finding my wings

So long, Farewell

2009-10-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

After much thought and soul searching, I have decided that this will be the last post to this blog. I am still doing art but don't want to post right now. If I decide to post again I will start a new blog and will post the link here. I like the idea that the year of drawing that this blog represents is self contained and stands on its own and perhaps inspires others to follow their artistic dreams.

So I leave you with a final piece of art, my ice cream monster, that I did in a class called Imaginary Creatures with Carla Sonheim. He makes me smile and I hope he does the same for you. Thanks to everyone who stopped by this past year and supported me in this journey.

Article in the Oregonian

2009-09-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

Click on image to read

A Scan of the article from the Oregonian

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Thanks so much to Margie Boule of the Oregonian for her wonderful column on me this morning. I need to make one clarification. I will be showing my year's work during an art show in the gym at Multnomah Arts Center. I belong to an art group called Portland Art Collective and I will be at the journal table from 1pm to 4pm on December 5th during their annual show. I hope that this will inspire everyone to go for their creative dreams!

Various offerings from the past week

2009-08-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

Good Pig

Out and about with my moleskine

At a meeting, various items on the table and a co-worker

Delicious cherries from a co-worker. The background is painted with juice from the cherries.

Goal Accomplished!! One year of drawing everyday...

2009-07-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

My last post for the year is an inchie overview of July. Hands down, doing the inchie drawings have been my favorite.

Here are a few thoughts on my journey for this project:

This journey started last year when I decided I wanted to improve my drawing skills. In July 2008, I took a three day workshop called “Spirit of the Sketch”. Then I read Margie Boule's column in the Oregonian about Marc Acito who was doing one new thing a day for a whole year. I thought it was a great idea and decided to that I would like to do a drawing a day for a whole year. I started at the end of July but after a couple of days, “things” started to happen. I realized that I needed to make a commitment, so to keep myself accountable I decided to start a blog. Thanks to Paula who helped me start and fine tune my blog. And a huge thanks to her for designing and making my new header!!!

I have drawn every day since last August 1st. I posted a drawing everyday to my blog except for a couple of times when I had computer issues. How this worked is that I drew everyday, even when I didn’t feel like I wanted to, sometimes for only fifteen minutes (only a few days were this short) and sometimes as much as three to four hours. I would guess the average was about an hour to an hour and a half a day. The drawing you see each day might have taken a couple of days to finish. I always drew enough to make sure I had a drawing to post.

Looking back over the past year’s drawings, I am not sure I have improved as much as I might have wanted. I feel that taking the Spirit of the Sketch workshop again has given me some new tools that I look forward to using. What my hopes would be going forward is to become better at on the spot sketching and I want to continue to improve my skills at drawing people. I plan to continue to draw on a consistant basis but haven't decided how much I will post. Hopefully I'll maybe post once a week. What I did learn was that if I make up my mind to do something and know how important keeping my word to myself is, that I can do it. My biggest surprise on this journey was giving my TV, something I never thought I would ever do.

Thanks to everyone who followed my journey and left comments. Everyone’s support was greatly appreciated along the way.

June 2009 Overview

2009-07-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

June was another mixed bag of drawings. One of my favorites was my pill bottle from when I was sick. So I used this as my overview using the techniques from my weekend class. The overall exercise is to take one item and draw it twenty different ways and frame each drawing. Another technique not shown before is to use only three colored pencils (canary yellow, magenta and true blue) to make all your colors. I love this exercise and thought about that as a challenge for myself going forward. Another post that I liked was the baby fairy. Check out the month if you have time.

May 2009 Overview

2009-07-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

May was another month I found difficult to decide what to do for an overview. I am enjoying the techniques I learned in my weekend workshop so I decided to redraw the J. Jill jacket in the different techniques. I drew a different fairy at the wishing well mixing colored pencil and watercolor pencil. My favorite inchie overview was this month. There were many fairies that I was pleased with also. Check out the month for varied drawings.

April 2009 Overview

2009-07-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well, this is kind of messed up. Since I posted the drawings mostly the next day this overview original is in May and not April, even though it is an April drawing. The acrylic bottles were just one drawing I liked for April. I had a blast doing the mirror image exercise from the Everyday Matters Challenges. The kid dressed as a Quizno's soda cup has disappeared from Highway 99. Again, it was a big mish/mash of drawings. Another one of my favorites is the squirrel iron on patch. Check out the month if you have time.

