It seems as if we just wrapped up summer, and now I am busy locking in things for next summer  -  workshops and classes.  It makes me think about the past summer and look forward to next summer.  Nice.

If anyone is interested in the salad, it consisted of red Boston lettuce, Bartlett and bosc  pears, red onion, almonds, dried cranberries, and blue cheese.

Tiny Pumpkins at Dawn

A Page in my Sketchbook

These tiny pumpkins were sitting on the window sill in my studio and the early morning sky was very dark blue behind them.  A few days later, I painted the pears that were on the kitchen counter while I was getting dinner.  Yes, I did paint them while I was getting dinner  -  you know, when the mood strikes. Remember, some of the pigments are toxic, so try not to be too sloppy with them in the kitchen.  Remember what happened to Vincent Van Gogh.  No, not the ear thing, the ingesting of paint thing.  Too much lead white pigment in his kitchen.

We have had rain and more rain, but yesterday was beautiful  -  sunny and warm. This little painting is of some flowers still hanging on in a small metal urn in friend Karen's garden.  It is watercolor done on mi teintes paper.  I really didn't expect the watercolor to cover that well.  I like the effect.  I'm going to try Prismacolor pencils next on this paper.   I bound some of it into my sketchbook. Try out some different papers now and then  - it sparks creativity in simple ways.  Try some different paper, pencils, pens, brushes.
Remember,  we aren't after a finished product or a masterpiece each and every time we pick up our art supplies, but somewhere in all that playing and experimenting, we'll get one.

Small Shape Demo

 These Little Paintings are Each About 2.5" X 4"

This week in class I handed out very small black and white images of simple building shapes  -  houses, sheds, and barns. The assignment was to choose one of the shapes and put it in a very simple setting.  First we did a very light shape in a very dark setting, and then a very dark shape in a light setting.  The challenge is to have enough contrast without the shape looking pasted on.

The third part of the exercise was to do the whole painting in a middle value, and then do some very simple contrasts to bring out the focal point.  We didn't really have enough time to do it justice, but we'll work on that next week when we get into composing some "serious" paintings.

The idea of these very small paintings was to do them in a "brainstorming" mindset  -  not worrying about what was right or wrong, but just doing it, and seeing what worked and what didn't.  If we work out our compositions in a very small format, and they take up very little time or space, it is easy to move on.

As so often happens to me in the fall, I have a million things on my mind that I want to spend some time on  -  painting, writing, blogging, journaling, cooking  .  .  . and the list goes on.  Do I give one thing at a time my undivided attention, or do I do a little of everything?

We've had some cold rain, sleet, and day-time temperatures in the 40s.  It's time to settle in for the winter (!) and start on some of those things on my list.  What's on your list?

Painting with a Triad

Demonstrations from Today's Class

A triad is a variation of the three primaries  -  red, blue, and yellow.  For this demo I used quinacridone red, ultramarine blue, and hansa yellow.  We were just trying out different ways of getting the paint on the paper.

The little peppers are sooo cute  -  very small (about an inch and a half) and very bright.  They say they are sweet, but I haven't tasted them yet.  So  -  if these very small peppers are sweet, what happens with the rule "the smaller the pepper, the hotter pepper"?  I know very little about peppers, and I liked that rule.  It seemed simple enough, but now  .   .   .

Are you sketching today?

From the Workshop

Looking Back on Late Summer Classes and Workshops

 On our second day of the book binding workshop we painted in the journals, and the page on the right shows some examples of pens and pencils we were trying out.

I was going to do a demonstration page of a few pens and pencils, but then a friend brought me several pencils from the Derwent factory in Britain.  Now I want to try them all.  I don't know how anyone thought up that many pencils  -  colorsoft, charcoal, sketching, graphic, drawing .  .   .

Tomorrow my fall classes begin.  I haven't done any classes since the 11th of September, and I'll be glad to get back at it.  I have some beautiful, tiny sweet peppers for the classes to paint.  I made a trip out to the farm market today, and realized soon it will have just pumpkins and squash, and then just Christmas trees.

The leaves are really changing color here.  We have definitely switched to a new season.  

Gazebo at the Boyne City Park

A Watercolor Sketch Done During 

a Book  Binding Journaling Workshop

Our book binding/journal painting workshops have finished up, and now I guess I am back into my "off-season" mode  -  mid-September until early June.  I have scheduled my regular weekly watercolor classes to begin the first week in October.  This morning it's dark and getting cooler by the minute.

 I still have art supplies covering every surface in my studio/classroom.  In my "little studio" (a small room between our back entry and my classroom) is so full of stuff that I can't get to the drawers and shelves to put it away.  I think it is time to pull everything out and start over.

The sketch, above, was a continuous line demonstration, and about painting the negative shapes to give us the positive object. This only took a few minutes. It was a beautiful day to paint in the park.

Now I think I will see how quickly I can clean off these tables.  How hard can it be?

What About Sketchbooks?

A Watercolor Sketch Near the Walloon Boat Ramp

In the previous post I talked about watercolor paper  -  answering some questions that had come up in class.  In the same class, we also talked about different kinds of sketchbooks suitable for watercolor.  Just as the quality of watercolor paper depends on the sizing, or finish, the same is true for sketchbooks.

