Day 59 - Old Farmhouse, Granville County, NC

 
Day 59 - Old Oxford Farmhouse. There are so many of these around my neighborhood and they're a good practice of perspective and aging wood.

BTW, I am not posting these in any day order ...

Day 61 Granville Tobacco Barns

More journal sketching -- Almost reaching my 75-day pen first challenge ... a bit more to go ..!

Leaves just tinged with yellow -- but the fields around here -- turning a most glorious tawny sienna ...

Day 45 - Blue Flowers

Day 45 
A few more weeks remain of this 'pen first' challenge ... I've enjoyed the challenge but I"m beginning to miss my eraser!! LOL

Sundown - a Class Demo

This was the last demonstration for my class on Sunrises and sunsets -- this month we'll focus on doors and windows ...

Day 42 - France

 Journal

Continuing the 75-day pen challenge by Brenda Swensen. This is another architectural sketch I'm continue to practice ...

I love those outdoor cafes, especially when covered with flowers. I wish there were more outdoor cafes where I live ... nothing beats sitting under one of those umbrellas, drinking coffee, chatting with friends, sketching, enjoying the views ...

Along the Beach

Another small demo for my watercolor class.

Still haven't made it to the NC beaches this year ... guess I need to be content with visiting the beaches through paint!

I am really enjoyed this 'not-so-stiffling' summer ... what a change from last year.

The Pond

Continuing my 75-day Sketch with Pen Challenge. I did this first with pen, then followed-up with watercolor.

I am really enjoying the relaxed sketches in my journal ...smaller scale, a bit faster, and more a sketch than a finished painting ...

Rose of Sharon

While I love these pretties in my garden, they sure love to spread their YOUNG EVERYWHERE!!!  In bloom now.

Day 29 - Flowered Window

Journal
Ink and Watercolor

Day 29 -- Almost a month of a 75-day challenge to sketch directly with pen !! WOO HOO!!!

Another flowered window ... my favorite kind of window!

After the Rains

Sketchbook Skool session "Seeing" has ended -- but it has been one incredible, magnificent, learning experience.  I'm still involved with the 75-day Pen challenge posted by Brenda Swensen and will continue my daily pen and wash practices.  I am learning so much and the painting block, thank HEAVENS, has been lifted.

I want to share some of my more 'successful' sketches because I'd like to encourage you to look into the classes the next time they are offered (another session coming soon).

This sketch of mushrooms was painted after all the rain we experienced ... the 'shrooms popped up EVERYWHERE on the property, and I walked around and sketched the varieties I saw ...FUN!

Bone China Tea Set

Journal - Sketchbook Klass with Liz Steel

I've been working on tea cups and tea sets for this portion of Sketchbook Skool with Liz Steel.  Buildings and Teacups -- it is -- here, the tea set given to me by my sister Pat -- A very delicate bone china set.

Carolina Wren

Continuing work with Sketchbook Skool and working in my journal. My assignment this particular week was to sketch a bird ...

Orange Sunset

Painted as a demo for this month's class on sunrises and sunsets.

Day 10 - Avenue of Live Oaks - Magnolia Gardens, Charleston, SC

Day 10 - Magnolia Gardens Avenue of Live Oaks
I'm continuing to enjoy the sketch and journal practice I'm doing for Sketchbook Skool while also participating in a 75-day sketch with pen challenge. I'm finding the smaller format relaxing and the simple washes over penwork a wonderful practice.

This is a sketch of part of the live oak avenue at Magnolia Gardens, Charleston, SC. I LOVE that tree and its associated history and folklore and the many uses it has.

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!

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.

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/).

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!

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!

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!

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' ...

More from my ABC Journal.

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.

O is for Olive Trees

Watercolor Journal
ABC Journal

As an outgrowth of my watercolor class I've taught this month, we all started watercolor journals to write about and sketch our heirlooms, favorite things, memories of trips, and the like. I decided to do an "ABC" journal of my favorite things and heirlooms. I'll be posting some of those pages over the next week or so.

Here, the "O" is for olive trees .. I fell in love with their aging trunks and gnarled branches while I was in Italy ... Still dream of those wonderful old trees and their stories they hold in their trunks......

Purple Cone Flowers

11 x 14 Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

My purple coneflowers are finally blooming -- it seems they've been 'on the verge' for weeks! White, pink, red - they brighten my wild wildflower garden and seem to hold up even in this week's 95F degree weather!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Wishing all the Dads a most wonderful and happy Father's Day!!

Barn Under the Trees

9" x 12" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

Sitting under the shade of old oaks and listening to the peaceful sounds of cows and chickens, birds and insects, the day we painted on my neighbor's farm was sheer magic.  There was a slight breeze and although summer had begun, the day was cooler than most. 

