Clearing Away November 2021

A great sunny morning for doing home tasks: 

Early morning grocery.

Dishes. Laundry. Accounts. Tidying.

It's time to clear away November,

 and to make a space for December. 

The tractor pumpkin farm drawing is by Nora McPhail,

whose work I adore. She has a blog here.

Two post cards are from a fellow Art Grouper. 

The lady behind the candle 

who is cooking a stew in a giant pumpkin, 

she is someone I created some years ago. 

The embroidered pumpkin pillow was made

by a fellow French Grouper, also some years ago.

Things are different again this fall (pandemic), 

but I still love this time of year! 

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Sketching Downtown on a Rainy Day

                                         

Went rainy day sketching with just 2 of the Sketchers. 

When my paper started getting wet, I stopped with a quick

black & white sketch and the 3 of us retreated to the porch of 

 our favorite plant/home/gift boutique. 

Later, at home, when I added color I didn't use reference photos. For me that was daring, 

to add paint from memory & intuition. 

There is always something new to try when sketching!

The cold rain meant very few people were out. 

And it felt good to be with fellow sketchers. 

With distance.

Our outdoor days are limited. 

What will we do in winter when, on some days,

 the weather will prevent outdoor sketching & visits?

Going Outdoors with The Sketchers

The Sketchers meet once a week, always

in beautiful places that are not far from our homes.

When I resumed going, over a month ago, 

drawing felt new all over again.

I had the tendency to try to record too much. 

After all, so I was seeing so many wonderful details!

This on location sketch got re-worked as I realized my eye 

had not seen certain things correctly. 

It would have been an ideal oil painting.

Sometimes, with watercolor, I miss being able 

to make lots of revisions.

The top sketch was a 2nd version,

using the original sketch, plus a photo.

I like both for different reasons. 

I'm finally coming around to making quick value studies

before jumping into color. How seductive color is though!

Lucy Willis' book, Light: How to See It, How to Paint It

has had a big influence on me recently. 

I used to own it, but gave it away.

Apparently I wasn't ready at the time.

We had an excursion to our local,

rather historic cemetery. Some challenges in perspective here.

On another excursion I stood on the end of a long wharf

at a harbor of a neighboring town.

As I sketched, the tide moved in.

Light, shadows & reflections grew more pronounced.

A lobster boat or 2 came in to shore. The slow rhythm 

& unhurried atmosphere calmed me.

No matter what the art lessons or technical challenges,

I Iove the peace I experience while sketching outdoors.

Joy, Joy, Joy of Autumn

I recently skimmed through my old blog posts, 

from the beginning...May, 2012.

And I skimmed through my photo collection 

of my drawings.

I don't think this little image is posted.

It was a mini card for someone.

Tomorrow is officially the first day of autumn.

And this is truly how I feel about it! Joy! 

Notice the printing on this older image.

I have just started practicing 

an italic calligraphy alphabet. 

It's like practicing scales on the piano.

I'm looking forward to continued refinement.

The repetitive practice is soothing...

...perhaps addictive. In a good way...