For many years I used Aquaee sketchbooks as my watercolor journals.  The paper is pretty light weight, but I like the way it takes the color.  Pigments stay bright and it doesn't buckle too much with the application of a little water.  All of the paintings in my Petoskey Watercolor Journal were done in Aquabee sketchbooks.  What I really like about them, especially for beginners in watercolor journaling, is the fact that you can't play around too much with watercolor technique  -  you have to get in and get out.  The paper isn't tough enough to keep trying for perfection  -  put it on and call it quits.

I became interested in different kinds of journals because I wanted something pretty and bright (sorry Aquabee, but you are not pretty and bright) and wanted to try out some different paper.  That, of course, led to making my own.  I started out having various papers spiral bound at the copy shop.  Then I started binding my own hand stitched round back spine books.

My favorite paper for books is Strathmore Aquarius II  -  it folds and stitches easily, and doesn't buckle with the application of watercolor.  I also like to throw in some drawing paper, some colorful mi tientes (pastel paper), nideggen (light brown), and anything else I might want to try.  That's the fun of binding your own books  -  anything goes.  And I love being able to paint right across the two facing pages as if they were one  -  no spiral.

Does anyone really read a blog post that is this long? Does this sound like a sketchbook lecture?  Don't we want to just look at the pictures  -  or is that just me? The main thing is  -  find paper that you like for your style of painting and sketching.

Have a great weekend  -  it's a long one for us here in the USA.   Take your sketchbook wherever you go.

What About Paper?

A Little Sketch from the New Park in the Village of Walloon

Such a beautiful day to be out painting with friends!  Perfect.
Wednesday wrapped up my summer classes. Bitter sweet.  My friend and co-instructor, Cathy, and I have book binding workshops coming up, starting Monday morning.  After those I will start my regular weekly watercolor class.

In the last journal class I did, there were several questions about paper, sketchbooks, and brushes.  I am not an expert on any of these, but I do know what I like  -  does that ever really count?  Also, I love to give my opinion.

When I first started to do watercolor, I was lead to believe that it was unprofessional to use anything but 300 lb paper.  I wasn't crazy about it.  I really liked the way 140 lb paper took the paint.  I have always preferred Arches watercolor paper to any other.

I think the main difference between brands of paper is the "sizing" or the finish.  Sizing is what gives it the properties that make it suitable for watercolor  -  some brands more suitable than others.  To me, the sizing or finish of the paper is more important than the weight.  There are some pretty bad 140# watercolor papers out there.

Practicing on cheaper paper isn't practicing at all.  You will never get the hang of what watercolor can do if you're using an inferior paper.  I think "getting it right' is worth the price of a good piece of paper. I suggest going together with a friend or two and ordering 25 sheets of Arches 140# from Daniel Smith or Cheap Joe's.  A 25 sheet pack of Arches 140 cold press will run a little over $100 plus shipping.  Get on their emailing lists and get notifications of sales and reduced shipping.

Fabriano Artistico is a pretty popular paper too.  I haven't tried it, so I really can't say, but I do know some very serious artists that use it.

Watercolor paper comes in different textures;
     Cold press  -  has a nice texture that gives a little sparkle of white paper when you drag your color over it.
     Hot press  -  is smooth, but not slick.  It's pretty unforgiving  -  the color just does not move around on it.
     Rough  -  is just that  -  a rough texture. That's not a bad thing.

If you're not bored to death yet, I'll say a little something about watercolor blocks.  They come in various sizes from very small to pretty large, and they are edged with a glue/tape binding on all four sides.  This edging holds the paper flat so it doesn't buckle (it still does a little bit) while you are painting on it.  Each sheet is left on the block until the painting is finished, then removed, exposing the next clean sheet of paper.  With their heavy backing, they are convenient to take on location or to class.

Don't confuse blocks with watercolor tablets or spiral pads.   I really have never seen a tablet of good watercolor paper.  That, of course, doesn't meant there aren't any just because I've never seen one.

Maybe I pushed Arches paper a little too hard.  I don't have an interest in the company, or in Daniel Smith or Cheap Joe's.  I recommend Arches because that is what I have always used and I like the way it handles. I told you I like to give my opinion.  For what it's worth, huh?

Okay  -  this house is a mess.  A summer's worth of dumping art supplies here and there.  Oh, my gosh, it was fun!

Have a great weekend.  Take your sketchbook sketching.


    

A Perfect Summer Afternoon

A Watercolor Sketch in my Journal

on an Absolutely Perfect Summer Afternoon

The sun was spotlighting these flowers in front of a very dark background of foliage.  Too good to pass up.  It's a sketch  -  keep it simple.  I reminded myself I didn't have to do the tree to the edge of the paper, I didn't have to show any detail of the cottage, and I didn't have to show any more dark background  -  it was all about the flowers in the sun.  Everything else just supports that.

We were talking about sketchbooks in class this morning.  What happens in your sketchbook, stays in your sketchbook.  It is your own private space for experimenting, learning, note taking, making little masterpieces or NOT.

