Friday, January 17, 2014

Thursday, January 16, 2014

mighty eggplant


From my little daily sketchbook.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Monday, January 13, 2014

downton

We are watching Downton Abbey on our TV. So fun to be drawn out of our problems into the make-believe world. My husband remarks "No way I can believe that so many bad things can happen to one household at the same time." But he is watching avidly with me. I kept my sketchbook in my lap and worked rapidly to catch a likeness as I watched. The costumes are fun too.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Epiphany Sunday

The last Sunday of the Christmas season.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

comforting

If we have to endure winter, And If it must be bitter cold and gray, well then, it is at least a solace to be able to watch all the lovely snow comforting the landscape.

Friday, January 10, 2014

yum, roasted vegetables


While considering making a soup to comfort us on this very cold day, I looked at vegetables in the market. Thinking of roasted vegetables chopped into a creamy soup with leftover ham. Yum and hmm. My husband checks the basket and says are you really going to cook with these or are you picking them out just to paint them? I was taking my time to hold each pepper up and turn it for the best angle. Considering whether the turnip would be nice to paint with its violet tinge or should I go for the eggplant? And which one is the best color and shape?

Thursday, January 9, 2014

veggies

I am graduating from cookies and pie to vegetables. I have some new lovelies from the grocery store that I can't even plan to cook unless I draw them first. Such colors and shapes!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Monday, January 6, 2014

while in Church

As we read the Gospel of Matthew on this Sunday this is the image that came to my mind. The Great Wave off Kanagawa woodblock print by Hokusai combined with the image of Jesus Christ calming the sea and the storm.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Friday, January 3, 2014

Thursday, January 2, 2014

d.a.d

Little sketches of little people drawn while visiting the home of friends. Why do I choose the most active squirmy 18-month old boy to draw?

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

new plan New Year


For the new year ahead I am thinking about some new projects and musing on what has been best about the past year.
 Lately I have been enjoying my creative time most when I draw and paint in my tiny sketchbook. To my delight, I finished the last page of the 31/2"by 51/2" watercolor book a couple of days ago. The appeal of the little book is the finite size and shape. It fits in my purse or pocket and I took it to so many places since this past July when I began using it.












 I also have this little Winsor and Newton metal folding watercolor case. I have had it for ages, I don't remember how or when I acquired it. It too has been a handy companion on the beach, by a lake, in the mountains, and sometimes just sitting at my kitchen table. Sometimes I forget a paintbrush and have used my fingertips. Water is not a problem, I have used anything from rainwater to Lake Michigan beach water. I just love the spontaneity and the size of the little book. Anything can be go in there and whatever I do, it isn't big enough to take a long time or stand up to much fussing. It is small commitment to a brief moment and gives me that satisfaction of finishing and capturing whatever it was that had my attention that hour.
I am starting a new watercolor sketchbook, (these are the Moleskin brand) and I jumped up a size. This new one is 51/2" by 71/2". Will it please as much? Will I fill it in six months or less?
My newest idea is to post a drawing a day on this blog. Based on the small pleasure of filling a little sketchbook I am going to try to post 365 days straight. I will call it d.a.d. Better than calling it drawing every day? D.e.d?


Every year at this time I evaluate why I have this blog and reconsider whether to simply drop it. As of this past December, I have been authoring this blog for 5 years! I've posted 527 times, which is just over a 100 a year. That's an awfully modest amount of blogging. I have kept it up for the pleasure of sharing my art, telling my stories about my work, and the discipline of writing. Writing about art is the most difficult task for me and yet it is so necessary. I can't enter my work into an art show without being asked to write out a daunting statement of purpose.
And so, I will be trying to post the little stuff more. It might be a sketch on a page of the Church bulletin, or on a napkin at a restaurant, but I will make myself keep that little discipline going. I might write an anecdote of that day or experience or I might not. Having a smart phone now to snap a sketch will make it easier than using my scanner.
Looking back through the sketchbooks is such a pleasure, all those memories come right back, I can almost smell that very day.

For it is all those little moments that make a life and here it all is, my recording of the little moments.

I will be continuing my interest and theme of painting large and small flower works. I will be submitting more of these to galleries and juried shows.








I am finally working again on the large Old Testament paintings for my church. I hope to get these finished soon, in the New Year. And I will continue to write and share all these big projects.