Art Supplies

I'm taking an online sketching/drawing course with Cathy Johnston, and our first assignment was to try various pencils. I was able to get this done, but since I am away from home and away from my scanner, I've had to photograph, try (sans decent software!) to fix the contrast in the image so it can be viewed.

While I've used a number of pencils, charcoal and pens for this assignment, my favorite and most used tools are my mechanical pencil and Uniball Vision Elite permanent pen.

I'm using 170# coldpressed watercolor paper so I can add a bit of wash to my sketches, and the charcoal just smeared too much to my liking. However, I've been 'playing' by adding a bit of water with a waterbrush to the charcoal and loved the results! I'll post later.

Last Ones Before Another Work Week

Always busy squeezing the last moments out of a weekend, I did a few 'quicks' before the weekend melts into Monday.

The roller skate is a real antique and I bought it from Ebay because it reminded me of the ones I had as a child -- metal wheels, rust and all. I can't wait until my sketching improves -- I want to do this one better! It so reminds me how much I miss roller skating/dancing with my dh!

Kitchen Condiments

On the island in my kitchen sits a tray of those 'easy to reach for' items I use frequently- herbs, salt and pepper, and Italian olive oil and Italian Basalmic vinegar. The olive oil comes from Gaeta, Italy and the vinegar from Sicily ... I use them sparingly as the shipping costs, even from distributors in the US, are quite high.

View from the Car Window and More Flowers

After resting from all the morning and afternoon festivities, I spent the evening working on my daughter's pregnancy journal (she's expecting her first baby in May) and continuing my 'sketch a day' resolution.

The penciled pear sits on my bookcase and was painted by a good friend of mine. I did a contour sketch only. The square in the center of the page is a blend of landscape scenery I saw while driving back and forth to my son's house. It's mostly comprised of memory, reality and a great deal of artistic license. The vase is one that's oddly shaped but holds the silk morning glories we used for our wedding almost 14 years ago. I did a few watercolor washes over the vase, which I really liked. Then tried to 'correct' the coloring of the vase and wound up overworking it and ruining the 'sketchy' feel of the vase I had achieved and wound up inking over the pencil to help correct this. Lesson learned: Leave the errors! and note the changes I'll make NEXT TIME!

My Grandson's First Birthday

My husband and I continued our househunting with my son, and he's found a nice house he really likes. Now to see about finances. Following a morning of walking through very cold rooms and frosty grasses, we celebrated my grandson's first birthday! The funniest part of the party were the blue faces both he and his sister wound up with! Blue frosting! I wonder when their teeth turned white again?

More Sketches from Resolutions

Yesterday was filled with all those running-around errands that one needs to do but which eat away at the day until you find it's 5:00 pm and all those things you WANTED to do or THOUGHT you were going to get done were replaced with an assortment of odds and ends you can't even recall. Still, at 8:00 pm I decided it was TIME to keep my personal promise to sketch every day ... and so sat down to do these sketches.

The treadmill gave me one big FIT! I wound up using my eraser more than my pencil! And I thought FACES were difficult! I just could not get those handles NEAR to what I was seeing until I remembered to look at the 'negative' space between the bars! LIGHTBULB! And the little meter attached to the top of the bar is off on the right hand corner, and though I tried to fix it with a pen ... just couldn't get it right. What a learning experience!

After THAT, I wanted to do some more 'relaxed' sketches -- so sat at my art table and drew the tube of 'Udder Cream,' which really DOES work, by the way, to heal cracked, dry skin!

And lastly, I wanted to return to sketching nature, and since it was cold and very dark outside, I sketched the lily from one of the catalogues I received this year.

I'm finding I prefer sketching earlier in the day and WILL find a way to do that more often!

BACK to Work and Sketches for the week

It was mighty difficult after two weeks of vacation to return to the hustle and hassle of work. I did manage to do a few sketches each day to keep my New Year's resolution to sketch more and to sketch more quickly. Sketching these also helped me to keep my sanity! The flowers are particularly intended for my resolution to sketch more nature. We had several days of intense rain so these were sketched from one or two of the avalanche of gardening catalogues we receive each year. The jacket, eyes and chandelier were sketched as inconspicuously as I could during a five hour meeting ... Yes, talk about helping keep one sane!

First Sketch of the Year

While the grands take their naps, I was able to sketch a quick view from my window. The watercolors are softer washes than the scan shows, and I'm happy to begin the year with a sketch I'm pleased with. Here's to more in 2006!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2006

We have spent the last 2 1/2 days painting the master bath and bedrooms, turning the walls from white to "Belgium Waffle" - a creamy, yellow/ecru - warm and sunshiny! (I've added a small photo of the bedroom wall, but in the daylight, the color is a bit more yellow.)

We added new curtains, bedspread, shower curtain, throw rugs, rearranged the artwork, thoroughly cleaned both rooms, dressers, bureau tops, book cases. I am reminded of all those cultures I studied in Anthropology where the 'old year' was finished by thoroughly cleaning the dwelling so that the new year could be greeted in a clean home. We did that this year, and I feel ready for 2006!

A few art resolutions for 2006:

* Sketch more and write more on the same page!
* Learn to make my sketches more relaxed, loose and joy-filled insteadof stiffly perfection-
seeking
* Sketch more of nature
* Sketch more quickly

AND PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!

