A Page from my Journal

November 30 
A page from my journal -

An absolutely gorgeous day yesterday - sunshine and warm. A walk at the GAP - pines and this marsh elder - the colors we see. Lots of walkers and joggers. A simple pizza for dinner.


I really am enjoying my journal sketching and writing time. I began sketching and painting nine years ago but keeping such a journal was neglected over the years I focused on painting. Journaling has been a really good 'return' for me.

It's been wonderful, too, to have that bit of quiet time spent on reflection and contemplation without thought of perfect paintings, matting and framing. Good skill practice too.

I'm still painting for the classes I teach, gifts, and sales, but these journals are what they first were to me - a place to think, dream, meditate, reflect, practice, plan.

It's like filling the well ...

Ornamental Grasses

Double Meandering Journal


There is frost now in the mornings, and often the cat's water bowl is frozen.  From my office window I can now see the sunrise through the bare trees -- but the colors are gone save for the beech, pines and the feathery plumes of my ornamental grasses.

Our days will  now be focused on the holidays - a different season of busyness.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Winter Barn and Birches

No, no snow here - yet -- just freezing temperatures and rain.  Though we still have a few leaves on the trees, since the 'Arctic Blast' hit us last week, most of those leaves have browned, and the once dense woodlands are opening to revel a tangle of incredible arboreal architecture.

This painting was a done as demo for the watercolor class I taught this month.

My Backyard -- a few days ago

 
BRRR!!! FREEZING outside!! What a difference from when I painted this. The leaves have turned brown almost over night (25F after 75F temps)...no wonder! On the way to Raleigh yesterday to participate in Art of the Carolinas -- we had a bit of SNOW flurries -- LIGHT, AIRY flakes mixed with misty rain -- but yep, it was snow.

Hate to see this colorful display end ...

SBS - A Walk Into Fall - Last few pages

SBS - Last few pages of "A Walk Into Fall" ... I've really enjoyed this trip!!! (and yes, I've misspelled sorghum again! LOL)  I"m embracing my imperfections!!

Pages Two and Three in "My Walk Into Fall"

I am very much enjoying my "Walk Into Fall' and creating these pages for the last session of "Storytelling' Sketchbook Skool.  FUN!


More to come!

Page 1 Walk Into Fall 
Sketchbook Skool with Danny Gregory - A story of our day, trip, adventure.

Mine is simple .. a walk into my favorite season ...

More to come ...

Blowing in the Sunflowers

Gray days, bit of rain -- all that sketch work --- just needed to splash some paint around!!!

Fall Remains

Old Barns, fields in sepia and gold, tree leaves falling, nip in the air ....

Fall drawing to a close --- winter knocking ....

NC State Fair

Double Meandering Journal -- Met the grandchildren at the NC State Fair Sunday --- FUN!!! Great food, displays, rides -- the day was glorious -- and the crowds -- ENORMOUS!  Lots of noise and people, a festive atmosphere and great fun!!!  I was whipped after only 4 hours!!

Plein Air at the GAP

Double Meandering Journal -- Sunshine and a cool breeze, but a beautiful day to visit the Granville Athletic Park. Met my friend Julie for a walk, then we sat under one of the shelters to sketch the Autumnal colors in front of us. Wonderful!

Ode to Fall

A quick ode to fall ... right now, foliage here in the Piedmont of NC is mostly yellows and golds, a few browns, and here and there, the maples are turning scarlet.  We're weeks away from peak color -- but the changes are evident and beautiful.

Double Meandering Journal

Thought I'd share a couple of my journal pages done while visiting my mom.

This old barn really caught my eye.... Love it in its aged beauty!

Raleigh's Farmers Market

Raleigh Farmer's Market ... What a blast! Everywhere we looked -- pumpkins, squash, mums, apples -- a harvest of color, fruits, vegetables! Tons of folks with arms filled with the colors and gifts of the season!

Pumpkins and Squash

While visiting my mom, I used my double meandering journal to sketch a few things while she rested. I was continuing the 75-day challenge by Brenda Swenson to sketch with pen first. Terrific practice.

Potted Flowers - Happy Birthday -- to Me! With thanks to You!

I painted these several months ago -- but since I enrolled in Sketchbook Skool I haven't done a lot of painting outside of assignments, challenges or preparations for the classes I was teaching. I found these in my archives and thought they'd fit for my September birthday.

On my birthday, I'd like to thank each of you for all the support and encouragement you have given me through my sketching and watercolor journey. I truly appreciate the time and kindness you give me with your 'favorites' and your generous comments. Thank you most for your friendship!

You make my time here most pleasant and joyous -- and my wish for YOU -- is many more years of doing all the things you love to do -- and sharing those with us here on Blogger!

Pen and Wash
Meandering Double Journal

The days are cooling, nights coming in a lot earlier, leaves turning colors and are already litter the ground ... pumpkin and mum displays everywhere I go, yellow fields, hay bales, apples, and here and there, the first scent of wood smoke.

There's no denying -- it's fall!!

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 ...