Lemons and Peppers

Multiple Views of a Still Life

In yesterday's class we set up a still life, divided our paper into four rectangles, and painted four different views of the still life. I was a little sick of it by the time I got to the fourth painting ~ the top left. I may try this again someday. The whole idea is to zoom in, zoom out, pan left, pan right . . . . I think I could have zoomed a little more and panned a little less.

Next week the class wants to do very quick paintings, just a few minutes each, using autumn related objects such as pine cones, leaves, squash, gourds, pears.

We had a pretty heavy frost last night. Goodbye summer. As always, fall is bringing out my nesting instincts, and I have been switching my upstairs studio space (which never really worked out up there) back downstairs. I think I had better make a few trips to the Salvation Army/Goodwill to get rid of all this stuff I don't know what to do with. My new philosophy is "if I don't know where to put it, I certainly don't need it". I know that this philosophy is not new to some of you. We'll see how this works out.

Reflective Objects

Small Demo of Silver Cup

I'm a little paranoid about posting this class demo after my husband looked at it and just shrugged his shoulders. I tell my students NOT to show their art work to their spouses! Also, I tell them we aren't after perfection. So here it is.

The class did a great job with the reflective objects ~ glass, silver, white porcelain, etc. Everyone was really paying attention to the details. It is one of those "paint what you see and paint it boldly" things.

I'm into my nesting mode now. It happens every fall. I think most people have it. I always just hope it last long enough to get a few house projects finished ~ like maybe dusting!

Big Creek

Spending the Weekend at Big Creek

Big Creek isn't big. But it's sparkling, fast, and bubbly. Deep in the woods where the Kirtland Warblers live. They are endangered and only live in a few places in the country. We didn't see any, that we could identify anyway, but we did hear a bird call that was unfamiliar to us.

We could see this part of the creek from the deck of the cottage owned by my husband's sister and her husband. We used to live in the woods ~ in Interlochen, Michigan ~ and sometimes I miss it. Not often enough to want to move! I love it where we are. I like being able to walk to the post office, the library, the park for concerts, the playground ~ you get the picture.

My class wants to paint reflective objects this week. That'll be fun. If I do a good job with the demos, I'll post them. If I don't, you'll never hear about them again.

Are you sketching, painting, writing, singing, dancing, designing . . . this week? Let us know what creative things you are up to.

Painting on Location in September

Sketchbook Journaling at a Farm Market

I spent a beautiful, warm, autumn morning (as opposed to an ugly, cold, summer morning - sorry, I'm a little bitter about the reversal of seasons here) painting at a farm market with friend Cathy. Journal painting takes a lot less concentration than "serious" painting, and it is always fun to do it with a friend.

My newest obsession is finding something interesting and colorful to string with pearls. Disappointingly, the 30 inch strand of pearls that belonged to my great grandmother, Triffina, turned out to be FAKE. Or is it faux when it comes to pearls. Well, let's just say I expected more from someone with a name like Triffina. So now I have to decide if they are worth restringing with turquoise, amber, glass, Etc. Also, I'm not sure I'm a pearl kind of girl. Well, we all know I'm not ~ so I guess that's what makes it fun.

Now I am off to buy MORE ink carteridges for my printer ~ I have a card order to get out today. And today is my husband's birthday. He wants TUNA NOODLE casserole for dinner! He's easy.

More food blogging.

Food Blogging

Of all the things we have been doing in the past few days, I'm posting food pics. Can you believe these "sandwiches"?! They were great!!! We spent the day at The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village and these were ALMOST the highlight of my day.

The previous day we rallied at the state capitol for the Michigan libraries. A lot of people from all over the state turned out. I must admit that I have never "rallied", and I was pretty excited about this. Dull story - no one got arrested. We did cram a lot of fun into that day - had lunch at the hamburger joint where we went on our first date, visited the Lansing Art Gallery, went to the Historical Museum, the MSU gardens, the dairy store on campus, ate dinner on the sidewalk at a Mexican restaurant . . .

Now I am sorting and filing and getting ready for a new round of classes. It is still good sketchbook weather. I need to paint a little faster to fill up all those journals I have been making. I know - I should be painting instead of eating.

Labor Day

Labor Day Picnic at the Waterfront.

This is it. Wrapping it up for summer. We spent a nice relaxing afternoon at the waterfront having a family picnic and just doing whatever - tossing the Frisbee and football, eating, splashing in the water, eating, dozing , painting, eating, poking at dead fish . . . Then in the evening half of the family went downtown to a political rally and half stayed home reading kids' library books on the porch.

Youngest granddaughter insisted we would need a "bucket" of flowers for the center of the picnic blanket, so there they are in the above photo.

I hope you all had a good weekend and are looking forward to a productive new season.

Walloon Lake

Watercolor Sketch of Walloon Lake

On a beautiful morning spent with some very talented ladies in a beautiful spot on the lake. This is the sketch I promised yesterday (and I know all of you were waiting with bated breath).

