Squash

Autumn Vegetables

Here we are half way into my autumn-vegetable-series-for-the-month-of-October, and this is the first I have painted.  I guess I shouldn't point out my shortcomings, should I?  This is a contour ink drawing of the vegetables lined up down the table.  They are really very large vegetables and would have lent themselves to being painted in a large format. Of course I can still do that.

It is a beautiful fall Saturday in Northern Michigan.  The leaves are brilliant, and the bay is very blue.We went downtown to the new chili restaurant for chili dogs for lunch. I forgot to take my sketchbook to sketch the salt shakers.  We'll be going back.

Now we are about to pick up on the bathroom project that we put aside for the summer.  Summer is long gone, and we are still trying to think up excuses not to get at it.  We are enablers.  Maybe that's why we have been together for so long.

Hope it's a beautiful day wherever you are - maybe you are outside sketching, or maybe you are inside painting your bathroom.

Quiche

Leftover Quiche for Breakfast

A quick little sketch of my breakfast this morning.  Also working on a couple of cloud paintings, but you know  -  those can be pretty boring to look at day after day (not that I have really been painting them day after day), so I think I will post them in groups of three or four.  That still might be boring, but anyway . . .

It is warm and sunny here today, and I am heading out to the farm market for squash and gourds. Maybe some apples and pears.  Potatoes. Mums. Pumpkins. And I claim to not be a fan of Autumn.

Clouds

 

Getting Easier

I may be way behind schedule on my self-imposed cloud challenge, but I'm gonna keep on keepin' on. I must say it is getting easier.  Of course it is!   Practice. Practice. Practice.

I had intended to do fall vegetables during the month of October.  I guess it wouldn't kill me to do both vegetables and clouds.  I love cut squash  -  those seeds with the negative spaces!  I'm a sucker for all those colors and textures once I get to the farm market. All those warm colors with cool shadows.  And those big blue/gray/green things (Hubbard?)  -  fun to mix!

Okay  -  who wants to do fall vegetables with me? Small studies. Practice. Practice. Practice.

New Sketchbook

Another New Sketchbook

Last week we made new sketchbooks. After the trip downstate to the paper/bookbinding store, I was anxious to bind a new book.  I think I have made nine of them so far, and  I'm a couple of books ahead now, which is a nice, secure feeling. What if I decide sometime that I am sick of making these, and I don't have any made up ahead?  Actually, I just really enjoy making them.  I don't need a reason, do I?

The drawing is a value sketch that I am working on for a new painting.  I want to use it as a demo for tomorrow's class.

Another beautiful, sunny, fall day here.   I should take a walk.  Does sitting in the sun eating potato chips count as doing something good for myself?  I think so.

Lemonade

Sketches on Nideggen Paper in my Sketchbook

"Salt Shaker .  .  .  ." leads to another salt shaker a few pages on in the sketchbook.  I'll post it later.

We spent a nice long weekend downstate, and I came across a lot of salt shakers to draw.  Of course, after a while they become repetitive, and they are almost all dented.  Does every salt and pepper shaker in every restaurant in the world get dropped on the floor?  What's with that? 

We covered both sides of the state with my brother and sister-in-law, meeting up with old friends at Meijer Gardens on the west side and our son at Selfidge Air Force Base on the east side.  We had one whole day of shopping at those fun places that we don't have up here in the "north woods"  -  the paper/bookbinding store, Trader Joe's, Ikea, etc.  Now I think I need a couple of days to recover! My brother claims we drove almost 900 miles.  We could have been past Omaha.  If we had wanted to be past Omaha.

The Backdoor

Another Watercolor Sketch of the Backdoor

This is done on Nideggen paper which is a light brown color.

I was going to work on sketches and paintings of reflective objects when my class left, but with that sunshine out there, I decided not to waste it.  We have had frost warnings and the flowers are getting straggly, so it's possibly now or never for one more sketch of the area near our back door. There is nothing gorgeous about the door or the plantings, but I like it, and it is a warm, sunny spot to sit and paint.

