Sometimes it is a struggle….

It’s been more than a month since I’ve posted on my blog, not because I haven’t been sketching, drawing and painting, but because daily life has it’s way of taking over.

Since late October, my husband and I have  traveled to visit with our children and their families, finally found some property in New Mexico (more to come on this), and all the while I’ve done my best to keep up with the EDM Challenges (not always managing well) but drawing, sketching or painting on most days.

I’m pretty sure now that the changes that come with fall (including the time) really do tend to get me off track. In between the grey skies and storms I’ve spent a lot of time walking & being with the colorful leaves, crunching them beneath my feet (like a child) and sometimes painting them. At my worst, I hole up with a book and read the day away. Now here’s where my struggle comes in; the drawing, painting, reading and walking around the neighborhood doesn’t get the laundry and / or household chores completed and then I feel guilty (for a few minutes), and follow that thinking with a good ‘oh well, spring is coming’. So, the thought doesn’t last long.

I’ve also been busy (stuck) doing faces, only this time they are showing up as fast as the leaves are falling, so I just do my best to catch them in my sketches. I never know where they’ll end up at, maybe in a large format acrylic. Who knows? They must be popping into my head for a reason.

Along with all the other activities (like Christmas Cards, etc.)  I’ve taken time to play and experiment with all kinds of mediums that I don’t work in often as I break in my new journals from Stillman & Birn. I wonder just how long the childlike fascination will keep me in it’s grasp, and then giggle to myself because I know it’s part of the journey of life and the best way to get out of a rut is to let yourself play right through it thinking all the time, WOW! I should get some more watercolor pencils, and colored pencils….this is really fun!

And, of course –just in case I don’t get back until after the first of the year here’s a picture of ‘old St. Nick’ to wish you all a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

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Illustration Friday : A Tree

I love trees, and as I meandered through my saved images I came up on several but choose to share this one of a tree I sketched in Yosemite Village a couple of years ago.

A tree in Yosemite Village, I named it ‘curly cue’.

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ART Journaling Step by Step

Every once in a while I get around to finishing a page or two that I had previously started. So today I decided I take one page through the steps of completion, especially since I haven’t posted in a while.

A month or so ago I was on a crazed mission doing many, many faces & now I can share my process through completion with you. I hope you’ll find it easy enough to try just for fun. In this case I’m thinking they can easily be used to print some postcards/note cards for myself or as gifts! All you’ll need are simple supplies: Waterproof pen, watercolor or colored pencils, and or markers.

Step one:

Complete a contour drawing of a face (or flower)  in waterproof ink using an old photo (magazine or newspaper). For sure mine never come out looking even close to the reference material no matter what, so don’t even go there.

 

Step 2:

Add Watercolor washes (or colored pencils, markers – whatever you wish)!

 

Step 3:

Using hand lettering or a stencil with pencil, add your message and design. Here I decided to add the word ‘Think” with dots, and I’ve now painted the background with brushed on ink.

 

 

Step 4:

Now finish up with whatever you’d like to use pencils, pens, colors. Whatever suits your fancy.

 

 

 

Here I’ve used Faber-Castell Pitt Pens (one of my fav’s). And, I’m thinking this can be used for special notes to my friends who have survived breast cancer, or a gift of note cards to them so they can share with others.

Have a wonderful day, and keep sketching my friends!

 

 

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Illustration Friday Challenges

Once again it’s been a couple of weeks since I managed to catch up long enough to actually complete & be ready to post a submission to IF. This week..finally! Plus I had a lot of fun doing it. A few minutes in my studio to sketch the bottom two rows (about 1/3 of the length) of my prize purchase of a bookshelf (going out of business at Borders) for my studio. I am truly in love with this bookshelf and of course all the reference books, magazines & such that it holds. I hope you enjoy my submission, as much as I enjoyed doing it and writing about it.

In my studio you will find…….

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Squeezing in the time to sketch…

Oh wow, I’ve been busy for a change and as I struggle with the balance of working on a commissioned piece I’ve thought about all the freedom I have (normally) to just sketch & play when I want to ….. most of each day. I really haven’t kept up with my normal Everyday Matter’s group & missed 2 weeks of Illustration Friday challenges (oh no), but I have indeed been sketching everyday no matter what. So I just decided to at least share the dancing of my pen, and acknowledge that it is truly hard to work everything in but it is really important for me to take a little time NO MATTER what else to sketch just for myself. I hope that you take time too!

Keep sketching my friends!

The fireplace mantle in my family room…watching TV?

Using up the blue ink?

‘rambling on’

Old Oak in the Park…listening to the birds!

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Falling into ART Journaling, what’s next?

