Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Island Reflections




Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

My August watercolor classes will focus on sunrises and sunsets ... this is the painting I did for the class demo ... from imagination ...

Our temps have been incredible for this time of year .. mid 80sF!! What a joy to be outdoors!

Friday, July 25, 2014

Day 6 - Sketchbook Skool with Cathy Johnson - Nature








I'm continuing my work in Danny Gregory's Sketchbook Skool. This week's lessons are with Kate Johnson -- and we're using sketchbooks to sketch various nature sketches. Though we were asked to try birds, with 5 outdoor cats, I fear putting up a bird feeder - my 5 are very good hunters ...so that means taking photos of birds or observing birds is relegated to those times I visit my neighbors. Instead of a bird, I chose to sketch my 3-legged cat Pepper when he was a kitten. Once an outdoor cat, after his injured leg, he now resides indoors.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Flowered Stairs







Been a busy time here ... I"m working on a Memoir Writing Class, teaching watercolor and have been enrolled in Sketchbook Skool and getting back to my sketching. It's helping to focus more on the lines rather than the paint .. and in retraining my eyes to SEE and OBSERVE.

This is a quick sketch done in pen and washes (done outside of class!! LOL).  Drawn from a photo provided by Dreama (dreamatolleperry.com/).

Saturday, July 19, 2014







Oxford Barn
Watercolor
Journal


Continuing my watercolor journal work. Most of the hay has been collected from the fields by now -- but every once in a while, I'll pass a farm that still has their rolls out in the field.

Love the farms I see around North Carolina!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

A Week of Selfies


A week of Selfies



As part of our assignment for Sketchbook Skool, we had to do a week of selfies -- some from our image in a mirror, some from photographs, some as contour drawings with a single line, and one from imagination.

I have always avoided drawing faces - fearing my lack of sketching ability would offend whomever I was attempting to capture. As myself as subject, this week of learning had me in a world of self-discovery, awareness, appalled at all the wrinkles and sags I found, and hysterics. I don't think I've had such a good laugh in a long time!

My favorite is the one I did from memory -- (large - far right) ... I could easily forget all those age lines!


Friday, July 11, 2014

Melville Park






Melville Park
Watercolor - Plein Air
Sketchbook Journal

While visiting my mom a week ago, my friends Joan and Susan kindly took me to a local park to do some plein air sketching. We sat on the bank of this wonderful lake and painted....

It was a wonderful afternoon spent with friends and an introduction to a place I'd never been!

Thank you both - Joan and and Susan!

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Fast and Slow Petunias - Sketchbook Skool






Slow and Fast Petunias
Watercolor
Pen and Wash

I'm participating in Danny Gregory's Sketchbook Skool -- and our assignment is to do a 'fast' painting with one medium (I chose watercolor), and then go back for a more meditative, slow approach to the same subject using a different medium (I chose pen). I love the effect of the 'off-placed' lines and washes ...

Wonderful experience to really begin to 'see' ...

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Alphabet Journal - B




Another page from my alphabet journal.

I've been in New York visiting my family. The weather was incredibly mild! I returned to North Carolina to temperatures in the 90s with heat indices over 100 -- hot and humid -- whew. Sure miss having the windows open and the ocean breeze keeping us wonderfully cool.

Alphabet Journal - A






A bit more from my alphabet journal.