I've been reviewing my sketch journal since I began sketching six months ago - and mercy, I do believe I've improved! I may have a long way to go to reach the goals I've set, but compared to my lopsided stick figures when I began, I'm encouraged to keep sketching.

Thank you friends for your encouragement and your kind comments! May 2006 be a most wonderfully creative, prosperous, joy-filled year for us all!

Quicks

I had a very few minutes to sketch as we waited for my son and daughter-in-law. We were going with them to do a day's worth of house-hunting. I did this page of 'quicks' in less than 30 minutes - the earthshoes and candle were done as DOUBLE-BLIND contours - I didn't have my contact lenses in nor did I look at the page! I added the watercolor washes later tonight AFTER my son had made an offer on a house (all appropriate fingers are crossed!).

SUNNY Sunflowers

The last two days have been overcast and rainy, but on my kitchen table sits a vaseful of silk sunflowers. They so remind me of Italy and summer sun and fields of yellow and green. I decided to try to capture the various 'yellows' in the petals and attempt better watercolor shading. I can see I've succeeded a bit and failed a bit more ... but I enjoyed sitting down to sketch and achieving the quiet that comes when one concentrates on an enjoyable activity. I'll try these sunflowers again.

Morning Has Broken

A glorious sunrise this morning! Cold, growing warmer, clouding to rain tonight ...

A view over my oaks ...

EDM #47

The challenge for the end of the year from the Everyday Matters group is to sketch something we didn't sketch before or something we found particularly challenging. Since I only began teaching myself how to sketch less than six months ago - EVERYTHING I've attempted has been a challenge! Still, I can boil it down to this:

My challenge this year has been SEEING what is before me and being able to SKETCH it! As such, I offer my holiday-tired eyes and my trusty mechanical pencil sketches to illustrate.


My next great challenge - realistic NOSES!

Christmas Images

It's been much too busy over the last few days to get in any sketching. We were blessed with family visits, TONS of gifts and food, music and laughter, and the joy of watching our grandchildren experience their Christmas. For me, nothing means more than spending time with the people I love most in the world, especially during the holidays.

So while, I haven't any sketches to post at the moment, I've uploaded a number of photos to share our Christmas with you. I've focused mainly on the grandchildren, for it was they who really helped make the festivities delightfully chaotic and merry!

We were blessed with one of the most wonderful Christmases we've had - and for this we are deeply grateful.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=8933076&uid=589690

Lin

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone's holidays are the best of all, and that peace, joy, and kindness prevail in our lives. Thank you all for your encouragement and your kindnesses this year ... May 2006 be even greater and filled with even more creativity and happiness ....

Holiday Cooking Break

After three days of my week's vacation spent cooking in preparation for Christmas (lasagna, pasta sauce, snowflakes (rosette cookies), cream puffs, apricot nut bread, shopping, wrapping gifts, mailing presents to far-flung relatives, I took a bit of time to catch my breath and return to sketching.

The candle ring is an old candle holder I've had for years and one I pull out each Christmas. The lamp sits in my kitchen bathroom ready for use when we lose electricity (quite frequently during hurricane and ice seasons). I used a pen to sketch both - but it took three attempts for the oil lamp before I came close to the proper proportions - and the globe is still a bit too short for the base -- SIGH! I also tried using some liquid watercolors (I had been using pans)-- I need much more practice with these!

I've been reading about watercolors and using different techniques, and though I thought I had 'gotten it'... I can truly see that it's time to put the book down and put theory to PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

EDM #47

I was going to hold off posting this until mid-week, but with all the flurry of postings today, just HAD to join in! (grin) I sketched this with pen yesterday - and today when Karen posted the challenge to sketch something 'holiday' was so glad I did it! The holiday festivities are in the wind!

MERRY CHRISTMAS - CARD?

I sketched these two images earlier this week and thought they'd make a fair Christmas card - sent to those friends who understand my 'sketching' progress! In my collage work (http://www.picturetrail.com/linfrye), I use a lot of decorative napkins, as I love not only the artwork on them, but also the translucency they create when used with mixed media. So I combined the two - and came up with this Christmas card ... especially for those who have been so encouraging!

EDM #13 Phone and EDM #45 Inside Medicine Cabinet

I sketched my cell phone in pencil earlier this week (EDM #13), outlined it with pen and then added watercolor.

I sketched the inside of my medicine cabinet (EDM #45) in PEN today and added watercolor.

ThoughI think the phone is a bit more 'accurate' and the inside of my medicine cabinet is off in perspective on the left side - I think I like the pen sketch better -- it makes me SMILE! (maybe I'm just laughing at myself?? LOL)

LOOSE at LAST!

This week while chatting with my friend and owner of the B&B where I stay when I'm out of town, I quickly sketched the arrangement of flowers she had on the table between us. I was working on a talk I had to give, so I had a black pen in hand (Uniball Vision Elite) and I 'doodled' on the back of my reference notes.

I really like the 'looseness' of the sketch and the 'feel' of it. In the two tinier partial versions, I tried to correct the depth of the saucer under the pitcher ... I got a bit closer with the last attempt ...

All in all, I may try using a pen (EGADS! no ERASER!) and quick sketches more often. I really like the feel of this sketch!

I added watercolors (very light washes) when I got home. I couldn't add too much water as the paper is text weight with typing on the reverse side.