What do you use your sketchbook for?

In Karen's new Garden

In My Sketchbook

My friend Karen has a new backyard/garden area. After years of gardening in her small yard, she had the chance to buy part of the yard behind her house.  In no time at all, she has it looking like it has been hers forever  -  vegetables, flowers, a beautiful garden shed, a picket fence, a wonderful pergola with wisteria growing up it already.  It makes my yard, and my attempts at gardening, look pretty sick, but instead of worrying about it, I am enjoying her garden now and then.  I suppose that time could be spent spiffing up my garden ,but  .  .  .  .

The California grandkids have gone home.  Sad.  One of them stayed for almost six weeks, and the other for almost her entire summer  -  they go back to school in about ten days.  They have come every year for awhile now, but this is the longest they have stayed.  I miss them when I go to the grocery store.  When we go to bed and there is no one with a light still on, reading.  I miss them when I water the garden, get ready to go to classes, or eat dinner on the porch.  It was absolutely wonderful having them here, and I am SO glad it happened. Being SO glad makes it less sad.

Okay.  Now I'm going to go out and deadhead in my garden, and see if I can make it as nice as Karen's. Yeah, right.  I'll cut a couple of nice bouquets of flowers, and see how my new method works to keep Rudy the cat from eating them.  I bought a couple of mesh wastebaskets at the dollar store, and I'll try inverting them over the vases of flowers, so I am not running the flowers in and out  -  wherever Rudy ISN'T. 

What are you sketching today?

Beverly's Gate

A Journal Class Demonstration in my Sketchbook

This was done in one of my favorite gardens.  Whatever the season, what ever is growing on it at any given time, I love this gate!

I don't have any classes today, and I am home, catching up on paper work.  My studio/classroom opens on three sides to the breeze and summer air, so it is very pleasant in here.  Filing and going through notes after several busy weeks of classes is kind of like cleaning up after a party - taking my time, savoring the memories, recapping some of the workshops .  .  .  It's not over, but this seems to be a good place in time to catch up a little.

It is so quiet in the neighborhood today.  Why can't it be like this all night?  It comes alive after dark  -   dogs, people, cars, wild animals, music, firetrucks.  While our daughter was visiting a couple of weeks ago, she heard people walking in the street in the middle of the night, and the guy says, "Babe?"  The girl says, "Yeah?" The guy says, "I have to go to jail on Friday."  The girl freaked out, and they walked on out of earshot.  What the heck  -  this is not the inner city.  This is a quiet little neighborhood (maybe not) in a quiet little resort town, on the banks of a beautiful bright blue bay.

We are still wondering what that wild animal screeching was in the middle of the night.  And that bird flying over this morning at dawn that sounded like a cross between a Canada goose and a loon.  And I'm wondering how Babe is getting along while her boyfriend is in jail.

Terrace Inn Afternoon Tea

Demonstration in my Sketchbook

Friday was my 3rd annual Afternoon Tea and Sketchbook Journaling at the Terrace Inn in Bay View.  The Terrace Inn is a quaint, old, Victorian Inn in the middle of an association of quaint, old, Victorian cottages on Little Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan.

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We were served tomato and bacon bruschetta, chicken salad sandwiches, fruit with Devonshire cream,  and lemon scones, and of course, tea.

Everyone did a great job of painting in their journals! And everyone looked so cute in their "girlie" summer outfits.

I always look forward to the tea  -  it is such fun to get together with old and new friends, and it wraps up a very busy stretch of classes for me.  I still have classes going on this summer and book binding workshops coming up, but the schedule is a little less hectic.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and thanks to the great staff that served us.  I hope everyone will continue to take their sketchbooks to tea, lunch, or dinner.  I hope all of you reading this will too.

I am writing this with three grandkids talking to me and drumming zucchini on the table.  I have no idea what I just wrote.

Sketchbook Demonstrations

A demonstration of negative spaces  -  gingerbread, porch railings,white pots, hydrangeas

A "blob and smoosh" demonstration.

 The watercolor journal class I just finished was a bunch of very talented people painting up a storm.  They were great!  The last day it rained and we spent the afternoon with our sketchbooks on a porch, catching up on things we wanted to be sure and get in before the class ended.

While we were painting and talking, we discovered that in a class of a dozen women, three of us had honeymooned in Quebec City, two of us in the same year, at the same hotel. I love things like that!

Right now I am getting ready for another busy week of classes.  I have seven class "events", capping them off with my third annual Afternoon Tea at the Terrace Inn on Friday. When things slow down, I am going to be a little lost, but I couldn't keep up this pace all year.  It is fun though!

Catching Up

This is a demonstration showing how I would paint a mound of lavender, and also show white lavender growing in the middle of the purple mounds.  The page on the right is a demo of climbing roses. We had a couple of fantastic mornings out at the lavender farm.

The octagon cottage in Bay View  -  a demo showing how I would choose a starting point and move on with a continuous line drawing, showing only the part of the cottage that really interests me.

A beautiful day on Stephens Lane.  There is a nice garden at the top of the hill with huge white daisies against a very dark green background of evergreens.

