Quotidian Curiosities

KnitWit

2012-01-13T20:27:00.000-05:00

The weather here is cold and icky. My drawing plans have been (only very temporarily) interrupted while I finish a little project -- a shawl and hat for a friend who is going to need a little support on Monday.

Do YOU have a little bit of spare time this weekend? Why don't you join me and create something special.

Make a hat from headhuggers.org for someone who really needs it.

See you in a day or two!

Oh 2012!

2012-01-09T23:15:00.000-05:00

It's been a while.
Things have changed -- some people have grown. Some people have learned to walk and talk and run and chase things.

I tend to think certain people have grown cuter and cuter.

But that's just my opinion. (Even if I am right.)

I think about this blog every now and then. Not often enough and usually just to feel guilty that I haven't posted.

The truth is, time has just rolled on, along with lots and lots of obligations, and I've let the time I allow for creativity/art dwindle away. Things -- and by that I mean actual THINGS -- have piled up around my art area, and at the end of the day, when I'm most tired of WORKING and most need to be playing, I can't use my art space without WORKING even more to clean it up.

I need to spend a day (or two or seven) to clean up and sell off / give away / throw away a lot of these things that are hampering my creativity rather than feeding it. I've started doing just that, but it feels like it is going to be a major project.

HOWEVER -- in the meanwhile -- Diahn and the New Year's Resolution Fairy have come to my rescue to help pull me out of my rut and put me back on the path.

Yes, I'm starting back -- simply and the way I started back some years ago -- by drawing a little something every day. Just a LITTLE something.

We have committed to drawing on a theme every month -- and this month's theme is Coffee. My first couple of drawings have been, um, well, terrible. I will warm up and get better. I'll post the first few in a group in a few days. I'll stick with it -- I promise.

And maybe we'll both grow a little this year.

Time Flies

2011-06-05T08:23:00.001-04:00

Hard to imagine that so much can change in 10 1/2 months...

His mama tells me he took two steps yesterday. It makes me want to jump in the car and make that ten hour drive right now. I will have to wait a few more weeks, though, if I can possibly stand it!

Meanwhile, when not working-working-working, I am still purging & fixing up the house a bit, playing in the yard, and generally planning to enjoy every minute of summer.

And, for June, I've given myself a little task that I will share later. See you soon!

Thanks Dan!

2011-03-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

I'm still here, spending a lot of time working and catching up on things and running back and forth to Florida to spend time with the grandbaby.

But I found something tonight that I just had to share:

THIS wonderful drawing here...

Does it remind anyone of THIS?

Yep, I'm smiling.
:-)
Thanks, Dan! I love it!

Visit Dan Kent's great blog here:
http://danscanvas.blogspot.com/

Zelma's Give away!

2011-01-10T20:39:00.000-05:00

My friend Zelma is one of the most amazing watercolor artists I know. Her sense of color is clear and true, and she has this incredible way of doing detail without overworking the painting. I absolutely love her work -- go see for yourself, and I guarantee you will love it, too.

A much as I HATE competition for this, I must let you guys know that Zelma is giving away a painting. To register to win, just visit her HERE, comment, and make a little note on your own blog. You will not regret this at all, I promise.

Good luck to us all! ;-)
Love,
Linda

How Long?

2010-11-14T20:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't updated here in HOW LONG?

Oh, my goodness. Life has been very busy. We're blogging regularly (Diahn and I) over at Quirk, where we are doing food and recipes for the month of November. Kind of our way of keeping up our photo practice, acknowledging that the month of November becomes All About Food Anyway by the second week of the month, and giving a nod to all of the brave people out there doing NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo and NaWhateverElseMo.

Miss you guys. Off to see what the rest of you have been doing out there in Bloggerville.
Love,
Linda

Tomato

2010-09-06T21:09:00.005-04:00

I've never had much luck growing vegetables in our yard. We have too many trees that compete for the sunshine and the water to have a successful vegetable garden. Still, I try.

This spring at a local nursery I found a nice sized patio tomato plant that was already off to a good start. Our deck gets a good amount of sun, so, even though the plant was a bit pricey, we figured it would be worth a try.

We planted it and watered it.

We pinched back the suckers and weeded the pot occasionally.

Then, we had a new grandbaby. And we traveled a little. And we went out onto the lake on the weekends. And we kind of forgot about the plant, which had, by August, flopped over out of it's pot and was lying on a deck chair's footstool.

Not a sign of a tomato, though. None.

Today, doing some pre-fall cleaning, I went out to the deck with the plan of pulling the plant up so we could at least get to the chair. AND...

...and...

and, there on the footstool, positively GLOWING, was a tomato.

So, just in case you've never seen one before, ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me proudly to present...

THE NINE DOLLAR TOMATO.

Yippee.
(sigh)

Doll Face

2010-08-11T22:32:00.000-04:00

I just noticed that I never gave details about our new little fellow!

This is A.J. -- he was 6 lb 12 oz when he was born a little over a month ago, and is now 9 lb 10 oz at his one month check up.

He likes well built women, quiet evenings at home, and long conversations late LATE into the night.

Finger Lickin Good

2010-07-11T22:18:00.002-04:00

I tell him if he keeps that finger in his mouth people will start calling him "that nine fingered boy."

He doesn't care...

First Morning at Home

2010-07-10T13:39:00.001-04:00

You know how it is when you wake up in a new place and you're all, like, "whoa, what the..." and then you're like, "oh, yeah, I remember now."

It was kind of like that, but with an, "aaargh, matey, the name be AJ and I be squintin' my pirate eye at ye'..." thrown in.

Dudes

2010-07-08T21:02:00.000-04:00

There's just something about great big guys holding little bitty babies...

2010-07-08T00:26:00.000-04:00

Unexpectedly arriving this afternoon via the fastest emergency C-section most of the nurses at this hospital have ever seen... we are all still just stunned and thankful at how blessed we are.

You people, however, are about to be subjected to many many MANY baby pictures. And I'm not apologizing.
:-)

Shadow Shot Beach Chair

2010-07-04T21:58:00.002-04:00

Still in Florida waiting for the baby to arrive.
So, since it's Sunday, here's a shadow shot ... just for the heck of it.

still waiting

2010-06-30T22:48:00.001-04:00

in Florida ... still waiting

Totally Excited

2010-06-26T07:27:00.000-04:00

I'm off to paint this morning ...
then to work to finish EVERYTHING on my desk...
then to the store to exchange my brand new (malfunctioning) camera...
then home to clean house and do ALL the laundry...
then to gather my kit for on-the-road sketching and watercolor...
then to pack my clothes...
then MONDAY...after much anticipation and excitement...
after what will be a VERY long day at work (even though I will leave early)...

I'll be off to Florida, to be with my daughter...

and await the arrival of my FIRST GRANDBABY!!!

Believe me. You guys are going to be just SICK of baby pictures when this is all said and done with.

Wish us luck and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Talk to you all soon!

True Story

2010-04-08T20:07:00.000-04:00

Dear Blogger Buddies,
The worst part about being absent for so long is that it is so dang AWKWARD starting back.
But I started back today.
Today I squeezed some magenta paint into a palette.
Then work called, so...
TRUE STORY. Stay tuned.
Love,
Linda (The Slacker)

2010-02-07T19:39:00.002-05:00

I've been working on a little series of portraits in a small "folder" style journal since about mid January. (Starting with the little portrait I posted earlier.) This past Friday night I couldn't find my palette of gouache anywhere, and after turning the house upside down, gave up the search and just filled an extra empty palette with fresh paint, with the plan of finishing up the book Saturday afternoon. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon that I realized my little book of finished portraits was also missing.

Gone. And I can't imagine where it could be... except that I've been doing a LOT of housecleaning which has involved throwing a lot of stuff away...

Sigh. I'm starting over from scratch.

Oddly, I'm not terribly upset that it's gone missing. Don't know what's up with THAT.

****************

Other news -- Diahn and I have had a little photography project going this year where we've done a photo a day of ... well, of whatever we see that day. We call the project "Quirk" and would love to invite you all over to take a peek.

Hmmmm... maybe I need to look through all my photos for clues to my missing sketchbook...

