Jewel of the Forest

I had planned to draw the old abandoned clam-processing shack on the bay across the road from us today. There would be Eagles, Kingfishers, Cormorants and other illustrious citizenry in attendance, I know, but I didn't make it any farther than our own garden. However, nature obliged me, as I perched on my sketching stool, by providing a miniature bird for company. This is my fourth Sketch of Danny's week of Sketchbook Skool. Instead of getting looser and more spontaneous, I've gotten more detailed and intense! What's with that? 

I'm just amazed at the tidal wave of folks all over the world that have responded to this online course!  Apparently there are over 1000 that have signed up.  I've made some very nice friends through this, and my creativity IS JUICED!!

Sketch #3 New Lamp

Jim and I have purchased a new item or two for the house recently, including an antique Japanese jewelry chest (I may open it up and do a sketch of the rows of little drawers inside later) and the (not antique) Tiffany-style, peacock feather patterned lamp.  The coffee table they are perched on is also an antique, and together, the three with the their individual classic details made me absolutely HAVE to draw them.  Fortunately, these are in the bedroom, and I could curl up on the bed and draw.  I almost removed the stack of jeans and pants I've got folded on the table, but decided it made a great, domestic counterpoint, so the composition wouldn't look too much like a furniture store ad.

Today's Sketch

I'm loving this online class...  when you dish out money to study, you have permission to insist on making time for it.  So my afternoon was filled with pens, Moleskine journal, sketchbook, Inktense pencils and brushes.  Does life get any better than this?  Maybe actually traveling with my sketchbook would be even better.  Hmmmm.

Danny Gregory's Sketchbook Skool

 

I've enrolled in a series of classes (or klasses) online, hosted by Danny Gregory and Koosje Koene: http://www.sketchbookskool.com/, and featuring six weeks with six (I think?) teachers, with a playful, empowering and diverse course for those interested in sketch/journaling.  It looks like hundreds have signed up from all over the world, and all sorts of backgrounds.  Many are just learning to draw for the first time, some come from an accomplished background in the arts, but want to pick up new ideas and be involved in an instant community of like-minded creatives.  We all post our work and comment on each other's accomplishments.  It's pretty contagious.  Yesterday's videos were all by Danny, our first teacher in the series.  His relaxed, colorful, humorous journals and style are a big reason why I collect his books and have signed up for this ...."Klass".  This page is my first day's efforts of Danny's homework assignments.  Really, I'm learning a lot from the other students as much as from Danny!  Mostly, stay loose (tough for me), be free, be spontaneous.  And let go of the preciousness of the paper!  

A Weekend With Creative Folk

I've just come back from a delightful weekend with two of my most favorite artists... our grandchildren.  

We indulged in a number of activities that didn't include slogging through the rain.  Some of which was video games, either on the computer, iPad or TV, some of which involved clipping pieces of prints of Gustav Klimt paintings, pasting them into drawings that were so not what Gustav Klimt was visualizing originally, some of which involved eye-hand coordination, some involved tickling.  Some of  the creativity was mine (as you can see), with the strategic guidance of four-year-old Shyloh, who was masterful in her ability to select the perfect colored Inktense pencil color for my drawing.  She even deciphered the tiny color names printed on the pencils.  Her proclamation that she would someday be a "Real Artist", proudly, was the high point of my afternoon!

Gilded Wine Bottle Abstract

I've been tearing small squares of 140# hot press Arches Watercolor paper and taping four of them (wet) at a time on my mounting board, then swirling and tipping Daniel Smith primary (as in: red, blue, yellow) watercolors over the surface.  I liked two of the four results, which I think are pretty good odds for spontaneity.  And of course, I can't just leave them alone, so I played a bit with Sennelier soft pastels once they were dry.  Just a touch on the blue and purple edges of this one, to enhance what was already there a bit.  I found a small bottle I'd begged off of my wine-collector husband, dug up a tall, antique liquour glass (heirloom), and did their portrait together with Derwent Inktense pencils in a dark red.  Highlights on the glass were pure, undiluted gouache white, from the tube.  A dear friend had gone through her deceased mother's stuff and found a lovely pad of gold foil from the 1970s and gave it to me, so I tore a bit to adhere on the painting.  I'm glad it scanned well.  One never knows how gilding will show up in a photo on a 2D surface!  It's been years since I've worked with gilding, and I remembered how frustrating it is to use as soon as I let out my first breath while laying it down.  Suddenly, it was snowing gold snowflakes in my studio.  It's hard to see, but there is gilded floral patterns around the tiny glass, which I put on with acrylic paint (I think it was interference gold) mixed with a "bronze" powder.  I so love mixing my media recklessly!  It's like playing, rather than working.  

Dayna's Gift

Thanks for reading my bits and pieces, I hope you are all enjoying them as much as I am writing them.  As always, this is copyrighted material.

"If I tell you this stuff, you've got to promise me you won't decide I'm crazy, okay?  Or that my kid is.  'Cause she's not.  Well, maybe the jury's still out on my sanity." LeAnne smiled weakly.

“Yeah, we’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, Sweetie, but do go on.”  Nettie could hardly contain her curiosity, and Darce settled herself comfortably for a good story.

LeAnne eyed each woman nervously, then proceeded softly.

“Don’t misunderstand me, Dayna’s a good kid.  I don’t mean she spied on anyone.  the things she would say out loud weren’t meant to harm or tease.  She thought she was helping, I’m sure.  But they were alarming for others in that it was often regarding things she shouldn’t have known.”  LeAnne swallowed hard, looking from one puzzled face to the other.  “What I mean is, nobody would’ve known!  And how she knew these things is beyond me, but it was pretty unsettling to others.  Especially Dayna’s teachers.”

Nettie scrutinized LeAnne for a few moments, squinting as though it would bring her words into sharper focus.  Darce’s face only registered blank curiosity.

LeAnne went for broke.  “For instance, one day when she was in second grade, all the kids were practicing spelling words, I think, and the class was quietly working on their papers.  Suddenly, Dayna looked at the little girl in a nearby desk and said aloud, ‘Your dad wants you to look in the big pipe under the driveway.  Buddy Boo is there.’  The little girl burst into tears and ran from the room.”

“I don’t get it,” Darce said, “why was that so upsetting?”

LeAnne looked down at her lap before she went on, “The little girl’s dad had died the previous summer.  Buddy Boo was a stuffed dog the little girl had lost about the time of his death.”

All three women remained silent for a few minutes.  LeAnne feared her companions were busy revising their opinions of her.  She shouldn’t have brought this up, should've kept her mouth shut.  She looked from one face to the other, sadly.

Nettie finally cleared her throat, loudly, and fixed LeAnne in a hard gaze.  "My Dear, your daughter isn't peculiar.  She's gifted."