This morning some of us got together for a great lesson on color. It is so inspiring to get together with other painters! And the person giving the lesson is so knowledgeable.

This afternoon I made the first soup of the season. Not because it is soup weather (it has been all summer, but not today) but because it is time that I accept some responsibility here and COOK. Oh ~ where did that come from? Did I take Julia and Julie a little too much to heart? Remember yesterday I said I had pearls and a string of chili pepper lights ~ and now I want to COOK!?

Food Blogging

Went to see Julie and Julia last night, so I thought maybe I could get rich and famous if I got a little food blogging going here. I have pearls and a string of chili pepper lights just like Julie!

Actually this is a picture of my lunch at the Thai restaurant yesterday. It was very tasty ( I don't know what it was). I love their blue and white china, but the food just didn't seem sketch book-worthy. And, no, I really don't think it is that photogenic either, but I didn't have a sketch to post, so . . . Oh, I do have a sketch. Well, tomorrow.

My friend Mary Lou came down from Mackinaw City yesterday and after lunch at the Thai Restaurant we are walking down the street and a woman ML knows comes out of a store. There are other people coming out of the door, and an older lady is kind of jostled against us. Thinking she is the woman's mother, we pull her into our group and include her in our conversation. After a minute, she says, "You girls are fun! I'd like to spend the afternoon with you, but I'm just trying to walk down the street".

Doesn't take much to make my day!

More Journals

Seriously. I CAN NOT STOP making journals.

Actually, only three of these are mine. I spent Friday making journals with friend Karen. The Friday before I spent making journals with friend Cathy. Karen and I spent two hours in Joann Fabrics putting together fabrics and papers. Now I understand why people quilt - it's that mixing of colors and patterns thing. Look at that paisley - wow, I love that!

I put aside the journal stuff for a day or two because we had a demolition thing going on here. We demolished a wall, reconstructed it and installed a new window. I love demolition! It has so much potential . I mean, when something is gone, you can put anything in that spot, right?

So today I am going to paint the new wall, scrape and paint the back door and stay away from the journal stuff. There is more to life than making journals. My husbands says.

Figures

Small Watercolor Figures

I spent a nice morning painting with Walloon Lake friends. After painting a sketchbook landscape, I turned around to face the other painters in back of me and do some very quick, juicy sketches of them. I need to do more figures. These will be fun to look back at to remember the day.

In the upper right hand corner you can see yet another (!) small palette that I've set up. Someone in one of my classes this week had this great pill box palette and I HAD to get one!

I am a little worried that my STUFF has become more important than the art I do with it. But we all need our stuff, don't we?

Tea Party

Tea Party

A friend celebrated her birthday today at the Terrace Inn with a tea party for her friends . What fun! How long has it been since you've been to a tea party? There were about a dozen of us there and the conversation was lively and the food was wonderful.

What a nice gift to give to friends. Thank you , Beverly.

I did this very fast ink drawing and then threw on a little color - not necessarily the correct color, but color. I was so busy talking. Who, me? Every time I look at this sketch, I will remember a nice afternoon with very nice people.

Take your sketchbook with you next time you go out!

Sketchbook Journals

I Can't Stop Making Them!

I had seen a journal that looked like pretty easy construction, so I spent the day Friday with a friend working it out. We are trying to simplify and still have them sturdy and comfortable to use. Simplify, as in easy to teach and construct in a day. Comfortable, as in opening flat.

Now I have a block of paper of one size with no cover, and a cover of another size with no paper. So, I guess that means I have to construct two more journals.

The sketchbook journals are stacking up ahead of me ~ I am not painting that fast. I'd better get with it.

This week I have some "fancy" events, and I need to figure out what to wear to them. A fancy event means it is something that jeans and a t-shirt would be inappropriate. How hard can this be?! Why is figuring out what to wear always so difficult. Get over it!

Demo Page

A demo page from yesterday's journal class.

I spent the entire day teaching in the garden area of the Woman's Council building, on the education campus of Bay View Association. When I was finished and started picking up my things, there was trash from morning coffee, lunch, and afternoon snack. The sun had moved from due east to due west, and I had materials strewn all over from watercolor class, drawing class, and watercolor sketchbook journal class. It was a fun day!

Today we are looking at thunder showers, so we have picked out a large porch with some good views to accommodate the journal class this afternoon. It is pretty quiet around here now, so we had our pick of large porches ~ public buildings, not private cottages of course. Well . . .

I didn't sleep well last night! Besides the visiting grand-dog, Dexter, thinking he should sleep with us, and Rudy the cat thinking Dexter shouldn't (that's Rudy's spot!), I kept waking up worried AND excited for our daughter-in-law getting three kids up, dressed, and in the car at 3:00 a.m. and heading downstate (in the pouring rain) to catch a morning flight out of Detroit. They are going for a long weekend to visit their daddy/husband/our son in Texas in the Air National Guard. I bet he didn't sleep either.