Promises

2010-01-02T21:59:00.003-05:00

I did this a month ago, and haven't drawn much of anything since. But I look at it and it makes me happy. Something about it feels like the direction I want to go this year.

BUT ... if you are expecting New Year's resolutions and goals for 2010 ... well, it just ain't happening right now.

Diahn and I met up today and talked about how we normally set goals this time of year. She didn't quite read me the riot act about my lack of blog posts this past month, but she very firmly and sweetly pointed out that I was a dismal disappointment. A slacker, you might say. And I had to agree. So I PROMISE to do better!!! And while we don't have major goals, we might have a little no-stress project to play with this year -- an idea that we're just tossing around right now. To be quite honest, I'm still a bit overwhelmed with life, and have to get through my "to-do list" before I can think about doing much more!

My To Do List:

Pick out new floors for my downstairs and get them installed so I can finally get this house straightened back up!

I have a new dining room set in my living room -- the old dining room furniture is still in the dining room waiting to get put up on Craig's List. Maybe I'd have better luck getting to the drawing table if I wasn't climbing over an extra dining room table. You think?

Good Will can expect a major donation, as I am going through my entire house and getting rid of stuff that I don't use. I've already done a couple of rooms, but my closet is ... well, let's just say that it is a bit full.

I have to get caught up on some things at work. Seriously.

AND THEN I can think about art projects. Big ones, that is.

Still. I have major art guilt right now about not keeping up the sketching habit, so I'll be starting that back up. And I think little gouache paintings on tan paper, like the one above, are a good starting point for now. Promise.

Ahem

2009-12-24T15:01:00.002-05:00

Ahem.
Again, I've been gone for a while. But I can't let Christmas pass without posting my favorite song, now, can I?
Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Home Again

2009-11-15T22:16:00.000-05:00

Back home tonight after a full day of travel. I'm glad to be home, but on the other hand, I could have stayed on the beach for a little while longer... yes, I sure could have stayed.

Wet

2009-11-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

The Gulf of Mexico. The water into which I dropped my cell phone yesterday.

Electronics do not mix with salt water.

Blogging from Panera in Panama City Beach - no internet at the hotel. See you guys later!

On The Road

2009-11-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

Florida bound! We just checked into our hotel in Georgia -- I'm so excited, I'm not sure I'll sleep at all tonight...

Carrot Tops

2009-11-11T22:36:00.001-05:00

Doodles of carrots in the "junk book," which I remembered to quickly check this time to be sure that no inappropriate language showed up. (sorry about that earlier ... I don't even see the words as words -- they're just background stuff to me here.)

I did these with a brush pen set and a couple of colored pencils. Not sure what I think about the brush pens -- they're okay for something like this but if there's any detail at all I imagine they would be kind of tough.

The carrots ended up in soup. I included the tops in the stock as it simmered and they added a surprisingly pungent and peppery taste that I WILL go for again!

Someplace Else

2009-11-09T22:26:00.001-05:00

From a photo of somebody else's vacation. I would like to go out to the desert in the American west and paint these red rocks from life. But for now, I have to figure out the next best step. I need to life the dark green up a bit on the hill on the right -- it looks like I cut it out from construction paper. Other than that ... where to go next? Part of me wants to finish up in ink ... colored pencil ... pastel ... gouache ... or just leave it alone and move on to the next thing? What do you guys think?

Shadow Shot Downtown

2009-11-08T09:43:00.008-05:00

After spending the morning painting and then shopping for veggies at the Farmer's Market in Market Square, isn't it nice to find a place to stop and sit and rest your feet? Perhaps having a wonderful cappuccino ... maybe a panini sandwich on fresh bread ... or just a bottle of water with a friend.*

Visit Hey Harriet! for more of this week's shadow shots.

*Next time, Zelma! Next time we'll actually stop and sit down! :-)

Farmers Market

2009-11-07T22:41:00.004-05:00

It was such a beautiful morning this morning that Zelma and I skipped out of the last hour and a half of watercolor to go to the Farmers' Market downtown on Market Square.

Yep. I would call this a perfect Saturday. Now if I just had some of Marta's empanadas...

Expect sketches later on - I'm off to work on the scanner now!
:-)

Aaargh

2009-11-06T23:26:00.000-05:00

Life has come before art lately, so I was really happy today to have been able to actually SCHEDULE myself a solid hour this evening to work on a good sized watercolor that is very close to being done.

Of course, the very first thing that I had to do was move a few little things off of the drawing table, which has been used more for storage than art lately. The music was playing, the brushes were set up, the painting had been moved close ... very close ... and then ... and then ... sigh. And then I dropped two very big, soft, luscious pastels onto the hardwood floor.

Have you ever seen a glass EXPLODE when dropped onto a hard tile floor? Let me tell you -- lovely big, soft, luscious pastel dropped onto hardwood gives much the same effect, except with brilliantly colored dust rather than glass. Because they exploded so very close to all my watercolor supplies -- oh, no, let me clarify -- they exploded in the area BETWEEN me and my watercolor. It isn't like I could move the painting and then clean up -- oh NO -- I had to gently clean up in order to get to the painting, all the while fretting that turquoise and pink pastel, lovely and luscious that they may be, had gotten onto the gold and orange sections of my painting and ruined a fair amount of work.

And that took well over an hour to do. Sooo... no art tonight.

After that my sister and our friend Marcia came and made me go shopping with them, brutally forcing me to spend at least an hour trying on shoes. Oh the agony.
(hee hee hee)

THAT blue

2009-11-05T20:24:00.001-05:00

It has been one of those weeks here, full of ups and downs. Eventful. A full moon kind of thing.

But in the end, the sky really WAS that blue today. In Tennessee of all places.

We went downtown for lunch on Market Square (Soccer Taco -- it was surprisingly good!) and then ended up at Coolato's for WONDERFUL gelato. I had Sicilian Blood Orange Gelato. Is that even legal?

There I noticed these coffee cups on the counter -- and am thinking about turning this one into a series of paintings. What do you guys think?

To A New Home

2009-11-04T17:47:00.003-05:00

How nice to come home from work and see, on the counter mixed in with the junk mail and bills, an envelope that contains a check and a happy note from a gallery owner telling you that you sold a painting. Okay. Pretty nice. In fact, it trumped whatever else I was going to blog about tonight!

Miss Vanilla Cupcake -- I never took her picture after she was completely finished -- this is her in her penultimate* phase. In the end, she was warmed up and cropped down for framing and compositional purposes (see below). She was a sweet cow.
:-)
Warm thanks to the folks who decided to give her a good home!

(This is actually closer to the final crop. The silo was a distraction.)

*I had to throw in a word for all you NaNoWriMo people out there when may be running short on inspiration. PENULTIMATE. Use that one in a sentence and see where it takes you...
:-)

Blind Contour Friday

2009-11-03T22:31:00.001-05:00

Blind Contour Friday, hosted by the tres talented Diahn.
Well, except that today is Tuesday.
And only a few of these are blind. (The others just kind of look that way.)

Hmmm... what else?
I made soup tonight.

That's all I've got.

Deserted Cafe

2009-11-02T21:35:00.002-05:00

I used to just love the looks of this little cafe. When I passed it today, I stopped to photograph it for another project and saw that the door was partway open. There was enough light streaming in to see a little of the inside, and it looked a total wreck. I didn't get too close to the door! It just felt creepy.

I painted this last year when it was still open, when it was colorful and lively and smelled like frying bacon and fresh coffee -- and now I'm very glad I did!

NaBloPoMo 2009

2009-11-01T18:25:00.003-05:00

It's November again -- already. And you guys know that means it's time for NaBloPoMo for those of us unwilling (or unable) to spend thirty days trying to write a novel*.

I'm planning on doing a bit of a blog re-do (some of those labels over there are pretty stale) and really need to blow the dust off the header this week. I'm also planning on doing some art this month. I'm going to be taking Kate Johnson's new on-line course this November, and am also working on a couple of paintings that may or may not be fit for public viewing -- we'll have to see how they turn out.

Of course, today, instead of painting I decided to spend a little time making homemade pesto. To make it extra creative, I took photos. Just for you guys.

You're welcome.

Happy November!

