Back to Sketches and One Big Mistake

 Making choices in how one will use their time can be a bit perplexing and daunting.

For instance:  the sketches inspired by 

Danny Gregory's A Sketch A Day,

love the concept, have tried to do 1/3 of them then find I get distracted by............

1.   Painting my new line of Lolli-Pop Colors and Lolli-Pop Kids.

2.  Playing with the Funny Bunnies and attempting to capture photos of their antics.

3. Having a "love affair" with i Phoneography...which is slowly being shared on my photography blog.

4.  Falling behind in e-line courses...apologies to the instructors...and trying to rid myself of guilt.

I won't bore you with the rest of the list.  Yours is probably longer than mine!  

Let's get back to sketching.  I actually did four but two I simply can't share they are pretty awful.

Purely experimental and bombed.

Here are two "okay" attempts.  I don't recall the theme we had for sketching so I will call these "wild cards."

I started with an OLD ledger, you can see how the watercolor wrinkles the paper.  Rather adds to the charm.  The left page I scribbled on, then attempted to be more serious on the right side.

Through the magic of scanning:

Transparent watercolor and Micron pen.  

I think the following piece should count for at least THREE SKETCHES as it was much more time intensive.  Do you agree?

Heavy black illustration board. Gouache

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Back story to this piece:  I store my gouache in a Pan Maker Water Color palette with its handy little cubby squares for paint, sponge for moisture and tight lid.  I have had two such boxes fully filled with gorgeous colors.   When not in use I store it in the refrigerator.

BIG MISTAKE: forgot about it for way too many months.

Pulled it out, lift the lid and DRIED sponge and stared at the  beautiful colors  covered with spreading MOLD!! 

It was not a pretty sight. Nor my best moment.

 I had to remove all of that wonderful gouache and watch the dollars float away in spent paint.  Lesson learned.

I also keep my acrylics in the refrigerator. And my oils in the freezer.

If you are wondering if there is any food in there, the answer is, very little. But it surely is colorful.

Lest you wonder. I do have everything tightly sealed.  Oil can go in freezer but acrylic can not, frig best.  I also spritz with water and touch of bleach the water based paints.  

My next post I am going to share a few of my favorite illustration/sketching books.  See you then.

Heart Thought:  sometimes it takes a big boo-boo embedded  in our minds to not repeat past mistakes.

What Shall I Do Today

When I divide my "extra-fabulous-self time" which can seem like nano-seconds, it is often a choice of

What Shall I Do Today?

Invite the Funny Bunnies over to paint?

Mess around with my i Pad sketch apps?

Work on photography and learning Lightroom?

Catch up on my online classes?
Complete the well dried canvases on the easel, the dusty ones.
Organize all my "art stuff." No that isn't fabulous self-time.
Write and post a blog.

Good Grief, so many choices could send a girl back to that hidden stash of Peanut M&M's.

Enjoy a peek at how I used my treasured moments these past few days, well really a week.

(PS Photography Play on separate blog, sorry)

with Danny Gregory

Architecture
Noodlers Black Ink, Pen, Watercolor,

Things I Collect 
Micron Pen, Watercolor

   Chair

i Pad sketch  Adobe Ideas App

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I started an online course presented by the very creative Mindy Lacefeld entitled  Neat Stuff. (see side bar please)  Sadly it concluded on Friday. It was great fun and I totally kept up....score a brownie point!   I am excited to show you what I have been working on.
Here are a few examples.  There will be lots more to come.

This is truly Q-T Pie Playground Time

filled with bubble gum, hopscotch, Q-T Pie characters, rainbow clouds, words, crayons, paint, flying frogs, teddy bear clowns, princess crowns and Crazy Patch Painting.

Come back to play in my colorful playground.
See you soon.

Heart Thought: I know I will forget if I don't share NOW. I have been putting watercolor ink and India ink in my watercolor brushes....you know the brushes with a barrel you fill with water for watercolor....Works super good so far.  Let us know what you think if you give it a try.

Sketch a Day

A few weeks ago I started to play around with sketch  prompts from Danny Gregory's blog. I knew that it was the perfect time to use various media and mediums with which to sketch.  

About a year ago I was all into sketching with my i Pad. But like many good things it faded from my attention and time.

But it is back full force!! SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!!

And no ink stained fingers.

book

implement from the kitchen

furniture

It is a luxury to have a tablet. Mine goes everywhere with me. Doing sketches on different apps takes a bit of practice. There is a learning curve.  So I just scoot around trying different things. 
Having fun is my intention at this point.

Today's apps are:
53 Paper
SketchBookX
Adobe Ideas

Until next week, keep those pencils sharp.

Every Day Matters

Today was a pretty nifty day.

After three visits to the Apple Store (as though they need any free publicity) I finally got i Photo straightened out. It was ruling my life.  Third times a charm.  I am at Peace with i Photo....for now anyway.

We received a 60.00 rebate check...whooppeeeee.

That doesn't happen very often.

Visited my favorite store on the same "mall" block as Apple:

ANTHROPOLOGIE!

Headed to the Sale Bin and found a really cool book for half price.

Great photography, graphics, recipes and story line.

And closing out the day, I am sharing two sketches.

Last post I shared some thoughts about Danny Gregory and his sketch a day challenge.

Every Day Matters Challenge. click for website

I thought about keeping up with this and reasoned: if I don't make a huge hoopla out of one sketch a day, or close to that (I will never manage one a day); if I am willing to just use whatever is at hand and not over think things...... I am going to give it a try.  

Sunday and Monday sketches done with permanent marker and watercolor.

My take on my own photographs from last post.

I purchased this adorable cup and saucer at Anthropologie in New York last year.  It is definitely my favorite cup for morning hot chocolate...yup even in our torrid heat!
Heart Thought: sometimes we need to lower our expectations a wee bit. Be kinder to ourselves.  Not attempt to please everyone all the time. Little adjustments here and there can bring more GRACE to our days.
Be Kind to Yourself, dear friends. 

I have BEEN messing around

At the first of the week, I promised myself to post again  THIS WEEK.....And I have been messing around with paint, colored pencils, markers, scrap paper, scissors, glue......all the really messy stuff.

Interruption:  on Thursday my "usually very sweet, compliant" computer had to make an unexpected visit to the computer doctor!

It is now Saturday afternoon and I have brought her home, all better and ready to go.

So to keep my promise to post again this week, and behind in scanning all my "photos" of "stuff," due to lack of said computer, I thought I would share a really FUN and INFORMATIVE website.

Now this won't be a surprise to everyone who loves to sketch, but I really am impressed with
 Danny Gregory.  

He wrote books you might own, Everyday Matters, The Creative License and An Illustrated Life.

I haven't seen his website for a very long time...much to my loss.  So I went peeking around "before my computer got a nasty headache."

He has a great idea for all of us who would like to do some little bit of art every day, well almost every day.

EDM Challenge
Every Day Matters Challenge.

A very simple subject is posted and one sketches to the theme.

Click here.

Pretty fun, eh?  And not hard to do. Now not all sketches are in color, there is black and white, wax pencils, colored pencils, a bit of this a bit of that.
Follow the link to his website where you can view pages in his journals, see videos and all the books he has published.  So many informative and fun things to enjoy.

Tonight I will sketch a piece of FRUIT, how easy is that when there is such a plethora of fruit to choose from right now.  High Season for Fruit Lovers.

So my little goal is to follow along with the choices presented...then when I have actually done a few days worth, share in one blog.  I certainly don't need to bore you with one sketch a day.

Not much of an excuse to not sketch a piece of fruit!!!

Well time to get back to my ARTSY PLAYTIME...before my glue stick goes dry.