Someday maybe I will go through all of my sketchbooks and find all of the paintings and sketches I have done of this door.

Journal Page

A Journal Page From Last Week's Bookbinding Workshop

It was too cold to go outside and paint, but we each went out and picked up at least three natural objects and composed them on a page in our brand new journals.

I seem to be accomplishing nothing the past few days.  Today is a very strange day weather-wise  -  dark clouds in the west, very windy, and quite warm, with some bright sunshine now and then.  That's it  -  it's the weather.  It's not me.  I'm not out of sync, it's definitely the weather.

Apples

Apples Painted on Nideggen Paper in my Sketchbook

This has absolutely nothing to do with anything I am doing this week.  Whatever happened to my cloud project?  I haven't given up on it  -  just takin' a break.

These little apples have been hanging around my studio, begging to be painted.

There must be something about this time of year  -  most of  my students tend to get picky and detailed, even though they say that's not what they want. Maybe because  the season has changed, and we have come into a controlled environment, they are trying to be more controlling too  -  as if they should be doing a "better" job because there is no excuse of the distractions that we have painting outside.  Whatever.   I am trying to get everyone (myself included) to swoop through with a loaded brush and get those colors and shapes in with just a few swoops.  Then go back and shape things up with shadows and MAYBE some detail.

Rainy and dark here today!  A nice cozy day to paint with students/friends.  We are painting white objects today.

Sunflowers

Color Mixing

Last week's classes painted sunflowers, paying special attention to color mixing.  We used quinacridone red, ultramarine blue, and new gamboge (yellow). For the top row of blossoms, we mixed the brown for the centers by first mixing the primaries on the palette and then dropping in a little purple after the brown center had been painted . The next one was brown mixed on the palette, and the third was mixed on the paper.  As always, we found the color mixed on the paper to be much more interesting and less muddy.  Mixing on the paper gives you less control, but the results are more pleasing. Well, that's my opinion.  The centers of the flowers in the small painting, bottom right, were done by letting the colors mix on the paper.

This week I am doing a bookbinding workshop  -  "team teaching" with my friend Cathy.  The sketchbooks were finished today in record time, and they are all absolutely beautiful!  Tomorrow we will unveil them (they are under heavy weight over night) and begin to paint. I LOVE MY JOB!

The End of the Season?

The Last Page in this Sketchbook

A break from cloud painting

This sketchbook started out with a sketch from friend Karen's front porch.  This last sketch was painted a few evenings ago in her garden.

Now the dilemma  - I have two sketchbooks made up and ready to go.  Which one do I pick up next?

I class today we painted sunflowers.  What we were really working on was the composition  -  not doing the whole vase of flowers, but working out small thumbnail sketches using a viewfinder, and then doing a small painting.   The class came up with some beautiful color mixes for the brown centers.  It is hard to just "let go" and let the paint mix itself, but the results are always more interesting than mixing on the palette.

Tomorrow's class will be doing the same thing, and I will post my demo.

Are you walking around with your sketchbooks, picking up on some of the late summer colors?

Clouds 4

View From the Back Yard

This is a cartoon-like painting with ink on Strathmore 400 drawing paper. It started out as a contour drawing.

After a great weekend of spending one day doing nothing, one day doing chores, and one day with family,  I guess it is back to real life for a few days  -  until the next weekend.  Which is real life  -  the weekends or the weekdays?  Of course it is the combination and the balance of the two, but balance is sometimes just beyond me.

There are some beautiful clouds again today, and strong winds are predicted for this afternoon, so the clouds could be moving faster than I can paint. As I'm typing this, the sky is getting darker and the wind is picking up.  While the sun is still in the east and the dark clouds are moving in from the west, we can get some pretty dramatic skys, but I could do without the drama of the winds of a couple of days ago.  The city hasn't cleaned up the damage from that yet, so I am looking forward to that distraction some time today.  I'm serious  -  I love distractions.