*By the way, for those of you who ARE doing NaNoWriMo -- here's some handy links:
Strunk's wonderful book The Elements of Style
and, of course, a Thesaurus, for those occasions when you realize you've used the same adjective six times in two paragraphs.
For those busy late nights when you need to stretch things out to make your word count reach that magic number that lets you shut down and finally drag your sorry ass to bed:
LyricsCafe -- you can squeeze a few hundred words from a good song, and
Every Poet if you would rather resort to classic poetry references to burn up some verbiage.

Again, you're welcome.

Blind Contour Friday

2009-10-23T22:26:00.002-04:00

Diahn has re-awakened Blind Contour Fridays over at her place, and I couldn't resist. For the uninitiated, blind contour drawing is an exercise, and the results are rather, um, not pretty. These drawings are done by looking at the object being drawn, NEVER PEEKING at the paper, and, if at all possible, not lifting the pen from the page. They are done as a way of training the eye and hand to work together. Mine are numbered, and I could really tell that #5 felt better than #1!

I did mine in my junk sketch book. Hmmm. I guess I should explain about my junk sketch book, huh?! I was at McKay's (used books) one day a couple of months ago, and as I was leaving I glanced into the reject bin, where they put out books that people have left behind when they didn't meet the criteria for buy back. Free for the taking, these books are thrown out every evening, I guess ... essentially they are destined for the trash. One of my other errands that day was to run pick up some book board for a sketchbook I was binding -- and you surely see where I'm going here... Of course! There in the bin was a trove of perfectly good book board, in pairs that were already cut in handy matching sizes ... I grabbed two books, threw them into the front seat of the car, and finished up my day. I forgot to take the books in, and a few days later needed to make a quick note, so I just picked up one of the books and scribbled in it. Not bad paper. That's when I got the idea to make one of the books my "junk sketchbook" -- the sketchbook that is in no way "precious, precious "and was just for practice and drawing exercises. Recycling, don't you know...

And here's a little something for any of you who need to see a drawing that makes sense. Why did I choose this to paint? I don't know. I live nowhere near a lighthouse. I don't collect lighthouse stuff. In fact, I've never seen this lighthouse at all (other than in a photograph that somebody had) and have no idea where it is. I have no meaningful lighthouse history. I guess lighthouses ARE kind of cool, and it would be neat to drive around and look at them. I live in a light colored house that has lights in it, but that's not the same thing. Really, I just like things silhouetted against the sky, and I really like to occasionally use my red paint. That's it, people ... nothing more than that.

Okay, when you look at them, they ARE cool.
And this was fun.
AND I GOT TO USE MY RED PAINT.

Fallen

2009-10-17T19:15:00.001-04:00

BOOM!
Fall has fallen
right into our laps this weekend
with cold and rain and wind.
Oh yeah...

Totally Just Goofing Around

2009-09-27T20:17:00.001-04:00

The prodigal pear
...leaving the "pearants" behind...

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!

Shadow Shot Days Ago

2009-09-20T17:11:00.002-04:00

I'm glad I got out last Sunday afternoon and did some shadow shooting, because we "ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.* "

Want to see more sunshine and cheery shadows? (With all this rain I sure do!) Go visit Hey Harriet! and see what other Sunday Shadow Shooters have found. And if you like to play with a camera, why not join in? Come on. You know you want to.

*Okay, well, actually since sometime mid-afternoon on Monday, but that isn't near as musical or poetic.

Farmville

2009-09-18T21:30:00.003-04:00

A little sketchie of a farm in the Midwest done on a small piece of illustration board.* This worked nicely to hold in my lap or on the sketchbook and took layers of paint and ink and pencil and whatever I threw at it pretty well, as long as there wasn't too much wetness all at once. I like the idea of using the illustration board to supplement the paper in the sketchbook, and just know that it would "travel well."

And now I'm fighting my old computer, which is hooked up to my wonderful scanner. At one time neither the scanner nor the favorite printer would work with Vista (when Vista first came out), so I've kept them attached to the poor tired old computer which runs XP. What will I do when it dies, as it seems determined to do before the year is out??? I guess I'll be spending hours researching whether or not they've come up with Vista compatible drivers for my favorite peripherals! Do the rest of you also have to think hard to remember if all this technology really makes life easier or not?

Anyway -- I got this one scanned, and then the connection died again. Not the best in the lot, but the computer is flickering now, so I'm posting this anyway since it may be a while before I get the scanner working again. Sigh. More to come later. Hopefully. Meanwhile, I promise ... I'm still painting and sketching!
:-)

*Several experiments on larger pieces of the board were total flops -- I paint way too wet!

Shadow Shot Together

2009-09-13T09:12:00.001-04:00

At the end of summer. How many more days at the lake?

See MORE shadow shots over at Hey Harriet!

9 11

2009-09-11T18:33:00.001-04:00

I remember.

Shadow Shot Mushrooms and Mosses

2009-09-06T08:41:00.001-04:00

Hey! It is Shadow Shot Sunday again already.

Mushrooms and mosses and lichens in the woods in Ontario. Visit the other Shadow Shooters at Hey, Harriet! and see what they've been up to.

*Note -- yep, in the "self portrait" shadow I'm still wearing the life jacket, even though we're in the woods. We'd just pulled the boat up to the shore, and I didn't walk far in, and the life jacket just stayed on. I felt like I was crushing the growth underfoot, and couldn't imagine how long it had taken for those tiny plants to grow that thick and deep.

Shade of Grey Day

2009-09-02T21:52:00.002-04:00

A snippet from my travel sketchbook* of a grey day on vacation. I "broke the rules" and painted almost entirely with BLACK gouache. In the one square on the page I finished up with a few swipes of color.

Why have black and grey pigments gotten such a bad rap? Okay, so I see where people could (and do) over use them and end up with flat blah paintings ... but here and there ought to be okay. And, hey. Sometimes the world IS flat and blah and grey. Except for one red fishing boat. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about.

(Here's the other 3/4 of the page. Undecipherable, unless you know in advance that it is of a foggy, rainy, grey day on a lake... )
:-)

* my travel sketchbook is handmade from #140 hot press watercolor paper in a horizontal landscape format. We had to do all we could to avoid excess weight on this trip -- a good idea for any trip, actually -- so I chose to leave it unfinished with plans to do the covers after we returned home. I tried a new binding (to me) and feel like there are some technical issues with the construction of the book; therefore, I'm putting the covers on hold until I can talk to my friend, Bob Meadows (Book-Binding-Bob!) for HELP. I also have much more tweaking of hasty sketches before it is ready to be called done. And, of course, there will be some watercolor work from photos, as I sit at my table in the heat and humidity and think about the north... sigh. Oh Bother! I need to get over it!
:-D

Shadow Shot McVicar Lake

2009-08-30T09:25:00.015-04:00

Not only a shadow shot, but you also get to see my really fashionable shoes ...

Okay, so I knew you wouldn't really want to see my shoes, so here's one were I zoomed in a bit better. Go visit Hey Harriet! for more sunny shadow shots.

Tools of the trade. Nice, huh? Who knew that a tackle box could be so colorful?

Even the oars in the boat were useful tools for fishing...

Needing something that measures fish up to 50 inches is more practical than optimistic if you're fishing for Northern Pike on McVicar Lake.

Hmmm... not that I caught one that big, but it does happen! I don't actually seek those big things out, preferring to go for walleye. (Yum!)

To be perfectly truthful, once dinner was reeled in, I was more interested in catching some photos and enjoying the scenery. I guess, for me, fishing is just a good excuse to be outside looking around...

Have a good week, you guys!

Some Birdie

2009-08-29T21:34:00.001-04:00

... has a birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Diahn! (You guys need to go check out her cool bird paintings...)

Been Fishing

2009-08-27T21:42:00.003-04:00

Well, I've been off fishing and MORE!

Doug and I drove from Knoxville, Tennessee up to International Falls, Minnesota, where we met up with my parents, their friends, and my sister. We all piled into two cars with our outdoor gear and sleeping bags and some food and headed up into northern Ontario, to Ear Falls, where we stayed the night at Gawley's Little Beaver Lodge. From there, we were flown in a teeny tiny little plane that ended up landing on a remote lake* -- leaving us to fend for ourselves for a week in a lonely cabin in the wilderness.** PERFECTION!