March 2009 Overview

2009-07-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

The little green alien came back for his ray gun. He didn't stop with the gun. With the help the partying ants, he stole all of closet beastie's toys and treasures. The only thing he left was Baby Beastie's copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. March was another mish/mash of varied drawings. In the beginning of the month are my three favorite cat drawings from photos from a cat show. Scroll down the bottom of the month to see them.

Spirit of the sketch Day 3

2009-07-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

This was an assignment from yesterday. The assignment was to pick something up outside, one natural thing and one man made and then write something about it. Click on the picture to see the writing.

The drawings above and below are the last thing we did which was to do a quick sketch of everyone in the class.

This ends the weekend workshop. I have five more days to go until the year of drawing everyday is up. Since I am back to posting the same day, I'll be doing that all week but now later in the day, probably the evening.

For a fabulous overview of the class check out Emma Pod's blog. A great description and great art of what when on...but no pictures of Eros...maybe next time...

Spirit of the Sketch Day Two

2009-07-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

My favorite work of the day. Different ways to approach the sketch

Good Pig!! I fell in love with this pig and the teacher gave him to me! He is so very, very cool. Lucky me!! Thanks Marilyn!!!

Spirit of the Sketch Friday, Day One

2009-07-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Last year I took a class at PCC called Spirit of the Sketch. This is one of the things that started me on my drawing quest. I enjoyed it so much I decided to take it again. I thought it was appropriate as I draw towards the end of my year of drawing daily.

The teacher Marilyn Reaves

A returning student... Her name is Eros

A quick sketch of a wooden bird

An exercise in contour drawing

There was much more drawing but this is all I wanted to post. Stay tuned for day two and three.

February 2009 Overview-Thursday's drawing

2009-07-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

February was a mixed bag. My favorite drawings were done from photos that I took at a cat show. My biggest regret was doing these drawings in a moleskine sketchbook instead of on paper. By scrolling through the month you can see them. I didn't want to draw them again so my overview drawing is actually of some cats I didn't draw the first time around.

Overview for January 2009

2009-07-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

The month of January is probably one of my favorites. I drew inchies for most of the month. My favorites were Saul Steinburg, Winnie the Pooh, Eloise and Alice in Wonderland which I have used as my overview choice for this month.

Ignoring the month of December

2009-07-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

I don't like the month of December and I never have. The weather is always bad and the sun seems to have disappeared. I also don't like Christmas. It has always been my goal to go some place warm and where Christmas is not celebrated. I am still working on this. Reviewing my drawings for this month was disappointing. The only ones I liked were the one of my clock radio and of my pal Bentley.

November 2008 Overview

2009-07-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

I realize that this year I have not advanced as much as I would have liked in drawing from my imagination. November was a mixed bag of drawings. I didn't try to redraw my favorite in this recap which was a drawing of a book. Don't forget to invite a fairy to tea day, they are always happy to join you.

October Update

2009-07-19T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last October when we last saw our friends the ants, spiders and bats, they had been busy all month stealing candy and planning their big Halloween celebration. The party had a big turn out and was a roaring success. Among the guests was our friend A. Ghost, who was celebrating the recent publication of his memoir "My Haunted Life", which he had finally completed after much procrastination and frivolous activity. If you didn't make it to the party please click here to see the festivities.

If you look closely, you will see that the party was invaded by some unwanted guests, which no one noticed since they blended in with the crowd. After all , it was Halloween and everyone was in costume. Well it turns out it was an alien invasion. Instead of everyone going home, they were abducted into the far reaches of outer space. Everyone was too high on sugar to even notice.

Just recently, after much searching of the heavens, we were able to get a small glimpse of them through our telescope. There seemed to be another party in progress. Our friend A. Ghost was celebrating the publication of his new book "My Life Among the Aliens".

Since that day, everytime we have been able to spot them, they are still throwing parties. As they say, "Once a party insect, always a party insect".

Hmmm, is that Alien saying something? Click on for a better view.

September 2008 Overview

2009-07-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

(Please click on for a better view of the ant's conversation)

In reviewing September I am still astonished that I stopped watching TV. I still watch DVDs but it is so different not to be bombarded with ads all the time. My drawing of Lola is still one of my favorites. For a complete overview of the month, click here.