Today is the last day of the last class for me in Bay View. I always hate to see it wind down. I look forward to the time to do my own thing for awhile ( and a couple of classes a week) but it is a big adjustment. Slowing down should be easy, shouldn't it?

Library Door

Bay View Library Door #3

No, this little library doesn't have three doors, but I have painted it three times this summer as a demonstration. As three demonstrations. It is near where we meet the first day of classes and by the time I am finished going on and on about all the "stuff" and how fun and easy and blah blah blah ~ we don't have time to go very far and still have time to paint.

It also has some good demonstration points such as simplifying perspective, simplifying windows, mixing browns, painting bricks . . .

We are having some real summer weather this week. Some areas have gone back to school! Well, I guess this weather is better late than never. It is almost time for me to start complaining about the snow.

P.S. I don't know "Don at the library door". As I put the figure in, someone in the class said, "Oh, that's Don". So if anyone knows Don, please tell him he's here, okay?

Still Life

Fast and Juicy.

In a painting group that meets during the summer, there is an artist that I just love to watch paint. I watched her do a demonstration this morning, and this is the painting I did after her demo.

Her application of the paint seems slow and deliberate, but then you realize it is really moving right along. Her shapes are large and her colors are juicy (is that the trick?).

It was a beautiful summer day and we were painting on a long porch overlooking the lake. We also had lunch there with a wonderful breeze coming in.

This was a fun painting to do - my glass is a little screwy and not exactly what I wanted, but I'm not complaining. Sounds like it, but I'm not.

Karen's Watering Can

Another Evening Painting in Karen's Beautiful Garden.

This is a small journal painting done in my hand bound journal of Aquarius II paper. It was a great evening for talking and painting ~ although the talking does slow down my painting ~ or is it the other way around. Either way, I don't stop painting OR talking. It is always fun to paint with friends. After a couple of hours, it started to rain a little. We don't seem to go for more than a two hour stretch this summer without some rain.

We have decided to extend our watercolor class. We will go for four more weeks to get in some more painting time before the summer people start to leave. Some students have requested some drawing instruction, so I am adding an optional hour at the end of each two hour painting class for four weeks. Most of us may not be able to go that long without lunch, so this will probably turn into a picnic/drawing class. Works for me!

Stephens Lane

One of my Favorite Gardens in Bay View

In reference to my last two posts, I have not figured out how to make the piano "fit in" in the kitchen, and the excavator guys did not come to excavate our property, but the driveway across the corner. That's it for excitement around here ~ none, actually. That can be a good thing.

No classes today. I have cards to package, a lesson plan to fine tune for tomorrow, the sun is shining, and I am inspired to work on some sketches.

Wishing you a productive and creative day!

Memorial Garden View

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

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

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

Educational Gardens

Finally ~ a nice evening for painting.

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

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

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

Contour Drawing

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

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

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

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

Memorial Gardens Again

Another journal page done at Memorial Gardens.

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

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

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

Hope you're all having a good week!

Terrace and Maple

Huddling on the Corner in Bay View.

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

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

Bay View Library

A Demo Sketch from a June Watercolor Journal Class

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

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

Contour Flowers

Contour Drawing Demo for Class

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

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

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

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

Karen's Arbor

Karen's Garden on a warm, beautiful evening.

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

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

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

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

Memorial Garden Again

Allium at Memorial Garden, Bay View

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

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

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

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

A Bay View Porch

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

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

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

Sturgeon Bay

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

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

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

A Nice Life

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

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

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

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

Radishes

Radishes from the Farmers' Market

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

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

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

1st Friday Summer Kick-Off

A Demo Page from my Workshop.

3rd Annual Watercolor Sketchbook Journal Summer Kick-Off

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

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

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

Maybe tomorrow is the day summer begins.

Pineapple and Strawberries

Plans for dinner: Sketch first, cook second.

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

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

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

Cute Little Red Car

Where's the big, hairy, drunk guy?

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

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

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

SUMMER CLASSES 2009

My summer class schedule is posted on my CLASS SITE.

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

SUMMER KICK-OFF

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

Please check out my class site for more information.

Plants and more plants.

A Carload of Plants.

And more in the backseat ~ a lot more.

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

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

Oh ~ I have to plant this stuff?!

What a Mess

This is what my studio tables looked like Monday morning!

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

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

More Sketches of . . .

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

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

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

More California

The Lemon Tree

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

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

California

A Two page spread in my handbound sketchbook.

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

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

WATERCOLOR CLASSES, SPRING, 2009

WATERCOLOR CLASSES

Spring, 2009

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

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

Asparagus

Some Spring Green

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

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

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

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

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

Gerbera

I love gerberas!

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

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

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

Figures and Landscapes

Small Landscapes and simple Figures

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

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

Is it Spring yet?

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

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

Y is for . . .

"Y" is for Yard.

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

One alphabet square to go.

X is for . . .

"X" is for St Francis Xavier.

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

The second finished page of the alphabet project.

Two letters to go.