While we were there I did a little bit of sketching and painting, but not as much as I'd hoped. We had quite a bit of rain (the blue skies in the photo above were infrequent and intermittent, except for a couple of days) and small boats on windy lakes just aren't the best environment for comfortable (or accurate) drawing. Still -- I took LOADS of photos (in the thousands) and have many months of inspiration for painting. I have some sketchy "stuff" started in my sketchbook, and I'm going to sit down and finish things up to show you guys as I review my vacation and wish I was still there, Up North.

Can I just say, folks -- if you love the outdoors and if you even just kind of like to fish, THIS is the vacation to take, at least once in your life. Seriously. You don't have to know how to fish to catch them, just throw in a hook and wait a few minutes. There are no TV's, radios, telephones, NOTHING. Peace and quiet and wind and eagles and stars like you wouldn't believe -- and if you're lucky, Northern Lights and caribou swimming across the lake.. The Gawleys run a great operation, and I can't recommend them highly enough.

After we returned to International Falls, Doug and I headed out the very next day and took a winding back road tour home, including a nice side trip along the northern shore of Lake Superior. We had the best time traveling both ways, including doing our own version of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives ... what a fun way to travel! I feel so grateful to live in such a beautiful country, and to have had this opportunity to see it up close.

So stay tuned. It is taking me a while to sort things out -- I still haven't found my paintbrushes, but there is still a bag or two to be unpacked. But very soon -- I'm ITCHING to paint!

*Woman River Fly-In -- Lake McVicar
**sounds very dramatic, doesn't it! :-D
*** OH! and very special thanks to my sis for taking the picture of me taking pictures of eagles
:-)

P.S. does anybody know how I can map our route and embed it into a post? I tried on Google Earth and Google Maps, and can't get what I was hoping for. Sigh. I may just have to take a marker and draw the lines on a map, and then scanning it in!

Shadow Shot Somewhere

2009-08-23T23:25:00.002-04:00

A shadow shot from somewhere other than where I normally am.* Please note that I am a bit plump, but not as plump as I appear in this shadow. I'm actually wearing about 3 layers of long clothing (in August!?!) and a life jacket.

So, if you haven't guessed yet, I've ventured off for a bit and am on my way home now. More details later on!

And a note to any of you shadow shooters who may be in the Duluth area -- I missed a great shadow shot from 535 south at about 7:30 in the evening where a gigantic chain casts the most lovely shadow onto the side of a ship in dock -- (the ship is the American something or other ... can't believe that I can't remember!)
For shadow shots that WEREN'T missed, go visit Hey, Harriet!

(Shhh, all you grammar teachers out there! I know that isn't the way to end the sentence!)

Shadow Shot Stair Rail

2009-08-09T18:20:00.001-04:00

Going up? Going down? Zig zag shadows make your head go round.

Fabulous shadows over at Hey Harriet! this week for Shadow Shot Sunday. Hope it is sunny and bright where you are!

Sidestreet

2009-08-08T16:46:00.002-04:00

I got a 15 minute break this afternoon between errands, and stopped to try out a new drawing pen by Prismacolor (heads up, people -- THEY make a 0.05 in sepia!) in the Handbook Journal. I parked in an attorney's empty parking lot, directly under the Do Not Park Here Unless You Are Visiting This Attorney sign and sketched the patio of Sidestreet Tavern over the top of the fence. (Shown darkened here, just to view a bit better.) For some reason I find sunbrellas compelling ... maybe I need to do an actual PAINTING of them. Novel idea.

Okay, back on track ... so then I took it home and added watercolor washes ...

... okay. This particular brand of sketchbook really ISN'T for me -- for watercolor at least. Big yuk on the colors and the wimpy values I get with this paper! I just work too wet and with too many glazes.*

Later this afternoon I picked up a couple of pieces of #140 Arches hot pressed and one piece of #90 hot pressed (just for variety, you know) and am going to be sewing something up. Quickly. Toot-sweet, don't you know. I have an outing planned ...
:-)

* I ended up trying to work in some darks with my handy-dandy carbon pencils... WAY overworked.

**Uh, another note. Why in the world did I sketch in the patio light on a pole? Sigh. I knew as soon as I did it that I'd made a mistake. If I was a clever Photoshop-er I would have taken it out of the scan and you would never have known.

ISO Perfection

2009-08-06T18:42:00.002-04:00

A mandarin orange, one of two that I picked up yesterday at the Fresh Market. Either that, or a lumpy orange circle. You choose.

I'm busy searching for the perfect sketchbook for an outing and thought I'd go ahead and give the Handbook Journal (that so many of you love) a try. Not what I'm looking for, unfortunately. The paper just doesn't stand up to the abuse I offer, although I love the 5 1/2" square size. Hmmmm... just the size to use if I decide to bind my own ....

I really like all that nice space out to the side of the orange (or lumpy circle, whichever you chose.) It looks like a nice place to jot down all those complex physics equations that rattle around in my brain. Or grocery lists. Or describe the weather. Whatever -- Funny thing is, this book makes me want to use it to sketch people -- it feels friendly, and not precious, precious. Just not right for my outing, I don't think.

For a beautiful INSPIRATIONAL sketchbook video, go visit Cathy Johnson's web site and find her youtube videos of her April/May sketchbook -- these are really wonderful, and I'm so thankful that Kate shared them with us!

Shadow Shot Bench

2009-08-02T11:05:00.002-04:00

Shadows really are different in different parts of the world. This was taken in Wichita, Kansas -- and the shadows there are incredibly sharp compared to what we see here in hazy east Tennessee, which must still be hazy even when we poor locals think the sun is out full force!

Go visit the group at Hey Harriet! to see how other shadows all over the world looked this week!

A (LONG) SIDE NOTE:
Sometime in early June I looked at how busy the summer was going to be and gave myself permission to skip sketching when I was pressed and to skip Saturday morning painting if I needed to -- it seemed like the only way to maintain balance. Unfortunately, the undisciplined kid in me took that to heart, and therefore I have barely done any sketching or painting in two months. NOT what I thought would have happened! So the sketchbook is back out, and I'm adding the rule of no matter how busy I am, I at least sketch my coffee cup. The Fifteen Minute Rule is what I call it -- I can at least find 15 minutes!

As to my unexplained absence from the world of blogging -- it has been a crazy busy fun summer for me so far, folks. We drove to Wichita in mid July to celebrate my husband's parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. As a surprise treat for them, the invitation included a request that people send in their photos and stories about Doc and Mary, and I got to compile them all into a scrapbook. It has been a long time since I did anything "scrapbook-ish" and turned out to be a rather time consuming project, taking up most of my art time for over a month. I really felt privileged, though, to be the one to first read some of the wonderful stories about how my in-laws had touched so many lives.

Other fun "stuff" that has gone on this summer:
Work madness ensued and then resolved (yay! -- but isn't that always the case?);
An absolutely WONDERFUL week-long visit from my niece, starting and ending with a few days of my sister and other niece thrown into the mix -- what a BLAST!;
Time spent on the boat enjoying the sunny weather (when we got it);
The house remodel continues, with the kitchen and downstairs bath being halfway complete (I've put them on hold temporarily because I have to change planned colors now that I see the new counter tops in the room -- sheesh -- I'd never make it as an interior designer!);
There's more that I've probably left out and EVEN MORE fun stuff is planned that will take me away from the computer here and there over the next month.

But even if I'm away from the computer -- I WILL BE SKETCHING AND PAINTING!

Do NOT Enter This Contest

2009-07-24T17:30:00.003-04:00

Whatever you do, please don't enter this contest by Diahn in which she gives away a painting of a bird in preparation for opening her new Etsy shop. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, ENTER!

Your participation in this undertaking seriously undermines my attempts to win the painting.

Again. DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST!

Thank you for your continued support.

(If you can't click on the links, you can go to the address below to look -- and I mean ONLY LOOK -- at the painting which, again, you SHOULD NOT ENTER TO WIN. Seriously. Look ONLY. 'Cause I want it. I'll let you look at it whenever you want.)

http://artbydiahn.blogspot.com/2009/07/dont-just-stand-there.html

Red Chair Shadow Shot

2009-06-28T20:11:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-14T08:26:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-07T14:44:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-04T22:31:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-26T21:15:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-20T20:01:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-17T10:02:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-14T20:02:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-12T23:19:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-11T23:30:00.002-04:00

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!)