Starting to wrap it up...August 2008 Overview

2009-07-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make and that is I am really glad that my year long quest is coming to an end. I will be spending most of the rest of this last month on doing a daily drawing of an overview for each month of the past year. I am surprised that I have been able to do this everyday including the posting. Of course now that I am nearing the end, I had internet problems for the past two days, thus the late posting today. So I started in July of 2008 and started to flake so as of August 1, 2008 I have kept my word and drawn and posted everyday. I just redrew some of my favorites for the month. You can see the first drawings for July here and August here.

Another Raccoon

2009-07-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Out and about with my new moleskine

2009-07-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Audience member during the pre-show lecture

Audience members waiting outside and musicians (top drawing) doing a pre-show lecture

Audience members at a concert, left waiting outside, right waiting for the concert to begin

Frog

2009-07-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Drawn from a photo taken by Tory.

Out and about

2009-07-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Started my new small moleskine

An Art Day with Tory

2009-07-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

I went to Salem to visit Tory and took a little time to draw. I loved this chair but it was very hard to draw! Then I learned needle felting and my first attempt is below. I want to add some sequin stars and some beaded embellishments. I am thrilled to have learned this even though I don't need a new addiction. I love this process and want to use it in some ideas I have for fiber art that I want to start doing soon. Thanks Tory for teaching me!!

I was trying something new...working with some sharpies I had in my art room.
A garden container on Tory's patio.

My first attempt at needle felting. I'll be adding stars and some embellishments..

Baby fairy

2009-07-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

My last tribute to the comics

2009-07-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

This has been one of my favorite things to draw. This will be my last one...

Muffy's best friend Hoppy Vanderhare

2009-07-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hoppy Vanderhare is Muffy's best bud. This is her rain gear. Below is an attempt at ball point pen to give you and idea of the colors.

Everyday Matters Challenge 230: Draw a Map

2009-07-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Please click on for a better view

During a solstice celebration a few weeks ago, I was using a rattle that had a tag that said: Made in Cameroon. I thought, how exotic! I love maps so this challenge was particularly fun for me. So I googled maps of Cameroon and found this lovely map. One of my favorite type of maps, when I was in elementary school, were product maps. I realized that when I started drawing this one it is in French and I have no idea what the symbols mean but I thought it was very cool.

Sunday Outing

2009-07-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

So Sunday I went to Hughes Water Gardens to sketch.

An attempt to draw a big pond. Drawing water is very hard.

On my way out I saw this nest and baby birds. What a wonderful gift.

I just kept snapping pictures and caught these two.

And the big news: I finished one small moleskine sketchbook. I started on Jan. 4 and finished exactly 6 months later on July 5.

A most lovely wedding

2009-07-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Shama and Gordon had their American wedding in her lovely back yard. Gordon is from England. It was a beautiful ceremony for a wonderful couple.

Wedding guests drawn from a photo I took.

It's not happening at the zoo

2009-07-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

I tried to draw the goats while at the zoo (below) then drew the guy above from a photo when I got home. A very disappointing trip to the zoo.

Different strokes entry

2009-07-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

My entry for different strokes. Be sure to check out other amazing entries here.

Monthly Inchie update

2009-07-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Eleven months down...One to go!!

Dance recital

2009-07-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine tap dances and has a recital every year. I took a lot of pictures and drew this from one of my photos.

More of Pet Blessing Day

2009-06-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

A few of the animals that were blessed, including a pair of doves and a guinea pig.

One brave cat

The dove

A happy girl

Out and about on Sunday with my moleskine

2009-06-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

First stop on Sunday was at church where it was pet blessing day. This is Bogart. More on this tomorrow.

Then it was back to Portland Center Stage to see Storm Large in Crazy Enough for the second time. I would tell you again to go see it, don't miss it!, but I think it may be sold out again. But try to see it. It is an amazing play.

Above is a man in the lobby of PCS where I was waiting to see Crazy Enough . Below are more drawings of people in the lobby. The feet below were part of the audience. This whole row was women in sandals with painted red toenails. I wish I had had the guts to pull out my camera and get a picture.

Below is the part of the stage. I would love to have been able to sketch the musicians and Storm but haven't figured out a way to sketch during a play.

