Draw a Car

I was waiting for my car to have its oil change and decided to bite the bullet and draw a car. I looked on the EDM list and actually couldn't find draw a car. Anyway, I am sad that my dealer might not be here in three months. I love having my car serviced at my dealer. The idea that they might disappear is very hard for me. I have had Saturns for almost 18 years now. Their customer service has been the best. I am very unhappy with this scan. I don't know why I keep getting these dark spots when I scan my moleskine sketchbook. It seems to be only happening on the large one. I tried several times but still kept getting the dark spots.

***************************************************************************************
Thanks to those who responded from EDM as to what to do. This is a better scan but I am still having the same trouble. I leaned on it but still got one bad spot but not nearly as bad as before.
After four tries I just have to back off!! Thanks!

Portland State University/Ooligan Write to Publish Conference

I spent all day Friday at Portland State University at a new conference put on by Ooligan Press. The conference was called Write to Publish. The first seminar I attended was the state of publishing which had no good news about the publishing industry. I actually had not heard that most publishers have stopped acquiring books temporarily, at least in the adult market. It is pretty scary stuff. The first drawings below were done during my favorite session, writing for young adults, given by Michelle McCann who teaches at PSU in the publishing program. She teaches young adult and children's publishing. She was terrific and I am sure she must be an amazing teacher.

The drawings below were drawn during the session on writing graphic novels.
The drawing below was during a session on how to present a book to a publisher.

The drawing below was done during the lecture on the state of publishing.

What I can't figure out is why my moleskine journal won't scan without dark blotches. Oh Well!

All in all it was a fun and informative day.

Flower fairy

Drawn from a photo by Jill Lawrence.

Something else I thought I wanted besides a raccoon

Periodically I get the JJill catalogue. I thought I wanted to buy this jacket. So I tore out the picture and sat down and drew it. Once I was done I realized that I was being suckered in by the atmosphere of the beach. I didn't really want the jacket but wanted the idea of being thin and leisurely strolling down a beach somewhere without having any worries. So just like having a raccoon for a pet would be a very bad idea, I realized that I didn't need this jacket.

Exercise for watercolor pencil workshop

I am not happy with this but this is my drawing for yesterday.

Snack time

What a great sweater...

Virtual Sketch Date for May

Here is my entry for the Virtual Sketch Date May Challenge. Please click here to see the original photo and other people's take on the photo/challenge.

A Very Lovely Day

I spent all day Saturday at a workshop given by Sharon Geraci at her beautiful new studio. It was a lovely day spent making art and reconnecting with our muses. Sharon is an amazing collage artist, watercolor artist and teacher. Be sure to check out her site. She also teaches at Multnomah Arts Center starting again in the fall. See below for work done on Saturday. Also this work posted on my blog was done in classes taken with Sharon.

Sharon Geraci in her new studio with a work in progress

This is Sharon with her beautiful collaged piece that was accepted into the Lake Oswego Arts Festival in the juried show in June, 2009

I call this piece "Fear of Pears". It's hard to see but the big pear on the right is holographic paper that when viewed is dimensional and looks like a black hole. Click on for a better view.

Second piece that I did. Click on for a better view.

Drawn on the deck during lunch break.

Ladybug, Ladybug

My Fabulous Cat

My cat knows how to find the most comfortable spots in the house. I had moved this quilt over to a chair while making the bed. I came in and found her in the folds next to the bear. I have had this bear, Benjamin, for over 25 years. He is a big bear. He looks a bit like Pooh but is not a Pooh bear. This is a pencil drawing and did not scan well.....

First Iris

My front yard is a mishmash of plants and rocks. I had iris put in about ten years ago when a landscaper designed the yard. Iris is absolutely, hands down, my favorite flower. Every year I wait to see if my iris will come up. I have had years where they just don't bloom. I am somewhat superstitious and think it is a bad omen when they don't bloom. This year they are late but one finally opened and there are several blooms waiting to burst. This drawing hardly does them justice but, hey, you get the idea.

Rattle

On Sunday, before I went to the Beaverton Symphony Concert, I went to a workshop on sound healing at Unity of Beaverton, given by a group called Shemaya. I used the rattle pictured above. I took a quick picture and did the drawing yesterday.

Fairy meeting

I thought I was supposed to be getting better at this!!

I went to a lovely afternoon concert, but it was way too hot in the church. It was great that I was there as I got home and had no power. A PGE sub station blew up about 3pm. The power came back on about 6pm so I was only without power for about 45 minutes. Anyway, I am not pleased with these drawings. I am not sure how to get better at this impromptu sketching, but will plug on.....

Pogo

Drawn at our local colored pencil society meeting. This is Pogo, club mascot, a Papillion. He is adorable but very hard to draw. He is never really still, so I got what I got.

Pleased to meet you

Make a wish

Enchanting

Another lovely fairy from the fairy fest.

More Wings

Dogs in cars #2

I love this dog. She belongs to a neighbor. My neighbor stopped the car to talk and thankfully I had my camera in my purse. I didn't do the dog justice. She is a beautiful golden. The scanner didn't pick up the reflection of trees in the car window, so this might look a bit weird.

EDM Challenge #222 Draw your favorite drawing tool

EDM Challenge #222...Draw your favorite drawing tool. I love 2H pencils but I love my micron 005 pens. The finer the point the better.

Winging it

Bad drawing...Nice wings

One Happy Dog

Here's another series I hope to start, though it is hard capturing the photos unless I am stopped at a red light like I was for this one. There were actually two big dogs in the car but I like this guys expression. Hope to get more photos to do more of these.

The Hot Ticket in Town

I'm off to the theater to see Storm Large (her real name), the rocker in her one woman play Crazy Enough.

**********************************

Okay, wow. Just got home from the play. It was amazing. If you live in Portland, don't miss it.

Art Show This weekend

I will be in the art show Artists Among Us this weekend at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral at 147 NW 19th Ave (at Everett), Portland, Oregon 97209. The show is free and the hours are Saturday, May 9th from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday, May 10th from 9 am to 3 pm. The collages above and more are what I have in the show. Stop by if you are out and about in Portland.

It's raining, it'a pouring

On Saturday during the last Fairy Fest it was raining on and off. Here is one Fairy trying to stay dry.

**********************************
Wasn't sure if I mentioned it but the drawings for the past few days are from photos I have taken.

The best raincoat ever

Do you ever wonder why they don't make fun raincoats for adults?

Happy Belated May Day

This is the first of many drawings I will be doing from the photos I took on Saturday from the last Fairy Fest in Portland, Oregon. I was less than pleased with this one. The scan looks better than the original drawing. Also the photo was of the whole maypole and a couple of other kids but I just couldn't make it work. I don't mind the drawing but the colored pencil part just would not work for me on this drawing. So back to work on other drawings!

Out and about with my moley

Ron Stocke doing a watercolor demo at Art Media in Beaverton, Oregon

Audience members

On Saturday morning I went to the last of a Fairy Gathering that Cynthia from my art group has put on for the last four years. It is/was an enchanting fair for kids where they come dressed as fairies and were able to make wands, wings, fairy gardens and magic potions and more. Much more to come on that (maybe too much more). Stay tuned.

Nine months down...three to go!

Yesterday was the anniversary of my ninth month of daily drawing and posting. Still three months to go! This is a recap of April 2009.

These Boots

I did this drawing first and didn't want to ruin it so I printed it out and played with the color below. The color one is done with colored pencils by hand, not on the computer. I printed out several copies and might do another one with different colors.
Click on photo for better view.

These are drawn from a photo that I took of some boots that were in the room where our colored pencil society meets. They were just so fun I had to draw them.