Shadow Shot Stairway

2009-05-10T08:48:00.002-04:00

I grabbed this shot earlier in the week when there was an unexpected break in the rain, using my handy-dandy little Sony CG6 that is usually in my bag. That little camera continues to surprise me -- I'm not sure that the good camera could have done a whole lot better on this one!

Are you trying to guess what this is? It is steps going up the side of a huge gasoline tank. :-)

Go visit Hey Harriet! and check out the links for the rest of this week's shadow play!

May 7 and 8

2009-05-08T23:36:00.002-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I started this sketch of a church in the Fourth and Gill neighborhood in Knoxville, and finished the last wash on it tonight ... so, this will have to count for both days! I was off work today and we worked on the house (a much needed facelift!) with my parents' help. No time for drawing at all!

This triad is Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Red, and Yellow Ochre. I like the greys and nice warm tones, but was surprised at how difficult it was to get a medium / light green. The skies are still cloudy and the day was overcast, but these colors made it look more like an early morning in late summer.

I'm making notes of your suggestions for future triads, so please keep them coming!

May 6 Sun Sphere and Clouds

2009-05-06T18:20:00.001-04:00

Sketched from the parking lot across from the Knoxville Museum of Art, while the rain fell, the clouds rolled in, and the wind rocked the car from side to side. I didn't even take the time to run into the museum today, thinking more that it would be smart to head home before all you-know-what broke loose!

I was very happy with the sketch before the watercolor washes. Today I tried the triad of venetian red, french ultramarine, and yellow ochre. I really thought they would combine to make richer greys and provide much more color mixing options than the earlier triad*, but they felt weak together. I need to refer to yet another book I have checked out from the library (on Bill Renzulli's advice), "Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green" by Michael Wilcox to see what I missed here. Perhaps I should have used cobalt blue?

So, to all, er, both, of my readers, what primary triads do you recommend?

(*Indian red, cerulean blue, and raw sienna)

May 5 Starbucks

2009-05-05T21:51:00.003-04:00

From the parking lot at Starbuck's this afternoon, still playing with the triad of cerulean blue, Indian red, and raw sienna. This wasn't where I'd originally intended to go after work for my quick sketch today, but the sun came out for a moment on the way home, and I detoured to some spots where I suspected I might find good shadows for Shadow Shot Sunday. The forecast is for rain, rain, and more rain all this week, and I had to grab the sun and shadow opportunity when it presented itself!

Now. I have to clear up a little mistake from yesterday. The book I referred to was "The Joy of Watercolor" ("...A Complete Course in Watercolor Using Your Sketchbook as a Workbook") by David Millard. The problem with art books is that I start out reading them and then, fairly quickly, get distracted by ... oooh ... the pictures! And in this wonderful book, clearly stated on page 8 -- yes PAGE 8! -- "Since carbon is soluble in watercolor to some degree, it can contribute rich darks in your washes in the form of a modest granular deposit." Hmmm. I'd say he pretty well DID TOO mention that the carbon pencils ran with a watercolor wash, don't you think? And on page 8 -- the saddest part is that pages 1 - 7 were title page and table of contents. Sigh. He basically said it on page ONE.

May 4

2009-05-04T22:17:00.003-04:00

A rainy and dreary day in Knoxville today! I'd decided that today I would stop somewhere -- ANYWHERE -- on the way home and sketch for the Every Day in May challenge. When I realized that I'd forgotten a pencil (and I really wanted to try pencil with a watercolor wash because of yet another art book I'm reading) I just stopped and Jerry's on the way home and picked up a couple of pencils, then drove two parking lots over and sketched the nearest building. I'd recently read a recommendation that carbon pencils rather than graphite are much better for sketches, so I chose a 2B carbon for this sketch. Even though the author discusses using watercolor wash over the carbon EXTENSIVELY I didn't see where it was noted THAT THE CARBON WOULD SMEAR with the wash! Nice to know for the really dark passages. Might have been nice to know before the sky wash ... although, since it was pouring rain this might actually be pretty accurate. I'll blame the perspective on sketching in the rain while huddled over the steering wheel.

Plan for the rest of the week? Stop on the way home every afternoon after work and sketch, then do the watercolor washes later on.

Other plan for the rest of the week? I saw where Sandy was looking at playing with simple primary experiments, and thought that experimenting with triads was a great idea. This triad was cerulean blue, Indian red, and raw sienna. Lovely dull colors for a lovely dull day, don't you think?

Shadow Shot on Purple Chairs

2009-05-03T18:59:00.002-04:00

This was from earlier in the week -- no shadows for Shadow Shot Sunday most of this week due to cloudy skies and rain! Not that I don't love the rain ... after a few years of drought, I can say that I truly do. :-)

See the other shadowy characters over at Hey Harriet!

May 1 and 2

2009-05-03T18:33:00.005-04:00

So, I really AM doing Every Day in May, along with all the rest who are following French Toast Girl's lead. I'm just not doing anything spectacular! The goal is to get back into the groove of things, which is proving to be difficult already, as we are doing some major facelifting on the house right now, along with working full time.

These peony buds are so pretty in real life, and photographs don't begin to give the right feel of them. I actually think I had this one RIGHT when I first did it. Then today, on the way up to the scanner, I went back and added the darker bits in the upper (viewer's) left corner, and all of a sudden it feels heavy rather than light and suggestive of the buds. Rats. That's what months of being out of practice will do for one!

I'm reading some wonderful art books right now, trying to put a bit of what I'm studying into practice. I'm really enjoying "Painting Light & Shadow in Watercolor" by William B. Lawrence, especially with passages like this one:

"...The point is you do have a choice. Charles Reid wrote a book titled Painting What You Want to See. My friend Don Stone said his title would be Painting What I Thought I Saw. I would include in this library I Couldn't See What I Was Painting."

He talks about a way of organizing value in what he calls the "2 Against 1 Approach" where you paint your subject in 2 values -- light and medium, light and dark, medium and dark, whatever. The third value is what your main subject is against. I've simplified his explanation so much here that I've probably blown it, and my little painting proves that I haven't quite GOT it, but it felt like an "aha!" moment when I first read it. So far this is one of the best books on watercolor I've read in a long time.

Yesterday I was thinking about my daughter in Florida and decided to do a sketch from a photo taken from one of our visits down there. I keep messing with the composition on this one, trying to get the yellow umbrella just right for a "real" painting, and this is the third or fourth version of this. It still isn't the one. Not by a long shot.

Practice practice practice...

Kitty TV

2009-04-26T20:03:00.002-04:00

Every morning the cat sits at the bottom of the steps and patiently stares at this spot on the wall, waiting for the shadows to show up. With any luck there is enough sun to give her some interesting stuff to jump at.

I'm enjoying Shadow Shot Sunday so much (over at Hey Harriet) that I'm playing along this week!

Its My Party

2009-04-16T22:30:00.008-04:00

My sister and I both have birthdays within a week of each other in April, so we tend to celebrate together. This year, our parents came in and our other sister came down with her two girls for a family get together.

At one point, during all the very noisy bustle, it was announced that I had a birthday surprise, and had to cover my eyes for a few minutes while they brought it in.

Now, I've been campaigning hard for a new puppy, but want to wait until after summer vacations are over. When they were all talking about how heavy my present was and did they need a dolly to get it in, etc, and then there were lots of shhhh-s-ing noises, I was pretty convinced that, OH NO, they had gotten the dog early.

So when I turned and looked, I looked for a dog crate. None. A big heavy box. None. They all stood there in their "ta-da!!" poses and ... nothing. Then a voice said...

"MOM! IT'S ME!"
Total shock.

My daughter had come up from Florida for a birthday surprise.

Best.
Birthday.
Surprise.

EVER.

It was a great weekend, even if it was over with too soon, with everybody going home on Sunday.