Class participants spread across the property, each tackling a different outbuilding or perspective.

I sat across  this aging barn sketching between student questions and simply enjoyed the serenity.

I finished the painting at after class ...

Pink Cosmos

11" x 14" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP            

Summer weather has set in - days of extreme warmth, days of no rain, days of torrential downpours ... but the tomatoes are ripening, squashes are lengthening, and the flowers fill the days with glorious colors and scents ....                                        

Oxford Smokehouse

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

This is one of the outbuildings we've been privileged to paint during my 'Barn' class. According to the property owner, it's a smokehouse - with a few additions since they moved onto the property.

The weather during this month's sessions has been sensational! Mild, sunshiney, and filled with the sweet sounds of farm life - chickens, cows, birdsong. We've also been blessed with the sweet scent of honeysuckle, the kindness of shaded, ancient oaks.

One more class to go - another set of barns and outbuildings to visit.

It's been such a joy!

Lilacs

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

I cannot pass a lilac shrub without thinking of my mom ... she grew only a few fragrant flowers -  roses and lilacs among her favorites.  She'd clip a few branches, bring them indoors, and the entire house would smell like heaven.

My own lilac bush, a mere 3 feet tall, has a long way to go before I will ever see these delightful purple blooms.  But I wait in eager anticipation for this floral link to my dearest mom.

Our regional Senior Games took place these last two months.  I entered 4 paintings, and I am thrilled to say that each won a prize in our region:

Italian Farmstead - Gold - watercolor
Oxford Barn - Silver - watercolor
Fall Leaves Duo - Gold - Mixed Media (alcohol ink)
Fall Leaves - Bronze - Mixed Media (alcohol ink)

These paintings will now move up to compete in the North Carolina State Games.

Fingers crossed!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Wishing mothers everywhere a most joyous and beautiful day! Thank each of you for the caring and love you give each and every day!

11" x 15" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

The watercolor class I'm teaching this month is all about barns.  From perspective to contrasts to aging and weathered wood.  In the county where I live, we are blessed with so many aging tobacco barns along with wooden sheds, log homes, and more.

A friend of  mine showed me this particular barn on Saturday.  It was filled with all kinds of abandoned remnants of farm life - and a wonder to see!  I knew I would have to do some much needed 'yard work' to focus the painting on the barn alone!I   I took tons of photos while the chickens, ducks, rooster, cats, and all white peacock swirled around my legs looking for handouts. 

I came back home inspired -- and finished this barn as a tribute to a time too quickly disappearing.   

Purple Iris

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

It's that time of year when iris stand like sentinels throughout my property --- purple, white, pink, gold.

Feathery petals crown emerald batons as the vernal season plays its music over the land.

Happy Weekend!    

Duke's Tulips

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

The annual flower display at Sara Duke Gardens is in full splendor -- tulips in all colors are surrounded by beautiful accent plants in cool and warm tones.

These tulips were inspired by one of their orange and yellow flower beds.  Between the fine spring weather, the glorious flower displays, and the greening of the fields and woodlands - spring has finally settled in!                                

Dogwood

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

The dogwoods are performing their annual ballet throughout the woodlands ... LOVE the joyous celebration of white and pink among the spring greens!

I began this painting plein air and finished in the studio.

HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

Spring Blossoms - Apple Trees in Bloom - Splash and Splatter

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

Spring's floral display continues.  My apple trees are in glorious bloom and my property is filled with white and pink clouds!

Dandelions

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

Spring is here -- lots of rain, temperature fluctuations--warm, cool, hot--and of course, the yellows, pinks and purples that seem to mark the season.Throughout my property,  bright yellow globes greet me.

Yep, the dandelion has roared its way into spring.

Despite the persistence of these plants and how they often crowd out other flora, I have to marvel at their usefulness - as a vegetable, coffee substitute, wine, vitamins -- as well as an early food source  for bees and other pollinating insects.  Dandelions provide cover and color to those areas of my property that have not yet established more tender flowers and they help stabilize the soil.  And their golden glow mirrors the sunshine adding cheer to the day ...

My only  wish is that they were far more 'prudent' in their exuberant proliferation ....!!

Spring!

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

Spring has finally arrived with warmest temperatures yet ... yesterday we reach 85F!  Whew!  From Arctic blast to the Sahara in a week!                

I've only seen the foliage for spring daisies ... which means these cheerful flowers won't be here for a number of weeks. 

Still, I wanted to celebrate the return of warm weather, getting out in the garden, the scent of Winter Daphne throughout my property, and the magic of sunshine ....

Happy Week!

