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!