Best EVER. (Good enough that I'm willing to show the totally unflattering photos!)
:-)

Unfocused

2009-04-15T22:54:00.001-04:00

This evening, cleaning house one minute, then out in the yard cutting flowers the next. Thinking back, I honestly don't remember going from point A to point B ... I mean, really! I can't think of what made me put down whatever I was cleaning and wander out into the yard. I must have accidentally looked out the window.
:-D So, I'll be sketching this little bunch of flowers I think, probably tomorrow. (And if you are in one of those locations that isn't blessed with spring flowers right now, feel free to sketch along...)

Brrrr

2009-04-07T23:03:00.000-04:00

Brrrr! Flowers and snow... a pretty combination early this morning.

Gorgeousness

2009-04-05T21:49:00.003-04:00

What a beautiful weekend! Friday evening I got to visit with my parents who were in town for the evening, which started the weekend out right. Saturday morning my friend Ruth brought some flowers from her yard to our painting group, so I just had to do a quick sketch of them. I wish you all could have smelled those lilacs -- heaven. Later, after a diet-busting lunch with Doug and a nice long talk with my daughter on the phone, I got to meet up with Diahn to go see some great art and then hang out at the coffee shop (busting the diet even further) until nearly dark. Simply gorgeous.

And the gorgeousness continued today with lunch at Cosmo's and a new little piece of furniture and getting the wireless printer all set up, then opening the windows and turning on fans while doing a total rearrange of the guest room closets, my study closets and making a good dent toward cleaning and rearranging my painting space. All being done as I get ready for a piano to be delivered into the same area where I paint and (YAY!) company coming in next weekend. I worked like a dog but had a blast doing it, with the fresh air and the music blaring and knowing that the end result would be fantastic.

Tomorrow it's back to work, and I'm looking forward to a great week.**

**NOTE -- even if it snows. You guys, I've said it and said it... in east Tennessee we ALWAYS get cold weather and usually a touch of snow on April 7, 8, or 9. ALWAYS. Stop acting all surprised about it! And the flowers will be FINE. The cold makes the blooms last longer. And if you're working on your lawn, get up early tomorrow morning and scatter out some grass seed. TRUST ME...
:-)

Dear Knoxville

2009-03-29T14:03:00.001-04:00

The Crazy Lady that you saw standing alongside Kingston Pike in various locations yesterday photographing tulips and grinning like a fool? That was me. Yep. And the patient fellow sitting in the car in the nearby parking lot(s) (and there were SEVERAL stops) trying hard to not let me see him rolling his eyes? That was my husband. Yep.

Nice, huh?

A Perfect Day

2009-03-22T17:11:00.001-04:00

Really. There's nothing much else to say about that. I just hope you all had as wonderful weather as we did here today.

(P.S. And I'm painting tulips and cupcakes again today. Isn't that just the best combo ever? Life s good.)

Cupcakery

2009-03-08T16:43:00.003-04:00

A "gorgeous pink cupcake" from The Cupcakery. It actually had a dollop of raspberry filling on the top with a white chocolate mint, but I wanted a cherry on top, so I exercised my artistic license on this one. The best part -- Doug shared a bite of it with me today, and it has a big dollop of the same filling IN THE CENTER of the cake. Double yum. Gorgeous outside and inside ... just like the person* I drew it for!

(*My daughter, the Duchess Cupcake, wanted a picture of one to use as her avatar on Twitter, so this is probably the first of several cupcake drawings. And of course I had to start out with pink...)

The Trouble with Tulips

2009-03-06T23:27:00.001-05:00

... the trouble with tulips is that they open so quickly! I started a little sketch of these couple of blooms on the far right side of the first tulip bouquet of the season, and then walked away for a quick bite and to give the paint a chance to dry. When I got back, every flower was open wide and standing up straight and I couldn't even figure out which blooms I'd been working from!

TODAY'S LESSON: Photograph your subject if you're going to take a meal break.

Phooey. I'll have to play with finishing the rest by memory.

Vase de Deux

2009-03-05T18:53:00.002-05:00

A pair of daffs sitting in a little bud vase -- now sitting forever in my sketchbook.
Just goes to remind me that I really can find fifteen minutes to sketch a little something fun. I need to remember that!
:-)

A Glimmer of Light

2009-03-02T21:23:00.002-05:00

Out in the back yard, cloudy and cold, I spot a glimmer of white and realize that the daffs are pushing up already. There hasn't been anything happening out in the yard for some time, but now spring is here, and we know that there will be more and more things happening until the yard is back into full swing again.

Nice metaphor, huh?

Sorry I've been absent. I've been literally twice as busy as normal with work for the past eight or nine months, and it just got busier at the beginning of the year. By the first week of February I'd wrapped up a lot of stuff, and life is now getting back to what used to be the norm. Quite frankly, for the last two or three weeks I've spent my evenings resting and getting my non-work life caught back up! But now the balance is coming back and it's all good. Thanks for all the inquiries about where the heck I'd disappeared to, and, believe it or not, I'll probably see you again sometime this week.
;-)

(P.S. And busy was FUN -- I've had a GREAT time! If you read this, Cindy, Nikki, Michael, Shannon -- extra thanks to you guys for picking up the slack ... Dennis, Kari, Renee, Allison, Steven, Rachel, Sole, Julie, Stephanie, Leslie, Anita, Christy, Maggie, Andrea, Amber, and Bill ... you all rock! I'm very happy to be part of such a great team!)

Don't Walk

2009-01-24T17:31:00.002-05:00

Don't Walk ... or Don't Wok, as Angelia thought I said. I'm having the hardest time getting back into the watercolor groove lately. It's all the rain and grey skies that make me paint even a photo of Chinatown in California as if it were dreary. Pooh.

This is the reference photo, given to me by Susan after she realized that if she didn't give me something I was going to drool all over her Chinatown photos and ruin them. It was that row of color that got me and gets me, still. I was a coward, though, and left out all but three of the figures. Maybe next time I'll have more guts. Everything turned out to be much more complex than I thought it would be when I started! And really -- I should have left out the car, I think.

Oh well. That was my Saturday morning. I hope yours has been wonderful!

Geeky Girl

2009-01-16T22:27:00.003-05:00

Yep. I just can't resist a good techie gadget any more. When PC's first came out, I remember VERY CLEARLY saying, "No way am I ever getting one of those. Who needs one? What can it do that I can't do on paper? What a crazy waste of time and money." I resisted for a very long time.

Sigh. And then I bought a Vic 20 with a cassette drive. After that it was game on.

Back to the present....

Okay, so I figured out that I'd already saved enough money* to get that iPod touch I mentioned in an earlier post. I actually started saving in November when I got really mad at my brand new computer that crashed on me. It has been sitting in the closet waiting for me to take it to a True Geek to check out. I've just been so personally ANGRY at the darn thing that whenever I've started to get it out of the closet, I can't even talk to it and have to just slam the door. Yeah. My computer crashing has been a personal affront. Thank goodness I have the old model that still works well enough. SO I'd started saving for a new one. That's how mad I was. I considered buying another new computer rather than getting the NEW broken one fixed. I was that disgusted. **

Wanting a new techie toy took my mind off of my anger and made me get the computer out of the closet and get it to the True Geek who is looking at it now. And I took that saved up money and bought the new gadget. And right off, I downloaded the Brushes app, which turned out to be way harder to use than I thought or than that sweet little video shows. Still, I'm beginning to get the hang of it. Just blending colors is a trick, and it takes a whole different mind set. But it sure was nice to have it with me on the way home from work the other evening when the sunset was just spectacular. I pulled over and did this ... and was happy.

*I am a cash person, so if I'm going to get a new toy, I have to save for it. It is amazing how fast you can save when you have something in particular in mind ...
** It is doubtful that I would have actually purchased another computer without having the crashed model checked out. I mean, there's like a 95% chance that I wouldn't have. I'm not frivolous, just stubborn. Really.

Pinkish

2009-01-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

Step two ... or is it three?... of the gigantic pink flower. I realize that I tend to start out well, but then get to a point in a painting where I'm not following a plan -- I'm just REACTING to ... to... something. I don't know what. Sometimes I don't even bother with the good start, I just go straight into reaction.

Right now what we see on this one is still just underwear, I guess, and there's a lot to do on it. You may never see this again, though, because there's a jar of gesso sitting nearby just waiting on me to say, "that's enough of THAT!"

Who Crawled?

