Canyon sketch

I did this desert sketch today based on a photo I liked in a mag. I needed to get myself painting again, and to familiarize myself with my new Caran d'ache water soluble crayons. It was fun and effective except where I struggled with value in the spots I didn't use the black.

Hopefully I'll have more painting time tomorrow. I'm enjoying Arizona very much - we've had a wonderful time visiting and celebrating birthdays. The weather has been beautiful but it's SO hot for April. Tomorrow we'll get up early and take advantage of the cooler morning temperature. Ron will hit some balls and I'll play with my watercolors.

Figure unit

In today's art class we began a 4 week figure unit. I really enjoyed sketching today - we have such a great group of artists... some of the sketches were amazing. Sharon led us through some warm up exercises. First, we had the model do several very short poses so we could capture general body position - line angles for shoulders, hips, arms, legs, next did slightly longer poses and added hands/feet in simple mitt/sock shapes and the head placed at the proper angle. It's surprising how expressive these simple drawings can be. The pace is quick though, so we soon moved on to blocking in the chest and abdomen, then reviewed proportions for arms, legs, feet... We continued on adding more detail with each new sketch. At the end of the class we did a couple of 10 minute line drawings. Time really flies in these classes!
I've included one of my drawing here to show you the type of drawings we did. This sketch is about 24"X36" but even with that much paper I managed to run off the top with her head and off the bottom with her feet - clearly something I need to work on :o) If you'd like to see a bit more information on the process of figure drawing click here. Cheers!
P.S. Sharon posted some amazing photos of cedar waxwings on her blog. Click here to see them.

Little Yellow Petunias

Small, sunny yellow petunias don't seem quite as hardy and strong as their darker counterparts. I based this little painting on a pot in McLellan's garden where the little yellow guys were coming out a bit later, and were a bit smaller than the others. Even the tiny, feathery purple flowers (what are those anyway? are they baby ducks?)... were growing out over the little yellow pets.

Life lesson? The term "bloom where you're planted" applies even if you're a little yellow flower...

Stumo's Tigers

I sketched and painted these tiger lilies (4x6) this afternoon at the home of Maureen and Stu McLellan (aka "stumo"). They have a wonderful backyard full of all types of perennials, shrubs, and annuals including these amazing lilies in St Albert, Alberta. I had my sketchbook and paint out for about an hour this afternoon and I enjoyed it so much. I think I'm becoming addicted to this daily painting business - I need the outlet. We also had a nice relaxing visit but we forgot to sign Stu's cast (sorry).

Maureen and I took the opportunity to visit a couple galleries in St Albert yesterday. What an amazing art scene they have in their town - just lovely.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I enjoyed mine!

Frank and Mary's Lilacs

Back in May when the lilacs were in full bloom in Minnesota, we in Canada were waiting impatiently for spring to come. It was a cold spring and we waited until late June to see our own lilacs. Frank, a friend of mine from Minnesota took pity on me and sent me photos of his amazing lilacs. I used those photos along with some of our later Canadian ones as the reference for this quick sketch done last Friday. Enjoy!

Chippy Waiting 6"x8"

Today I'm posting a page from a sketch journal that I've been puttering in this summer. In June we sat out on my veranda with the dogs - our two are Kassie 14 yoa and Farley 3 yoa, plus Kim's dog Chippit 4 yoa. On this particular day, Chippy was watching and waiting for Kim to return. He was patiently waiting on the love seat and I quickly drew this up with my trusty sharpie and added some watercolor later. I think I captured his "slumped" mood.

I have some very exciting news to share. I had a call from Artpoint Gallery this afternoon and they have accepted three of my paintings for the "Unseen Art Exhibition" which runs this August!!! I submitted 10 images and they want me to decide between my 3 landscapes or 3 of my still life paintings. A conundrum for me - decisions, decisions. I'll keep you posted as I go through the process - this is ALL new to me. I've never exhibited anything and I have no idea what to expect. Fortunately, this show is all new artists so we're in the same boat - all newbies! Wish me luck!

Enjoy!

Manitou Springs sketches

This was my first opportunity to grab my sketch book and paints and make a dash for a painting session. I thoroughly enjoyed the painting process - all of these sketches were fast - I was running out of light. The first picture is a quick 5x7 sketch done quickly in my sketch book with a sharpie marker and my mini palate of colors. I was attracted by the lovely door and the solid rock structure - true colorado!. I will need to spend some time to do a painting of this door - I find painting doors very engaging.

In the garden just below where I sat to sketch the door of the church there was a single, lovely, Iris. She had a yellow border on the petals and the center of the flower was entirely white. I was amazed at this lovely flower... I sketched it in my 5x7 book and I threw in a few more to keep it company....