Clouds 3

Cloud Watching this Morning

The clouds are moving very quickly across the sky this morning.  I did take some pictures, but it just isn't the same as doing the real thing.  Do you want flat and still, or dimensional and moving too fast to capture?

It is cool and very windy here this weekend.  I told my husband it feels like a cold weekend up north.  He said "It IS a cold weekend up north."  I meant it felt and smelled like when I was a kid at the cottage on a cold weekend.

So after we spent the morning yesterday chopping up and clearing out the tree limbs (from our tree) that came down in our neighbor's driveway, denting her car here and there and just missing her kitchen window, we spent the day doing vacation-like things  -  reading, eating, playing dominoes, going downtown, checking out the storm damage (we didn't have to go far for that), wrapping up the day with a movie  .  .  .

Today it is back to some outdoor chores and maybe some more cloud watching and painting.  Hope you're all having a nice, relaxing long weekend, and maybe spending a little time with your sketchbooks.

Clouds 2

Murky Colored Clouds

Yeah, I know, pretty boring.  But I'm sticking with this cloud thing until I get it right. This paper is Arches Cover, cream.

There was a spindly, lacy-leaved (leafed?) tree sticking up into this sky, but I was losing the light and thought I might go back today and paint the tree.  Today was very windy and rainy, so it didn't happen.

Maybe I don't even like doing clouds.

Happy Birthday to my Blog

Clouds #1

Today is the 5th birthday of this blog!

Here we go with my September series of cloud paintings, drawings, whatever.  I know this is a very unoriginal, uninteresting, etc., cloud painting, but, hey, I did it.  I'm going to have to study up on what's what with clouds.  I don't know one kind from another, and that might be nice to know.  The clouds on any given day aren't necessarily the clouds you want in the painting of the day.

We are being over-run here by wildlife.  Last night after dark, while I was sitting on the porch reading, a skunk walked up to the door, sniffed at it, pawed at it, peered in at me, and then slowly turned around and walked away.  The nerve!  My husband says, "You're sure it wasn't a cat?"  Yes!!! I'm sure!  He was three feet from me  -  I got a good look.

Roses and Daisies

Demonstration Journal Page

From a class this summer.

Here it is the first of September and I'm still thinking of summer classes.  It was a perfect summer for workshops and classes  -  the weather was beautiful and the people were just wonderful!

Why does September always seem like a new year? A new beginning.  I spent a few minutes this afternoon putting things on my calendar that I would like to accomplish in the next few months. So -  I am throwing out a challenge for myself and anyone else that would like to do it.  Mary T are you reading this?  Because  the clouds are just so dramatic here in September and October,  I am going to try to do no fewer than 16 small paintings, drawings, or whatever, of clouds.  These can be landscapes, "bayscapes" or just plain clouds.  I have 16 small (5 1/2 X 7 1/2) pieces of paper ready to go - drawing paper, watercolor paper, misc. paper, but since I think clouds lend themselves to juicy watercolor, I'll probably do more of that.

I have to say, this is a challenge for me.  I am really not very good at clouds.  I never do paintings that are "about" clouds, so we'll see what happens, huh?  If you want to join me, leave us a link to your clouds in the "comments".

View From Judy's Yard

View Across the Cottage Lawns

I painted with friends yesterday and it was hard to zero in, there was so much to choose from.  The clouds were fabulous, the water was tropical, the cottages are charming, but there was something about this row of trees going off into the distance across the lawns of the cottages.  I can see this as a larger "serious" painting.


As I mentioned to Marj. in yesterday's comments  -  I am not transitioning well.  I just go from August classes to September classes, I don't have to get kids off to school, we don't take off for other parts of the country when the season changes.  So what's the big whoop?  It was a nice summer, the weather is still great, we're planning a mini get-away, we'll have a family get-together for labor day  .  .  .