On the first day of the first Bay View journal class of the season, we painted the bright flowers in the large pots in front of one of the halls on campus.

 ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

The summer is moving along so quickly, and I am blogging so slowly.  Here I am, still in my jammies, sitting on the porch, catching up a little.  No classes today.  Everyone has gone to the beach. I have been here long enough to have switched from hot coffee to iced coffee.

Last weekend we went to Ann Arbor where the temperature was well over 100!!!  It hasn't been that hot up here, and it has been a perfect summer week  -  sand on the bathroom floor, bathing suits on the line, the kids playing card games on the porch after dinner, and our daughter here for the week from California.


We've been having a wonderful time with the California grandkids!  They have been here since the first part of June. One of them leaves tomorrow, and one will stay for awhile longer.

Next week I will be teaching three morning classes and four afternoon classes. While it is quiet here, I should get things together for next week's classes.  Who knows what might be going on over the weekend, and I don't want to miss anything.

Are you sketching?  Are you keeping cool?

Summer Kick-Off

Watermelon Demo in my Sketchbook

Friday June 15th was my Summer Kick-Off Journal Workshop.  We had about ten very talented participants.  And for the first time ever, the weather was consistent and nice  -  a little hot, but not bad.

I have been busy with family fun the past couple of weeks.  The California grandkids are here, and we have been making the most of every minute.  We've done cousin get-togethers, Aunt and Uncle get-togethers, graduation parties, birthday parties ETC!!!

This week  I have two 8-week watercolor sessions starting, and four afternoons of watercolor journal.  Summer is officially underway, and I'm lovin' it!

What have you been sketching.  What are your summer sketching plans?

A Burger at "The Counter"

Custom Built Burgers

I did this sketch at a burger place in California.  It was just one of the many great restaurants we went to.  We really did eat too much, but then again, whose to say how much is too much?   We had a great time, AND we brought the California grandkids home with us.  Last night we got all the cousins together for pizza and craziness.  I love it.

Next week, Friday, I will hold my Summer Kick-Off Journal Workshop.  Summer will begin in earnest then with classes and workshops.  I'm not sure I can get a handle on the jungle in our backyard by then, but oh well.  I was hoping the garden would look pretty good, but while we were gone the rain grew everything to jungle-like proportions, and the deer ate the tops off everything.  It's okay.  This is gonna be a no stress summer  -  lots of classes, lots of fun.  I'm getting my sketching/painting things together as we speak.  Ho about you?

Pizza My Heart

A Watercolor Sketch of Lunch on the First Day of June

and the first day of summer vacation

This was a fabulous pizza (aren't they all?)  -  green apple, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, green onion, and Gorgonzola!!!  The special of the day at Pizza My Heart in Willow Glenn, CA.

Every trip has to have something hysterically funny happen or it's not a real trip.  My husband put his money clip on a table and went in to take a shower.  The kids' huge collie chomped up the money, some cards including insurance cards and DRIVERS LICENSE!!!  He mercifully left the debit card intact, and we think the drivers license is intact enough to get back through security.  He really only ate $1 bill, so no harm done  -  well  -  maybe a little harm.

Now I 'm going to go sketch some of the beautiful herbs in my daughter's herb garden, and listen to the black phoebe sing.  It sits on the telephone wire and serenades us  -  black phoebe on a wire.  If anyone wants to steal that for a book title  -  go ahead,  I don't think I'm going to be using it.

Simplified Patterns and Designs

Watercolor Demonstration

In classes this week we were, once again, talking about simplifying. For me, it all comes down to simplifying.  I don't like doing detail  -  I really like things left a little to the imagination.  I think what this really means is "why am I painting this?".  If it is actually about rendering an object, that's another matter, but if the painting isn't ABOUT the pattern or the lettering, for example, then it is best to keep it simple.


Everyone in class seemed to have a lot of fun with these three objects.  They felt freed up from perfection and did a great job.

Think how much more individual your paintings are when you don't worry about detail.  You are free to express your own version of the object instead of a photographic rendering.

Sometimes I think it helps to do a few little studies of a subject for a painting.  The painting itself is not always the place to experiment or figure out how to do a previously untried technique.  There is something to be said for spontaneity, of course, but working out some problems or questions before starting the actual painting can save a lot of grief.

It's Friday.  I have a long to-do list, and there are some pretty fun things on it.  How does your weekend look?   Where are you taking your sketchbook this weekend?

Flowers in a Little Green Cup

Warm and Sunny

Just like summer!  It was a beautiful day to be outside.  We picked some little flowers and put them in a bright green cup, and painted them in our sketch books.  Then we made a bug catcher out of a plastic Coke bottle.  Then we just sat for awhile, very still, while a brown thrasher sang a few songs from his repertoire of 1,100 songs (so they say).

There has been a lot going on with the birds this weekend    -   the brown thrasher serenading,  a crow eating a mouse on the limb of a tree,  the starling father yelling at everyone, and a blue jay following all the other birds around as if he might miss something.  I think it was hoping for a taste of the mouse. Ick.

