Confession

Super quick post.  I made a pit stop at the blog today and began feeling awfully guilty.  So, I confess that I have barely drawn since my last post.  Sigh.  A bit too preoccupied with other randomness.  However, today I'm schlepping through my daughter's online FAFSA form - which is made more complicated by the fact that we have a family farm, but live in town.  Ridiculous... that's a whole other rant.  Anyway - It should be done by tomorrow and I will absolutely positively definitely be sketching after it is submitted.  Back to the grindstone.

The Envelope Please...

And the award goes to.. me!  Eeek!  (That's a good eek.)  Yup, I won and I'm probably happier about that than I am the recent snowstorm and, considering I'm obsessed with snow, that's a lot!

Over there on the right side of the page are several artist or art-related blogs I follow.  While browsing the blogs a few weeks ago, I noticed Kristy at Flying Shoes Art Studio was having a contest in appreciation of her followers.  Briefly explain why you love art and the favorite reply would win a print of "Artist."  Really?  Fantastic!  I've admired her work and that piece in particular since I discovered it last fall.  I dug into the ole brain and, after multiple rewrites, came up with a short statement - "Art seeks me - reveals despair, joy, angst, peace - entreats my soul to fill the page... to lift hearts.  I seek art - as comfort, as challenge, as breath."  I wanted to run it by my writer sister, but she wasn't paying attention to our chat window so I clicked submit.

A week or so later & there was a message waiting on this blog ... and it wasn't from my sister!  (That didn't come out right - I always like hearing from you sis.)  It was Kristy - I'd won!  I gave her my info.  She gave me some great advice and encouragement.   Kristy announced the winner today on her blog and included links to my blogs!  (This one & my rambling The wind blew me here.)  I just came in from trying to draw in the snow and there it was.  I am flattered and honored and nervous.  If you're visiting my blog for the first time, you'll find my story in What is this trek? and a few of the first posts back in September.

Though I didn't submit visual art and it may not seem big to long-time practicing artists, this feels like another milestone.  No matter where the sketchbook leads me, this print will always be symbolic of my journey.   And the encouragement that resulted from pushing that submit button will be treasured.  Thanks Kristy!

Tomato - Tomahto

The tax man has our paperwork and I can get back to the sketchbook.  Wading through receipts slows art production, but not completely.  My daughter gave me a lovely mushy Valentine's card that begged to be recreated in watercolor.  And, during a few late night wind down sessions, that's what I did.  No photos to share just yet.

I can share these fruits of my labor...  See what I did there?  Sorry, couldn't resist.  Prior to the tax interruption, two color pencil tomatoes appeared in the pocket Moleskine.  On the left: older Faber-Castell pencils that came with a colored pencil booklet (purchased years ago - used once).  On the right: Prismacolor pencils.  I'm wondering if the FC pencils are a cheaper version. I wasn't impressed with the feel or color.  Perhaps a different paper choice would help.  Whatever the reason, I prefer the Prismacolor.  Now I'm curious what good old Crayola pencils would do... saving the next Moleskine page for one more tomato.

Art Before Taxes

Our tax man appointment is next week - early because of FAFSA due soon.  The 30 Day Challenge is in a holding pattern.  I am NOT giving up.  I AM doing paperwork.  Bleh.  Not my favorite kind of paperwork, but life's not all watercolor rainbows and happy stickmen.

Until next time - a few recent sketchbook pages...

The leaves were a natural for my first go at water soluble graphite pencils.
The sketchbook (start of this trek in that book) grew from an evening of dot, dot, dot...

I discovered posemaniacs.com last month - a website of figures in multiple poses.  It is a boon for those of us not terribly excited to wander around searching for moving strangers to sketch.  The changing pose option is fantastic for rapid gesture sketching - trying to capture just the line and movement of the figures.

A study of water drops (from photos).  We'll pretend the big ones are marbles.  Next time using real water.

Stick(man) It!