Okay, thanks for listening.  I feel better now.

More Black-eyed Susans

Black Eyed Susans at the Workshop

 This was my demo for our warm-up painting for our one-day-watercolor-sketchbook-journal-end-of summer-workshop yesterday.  The weather went from cool to very nice to cold, all between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  The weather never stops us  -  good or bad  -  we can turn out the paintings!  The participants did some great little paintings.  I'm hoping they are fired up to carry their sketchbooks around all winter and sketch wherever they are.  They did some cute little two minute sketches around the house when it became to cold to stay outside.


I was feeling a little adrift, aimless, lost, at loose ends, bewildered, unbalanced . . . . after the workshop.  It was my absolute last class of the summer.  My summers are full of classes and workshops  -  often two classes a day.  My Fall classes start the 1st of September, so what's the big deal?  It's a much slower pace, and that's okay.  I just am not ready for summer to end.


I spent the morning painting with friends  -  that got me over my aimless drifting, and then I came home and cleaned a closet.  Wow  -  cleaned a closet  -  maybe I am still drifting.

Flowers in Harmonious Mug

Last Bouquet of the Season?

Well, not the last bouquet, but it's getting to be slim pickin's.


I still have a couple of workshops to go before my fall classes start the first of  September, but I'm feeling the change of the seasons in my soul.  Dramatic, huh.  

I've been cleaning out stacks of things that I have let pile up between classes during the summer. I'm digging through table linens, looking up recipes, even DUSTING.  I do this nesting thing every fall.  Doesn't everyone?

When I picked this bunch of flowers for the dinner table, Rudy, the cat, thought they were dinner.  He loves loves loves black eyed susans.    OOOPS  -  maybe they are toxic.  YES, they are!!!  But apparently he would have to eat 4% of his body weight.  Some of the symptoms are lethargy and wandering aimlessly.  This is a cat!  When he is not lethargic, he is wandering aimlessly.   Aren't we all.  Or is it just me?

Flower Box and Ferns

A Journal Page Demo

In this week's sketchbook journal workshop we have been talking a lot about painting very simply and quickly.  It is not about laboring over a masterpiece.  It is about getting the impression of "here and now" on the journal page.


I understand that it is difficult to take a chance on a page being less than perfect, or even less than good, because someone might look at it, and of course, we will look at it ourselves and feel as if we have failed if it isn't great (or good).


I think that I have  made a dicision somewhere along the line that has made it easier to "let go" and just get it on the page quickly and simply.  There are a lot of things in this world, and if I labor too long over each page, I'm just not going to be able to get to all those things.  If I just do snippets here and there, I'm going to be able to cover a lot more ground.


Decide what it is that made you stop to paint  -  and paint THAT.   Then move on!


This week's class is doing a great job of moving on, but we do talk a lot about simplicity -  just to make sure we don't get too hung up on each little thing.  Because there is another little thing waiting for us  .   .   .   and another .   .   .

Salt and Pepper Grinder

Take Your Sketchbook to Lunch

Thursday I painted with a summer group that I teach a few sessions for each year.  It was their last official meeting, and we had lunch on the porch after a very informative talk and  beautiful demonstration by one of their members.  She talked about cast shadows, and brought up a lot of interesting points and lots of questions.  It has my head swirling.  She was applying geometry to the placement of shadows, along with obsevation and common sense  - the observation I can do  -  the geometry and commom sense are something else.


Sticking to my "take you sketchbook to lunch" plan, I sketched the salt and pepper grinder on the table.  The salt shaker idea has worked out well for me  -  I'm a slow eater and I talk a lot, so if I were to sketch my lunch, I'd be there all day. Not that there is anything wrong with that  -  sitting with friends on a big porch overlooking a gorgeous lake, eating a delicious lunch! Nice.


The book on the left is my newest hand-bound sketchbook.  

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.