I have just begun a new online sketching class with Liz Steel called Foundations. I first met Liz in a sketching class through Sketchbook Skool a few years ago so I know I am working with an excellent teacher. I have been away from sketching for too long and felt that the best way to […]
watercolor
Plaster Pages
I can hear your reaction to the title of this posting. “Huh?!” or something close to that, right? Well, the answer is another on-line class, this one called Inspired By Lives and Letters with Lendon Noe. Find the class through Seattle artist Carla Sonheim. Lendon Noe is a native of Jackson, Tennessee, and was a […]
More Junk Mail Postcards/Sketches
I’ve managed to get a couple more sketches done on the junk mail postcards I created earlier here. I saw my first Handkerchief tree late last summer and was smitten with the seed pods which littered the base of this huge tree. I have enjoyed seeing them every day since. The stems of the pods […]
Junk Mail Revisited
I like to have a supply of my handmade fabric and paper postcards handy. They make special occasions and just saying hello a bit more special. A recent review of what I have on hand has found me in need of creating more postcards. The easiest and quickest way to create my own paper postcards […]
Final January Sketches
Here are the last of the sketches I did during January. I created several on the 25th to make up for missing other days. Click on images for a larger view. For the word prompt ‘selfie’ For the next few sketches I selected my own subjects from around the house. This pin cushion is dear […]
More Sketches
Here are a few more of the sketches that I created in January. The Sketchbook Skool prompt for January 8 was ‘movie.’ Click on images for a larger view. I went back to this page several times to respond to ‘metallic.’ On the evening of the 10th I had fun with this ‘doodle.’ Here is […]
Happy New Year
I managed to create a few sketches during the last days of 2016. It felt encouraging to me. It felt good to create. Mostly it felt healing to just sit and focus. Perhaps the cold weather shifted my mood to spring. (Click on image for a larger view.) More outdoor thoughts, this time with more […]
Blessings of the Season
Among the hustle and bustle, here are a few quiet moments I’ve experienced lately. The holiday boat parade on the Willamette River. It is fun to share in the joy of these boaters’ inspiration. Click on image for a larger view. Some quiet moments with my sketch book to gather myself. What are […]
More Sketches
A couple weeks ago I began experiencing intermittent computer issues so my posting has been sporadic. Those issues have been resolved so I have full use of my computer now. Enough said. Here’s a sketch done in response to an assignment from my recent Sketchbook Skool instructor, France Belleville-Van Stone : Sketch something with wheels […]
Sketchbook Skool: Stretching
Sketchbook Skool is an on-line sketching and watercolor school that I have taken several classes with. While I was away, I received an offer for a class that had just begun at a price I couldn’t resist. When I got home I was eager to check in and take the first class with Jonathan Twingley. Jonathan […]
Last Sketch in the Book!
I’ve just returned from a wonderful visit in Nevada and Southern California. I packed my traveling sketch bag along but didn’t think about the fact that I had just one empty page. Lesson learned. Happily, I had a few watercolor postcards in the bag so I was able to do more than one sketch. I was […]
Happy Creative New Year
My last posting was on Christmas Day. From there daily events took over and I missed my usual schedule of posting. It happens. I’m over it. I’m on to the new year now. I know it’s official because I just took the first images of 2015 and created a folder for them. Here is a […]
Wordless Wednesday
Click on image for larger view.
