Cool Summer Colors. Vibrant Fabric Colors

A little road trip off the beaten path. 

Not the coastal route with tourists & cars 
& clusters of restaurants and hotels.

This was roller coaster ribbon roads, 
forests, farms, scattered country homes.

Occasional views of distant fields 
& faraway mountains.

Destination:
 A fabric store in the city, about 50 miles away.

I've been luxuriating in assembling 

vibrant colors of cloth.

And yesterday I basked in 
cool country colors 
on a wet summer day. 

Art Journaling On the Go

A new 8 X 11" page in my art journal,

created at the weekly Library Art Journaling Group.

Sharing & working together, they call it "synergy."

I call it magic.

This was my first "To Go" page in my Daily Journal. 

After watching a ton of videos

about the Midori Travel Journal system,

& about approaches to Bullet Journaling,

I modified my Rhodia A5 size dot grid book

(the best for fountain pens!)

by adding colored elastic cords under which I slid 

loose, folded sheets of blank paper. 

On the go, I can pull a sheet out, draw, write,

& then stick it back in! It worked!!

Below, I'm loving seeing the accumulation of Jan. days 

on my Mini Memory Calendar!

The squares measure 1 1/4 square inch.

The calendars are on premium color copy paper.

Nine days ago...

Today! 
One day at a time a month happens!

Happy End of January!

What I've Been Up To...

A little sketching with the Sketchers...

At a most magical shop in town, Brambles...

The owner always welcomes us! 

(I have previous posts/sketches from Brambles...)

Quick sketches when I'm out. 

Still carrying the book everywhere.

This was lunch at the Coop, a great Sketch-Op.

Enjoying my Prismacolors. Here,

they were basking in winter sunlight that streamed in

through the back door blinds.

 Prismacolors on my new "mini memory" daily calendar, 

inspired by the great sketch blog of Lin, View From the Oak
& her "Smallies". Do visit her blog! 

A great form of journaling!

Card calendars for my bulletin board.

Been playing with collage a bit.

Ongoing Daily Journal ritual. Every morning with coffee.

I'm adding more color, drawings & paste-ins

than before.

 

This was the bottom corner of a page. 

That's Washi tape as the base.

Envelope-pocket-journal-folio books, 

taught by local paper craft artist & teacher, Robinsunne. 

Current one in progress.

Elements taped with temporary cellophane tape.

 I mostly didn't send out holiday cards.
I gave a few of these to folks in my Zumba class. 
I hope you all had a fun holiday season.

 My new cork board on the mantle. 
A reminder that I want to paint more without ink line...
A challenge, & outside my comfort zone!

Above, some are mine, some are inspirations by others.

Great time of year for making art!

Sketching at the Local Greenhouse

The staff, the airy greenhouse & the plants 

welcomed us Sketchers

to the Aubuchon Hardware Store & Nursery. 

I asked the worker above if we would be in the way.

"No problem," she said. 

"If you get in the way, we'll just water you." 

It was an idyllic spot of light, color, and happy people. 

(Except for the flies, the little black flies.)

Local professional gardener Kate pulled up in her truck. 

I'm in awe of her, her artistic talents, her knowledge,

& her strength. In the old days of my childhood

only men had trucks & tools like this!

You could spend days sketching individual plants!

 After our greenhouse visit we went for lunch

at the local café & diner. There we discussed 

our sketching experience & other matters of interest.

Sketches From the Back Seat

In early March I got to be a passenger along Route 1 

heading south! 

 So many times I've driven that road, sneaking glances.

So I took the opportunity to sketch! Of course!

Composing sketches while moving quickly is in some ways

like putting together a puzzle. 

I grab elements from the landscape as it whips by

and fit them in on the page. 

By the time I'm drawing individual parts

they are memory images,

but with actual references in the moving landscape.

I added some colored pencil notations in the car

and later I painted lightly with watercolors.

Observation lists 

also come in handy in such fast situations. 

The Full Moon Rising

I made a point of watching the moon rise, 

the last night before Spring officially turned. 

I sketched quickly from the upstairs window.

This gorgeous ball,

moved quickly as she rose.

Forget science, forget tanky machines & flags 

on the moon, THIS was the poetic moon 

of childhood wonder & awe!

A sketch, once she was higher and...

again, color was added from memory. 

 

I prefer to sketch & write notes.

But sometimes I'm grateful for my little camera. 

 

She is called The Full Worm Moon,

March being the month when earth worms begin to appear.      

   (Well, maybe not in Maine.)

Also The Sap Moon, when maple sap begins to flow...

 Below: Same place, the next morning.

The sun was now taking the moon's place, 

rising in just about the same place, to the East. 

 And while we had slept the night before,

that old moon had worked her way 

across the southern night sky, toward the West.

I went out to see her before she set behind western tree tops.

She was the same size as the night before, 

but she had on a misty, softly lit robe,

instead of her dazzling nightime party dress.

Springtime! A new awakening!

Mini Zumba Greetings

I failed to send Christmas cards this year. 

But I have promised myself that I will send winter cards.

I did make up some mini-cards to give to a few local folks,

some of them being fellow Zumba enthusiasts.

 

 And a card for my Zumba teacher. 

I have enormous gratitude for her. 

This dance & her exercise classes have enriched

my life & my health tremendously!!!

Rita Rita Fashion-ita

So a year ago I started seasonal work at the art museum. 

I did an inventory of my clothes closet! 

It was time to come out of fashion hibernation!

Rita Rita Fashion-ita, Hahahaha!

In my Daily Journal I periodically document what I wore 

on the previous day.The Fashion Report, Hahahaha.

 

The quick tiny drawings remind me 

of my 7th grade fashion drawings,

inspired by Simplicity Pattern envelope illustrations.

In 7th grade I decided I was going to be a fashion designer

when I grew up. Hahahaha.

I loved the whole mix & match thing & still do.

I'm having fun gathering 

a few of my "museum costume" sketches. 

Do we see a theme here?? 

Guess how many scarves I have in the

blue-turquoise-teal-aqua range?  

(Answer in next post.)

 

 If no scarf then one must at lease wear a turquoise shirt! 

In high school I decided that my interest in fashion 

was "shallow".  

It is true that my brain had other things to work on.

College days: Work boots & flannel shirts. 

More brain & social stuff to work on.

In this semi-retirement museum employee stage,

It's fun to "curate" my clothes collection. 

Maybe it's still shallow, but, shrug, it is pleasurable.

Our museum visitors, who are in a visually receptive

state of consciousness, appreciate my efforts. 

"Oooooh, your colors!" the women exclaim.