Right now it is 91 degrees.  That is very warm for Northern Michigan, and pretty much unheard of for this time of year.  Personally, I like this better than snow.  There is a nice breeze and the air smells like lilacs.  Also, it's too warm to clean out a closet and some drawers as I had planned  -  no one cleans closets in 90 degree weather!  I'm going to go back out on the porch and watch the bug catcher.

Katie Mac's Pansies

Pansies

One of my students brought these pansies in for us to paint.  This is a contour drawing (continuous line) with watercolor on Arches Cover Cream in my journal sketchbook.  Arches Cover is not watercolor paper, and "cream" is just that  -  cream colored.  It is very heavy, soft paper, not meant for watercolor at all, but I like the way it takes it  -  the colors stay pretty bright.

The pansies look like spring, and our lilacs are about to bloom, but I'm still wearing turtlenecks and layers.

I started this post a few days ago and didn't finish and post it.  I don't know why.  I seem to be moving very slowly and the rest of the world is rushing by.  I'll catch up.  Slow isn't always a bad thing, you know.

Cottages Along the Lane

A Cluster of Cottage Rooftops

This is a small demo from a recent class; another demonstration promoting simplicity.  Everyone always teases me about the "technical terms" I use.  In this lesson I was stressing "swooping"  -  as in " just swoop through with a medium blue for the sky, trees, and shadows, and then go back and green things up and get in a little detail.  Done."

I have a few things I'm working on as I  gear up for summer.  I have some deadlines, promotion for summer classes, house projects  .  .  .   I like to think of it as gearing up  -  not panicking.  Why does it all feel so immediate?  If it's on the calendar, it has a place in time, so what's the big deal?

The sun is shining today, and it is up to 50 degrees.  Maybe I'll just shuffle some stuff around on my calendar and do some outdoor work.  Nothing is written in stone.  That's the problem  -  too much shuffling.

Hope you're all having a good weekend!  Whatever you are doing, do you have your sketchbook with you?

First Class of a New Session

Watercolor Demo

This was a quick little watercolor sketch done in class this morning.  It's about 6.5 X 5.  I'm working on a summer cottage theme, using a porch from one cottage, a screen door from another etc.  The painting is more or less a sketch to see how my colors will balance.

In the top right corner is a thumbnail sketch that I was working from.  My students really fight the thumbnail sketch idea.  I keep telling them that once they have the composition and darks and lights planned out, the painting will just fall off their brushes.  The thumbnail should be no more than two inches and take no more than two minutes.  Easy, huh?  Of course, sometimes I have to do a million thumbnails before I can get to the painting.

It has been cold, rainy, snowy  -  yuck.  But the trees are beginning to bloom, the grass is very green, and the birds are singing.  We'll be okay.

We've been painting the quirky floor in our living room.  The whole house was completely disrupted by the stuff from that room being shoved into every available space all over the house.  Isn't it amazing how much stuff you can have in one room?!  I really got to liking my favorite chair in the kitchen.  I was beginning to feel like we were on an episode of the Hoarders.  We had a little corner of the dining room table to eat on, we could sit on the couch if we squeezed between stacks of stuff,  and if I sat in my comfy chair displaced to the kitchen, I had no place to put my feet.  Yesterday morning I was beginning to feel a little dazed and displaced myself.  In fact, when my husband left for work, instead of his usual "Love ya. See you tonight", he said, "Don't operate any heavy equipment."   The house is back together now, and so am I.

Blogger has changed its format, and the photo editing site I have used for years is going away tomorrow.  I'm cool with all that.  I can handle change. It'll be fine.  I don't care.

Cute

  © Brian Crane, dist. by The Washington Post Writers Group - All Rights Reserved.

My friend Marj. sent this, feeling that it's very appropriate after yesterday's post about "softening the edges".  Perfect.  I'm not sure how copyright works  -  hope it's just a matter of giving credit where credit is due  -  to Brian Crane and the Washington Post Writers Group, that is.  I don't think Marj. will care.

Blob and Smush

Blob and Smush Demo

I haven't been practicing what I preach; I haven't been letting my life inspire my art, and my art inspire my life.  I have been "grubbing" through things and painting walls, woodwork and trim.  That's about it.

This painting is a small demo done in class today.  Blob and smush (sounds like push) is all about softening the edges.  You "blob" on the color, and then "smush" it down by drawing a damp brush just under the color.  It keeps flowers from looking too much like "cut and paste"  I paint the bright color of the flowers first, soften the color down the paper a bit (smush), and then add some green  -  being careful not to let too much of the green run up into the red (a little red is okay to run into the green).

Now I think I'll go out into the world.  The sun is shining, but it is cold  -  41 degrees.  The grass is very green, the forsythia is blooming, and the Bay is very blue.  Nice. If I go out into the world, I should take my sketchbook  -  it hasn't been out in awhile.

Hope all is well with all of you.  Have you been painting?

Ice Cream Cones and Flowers

It Must be Summer

If we are eating ice cream cones at a little table on the street, and flowers are blooming in the yard  -  it must be summer, right?

