Color in the Dead of Winter

I just came back from a birthday celebration with my family, and our dear friend Brad.  Brad and I share birthdays within a week of each other, and so we celebrated today with lunch out.  Brad gave me the most delicious box of colors -- Prismacolor Art Stix.  They are much like Conte Crayons -- squared sticks of pure color -- but in a rainbow of rich colors.  I grabbed some fruit from the fruit bowl to test them out on, and was pleased with the way the flat sides laid down smooth shadows and the crisp edges created bold contour lines.  They lay down rich tones easily.

Outside, it's 17 ℉,  and intermittently throughout day, snow spit from the low clouds.  The world looks monochromatic.  These Art Stix were just what my eyes hungered for.  Can't wait for the first spring daffodils and greened-up grass to test my new toys on!

My cat, Chubby, flopped by my side while I drew.

A Warm (Enough) Day for Sketching Outdoors

On Monday afternoon, I went out for a hike with my oldest, Sarah, on what we call a Sketch-potition -- a sketching expedition.  The evergreen woods we strode through were carpeted with twigs and branches blown out of the trees by Sunday's wild windstorm. Ducking under fallen trees was tricky with a pack of art supplies on my back.

 The calm after the storm; the stillness after a brisk hike; the open field after a woods scramble -- yin and yang mingled.  I felt grateful for time to melt into the landscape as I sketched.  The brilliant blue sky spilled long, late rays of the sinking sun into the abandoned picnic area our family refers to as The City of Ember after the novel about a crumbling civilization whose inhabitants don't know how to maintain their infrastructure -- Sarah & I sat in acres of open meadow on top of a hill that once was actively used by park-goers, but due to shrinking state park budgets was closed.  The bluebirds, deer and we still enjoy its charms.

A Brown Banana and a Book of Inspiration

I found a great book about fitting drawing into your life no matter how busy: Art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory.  It feels like I am perusing his own journal as I flip through the pages.  The book is chock full of Gregory's drawings and paintings of simple, everyday stuff, inspiring me  to sketch everyday stuff from my own life.  And I love his message -- art is for everybody!  Right on!

Snowy Night

The enamel coffee pot hisses and bubbles on the wood stove.  Outside, snow, ice & rain fall in a chilling mix.  Indoors, we bask in the radiance of burning oak logs --- Yin-yang.

A Quiet Sunday Morning

This morning the washer chugs away at a load of towels from last night's swim party.  Eight teacups of baked custard cool on a rack.  A mushroom & onion omelet and a steaming cup of tea sit before me.  Now I can settle down to drawing - Chubby's, ear, his mouth when he turns his face up to let me scratch his chin, little glimpses.  I dine & sketch as the house slumbers on.

Now I stretch out in the wide reading chair that Chubby has claimed as his perch  He curls, purring on the low back.  I pet & scratch -- chin, behind ears, down his spine, all the while looking for an angle to draw -- an ear, his closed eyes & nose, one open eye from the side.  All frustration as Chubby turns this way & that to shift just the right place on his chin to my working fingers.  I look in his eye, feel the connection, see his beauty, sense the light of love radiating one creature to another.  The sight of his tongue sticking out from his closed mouth touches me -- I sense the way he has given himself over fully to simple bliss.  Suddenly, the whole world calls out to be drawn -- stones, dead basil stalks, a solitary tree on the far hill, the fig leaves by the south windows.

Chubby

Looking outside to the south.

Kate's Orchid ready to bloom.

Still Life with David

Drawing serves as meditation. After a busy day, I took 20 minutes before bed to sketch some Granny Smith apples I had just bought at the local farm market.  David sat across from me, reading, and I couldn't help but include his handsome face in my journal.

Granny Smith Apples on an old barn wood bench.  (Colored pencil)

Pencil and white colored pencil sketch on craft paper journal.

Upcycled Valentines Coloring Book

I had a snowy afternoon, a Sharpie and some scrap paper.  Here's the result of the day:

I took 4 sheets of legal-sized paper, printed on one side, and folded them, printed side in.  I arranged the pages so that the fold was on the right, then placed the pages in a folded craft paper cover, and punched holes on the left side of the stack. I inserted grommets to bind the book, and then added decorative silver embroidery floss.
That left a blank book with 8 pages to fill. Add black Sharpie, and ...

Book cover

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