Book of Spirits

The collection is growing......

Last Three Days

Here's the last three day's of the 75 day sketching challenge. I can honestly say that I DID IT! It was fun but it wasn't easy either. I learned there are days that I don't feel like drawing and those days are very visible in those sketches too.  To do the drawings without the aid of a pencil or in my case, the eraser was at first very intimidating but after a week, I was able to loosen up some and enjoy my good as well as not so good lines and perspective. I'll definitely keep with a journal for this purpose, I just won't make it an every day requirement.
Thanks again goes to the artist who supports this challenge, Brenda Swenson. You can find the details here on her blog.... http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com/2011/07/75-day-sketch-challenge.html

I highly recommend doing the challenge. 

3 day mix

Three days here and only three days to go. I can't believe I'm going to finish the challenge that begun 2 and a half months ago. It reminds me of the saying that "time passes" anyway, there's no stopping it and I might as well be doing something productive so in the end I get a sense of accomplishment.

Three more days.....

The flower pot was good practice for a painting I'll be doing on the same. I'm experimenting with a sheet of watercolor paper stretched and stapled onto a frame.  I did the set up yesterday and today, with the paper dried I'll begin painting and see how it turns out. Since I can't be where I'd like to be, camping in the middle of a snowy somewhere watching the aurora borealis, I'll take a short flowery vacation into my creative zone.

Challenge Update

I'm getting very close to the end of this challenge found here and supported by artist Brenda Swenson......

http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com/2011/07/75-day-sketch-challenge.html

 

75 days is a long stretch but I'm finding out that using only ink to sketch out a drawing, even though my shapes are not perfect, I now have more confidence in my lines than I did 2 months ago when I began this challenge. 

Half Way!

Actually, a little over half way through to the 75 day sketching challenge. YAY!

75 Day Challenge - Day 13

My go to camera when I want to carry less but still end up with a decent photo or video.

75 Day Challenge - Day 8

A size 8 on day 8.

75 Day Sketch Challenge - day 1

I've been thinking about starting this challenge for the past few weeks and decided today would be a great day to begin for no other reason than for me to make the commitment and do it (otherwise known as sh*t or get off the pot).  So this it the first of 74 more of ink drawings. Besides the daily sketch the other requirement is no pencil is allowed allowed, only ink. It's already made me see the lines, shadows and space differently and slower too. I think I'll be getting a ton of experience out of this exercise. Done in Noodler's kiowa pecan in with a light water color wash.
Check out the challenge here..... the supporting artist, Brenda Swenson, provides a very cool incentive for completion.

ADNW - October Challenge

A Day Not Wasted painting challenge for October was a picture of this lad in Dublin. I used my Lamy pen for the outline then tried out my Progresso colored pencils. I'm happy with everything but the face. I made the young man a few years older. sigh

good bye

I found another great challenge where you get a water color blob to doodle around. Go here and check it out Gab Collab

It's FUN!

A New Find

 

Firstly, I can't believe it's been close to 3 months since my last posting. Time really flys when you're busy. Hopefully, with early retirement only 11 days away I should have the time to do what I really enjoy which is photography and painting and a few other things too.
I have found a cool site here... http://adaynotwasted.com/
Maybe it's the fine photography that is done by Lee A Brown or maybe it's the title of his blog, "A Day Not Wasted" or a combo of both but I've spent some time cruising around the blog and decided to try his August challenge.
Cheers everyone!

Gdansk, Poland

Google maps can take you to very unusual places. I felt very lucky to find this spot that got hit with some interesting graffiti in Gdansk, Poland for April's Virtual Paintout.

St Petersburg, Russia

It's been awhile since I've added some water to my paints and it felt pretty good too. Here's March's Virtual Paintout. Somehow when I was taking the google map trip through St Pete I was able to find a small amusement park.

Days of Ink

I haven't done a watercolor in a long while, in fact, since my Dad passed away but I'm still getting some ink on paper time. Here's some of the past daily doodles done in my mini moleskine. Some days show the weather, my pens - one which was a very leaky fountain pen!, a busy weekend, another state for marriage equality and other important matters like a good margarita. I hope to get back into the swing of water coloring but for now the mindless doodling is doing it's job. Cheers!

Daily Doodle Journal

In the beginning of this year I picked up a small Moleskine calendar book and decided to use it as a daily doodle journal. Surprisingly, I've been keeping up with it fairly regularly. There were a few days that I didn't do a doodle but lately it's turned into a habit. For the past two days I'm sketching whatever pen I'm using for the day but I'll be able to go back in the year and also see when the dow hit it's all time high, when I went to Palm Springs, when a package of Donut Shop coffee arrived or when it was just a doodle day. Fun stuff for sure.  

Weekend In The Desert

I love driving to Palm Springs for a long weekend. We left on Friday and stayed at a different hotel since Harley was coming along (Ziggy went to his favorite Doggy Camp place to stay). I'm always amazed with the hotels that allow dogs but have a weight limit of something very small like 12 lbs. Fortunately, I found this place that had no limit plus there was a large grassy area for dogs to play and run around. Needless to say, Harley had a great time and we'll be returning to that place again I'm sure.
So first the room and below is the cabana done with water colors and ink and below is the grassy area done with water colors and my new Sharpie liquid pencil that I was trying out.

I'll be using the liquid pencil again. It erases easy, allows for highlighting, and it works well with the water. I do see some lead spotting on the drawings but not to a point where it's bothersome to me. It's another fun tool for my collection and use.

Big Wave

Gus and Milo relaxing on the beach....until Milo sees the big wave.

Virtual Elba

I'm still having problems with the link on google maps for the Virtual Paintout so this one might not show up on that blog. Once of these days I'll get it right again. It would be so fun to actually go to these places each month. Maybe San Diego will get picked one day then I'll be able to paint on location.

Close Up Challenge

This months Sketchbook Challenge was zooming in for a Close Up. I sat very close to my five foot high cactus that I planted in the back yard six years ago. It didn't take me long to actually see the symmetry in nature.  This was one of my favorite challenges.