This is quirky freaky weather and we are all lovin' it.  It was at least 80 degrees today, and normally we would be having a snow storm.  Even if we have cold weather and snow, it can't last long now.  Every freakishly warm day takes us that much closer to the real thing.

One of our adventures of the day was to run out of gas.  Now I know where "empty" really is on my gas gauge. We were more or less out in the middle of no-where, but with the help of some pretty big hills, we managed to limp/coast into a gas station on the southern-most edge of town.  No problem.  You know what I always  say  -  if you don't want a little adventure, you'd better just stay home.  We made it back, safe and sound, and cuddled up on the couch to eat crackers and cheese and watch Wallace and Gromet for the hundredth time.  Fun.

Basil, Ginger, and a White Bird

Project of the Day

Middle Granddaughter has been going to spiff up my herbs and spices for awhile now.  Yesterday she was off school, so that was the project of the day.  I love how they look  -   all the bottles are alike and the colors are so warm and earthy.  Nice.

There was a white bird flitting around the neighborhood yesterday and today.  It isn't unusual to see sea gulls here, but this had us stumped.  It had some black on the tips of its wings and a little rusty color on its underside. When it came close, it was obvious that it's a robin.  Of course I googled it and found pictures of robins that looked just like it.  Apparently it has a condition called leucism.  That means it is missing some pigment in some feathers.  It's not an albino.  So  -  there is my science lesson of the day.  If you aren't completely bored to death yet, and would like to know more and see a picture of a leucistic American robin, here you go.

For some reason, I keep thinking "the white bird flies at midnight".  Is that from a movie  or something  -  I can see someone like Peter Sellers or Leslie Nielsen saying it. Where did I get that?

The racoons were looking in the bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning.  I wish they wouldn't do that.

SNOW

A Very Snowy Saturday

We had about ten inches of snow over-night and it is still snowing off and on and blowing.   There are 26,000 households in our area without power. We are not one of them, but the power lines are very heavy with snow here in our neighborhood  -  makes me a little nervous.

It was predicted that a snowstorm would hit us about 5 p.m. yesterday, and a little after 4:30 it began to snow.  We haven't had much snow all winter, so everyone was pretty surprised that it actually happened.

What is it about a winter storm that allows you to give yourself permission to do nothing?  Even if you had only indoor things planned  -  no outside activities - you (or is it just ME) suddenly decide you don't have to do them.  It's okay to sit and watch it snow, read, watch a movie, eat eat eat   -  do anything other than what had seemed important to get done today.

Critter report.  It was a mouse.  A very small mouse.

Azalea

Azalea Watercolor Sketches

The top watercolor sketch, in my journal, was done last week.  My class this morning wanted to do some more with the azalea plant, because they were determined to keep it simple.  The bottom two are demonstrations I did for that class.  I know not everyone is interested in keeping it this simple, but I, personally, don't care for detail.  I don't like doing it, and I'm not crazy about seeing it.  I do appreciate the talent of  people who render a detailed painting, but it isn't my thing.

 Sometimes we think we ought to do that  - we aren't real artists unless we paint photographic realism.  And sometimes we just get caught up in the details of an object and don't know how to let go.  I think knowing what the object or subject is saying to us, knowing what we want to say about the subject, and using a large (no smaller than a #12 round) brush will all go a long way toward keeping it simple.

These were very quick little paintings zooming in, cropping, and trying to capture just what it was that caught my attention  -  in this case it was the straight bottom edge of the plant.

There are creepy noises in the house this afternoon.  Yesterday when I went to put on my boots,  I found about a half cup of cat food in one of them!  Do we have a critter lurking here???!!!

More Thumbnail Sketches

 Camellia Leaves

In class this week, we were doing thumbnail sketches, trying to pick up on what it is that attracts us to a subject.  I think we paint a subject  -  object or scene  -  not just for the subject itself, but because of something ABOUT the subject that attracts us.   It might be the shape, or the colors, or the way the light falls on it, or any number of reasons.  We have to recognize the reason and build on it.  

When I said it was the color of the camellia leaves that attracted me,  the class wanted to see how I would get that very dark, shiny green.  We experimented with a few different applications, such as mixing on the palette, mixing on the paper, a combination of  mixing on the paper and on the palette.  We tried different techniques for the highlights  -  lifting while the paint was still wet and painting around the highlight area, leaving the white of the paper.

Now I think I'll go play around a bit with some more thumbnail sketches.  I am intrigued by the very flat, horizontal bottom of an azalea plant I have.  I don't care for the color, and I'm not crazy about the floofy blossoms, but I really like the shape.  I had better get to it before Rudy the cat changes the shape of it.  Yesterday he ingested some of the leaves, and they seemed to give him super powers. He managed to open the basement door and almost opened the back doors into the garden (snow).  That's not possible for him without the use of the "azalea drug".  I googled it and it said it was mildly toxic and might make cats a little lethargic.  Rudy has re-written the book on all toxic plant ingestion. Yes, I put the plant where he can't get to it.  He's sleeping it off today.  He sleeps something off everyday.  How do you know when a cat is lethargic?

