Rainy Day Drawing

Tags

books, chair, footstool, lamp, Living room, sofa

It’s been the rainiest June that I can recall here in the Chicago area. If it’s not raining, it’s cloudy and gray. I haven’t been doing much sketching outside, but there’s been plenty of time to work on more complicated pieces during these dreary days and nights.

Today, the sun’s shining! We took the dogs to the dog park this morning, and I sketched the surrounding landscape. Hope to post that as soon as I get it colored.

In the meantime, here’s a rainy day sketch of the room we call “the second living room.” It has a small fireplace and lots of books, and it’s where I prefer to spend my time when I’m at home.

Today’s inspiration: The thing is to become a master in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing. Ernest Hemingway.

Black Dog Mug and Chain

Tags

black dog, chain, mug

Today’s drawings are of a hook and chain Marty dug from the side yard and my beloved Black Dog mug. Both feature one of my favorite colors, indian red.

Today’s inspiration: Music is the space between the notes. Claude Debussy.

Wind-up Duck Drawing

Tags

anthropomorphic, duck

I’ve mentioned before here that I’m attracted to the anthropomorphic qualities of nature things, like sticks, and humble household sculptures. We keep a major collection of tiny toys along the wainscoting ledge in the bathroom, which I imagine have many and varied internal lives.  

There are other small toys scattered around the house, that I’ve collected over the years because they’ve spoken to me in some way. Others have been gifts, from like-minded souls who also believe that inanimate objects a great deal to say to us.

Here’s a wind-up duck who is riding a sort of motorized scooter. He’s having great fun with this adventure, and he enjoys feeling the wind blowing through his helicopter cap as he moves. Here, he is stationary, since my skills are not great enough to capture him in motion.

 

Today’s Inspiration: If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. Jesus, Gospel of Thomas.

 

Everyday Matters Challenges

Tags

EDM, Everyday Matters, Norman Rockwell, screw, tote bag, venezia fabriano sketchbook

Today I’m posting 2 drawings I did as part of the Everyday Matters Group, which has just moved to Facebook. Yay!

My Norman Rockwell tote bag was given to me by the staff at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts when I worked as the licensing director for the Norman Rockwell Licensing Company. It’s wonderfully sturdy, and I used it a lot when I was buying great volumes of books regularly when we owned the bookstore.

I lost once it at the Algonquin Library sale, and I was heartbroken. Some bags mean something to me, like my Strand book bag, because they have value beyond just being a tool for carrying stuff.  Goodness prevailed, though, when one of the Friends of the Algonquin Libary, Bill, called me about it. I’d left them a message, telling them that I thought I’d left it at the sale, and they were kind enough to return it to me.

Yesterday I drew it containing one of my sketchbooks. I used a dip pen and Blicks’ Black Cat india ink. Worked out pretty well.

The other drawing is another Everyday Matters challenge, “Draw a Screw.” These are fun to do.

Today’s inspiration: When one door closes another will open.

Many thanks to Roz for featuring this fortune cookie quote in her blog this week.

Face Book Friends Portraits

Tags

inspiration, quote

Today I’m posting 2 new portraits from my face book. These lovely ladies are Susie and Judy, two of my Big 5 pals. Hope their funny and warm personalities shine through. My life would be less vital without them!

I’ve been keeping a moleskine cahier filled with quotes and and bits of advice I run across when I’m reading a book or the internet. I’m going to add one inspiration every day to my blog.

Today’s inspiration: Get started. Don’t quit. Even if it gets messy and looking beyond repair. Keep working.

New Orleans Hat

Tags

hat, Jenny, New Orleans

Another day, another Face Book drawing. This one’s of Jenny, from when we went to New Orleans. I love her hat, which I believe she bought, and hope she wears occasionally. It suits her.

My Face Book Drawings

Tags

face, portrait

Somewhere, and regrettably I’ve lost the site, I ran across an artist who was making a face book of portraits. I love this idea, and since I’ve been photographing family and friends for so many years now, I have a great number of candid photos from which to choose as reference.

I’m making no attempt to do serious portraiture here. The idea is to have fun and to capture the whimsy, humor, and puckishness of my friends’ and family’s personalities. Once again, too, I’m not aiming for technical perfection. The process of making these drawings is sufficient pleasure for me.

 

Drawing for Fun

Tags

architecture, fun, house, urban sketching

I’m pretty much a perfectionist when it comes to making art, or anything else, for that matter. So, one of the reasons I started this blog was to give myself the freedom to draw as much as possible, mistakes be damned.

I would never have attempted to draw architecture in my old, safe, life as a technically proficient, but not creative, artist. Now, I’m forcing myself just to have fun with drawing and painting, unless of course, it’s a commission, where I have to be a little more careful, but I can still have some degree of fun.

I’ll be posting much more of this kind of drawing. Free from slavish attention to perspective and color nuance, it’s an ink drawing of our neighbor’s house, with a watercolor wash.

Fabriano Venezia Sketchbooks – Magnifico!

Tags

sketchbook

Thought I’d post a picture of the sketchbook I mentioned in my last post, along with a review. Its thick, luxurious paper is wonderful to draw on, and it accepts watercolor very nicely. Minimal rippling. Two of my favorite artists, Roz Stendahl and Danny Gregory, also use and recommend them.

Drawing at the Auto Museum

Tags

art supllies, Automobiles, Cars, Museum

Last week my friend Carol and I went to the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois to sketch.

I learned a few things on this outing. First, I need to bring larger brushes. I worked with my new Fabriano Venezia sketchbook, which is lovely to draw and paint in, but it’s much larger, at 9.5″ x 12″ than I’m accustomed to. I usually sketch in pocket moleskines.

The second thing I learned, but which I knew earlier, is that it would be really handy to have a portable stool with me. It was a little tough getting up and down from the floor when other museum visitors were walking by.

I’m excited about the new Urban Sketchers groups starting. We’re going to try to get a sketch group together for the Dundee area.

Here are some sketches from our trip to the Volo Auto Museum. The one of the taxi was done in the Venezia sketchbook. The others were done in my trusty moleskine cahier.