2009-01-10T21:17:00.007-05:00

Well, who sketch-crawled today? I'd planned on it, but then had to work this morning before WC class, and then this afternoon it was raining* so bad that, again, any painting would have just been blobs of grey. Maybe I'll make this a sketch crawl week, and really try to get out there.

And I would have had a really good time sketch crawling if I had an iPod Touch with the brushes app ... ooooh, do I ever have technology-envy on that one! I'm starting to save my pennies today. Give me a few months ... Just watch this great video:

There's even a Flickr group!

Sigh. I'm going to go try and mix up some pink paint now. Wish me luck.

*Rain, rain, rain -- boy do we ever need it! On the sidebar I'm celebrating by adding a link to a site that updates our favorite lake's level daily -- now that we're getting rain the lake levels aren't quite so depressing. It actually shows that it is up, are you ready, 4.2 feet in the past 24 hours. Yes. That is FEET. That's 50 inches. That's 128 centimeters. That's a fair amount of water!

P.S. I just found this link about the moon. If you don't have clouds where you are ...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090109/sc_space/saturdaynightspecialbiggestfullmoonof2009

The Improper Use Of Gesso

2009-01-09T20:54:00.004-05:00

My bet is that this is NOT the way to go about doing an acrylic painting. I never was much good at rules, and will probably reap the consequences of breaking them with this one.

I forgot to show you my initial sketch, which I've been pondering over for the past few days. If you look closely at this, you can see the light outlines in white pastel pencil. I'm now "sketching" in the flower with white gesso. I really don't think you're supposed to sketch with gesso.

So here it is so far. The petals are a little bit skinny, and I'm planning on plumping them up on the second coat (of gesso, of course). Now I'm going to let this sit for a bit so I can watch it some more before I go any further. Um, and I'm waiting on you guys to give me any suggestions for corrections before I go beyond the point of no return!

Meanwhile, today was a beautiful sunny day, with clear blue skies and a light breeze. Perfect, and a very nice break from the rain, which we needed badly.** This watercolor sketch is from the rehab room from the facility where I work in Knoxville. I just love the old apartment buildings next door. The plantings are evergreen, mostly great big old viburnums, with ivy that climbs up around every corner and window, and the light on the brick in the evenings is great. I'm still figuring this new palette out, and got my greens got a little bit dark. That mineral violet can be waaay stronger than I thought, too - but I love it! (Please see the giant purple splotch. Yeah. That one. That's what I'm talking about...)

** Grammatically, it is difficult to tell if I meant we needed the rain or a break from the rain. I guess the answer would be yes. Both.

GAC

2009-01-07T21:01:00.001-05:00

Aw, come on. You CAN'T say you didn't know this was coming...

See HERE for more descriptions of Golden's GAC line.

Just a Little Background

2009-01-05T21:02:00.005-05:00

I started the background for my giant dahlia painting like this -- squiggles of paint straight onto the canvas -- and then added GAC 100 and smeared it all around...

...until is looked like this. After it dried, it seemed like there were too many brush strokes and lots of little "M" shapes (which may be something I do with the brush when I'm smearing things around), so I glazed it with another layer of blues and greens mixed with glazing fluid and GAC 100...

...which leaves me with this. I think it will work. If you look, you can see there are still some distinct "M" shapes, but the flower itself will cover that up. Tonight I'm going to start working the flower shape over this in white gesso, and we'll see how it goes from there. If it goes well I will show you guys in the next few days. If it goes badly, I'll just gesso the entire thing back to white and start over! I'm determined to knock out an acrylic painting or two.

So. Since we're at the boring art stage, here's a funny video. It's a week late, but cheers anyway!

Stand By

2009-01-03T13:29:00.010-05:00

Musical moment for the day ... seen on Artvisionz (Angie in Arizona) blog, which has been added to my blog list on the right! This is really worth taking the few minutes to watch. Especially if you've ever collaborated with someone on a project.

Meanwhile, today I painted the background on a 24"x24" canvas, with the plan to do a painting of a frighteningly gigantic dahlia. In PINK. It's enough to give one nightmares. Since I couldn't move straight to the pink tonight, and since the weather today has continued to be so dreary and rainy that any landscape painting would just be a bunch of indistinct Payne's grey shapes, I decided to sketch it out in the watercolor Moleskine that I'm using for January. This paper takes a little getting used to, especially after using #300 hot press for so long. The plan is that by the end of January I'll love this book as much as everyone else does. Either that or I'll never get another. One or the other!

And I finished "Eclipse" -- the third book in the Twilight series. Sigh. Between Vampires and Werewolves and Guitar Hero I think I've regressed to age 13. But with wrinkles. And a driver's license. And only marginally more cash.

Play On

2009-01-02T19:55:00.005-05:00

Just thought you'd like a peek at "Lindora", my rock and roll lead guitarist persona. This looks just exactly like me. Yep. EXACTLY.

... and here's my bass guitar persona. She looks exactly like me, too -- a little more fleshed out than Lindora, I suppose. Here's a hint ... buying clothes is one of the best parts of Guitar Hero. There are some coooool boots...

No need to panic yet... I'm LIMITING my time playing that silly game! I make myself watch the clock. My word for the year is BALANCE, so I have to start out right.

So ... on to ART. I carried my watercolor Moleskine with me today, hoping for a chance to stop and sketch while I drove from one building to another, but the weather wasn't at all cooperative, with dreary skies, drizzling rain and piles of fog. By afternoon it had even started to get cold and all I wanted to do was get home and exchange my shoes for fuzzy socks. Sigh. It's hot chocolate weather. So much for painting from the front seat of the car.

One of my "things" I've been working on is expanding my watercolor palette a little bit. I picked up a 33 well travel palette to experiment with for serious "expeditions" this year (including another trip to Canada!) which would allow me to add a few extra colors. There are many people who feel that using the least number of colors possible is best; I agree that it is easy to get carried away, but there are a LOT of good colors out there and it seems a shame to miss out on them. I've tried to keep it pretty pure, and well thought out...

So... here's the layout, with a few spaces left to spare for other colors that I haven't decided on yet. (New additions are noted in italics.) If anyone sees a "must have" color that I've missed, let me know! All are Winsor Newton unless noted otherwise.

Row 1: Indian Red; Light Red; Brown Madder
Row 2: Yellow Ochre; Raw Sienna; Quinacridone Gold
Row 3: New Gamboge; Winsor Orange; Cadmium Orange
Row 4: Aureolin; Winsor Yellow; Cadmium Yellow
Row 5: Rose Madder; Permanent Rose; empty
Row 6: Cadmium Red; Winsor Red; Perm Alizarin Crimson
Row 7: Holbein Mineral Violet; Winsor Violet; empty
Row 8: Cobalt Blue; French Ultramarine; Winsor Blue Red Shade
Row 9: Cerulean; empty; Winsor Blue Green Shade
Row 10: Viridian; Winsor Green; Maimeriblu Sap Green
Row 11: Burnt Sienna; Holbein Burnt Umber; empty

Colors that are in the running ... Venetian Red; Cobalt Turquoise; Manganese Blue Hue; Indathrene Blue; Hooker's Green; Payne's Grey; Quinacridone Magenta

... and that's as far as I've gotten in 2009. Hmmmph. Doug's watching Bowl games tonight, so maybe I'll get some drawing done on one of those big canvases...

What - Another Year?

2009-01-01T20:08:00.008-05:00

It has become a tradition that Diahn and I meet up on New Year's and set our yearly goals. Since Diahn is moving today (sobbing quietly...) we met up at Panera a few days ago and started a plan.

The first thing we did was look at last year.

Oh my. Last year we must have been full of caffeine and high on chocolate, because our goals were CRAZY over the top. I only hit one of mine -- and that was to become a rock star... Oh yeah. I'm a Guitar Heroine.

But really. Life threw some curve balls at both of us early on in the year and we got so totally off track that we never could get back on. Well, that's okay. We both dealt with the curve balls, and that's the main thing.