On the Pond

11" x 14" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

It's been a week of more conflicting weather - sunshine, rain, grey skies, cold, warm ... still, spring advances in visuals - blooming Bradford Pears, Ornamental cherries, Forsythia, Spirea, dandelions, chickweed, henbit, daffodils, and in Raleigh - the first tulips.  I can't get into my garden yet .. and my seedlings now have grown as tall as my youngest grandson ..!  This week promises warmer, steadier seasonal weather -- fingers crossed!

While spring takes its sweet time to settle in, I review my image collection and use spring and summer photos from last year to paint my dreams.

There is a small pond nearby that I pass frequently on trips to town.  Two almost entwined trees seem to stand  as sentinels by the roadside .. and as I drive by, I note seasonal changes through the various stages of vegetation along its edges.

Today, the trees remain leafless and the grasses a mix of dull umbers .. but last year -- this is what I saw ....

So I paint -- to remember -  to honor -- to wish  ....

What a marvelous tool for transformation ......

Have a great Sunday!

Duck Island - THANK YOU John Harding

Duck Island - THANK YOU John Harding, a photo by linfrye . on Flickr.

11" x 14" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

After a few days of ice, the Vernal Equinox brought several delightful days of warm weather and sunshine -- Bradford pears burst into bloom as did forsythia, more daffodils, aguga , and those hardy dandelions!! And as far as I could tell, almost everyone was outdoors in the throes of spring fever! (and especially with a bit of cold weather and a dash of snow in the forecast for this week ...sigh).

But it was in this joyous state of spring celebration, that I was richly inspired by a particular photograph from my friend, John Harding. John lives on the North Carolina coast and shares his AWESOME photography with us each day. For some most jaw-dropping photographs see his flickr stream here: www.flickr.com/photos/tisdale53).

My husband and I have been to Duck, NC several times to celebrate anniversaries, and we were always charmed by the views, the people, and the community. So John's photograph of this beautiful place: www.flickr.com/photos/tisdale53/13217879454/ combined with the onset of spring -- really had me doing my own small celebration.

With John's permission and grateful appreciation, I am posting my interpretation of his photograph ... Thank you again, John, for your kindness and especially for adding to delightful memories!

IT'S SPRING!! Well -- according to the calendar

IT'S SPRING!! Well -- according to the calendar, a photo by linfrye . on Flickr.

10" x 14" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

We are finally supposed to see the sun today -- a most welcome sight !! And a warm up for a few days. The trees have quickened and throughout the woodlands the maples are showing wonderful crimson. In town (a bit warmer apparently than where I live), there are hints of Bradford pears and blackcherry trees trying to bloom. I see buds on my forsythia and quince -- but merely hints. I know it won't be too much longer before spring really settles in ... and til then (and with another wintry mix in the forecast next week), I'll have to celebrate the new season with paint and paper.

Still, each warm day, each new bud, each new day filled with sunshine is a celebration following a most difficult winter.

HAPPY SPRING!!!

Indeed!

Twilight Flowers

Twilight Flowers, a photo by linfrye . on Flickr.

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

The fickle nature of the season has me in short sleeves one day, down parka the next -- it's as though Mother Nature is reluctant to give up Winter and concede to Spring. Was able to work in the garden earlier this week, and now we're due for another slow flurry ..! Dizzying changes!

Still, driving yesterday yielded large swathes of color as woodland trees break buds to give all the greys a touch of magenta, emerald and gold ... filling us with hope that spring will come soon.

In the words of Hal Borland "Sundial of the Seasons:"

March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice.....She has whims and winning ways. She's exasperating, lovable, a terror-on-wheels, too young to be reasoned with, too old to be spanked...

"March is rain drenching as June and cold as January. It is mud and slush and the first green grass down along the brook...

"March is pussy willows..hepatica...arbutus. Sometimes it is anemones and bloodroot blossoms and even brave daffodils. March is a sleet storm pelting out of the north the day after you find the first violet bud...

"March is the gardener impatient to garden; it is the winter-weary sunseeker impatient for a case of Spring fever. March is February with a smile and April with a sniffle. March is a problem child with a twinkle in its eye."

I couldn't have said it better!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, a photo by linfrye . on Flickr.

To my sweet, beautiful, talented, wonderful, precious daughter

on her most special day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!

WITH LOVE ALWAYS

MOM

Oxford Barn in the Snow

Oxford Barn in the Snow, a photo by linfrye . on Flickr.

Watercolor
Arches 140#CP

We're not quite out of the winter yet as our temps have fallen to the 20s and we're expecting a bit of sleet tomorrow. This painting is from our last snowfall. When the roads cleared I was able to capture my favorite barn covered in winter white ...

Though we may have sleet this weekend, I saw my first cherry tree in blossom yesterday, my friends an hour south of me have daffodils throughout their yards, and the grey cast of my woodlands is hazed in early bud break.

Spring is heading my way!