Red Chair Shadow Shot

Red wicker chairs on a porch in the late afternoon sun on a Saturday in summer, while a group of friends gather together, along with horses for riding, kids for the picking up and spinning around and around, and good food for the eating.

'nuff said.

Life is good.

I bet all the other folks posting shadow shots this Sunday over at Hey Harriet would agree.

Fly Away Shadow Shot

I've said it before -- once you start looking at shadows you notice things you've never seen before. This shadow has been in my kitchen, literally, for five years or more. And I just now noticed it.

The culprit? This little glass blue bird that hangs in my kitchen window.

And speaking of flying away ... despite being so busy with work (where the heat is being turned up), a complete downstairs remodel (which is going slowly), an upcoming garage sale (see notes about remodel and imagine many many boxes and bags of STUFF added to the mix), a neighborhood picnic (which we are responsible for organizing), and an out of town business meeting (...do I need to elaborate on THAT?) -- all going on next week ... despite being so busy right now that I frequently find myself sitting on the sofa in mild panic with a fixed stare on my face .... despite being so busy that I could WORK until midnight tonight and barely make a dent in the pile ... I'm going to the lake today for the first time this summer.

Yep. Despite all that I'm flying away from it all. So there. Everybody, have a fun rest of the weekend!
:-)

Going in Circles

Shadow shots ... once you start looking for interesting shadows, you notice the strangest little things. Cool.

... and it is even COOLER when you've got a buddy in from out of town to go shadow-shootin' with...

June Boomers

June is here, and so is the season here when, without warning, thunderstorms pop up in the afternoon causing general traffic problems and other minor disruptions; happily, usually within about 30 or 45 minutes, the sun pops right back out again. We had several years of drought here, and I'm very VERY happy to say that it looks like our weather is finally back to normal. Yay!

This video (HERE) was taken only eight minutes before this photo ... which was taken as the rain slowed down and the sun came out. If you look closely you can see raindrops ... :-)

P.S. My schedule is getting back to normal, and I found my sketchbook after losing it for a few days, so I should be getting back to sketching around town soon!

Peony

I made a few random marks here and there this week - in drips and dabs, as they say. I finally just took a deep breath and finished it off this evening.

So, what do YOU call this flower ...
a Pee-OH-nee?
a PEE-ah-nee?
a Pehhnee?
Or do you call it what some of the older folks around here call it -- a "Piney Rose"?

Half Peony

Sorry to have disappeared like that -- I've been sick since Sunday (nothing terrible) and haven't done anything to write home about -- or, at least to write to you guys about.

Today I ended up staying home from work (which always feels like a WASTE) and by afternoon I was feeling a bit better and a whole lot bored, so I had to try doing a little something. I spent about 30 minutes laying some washes on this -- went and rested -- came back and did some squiggles in the background -- good enough for today. Hopefully I'll be able to carry through with this one without mucking it up too badly. The composition is, well, iffy, and I knew that from the beginning; but quite frankly, I felt kind of iffy myself at the time and decided that the painting could always be cropped. Composition by elimination, if you know what I mean.

By the way, since it is kind of in an unrecognizable state, it is a peony -- actually one of the peonies that started from these buds shown earlier.

For a truly beautiful peony, if you haven't already seen my friend Zelma's wonderful painting, please go see it now -- HERE. She is not only a great artist, but has a calm & steady hand, incredible focus, and more patience than anyone I know!

P.S. I have done something everyday in May, despite everything, even if it is more doodles than sketches. They're around here somewhere. Don't ask me to go get them. Whew.

Shadow Shot Under the Stairs

In the darkness under the stairs at the old L&N train station the other day, a little pool of light and shadow glimmered all alone. It made me want to sit still and take a nice deep breath. Aaaahhhhh.....

Go visit Hey Harriet! to see more shadows, restful and otherwise...

Tomorrow I'll probably post the past 3 days and today's art efforts ... I think. Really, it all just depends on what I do with it today. Sigh.

May 13 Train Station

Sketching at the old L&N Train Station down by World's Fair Park yesterday. I used the carbon pencil again this time, and tried applying it a bit heavier for the darks than in previous sketches. Maybe a little too heavy in spots (yeah, one place shouldn't be dark at all, but I'm not going to be the one to point it out...), but it sure worked out for the deeper shadows! Hey, does that mean I'm not REALLY painting with just a triad? And then, cheating even more -- I tweaked it further with some ink.

Speaking of triads -- this was a pretty good one for this type of painting, I thought -- French Ultramarine, Indian red, and Raw Sienna. The straight up colors are clearer and more transparent, and made for more interesting mixes with a wider range of darks than some of my earlier experiments.

Today I went back down to the park to try and sketch this building again, but while looking for a parking space noticed that the museum had free admission. DETOUR! I guess tonight's sketch will be something lying around the house ...

May 12 Punkin Shack

I think you actually have to know what this place is to even recognize what the objects are on the page. That's how you know it wasn't a great day sketching ... kind of like having to explain the punch line of a joke, right?

Sigh.

Started with purple pen, watercolor triad of New Gamboge, Permanent Rose, and French Ultramarine -- then touched up with carbon pencil and some more watercolor -- then, in a final fit of desperation, tightened up with .005 black micron and and accidental wash of phthalo blue in the back. The more I muddled with it, the more it got, well, muddled.

Sketching from the car is hard.
Only three colors is hard.

May 11 Vic and Bills Deli

The experimental sketches after work continue this week. I had to take my car in for a little bit of work and when I went to pick it up, paused for a few minutes to sketch Vic & Bill's Deli across the street. This is the home of the famous "Vol Burger", heaping orders of huge steaming hot steak fries, and a really REALLY good Falafel. Sigh. And me on a diet... Oh well!

Today I switched to a regular 0.3 mechanical pencil for the sketch. I liked how it gave me better control for the sketch, and the lines held up well under the watercolor wash, but I feel like it is a bit wimpy compared to the carbon pencils that bleed and run. Maybe a combination of pencil is the trick? Hmmmm...

I tried Friday's triad of cobalt and cad red and yellow ochre* again and am still not happy with it. Love how the cad red makes the nice accents, and I mixed a spot-on "University of Tennessee Orange" for the squares on the side wall (Go Vols!), but I never could get darks or light value greys that satisfied me.

So, I'll be playing more with cerulean blue and french ultramarine this week. I'll be trying burnt sienna for my red one day. I don't know -- if we get some sunshine, I'll try some of those sunny triads I have on hold right now. Also in my bag for experimentation this week is a 0.1 brown micron, a .005 purple micron, and a 0.1 (?I think) orange micron, so we shall see what happens with the line. It can only get better. (grrr)

And, as Forrest Gump would say, "that's all I have to say about that."

*(I say yellow ochre, although now I'm not sure I didn't accidentally use raw sienna -- they look SO MUCH ALIKE! Aaaargh!)