I'm still working to get my goals together, and it may be some time before I do. Mostly, I'm seeing that I have to find some balance between work and play and make my art time feel like PLAY -- not work. I have enough real work to do without making my hobby feel like another job. I've got a to-do list that includes, as usual, getting my art space cleaned back up so I can stop tripping over things while I paint. I want to draw / sketch more. I want to worry less about finished paintings. On the other hand, I keep thinking about working in acrylic, and so keep buying big canvases -- I have three that I want to actually put some paint on this year. I'd like to do portraits of my sister's girls. I'd like to do some pug portraits, too. I want to wander around and draw / paint what I see. If you look on the sidebar, you'll notice that I'm planning on joining the "Creative Every Day in 2009" challenge, and though I may not blog every day about it, I plan to take a few minutes to do something creative every day.* And, of course, I plan to continue my blossoming career as a rock star.

So there.

Happy 2009, everyone. What are YOUR plans?

*My creative thing today was to play the piano for 20 minutes, fill my new watercolor palette, and choose a subject for the first big canvas. More on that tomorrow!

Wii Interrupt This Blog

2008-12-28T16:11:00.002-05:00

Well, I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. I know my family did. My wonderful daughter came home from Florida, and we all joined my sister to go to my parents' house, about an hour and a half away from here. My other sister's family stayed at their new home in Kentucky, but we texted fairly often during the day and talked on the phone several times. I have the best family. I hope they all know how grateful I am for them and how much I love them.

My hubby gave me a Wii Fit for Christmas, and we had the best time all together playing sports and doing balance challenges. The evening after Christmas, of course, I was at the stores picking up Guitar Hero -- World Tour. Oh yeah. I loved this gift -- it had us all DOING something together. Let me repeat -- TOGETHER.

Of course, now we're back home, the wonderful daughter left this morning, and Doug is really more interested in watching football. Fortunately, one can also Wii SOLO. Wheeee!

Therefore, it is with some wii-grets that I have to announce that blog postings may temporarily interrupted, as I quit my job, cancel all social engagements, put a hold on all hobbies, and set the telephone on standby while I work on my new careers of professional bowler, fitness instructor, and Rockin' Guitar Heroine.

Fond wii-gards,
Wii-nda

Lead guitarist stage name -- Lindora
Bass guitarist stage name -- LindyB
Band -- The Venom Spitters
Other Band -- D Legyndz (Rock On, Alexandra!)

Bing and Bowie

2008-12-23T18:38:00.003-05:00

Oh, it has been sooooo very busy. No good art to show. But there's always a minute to fit in a song, don't you think?

Christmas Candy

2008-12-13T12:33:00.000-05:00

Off shopping today! Maybe I will end up at the mall after all. Sigh.

Pencil sketches

2008-12-11T19:05:00.002-05:00

I'm back! And although I said there would be art today, I'm only showing pencil stuff. I'm playing with some mixed up acrylic stuff on watercolor paper, and it is waaaaay slower going than I'd expected and there's nothing to show with it but a bit of a mess right now. Meanwhile -- I realized I was letting my day planner Moleskine go to waste, so I started using the paper for pencil sketches. I think that I'm going to find a way to carry a little one and a pencil with me from now on -- I'd forgotten how fun quickies with a 2B or 4B could be!

Of course I have to figure out how to keep the pencil from getting all "smeary" as I don't relish the idea of spraying fixative every day in a sketchbook. Not that it matters....

Anyway, maybe I'll manage to do something Christmas-y tonight! How is everyone doing with their shopping? So far I've managed to avoid the mall COMPLETELY.

Happy Snow

2008-12-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

Happiness is...
A Dog Having a Blast In the Snow

I mean really -- who could resist this?

Art tomorrow!

Dear World

2008-12-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

Dear World,

I'm back from my week with no Internet access just in time to take 5 minutes to post and then run out of town for a couple of days. The problem WAS the modem and it took him less than ten minutes to get a new one out of the truck, replace the old one, and check that things were up and running. HOW WONDERFUL is THAT!!! It's been a busy week, and I spent the weekend in Kentucky visiting my sister, so will tell more about that when I return.

Meanwhile, while I'm gone, I will have the chance to look at some of YOUR stuff, just not the chance to post anything myself. See you soon.

Love,
Linda
:-)

December

2008-12-01T19:47:00.002-05:00

And the theme for December will be ...
:-)

(Look, I have an internet connection -- I'm on! Then I'm off ... then on ... then off... and I've tried to make some comments with no luck. Oh well -- great work out there tonight, what little I've been able to see! :-)

More Gremlins

2008-12-01T17:56:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I just got on! Our Internet connection is spotty at best right now and has been all weekend -- I called our provider who figured out that we had NO signal to/from the modem (at that moment, at least).

"Yeah, we can get somebody out there. We'll have to make a service ticket. Um, our first available appointment is the 7th."

"THE SEVENTH?"

"Uh, yeah. That would be next Sunday."

"Well, we can't on the seventh. Do you have anything a little bit EARLIER?"

"Uh, well, no. The first available would be on the 7th."

"Well, how about Monday. Can you come Monday in the evening?"

"Uh, well, no. We can come Monday between 12 and 2. On the 8th."

"This is the first. That's a week."

"Uh, well, yeah. Monday. The 8th. Between 12 and 2."

"Okay. I guess that will be it."

"Uh, well, yeah. If it DOES start working between now and and then, you call us right up and we'll cancel."

"Sure."

Not bloody likely. I can't believe I just noticed the little light on the modem and run up here to catch it in a good moment now. If it keeps working from now until then, I'll call them Monday morning. Otherwise, they're replacing that modem!

So if I'm spotty in posting this week, I'll catch up when I can!
(And as fast as I can I'll put Twitter up on the sidebar...)
(And really, they're a pretty good provider company and are always very polite and as accommodating as they can be. I'm GLAD that their business is good enough that they're busy. I just wish they had a spot in their schedule NOW for me. TONIGHT. Sigh.)

Failed Experiment

2008-11-30T18:55:00.003-05:00

A friend's daughter came to work the other day and waited for her mom to take her to dance lessons. I got her to give me some dancer poses (hilarious!) but most liked the one where she made a turn, pulled her skirt up, and waited for me to tell her what to do next. This one WILL be done again -- maybe in pastel or colored pencil or even watercolor.

This was where I started -- watercolor plopped down on Bristol. I really thought I would be able to get more detail and a better quality of shading with graphite over this, but it just didn't work like I'd planned. I went back in a time or two with a wet brush to lift a thing here and there, and to put in a little more color here and there, and was surprised to find that the graphite smeared. Ooops.

Oh well. Lesson learned!

AND I just realized, today is the last day of NaBloPoMo, and I made it! (I think -- I'll have to go back and check.) December starts tomorrow -- what shall THAT month bring, I wonder?

Sunbrellas

2008-11-30T18:16:00.002-05:00

Well, after a few days of rain and cold, it was kind of nice to think about warm sunshine. Never happy, am I!?

So... now I'm wondering about throwing down some ink lines, and now that I see it up on the screen, I know I need to add a touch of dark to close off those light lines in the underside of the sunbrella. Hmmmm. That's what happens when something sits for a day or two around here.

By the way, here is the reference photo. I snapped the pic without pausing as I was walking into the restaurant -- hence the odd angles...

(P.S. I remember that I promised two drawings. The second one is still underway, since we spent the ENTIRE DAY Christmas shopping. I'm trying watercolor on Bristol with graphite over it, so I'm not sure how the experiment will turn out. We shall see...)

Gremlins in the Machine

2008-11-29T22:29:00.004-05:00

I don't know what's up, but we seem to be having major internet issues at our house. This is worse than the days of dial up -- hopefully it will be fixed soon. But no pics tonight, folks ... see you tomorrow, and there will be TWO sketches, I guess. I promise! Uh, hopefully. Yikes.

(I see an error that says 'Saving and publishing may fail. Retrying...' YIKES.)

Black Friday

2008-11-28T23:04:00.000-05:00

Black Friday and everybody is packed into the stores. I NEVER do the "shopping thing" on the Friday after Thanksgiving ... one of these days I may have to try it.

On the way to one of the buildings this afternoon I stopped by a music store, just to browse around for a minute, since I was feeling a little left out of the action. I picked up a book of music to goof around with and plunked around on a few pianos for a minute. Note to self: If I ever win the big jackpot lottery, a 9' concert grand goes on the wish list. Yep.

So. Who found really great bargains today?