Sketch
This sketch was inspired by a notecard that I received which bears Hannah Borger Overbeck’s (United States, 1870-1931) rendition of the blood root (Sanguimaria canadensis), a somewhat rare woodland plant once used by Native Americans to dye their baskets orange-red. My challenge for this sketch was to be able to match the colors she had […]
First Aide
Last week I was thinking about what I have in my medicine cabinet (perhaps I had a headache?) and what I would like to have there. My mind immediately began racing with possibility. I grabbed a Tombow pen and my watercolors and started sketching. Click on image for larger view. While I was working on […]
SBS with Liz Steel
This week has simply vanished into thin air. I haven’t completed viewing all the lessons that Liz Steel has in store for me in Sketchbook Skool but I am plugging away. The process of watching the videos, contemplating the lesson and doing my best to get into a new mindset are fun but also a […]
Junk Mail Artist Book Done
I’ve completed the final lesson of Carla Sonheim‘s Junk Mail Artist Book series. There was more painting, more drawing. . .then changing of the mind involving more painting and more drawing. At some point one has to say it’s time to stop. Done and done. And here it is. Be sure to click on an […]
Sketching
Last week I snipped a couple small branches of my friend’s black oak tree to do some sun printing. The black oak is a native California tree and will fit nicely with the art quilt series I’m working on. I am quite taken with the shape of the leaf. It has so much character and […]
Junk Mail Artist Book
I learned about Carla Sonheim from my friend and fellow-artist Priscilla Read and I simply could not resist trying her Junk Mail Artist’s Book class! In just five lessons at Silly U I am turning junk mail — the stuff usually tossed straight into the recycle bin — into a book. I can’t see a […]
Sketching for Fun
Roz Stendahl, one of the 6 instructors of Sketchbook Skool, focused on sketching animals. She particularly liked sketching live animals. She also realized that it can be quite a challenge to sketch a model that is moving, particularly if you are new to the discipline. She recommended going to natural history museums, state parks or […]
Imaginary birds
Sketchbook Skool
I’m in the middle of an on-line class called Sketchbook Skool developed by Danny Gregory and Koosje Koene. The idea behind this 6-week class led by a different instructor each week is to gain skills and inspiration which will lead to making sketching a daily habit. I am learning a lot and having fun, my […]
More Watercolor Painting
There is just one more meeting for the watercolor class I’m taking at Merritt College so I’m especially pleased to have completed this painting on Friday. The painting began with the background using a wet-on-wet technique — the reverse of other paintings we’ve done — then the shadow, the reflection and the eggplant. The last […]
Watercolor 101
I’ve been attending a beginning watercolor class at Merritt College since August. I enjoyed the journal-style sketching and watercolor classes with Jane LaFazio (see the Sketch/Watercolor category for posts on those classes) so much that I thought something more ‘formal’ would improve my skills, especially mixing and using color. Instructor Pablo Villicana Lara is soft-spoken, […]
Another Drawing
I worked parts of several days this week on a page intended to introduce me to collage. Yesterday I was so unhappy with what I had that I tossed it out. I may or may not go back to that lesson and see what I can do with it. Meanwhile, I sketched and painted another […]
This and That
Where to begin. There are many things in progress here. After all, it’s July — the height of summer. Our side yard with the succulent plantings is filling in nicely. Here’s a close up of one panel The male oriole and his entire family — 2 chicks this year! — visit our feeder regularly. He […]
8 Techniques in 2 Weeks
Whew! This is week 3 with Jane and she’s really ramping up our game. The assignment: divide a page into 8 sections and complete assignments using 4 different techniques. Don’t worry about where you start on the page or how you divide the page. . . just get going! So here I am so far: […]
More Everyday Objects
It’s the end of the week with Lesson 2: Everyday objects. I’m always optimistic that I’ll get several pages of sketches done in a week, I certainly intend to. I feel lucky to have completed 2 pages! Here is the first page of objects from the dining room: And here is the second page with […]
Lesson 2: Everyday Objects with a Tombow Pen
This lesson introduced a new tool: a Tombow pen. This nifty pen uses water-soluble acid-free ink and has 2 ends: a brush and a fine tip. The fine tip is great for drawing the outline of a final sketch. The brush end is handy for getting more ink on the watercolor brush for darker shading. […]
Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style
Well, I won’t be taking commissions any time soon, but I’m tickled with what I’ve been able to do with my first two attempts at sketching and watercolor. This week we are working on FRUIT in Jane LaFazio‘s class. Here’s what I did on Wednesday after I completely read the directions and got myself all […]