Composition Lesson

Still Life Composition Lesson and More Buttons

This morning in class we talked about the placement of objects on our paper.  Not the right or wrong placement of objects, but how they relate to one another spatially.

The lower left pencil drawing was just drawing things as they were  -  no arranging or composing.  We just drew what we saw, how we saw it.  We were trying to place things up and down the picture plane showing the volume of the objects  -  that is, making sure they would really fit where we put them.

The top left watercolor is just a very quick, three object still life, sketched only with watercolor  -  no preliminary drawing.  It was a salt shaker, a bottle of ink, and a spool of thread.  This exercise was to get the objects in place without fussing at all with any detail.

The buttons are just more buttons.  This is the beginning of a new session, and some of the students hadn't had a  chance to see the button demo or try it for themselves.  These buttons could become habit forming.

I see I am really behind with replies to comments.  I LOVE your comments, and I will get right at it!

Rose

A Peach Colored Rose
and a squirrel story 
 

I finally got around to painting one of the roses.  It was fun, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  I may have done the whole bunch, but I was a little (a lot) distracted by the squirrel in the attic. I had recently watched an episode of the Hoarders in which a homeless person was living in the hoarders' stuff, and they didn't even know it.  I swear that squirrel was moving things around up there.  He found his way from the attic down to the enclosed back porch (several times) and sat in the rafters or right on the window sill and watched me in the kitchen.  I went out the front door and went around the house to open the porch doors.  His friends were frantic  -  they were hanging on the house here and there and weren't afraid of me at all.  I must admit, I was afraid of them!

I determined from the looks of HIM (?) that he wasn't pregnant or nursing, so we were not dealing with a nest.  This was an accidental break-in, so why wouldn't he just walk out one of the open doors???!!! He obviously didn't want to be here, and his friends didn't want him in here either, so just leave already.  I was hoping that he was going to go out, and his friends weren't going to come in  -  I don't know how squirrels reason.

When my husband came home, he lowered the attic steps (they come down into the back porch) to make it easier for the squirrel to come down and go out the back door!!!   I was in stitches  -  that was the funniest (most ridiculous?)  thing I had ever heard of.  I guess not so ridiculous after all  -  the squirrel left then. Not exactly down the stairs, but it obviously encouraged him to get the heck out of there.

It was pretty quiet when he left.  A nice kind of quiet.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Library Demonstration

Colored Pencils in a Mustard Pot

White Buttons

I have an exhibit of my paintings at our public library, and yesterday I did a reception/demonstration/book signing.   A really nice bunch of people showed up.  They asked a lot of great questions and were very enthusiastic.  To those of you reading this, that were there yesterday, thank you so much for coming!

As I sit here posting this, I'm watching it snow, and watching the temperature drop on the digital thermometer.  When I sat down to do this it was 16 degrees, and now a few minutes later, it is 14!  We live in a very old house with large windows, and I'm sitting here looking down the street, over the rooftops toward the Bay.  Yesterday the Bay was very blue  -  today it is completely obliterated by the snow.  There are cardinals in the forsythia and lilac bushes, and there are always people walking within sight  -  crisscrossing the street as it goes down the hill.

Okay  -  I could sit here all day watching the snow, birds, and people, but I do have a few other things I want to do  -  like eat something.

What are you sketching today?  I'm going to do those roses I keep talking about.

Using Cobalt Blue

Color Mixing in my Sketchbook

I have probably posted small geraniums a million times, but  .   .   .  here are some more.  I haven't used cobalt blue in a long time, and I think I've really been missing out.  In real life (as opposed to photographing and posting) the cobalt blue in these mixes really glows.

I used cobalt blue and quinacridone red on each of the geraniums and switched out the yellows - using New Gamboge, Hansa Yellow, and Quinacridone Gold. 

There are some beautiful roses on my work table just waiting to be painted.  They are kind of a cantaloupe color.  Gorgeous!  I guess I am a little intimidated by the color and I am not a rose painter, but they aren't going to last much longer.  What would happen if I failed?  We all know absolutely nothing would happen!  I would have had the fun of splashing around in paint.  I would have loved drawing them and looking at the lights and shadows of that wonderful color.  Just go do it.

What holds us back?

Ellie's Flowers

 

Contour Drawing Demo

These flowers have been around for awhile  -  going on three weeks.  I salvaged a few for my classes to do a very quick contour drawing and a fast swoop of color.  It doesn't take much to get an impression of an object.   I wish I had timed myself, so I could tell you exactly what " very quick" and "fast swoop" really mean.  Wednesday's class wanted me to set the timer for ten minutes when they started theirs, and they were finished in much less time than that.

It is dark and gray here again!  That's okay  -  I have some class promotion to do, I have a play-date with a friend, and Youngest Granddaughter will be here late this afternoon.  Of course I also have some laundry, grocery shopping, errands . . . . . I don't think I'll do that stuff.

It's Friday  -  plan a date with your sketchbook.

Beads

Paper Beads 

My latest obsession. 

For some reason I am really into paper beads right now.  I am not very good at getting a nice tight roll, or keeping it centered and even.  I'll either get better with practice, or move on to something else when I get sick of these.  Either way, I'm just having fun  -  I'm not going into the paper bead business.  In fact, I may never even string them  -  I love the way they look in this little white bowl.

