Thinking Halloween

 My Tuesday Painters group went to the Coffee Factory in Muskegon two weeks in a row.  It has a plethora of Halloween decorations which were fun to do.  This was done this week....

Last week I tried skeletons, they are harder than I thought they would be so I moved on to a real life person.  He was reading his phone so he sat still long enough for me to get a decent sketch.

And now it's time to think about Christmas.  I've been working on poinsettias and snow scenes.  I'll post a couple of those next week.

Another Sunflower

 And I do like this one better

Actually, when I started this I planned on doing Daylilys.  There was a photo of several on the weekend drawing event over on wetcanvas.com last weekend.  I finally decided I didn't like where the Daylilys drawing was going and I already had the paper covered with some yellows so -- why not try another Sunflower. I'm much happier with this one.

This week my Tuesday Painters group went to Herrick Library in Holland to see the quilts on exhibit.  This is national quilt month and all the libraries in our area are showcasing quilts made by women in the area.  The quilts were fun to see but I wasn't inspired to sketch a bunch of books on shelves or any of the quilts so I opted to do some pencil sketches of people, two sketchers and one librarian shelving books.  Then some playing with lettering.

That was fun, I may do more of that -- both the people sketching and the lettering.  Since the pandemic we no longer eat out much and that was when I did most of my people sketching.  I do want to get back to doing it.

And speaking of quilts, I've been talking with a friend who has painted a few quilts that she has made.  I love her work and want to introduce you to her.  I'll be working on that introduction for an upcoming blog post.

What else, more in my art journal and I've read a couple books.  My grandson has a fractured hip and can't walk here from school so I pick him up.  A book helps kill the time waiting in the parking lot.  It also means I need to keep reading at other times so I can try and figure out who done it.  

Spring is coming -- I think I'll paint some daffodils.

Tuesday At The Hackley Library

 What an amazing building!  There was so much to see and so little time to sit and sketch.  We're going back next week.  

There was so much carving on this fireplace and so little time I opted to just do a portion of it.  Next week I may do the entire fireplace -- or maybe the second fireplace in another room.

 

Or perhaps some of the wonderful old hardware.... these are just a few.

                     

I love old so this place was heaven for me.  The only thing better would have been an old boat yard but that would be outside and it's a bit nippy out.  

We have snow today, not enough yet but a start.  Winter is another love.  My husband says it's because I don't have to shovel it. That's true but I loved it even when I did have to do the shoveling.  The only problem I have with winter is the cold and my Renaud's Syndrome.  I use handwarmers.  My doctor suggested I put heated gloves on my Christmas list.  I didn't know there was such a thing but I put them on the list I gave my husband.  I may even help with the shoveling if he gets them for me.

If I don't get time to post next week I wish you a

  Very Merry Christmas 

and I'll be back before the start of 2023

I’m a beginner again! And I’m loving it..

                                         

I’m moving out of my comfort zone to work in a new way so I'm a beginner again.  It’s a new way for me and it came about because I took one of those free weekend workshops.  I liked how she started because it was a way I hadn’t started in the non-representational (abstract) works I’ve been doing recently. However, I didn’t like the way she moved forward with it so I decided to explore on my own.

I’m working on four at once but I haven’t photographed them all through the process.  I’m quite happy with one I finished at Spider Lake.  I posted that a couple weeks ago.  These three weren’t working for me.  I was liking the first one but it needed something.

Having worked on non-representational for some time trying to learn the genre I began to think “what if I can’t do this after all?”  So far I’ve used unfamiliar media and worked across all sort of substrates.  All these experiments and I still felt stuck – until the free workshop.  I’m still not certain what I’m doing and some just turn out lousy.  But I’m remembering – many times trying a new medium and how long it takes. I ought to write about my first attempt at a poured watercolor sometime.  But I digress.

I thought the first one above had promise. It's a combination of media including collage. This one is something else I don’t usually do – work in a grid format.  I shared with one of my artist friends.  A suggestion, a tiny tweek and it’s done.  Can you tell what I did?

Happy New Year

Not very festive but it was fun working on the original Rock Paper Scissors while I went back and forth between a sappy Hallmark movie and the U of M game last night.

I'm glad to say good-by to 2016.  There were some ups but a lot of downs too.  I wasn't feeling the downs so much until I began to look back on the year.  Oh well, it's past.  Looking forward to 2017 and a good outcome for my brother's surgery on the 3rd.  His cancer news was one of the downs for 2016 but he has a positive attitude and that goes a very long way I think.

One of the ups, our trip to France, was truly a highlight.  The trip was cut short because of my husband;s knees and hip pain; however, we had a wonderful time while we were there and saw most of what we wanted to see. I love old textured walls and they were everywhere.

So now I'm thinking about what is to come.  My goals, my word, what do I want to improve, what do I want to eliminate.  Well, eliminating is the first thing and an easy one... eliminate negative thoughts. There have been a lot of them this year because of the political scene and my husbands joint and blood clot issues.  No matter what in 2017 I want to concentrate on staying positive.

And speaking of concentrate.... that's my word for this year.  CONCENTRATE.  I thought about many, focus was in the running but I realized what I really meant by focus was to concentrate on the thing that I am doing at the time, get lost in it, put all of your focus on that one thing while you are doing it.  So concentrate is the word for 2017.

Goals... finish the winter blanket I started how many years ago.  That's been a goal every year, maybe this year I will be able to check it off my list.  Another goal, learn something new, a new skill, a new language, Maybe this will be a year to concentrate on abstract art, maybe learn more about a particular artist.  I don't yet know what but to learn something new is always a good goal I think.

Resolutions... I usually don't do those but it's time I got back to painting and a daily practice is good.  At one time I was in the practice of drawing something every day.  Somewhere along the line I got out of that habit.  It's time to get back to something daily and I'm torn between stitching and painting.  So, something to get me started during the day, play in an art journal.  I'm not going to say I will do it every day, rather I will try to do it every day.  And stitching... that's something I can do in the evening while he is watching television and I'm just sitting with him because it's what we do.  If I'm not paying attention to his program he won't care a wit.

And here are a couple new works that will be in the January show at the Gallery Uptown.  Both are collaborative pieces; starts by Annie Morgan, finish by yours truly.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

The daily sketches & thoughts on ways to practice

This one is from a favorite website’s weekend drawing event.  Over on wetcanvas.com there is a group that gathers on weekends to do two hour paintings. A member of the group posts 16 photos, the participants have half an hour to pick one and then two hours to work on it before posting the results. It’s a good learning tool and you will find all levels of artists from beginner to seasoned professional.  If you’re interested here’s a link to the site.  The weekend drawing event is in the forums and is titled All Media Art Events.

To be fair, not everyone takes the two hours, I spent less than an hour on this sketch. Some take longer but post at the two hour mark and then go back to finish.  And some who aren’t confident in their work yet, do the painting but don’t post.  Looking at how others treated the subject they worked on helps them to see where they are and often, that they are better than they think they are. 

I am remembering one of the artists we lost to cancer, Connie was prolific, she really worked at it and her skill level improved dramatically.  When she started there was no question, she was a rank beginner.  I have a couple of pieces she did when the group did an exchange and frankly, the first one is horrid.  However,the second one done in a later exchange is worth framing.  It was fun watching her participate and progress in her skill levels.

This is another way to practice, carry a sketchbook with you always.  No need to share what you sketch but whenever you have down time draw.  I’m one of those who everyone thinks is distracted or not paying attention because I’m doodling or sketching but it happens I hear better when my hands are busy. This one was done in church.

And this one was done when I was a few minutes early, done in less than five minutes because the others I was meeting arrived before I got any further.