Yes I am a journal junkie, and sometimes I wonder just where I’m going in my art. I’ve been actively involved in Travel Journaling (it seems like forever), making art, doing the Travel Journaling thing, and teaching workshops. All along the way I’ve been buying all kinds of reference books that lead me more into the Art Journaling – Mixed Media style. I devour these books yet I can’t seem to just let go, and fall into the mixed media habit, and what I mean by this is the use of all kinds of materials, tearing up, and pasting down. Yet my inner child is telling me this is what I need to do,  just let go, and let the kid out. As I continue to contemplate just letting go, here’s a couple of pages where I have only swished on some ink to get the bright colors and ‘journaled a few thoughts’. I’m sure sometime soon I’ll get to the point where I can do the backgrounds without thinking I have to draw it in first. See, it’s like I’m beginning to fall into it.

Illustration Friday’s Post for “TALL”

I think most of my friends know that I’m also doing art challenges with Illustration Friday’s FB Group. It’s a great way to keep your mind working. Each week a word is posted and I do my thing and ‘illustrate’ it. This piece is for the word challenge ‘TALL’. Hope you enjoy!

Very tall, long, long legs!

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Travel Journaling: Reno or ‘bust!

Just completed a short trip into Reno, NV! I of course reverted to my standard ‘dairy style’ of journaling the tid-bits of the day on the fly. I love documenting the daily minutia, and thus started out with a 2 page spread with a hand drawn map to fill in as we drove along.

Page 1 of map

Page 2 of map spread

During our stay at the Grand Sierra Casino & Resort, I did several sketches in the early morning hours near the Starbucks 🙂 of course, while I sipped on my morning latte and listened to the great background music! I had fun sketching folks, but often they catch on and try to cover their faces….so, I gave up on the folks and just did sketches of the immediate area. I painted them in watercolor after we returned home.

Casino Sketch

AM walk for latte 🙂

I was thrilled to stop in Boomtown on the way back. I actually recouped my previous losses. Then, on the way back home a bit of sketching in the van while Norm drove. We really had a great trip, nice & relaxing and by the way if you ever make a trip there make sure you do the National Automobile Museum. It’s awesome!

Have a great day, and keep sketching my friends!

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What’s Holding me back?

Over the past week I’ve been thinking about how some of the EDM Challenges seem to me to be  harder than they should be to complete, and in doing the thinking thing a lot of thoughts tumbled out. This is what I think I learned, hope it makes sense to you as well.

Just not into the whole thing?

The learning is in the doing! The challenges if completed in sequence will at some time make you uncomfortable. This has happened to me, more than once. Now, I think this is a good thing. What if you are ‘just not in the mood?’ I suggest you just try ‘to work through it’, even if it takes all day (or more than one day). Inside this process  “the experience of learning” I have stopped to do some research, and to think about the given activity – starting with why am I feeling this way, why am I not connecting or why is there no immediate interest?  From that point forward I’m truly ‘looking’  for some inspiration, YUP ‘inspiration’. Without ‘inspiration’ or some kind of connection the emotional part of the process of drawing needed  to complete a challenge seems ‘life less’ and if so the completed piece just doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel lively it is without the “spark of life”.

Lovin my new socks!

Skipping around may keep you from being un-inspired but not allow for the other learning to occur. For example: how our feelings impact what we are attempting to complete. Or, how our ‘lack of patience with ourselves’ and always being in a great hurry impacts our work and produces unwanted results. If we take time to enjoy the ‘journey’ even if it is for only a few minutes we learn it contributes to a successful piece. Our soul is enjoying the amazing FUN as we learn to use new (or old stuff) media like a child ‘with that new pen’, paint, or paper.

When we take time for ourselves to discover a new perspective ‘visual or mental’ it helps us see and feel differently about what we are doing, or attempting to do. Aaaaaah, what a challenge.

EDM.50 ‘my front door’

So, maybe our short-term gains by staying actively engaged & skipping around can offset the ‘uncomfortable feelings’ you (we) run into now and the. This can be a good way of continuing forward – but,  it often skirts the issues lying just  under the surface and those may be what are holding you back from a real genuine emotional breakthrough it your work, or life issues.

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Drawing on life, and sketching like a crazy person….

In my last post I chatted about making quick sketches from magazines and shared a couple of my ‘journal pages’. Since Tuesday I’ve completed 22 faces (of course they are in various stages of completion) but complete as far as the line work is considered, and in my madness I moved on to just making them up as I went along. Anyway today I spent time scanning a bunch in BEFORE I painted or wrote on them (gee what a concept) and decided I’d share. Hope you enjoy! Keep sketching my friends, Donna

   

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