Let me make this perfectly clear.  Anyone, I mean AN-EE-ONE, can keep a sketchbook or drawn journal!  Drawing ability is irrelevant.  It's all about making marks.  The act of scribbling on paper is therapeutic.  It can be literal scribbles, stick figures, recognizable shapes, or words mingling with drawings.  I know I neglected my art for most of my adult-ness, but I've been inspired and I want to get other people in on this.  So, several family members received some kind of sketchbook and drawing supplies for Christmas.  They laughed when I told them not to just hand the nice sketchbooks and quality drawing pens & pencils to their grand kids.  Grown ups need to play too!  One brother has an obvious natural talent.  He probably laughed the most.

A month later, that same brother sent me a birthday card with a stick figure preprinted on it and commented how this is what his drawing efforts would look like now.  A statement which makes it obvious he is ignoring my pushy art supplies.

So, this one's for my gift-ignoring brother.  A full page of quick stick figures.  Now pick up that lonely sketchbook or calendar page & DRAW A FEW OF YOUR OWN.  Yes, I just yelled that.

Gifting from the Sketchbook

And now a flashback to December...  I enjoy creating art and creating in general (usually).  I also get a kick out of finding and giving gifts that mean something to the recipient.  The two loves merged this past Christmas season.  Dusty 1950's-ish melamine plates from my childhood, stored away years ago by my nostalgic parents, were cleaned up and put in shadow boxes with a background of words heard around our family table.  Gifts for my siblings.  Remember the vacation art inspired by the quilt store side trip in Arizona?  That sketch was recreated with a touch of color and gifted to Mom.  There were more art related gifts, but we'll get to that in a future post.

Side note 1:  Sorry about the glare folks.  I neglected to photograph this before framing it.  After my son literally shed blood getting out the exceptionally tight-fitting glass of the floating frame (glass front and back), I didn't want to ask him to do it again so I could get a decent photo.

Side note 2:  The 30 Day Drawing Challenge continues with some progress - practicing some "real" art.  More on that soon.

The First Page

A William Wordsworth quote has been sloshing around in my head the past few weeks.  I've seen it before and it popped up in some other blog as plain old text.  A little boring for my purposes.  My brain kept rolling it around - surrounding the words with color and swirls.  A few days ago I finally pulled out my empty mixed media sketchbook.  Ink, then markers, then watercolor, colored pencil and a lot more ink.  Here's the result.  Not what I saw in my head, but I'm telling the perfectionist to stuff it.

In a wonderful miracle of me not really thinking about what I'm doing, this is on the first page of my mixed media sketchbook.  Just about anybody who keeps a sketchbook knows that the first page can be the most difficult.  The first page screams at you
"DO SOMETHING MARVELOUS!"  Who wants to mess up the first page of a beautiful and promising blank book?

Most creative types recommend starting somewhere in the middle to break the ice.  Well, without thinking I just scrawled out the quote.  Seems a fitting first page.  Now... what to do on page 2? 

I am not an Addict

I tagged along with hubby on a work-related trip today.  This meant a chance to peruse art supplies in person.  I went in searching for a waterbrush, but the aisle of paper and pads called my name.  In light of the recent sketchbook gathering, I had no intention of buying another one.  Then . . . I spied it.  A "hand made" watercolor journal with deliciously rough pages & deckled edges.  Tempting, so very tempting.  I picked it up and put it back multiple times.  It spoke to me like those doodads do in the Pier 1 commercials.  I went into another aisle then came back.  "Now listen here - you have plenty of blank pages waiting to be filled!"  (That was me, not my hubby.)  Alright already . . .  I relented - took a photo and added it to my wish list.  We headed home with the waterbrush, masking fluid and dreams of future projects on handmade paper.

You Simply Can't Have Too Many

"Why do you need that?" . . . "Because I want one of these." . . . "Don't you have enough of those?" . . . "No, not like this one - and not in this size."

This was not about jewelry or clothes.  This back and forth took place in Target when I spied a Moleskine blank journal in a larger size than the pocket one I actually had in the vehicle parked outside of Target.  I reminded hubby of the year our daughter received hoodies from everyone and she said "You can never have too many hoodies!"  Well, you can never have too many sketchbooks!  He sighed & I bought one more.

This prompted a gathering of sketchbooks, paper pads and miscellaneous books intended for drawing exercises.  I lined them up on the stairs and did a little photo shoot of my prized possessions - an activity which promptly put the dog to sleep.