The paper I used is book binding paper, scrap paper, and magazine pages.  It needs to be thin enough to roll, but thick enough to make a substantial bead.

Now if I can tear myself away from all the pretty paper, I need to get creative with some promotional material.  That sounds like it might be a little too taxing on the brain for a weekend, doesn't it?

Are you creating something this weekend?

Lunch at Jesperson's

Tomato Soup with Garlic Croutons

This wasn't our usual Wednesday tomato soup place.  The soup was nothing to write home about, but the croutons were delicious.  That was my second piece of cherry pie this week.  What's with that?  I don't even eat desserts  -  not because I'm virtuous  -  I just don't care for sweets.

This is a contour (continuous line drawing) done with my Noodler's pen with periwinkle Noodler's ink.

I am looking out the front window toward the Bay and it is gray gray gray  -  sky, water, trees, everything.  I guess I will just have to go do something colorful.  I have this urge to make paper beads in bright colors.  Maybe I should get dressed first.  Get ready for this afternoon's class.  Load the dishwasher .......  But those beads are calling me.  Here I go.

Do something creative today.  Anything!

Sunny and Cold

Up to 23 Degrees!

I'm not crazy about this paper.  I like the color, but not for winter.  We need to color coordinate our sketchbooks for the seasons, you know.  Blue would have been better  -  predictable, but better. I'm not really crazy about the texture of it either,  so I should just move on to the watercolor paper that I do like, and use this for lists and notes. 

I have a cold and my brain is feeling a little muddled, so I'm just sitting around eating cherry pie and drinking coffee.  That's what you do for a cold, right?

Ellie's Chili and a Cutie

A cutie in my sketchbook and the recipe for Ellie's chili

I love it that they call these little tangerine things cuties.  I like the boxes they come in.  I like the size of the cuties.  I like the way they peel so easily.  And, they are fun to sketch.

This was done with my Noodler's pen and Noodler's periwinkle ink on Mi Teint paper, which, in this case,  is actually quite green  -  you'd never know it here.  I used watercolor and white prismacolor pencil also.

On the right hand page is a recipe, more or less, for chili.  I say "more or less" because I didn't write down any amounts.  I was supposed to be teaching, not writing down recipes.  I don't know "grillin' beans", but I think they are in the Mexican food section.

We discussed a lot of life's problems in class today, and even got some painting done. Such a fun and supportive group!

Happy painting.  Keep those pencils, pens, and brushes moving!

Noodler Doodles

Doodles and Figures

First of all, I am happy to say that our son is home from Afghanistan, safe and sound! He looked pretty good walking through that door.  His wife and kids are pretty excited, we are very relieved, AND we all get another shot at Christmas this weekend.  Fun!


The doodles were done with a Noodler pen with periwinkle Noodler's ink. The pen nib has a flex to it that allows it to make thick and thin lines depending on the pressure used.  It's a lot of fun to doodle with, and I haven't tried any serious drawing with it yet.

The figures above the sketchbook page are little demonstrations that I did in class today.  They're fun and easy  -  just stick figures with a little more body.

It's all fun  -  Noodler's doodles, figures  -  whatever.  Even with your serious drawings, don't get too serious.  It's all about the journey, not the finished product -  that will usually take care of itself.

Buttons

Buttons and Clouds

This week in my classes our "warm-up" was painting a few small white buttons.  I can't take credit for an original idea here.  I saw buttons done in watercolor posted on Pinterest and followed  it back to the blog of Jane Minter. 

In yesterday's class, we each took a few buttons, sketched them, and started adding shadows and detail and background.  That's the one on the top right.  Today's class did the little paintings by painting a very wet wash without mixing the colors up too much, and leaving some white of the paper in a few spots.  We lifted some color here and there to leave some lighter spots for more buttons.  This is the one on the bottom right.  When the wash was dry we lightly drew some buttons, and then added a little detail and some darker shadows around the buttons.

The buttons at the top left were done in prismacolor pencils on Mi Teints paper in my sketchbook.
Bottom left -  everyone in the class is working on a different theme, and this was a little demonstration for one of the students doing clouds.

The buttons have me thinking that it might be fun to do a series of very small things grouped together  -  thumb tacks, sticks of pastels, pen nibs, corks, combs and barrettes, pretty stones .  .  .  what else?

I hope this will inspire you a bit.  I think we all need a little help this time of year to keep our creativity going and our brushes moving.

Snowy Afternoon

The One Blossom Christmas Cactus

This is the perfect afternoon to wind down the holidays.  We are getting a lot of snow, so maybe this won't be the end  -  maybe we'll be snowed in!

I have spent a lot of time this past week puttering around the house, and it really felt good.  I've been sorting through things in my studio, rearranging, spending time with the grandkids - one day they stayed in their jammies all day and played with modeling clay.

This afternoon my husband and I have both mentioned things we really should be doing, but we've been playing dominoes, listening to music, and watching it snow.

 WISHING YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND CREATIVE 2012!!!