I haven't used any of the color paper pads gracing the top row - bought over the years for future colored pencil, pastel & charcoal attempts.

Below these are 22 blank, gridded or lined pads of paper and one repurposed almanac.  Ten have been used to some degree and two are full.  A dozen were obtained since starting the sketchbook trek.  Several more are waiting in my art supplies wish list.

I am not alone in this obsession.  I recently discovered the notebook stories blog and their notebook addict posts.  Kindred spirits.



Too many sketchbooks?  Never!  I promise to fill up a few before I add another... maybe.

Towards the end of the organizing and photo taking, Milo showed up to inspect, get bored and then leap over the pile to startle Daisy.  I missed the leap by a nanosecond.

Best Laid Plans

Remember the 30 Day Drawing Challenge?  That was, lets see, about 13 days ago.  Am I on day 13 of the challenge?  Nope.  Day 6.  So, this 30 Day Challenge will likely take me about 60... or more... days.  I admit it.  I notoriously start a plan all gung ho and then am easily sidetracked.  Last week, a new batch of art supplies arrived.  You simply CANNOT receive new pencils and such and not use them!  So, I had to test out the charcoal pencils instead of doing the challenge that day.  Which means I actually sketched Milo for awhile - something I mentioned doing back in October.

Furry Milo and a few charcoal Milos soaking up some sun.

I felt blech one day and did some therapeutic mandala coloring with the Prismacolor markers.  Along with other distractions, we took an impromptu shopping trip last weekend.  I brought my little Moleskine sketchbook and recorded a somewhat jiggly version of the ever-changing view.

Yesterday, my parents' beloved dog left this good earth - 3 1/2 years after her best friend, my Dad, passed away.  She was closing in on 16 years of age and the whole family was "blubbery" as my Mom put it.  Belle had been fading fast the past week and an image of her & Dad was growing in my brain.  When I received the news, I had to quickly sketch the pair and share it with family and friends.  It's a simple sketch that I'd like to redo at some point.  But the feel of it seems to fit them.

None of this artwork was part of the Challenge.  During the sketchbook trek, I've made plans, broken plans, made new plans, ignored those plans, etc.  However, I kick myself in the buns and get back on track.  Whatever plans are made, forgotten or reworked - I'll continue arting it up.

The Gang's All Here!

The two replacement Prismacolor markers arrived late last week - along with several other new art supplies.  New art supplies which are distracting me from the 30 Day Drawing Challenge.  More on that soon.  The new marker caps are ever so slightly larger than the old ones, so don't fit in the retro carousel as they should.  Rats.  They must lean against the oldies a bit askew.  At least the family is all together again!

Retro Carousel

And now, another blast from the past.  Back when the Pony Express delivered my college acceptance letter...  um...  When my parents helped me load up the model T...  er . . . .  We didn't use computers back when I spent my waking hours in the graphic design room...  Seriously.  Designing and production was done sans keyboard, touchpad or monitor.  Shocking!  I know!  A young friend recently told me she didn't realize there was graphic design before computers.  Yeah, I'm old.

I also worked on campus creating graphics.  My boss bought a Macintosh computer during my senior year.  The original Mac.  I learned the incredibly brilliant MacPaint and MacDraw.  It was amazing!  Stop laughing.  It was.  Prior to that, my lone computer experience was a few weeks of BASIC programming on a clunky computer in high school.

Though the office had a Mac, not a single computer was available in the art rooms.  T-square, airbrush, frisket film, color paper, rapidograph pen, non repro blue pencil, registration marks, x-acto knife, burnished lettering....  No computer.  We were also required to purchase a set of design markers.  Double-ended bright colors that did not come cheap, especially for a college student.  I still have mine, but hadn't used them in years and years - stashed in the basement with the tackle box.

48 Prismacolor markers saw the light of day this week.  Testing time for the 27 year old fine points and chisel tips.  First three?  Fantastic.  Nice clean colors.  Then Warm Gray 20% scratched across the paper leaving no color whatsoever.  Next two were good.  Then Cold Gray 40% - dry dry dry.  My old set was shrinking.  However, the next one was fine, and the next and the next.  One after the other, both sides flowing nicely.  Only two were kaput.  A pleasant surprise.  Time to add vibrant color to the sketchbook!