Miss Muffy Bear in her rain gear

2009-06-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

I probably shouldn't admit it but I have quite a few Muffy Vander Bears. This is two views of the one called Rainy Day Muffy. I did the quick sketch at the bottom to show the bright colors though her coat is not quite that orange.

Chloe at rest

2009-06-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

I bought this little cat house years ago. It is much cuter than the drawing. Chloe has been with me for eight years and she just started using it.

Another little something from around the house

2009-06-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

Easter Troll

2009-06-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

A little something that was around the house

2009-06-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

A real cutie

Out and about with my moley

2009-06-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Audience members at a local production of a Little Night Music. I tried to draw the orchestra but that didn't work. I thought about trying to sketch the actors because the costumes were fabulous. But it was way too dark in the theater...of course....

Hey, come back here!

2009-06-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

And the winner is....

2009-06-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Best Dressed

Fairy Magic Mail

2009-06-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

This fairy actually had horns, I guess, her own choice?

Nice Baby

2009-06-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

Drawn from a photo taken by Jill Lawrence

Click on drawing to see what these misguided fairies are saying

My booklight

2009-06-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm running out of steam so I'm sharing a dream

2009-06-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

So last Wednesday I dreamed that I was skating at a skating rink. I liked it so much that I skated where ever I was going for the rest of the dream. Then at work, someone called in to sign up for a class to learn to skate in a roller derby. As Mr. C. Jung would say:"How synchronistic is that?" Not that I would have the guts to take a class like that! I haven't skated in probably over forty years!

EDM Challenge #226 Draw a screw

2009-06-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

Who knew it would be so hard to draw a screw.

EDM Draw a bird

2009-06-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

Drawn from a photo taken by Tory in her back yard. Check out her wonderful blog.

My entry for the current different strokes challenge

2009-06-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for the different strokes challenge. See some amazing entries here. This is 3 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. I like this size and will do more like this.

Lovely

2009-06-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Drawn from a photo taken by Jill Lawrence.

The Fairy Queen

2009-06-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Cynthia was the Fairy Queen and in charge of the amazing fairy fest every year in Portland, Oregon. She has now retired from her duty and this is a great loss for the fairies of our fair city.

Out and about with my moley

2009-06-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

Another concert, another feeble attempt to draw in public.

A violionist

The orchestra and audience members

A 16 year old guest violionist

The Perfect Cartoon

2009-06-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

This cartoon is from the New Yorker

This is exactly how I feel about Facebook. Now the cartoon would be really perfect if it said, "Just sitting here waiting for Facebook and Twitter to go away."

Lunch Time

2009-06-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

Drawn from a photo by Jill Lawrence

Watercolor Pencil Class dropout

2009-06-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

I dropped out of Cathy's watercolor pencil class due to being overwhelmed. Then I got sick and I know I would never have been able to keep up. I did try one more piece of fruit. The one on the left is on a piece of paper taken from a watercolor moleskine.

The ugliest tissue box ever

2009-06-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

I think this is the ugliest tissue box I have bought, but when you buy on sale there aren't many choices. I just wanted to stay in bed, but no excuses.

Not Feeling Well

2009-06-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

Not feeling well, back to bed.

Another tribute to the comics

2009-06-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is another tribute to the comics. Some of the images are from the Sunday paper. Others are from the daily paper and I made up the color. Enjoy.

May Inchie Overview.....Ten months down...two to go

2009-06-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here is my inchie overview for May. I have now finished ten months of drawing every day and posting a drawing every day. Two more months to go.

Sunday

2009-06-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

So I went to hear the sermon at this church on Sunday because the email about it said that Kathleen was going to talk about a fairy forest she found while in Ireland. Well, it wasn't what I expected at all. So much for truth in advertising! It was an enjoyable sermon but I didn't hear a thing about fairies! I don't even think she believes in fairies, which is surprising since she is a celtic teacher.

The audience. I realize I am drawing too many audiences. Time to move on.

Draw a Car

2009-05-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

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.

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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

2009-05-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

Drawn from a photo by Jill Lawrence.

Something else I thought I wanted besides a raccoon

2009-05-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

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

Snack time

2009-05-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

What a great sweater...

Virtual Sketch Date for May

2009-05-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

My Fabulous Cat

2009-05-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

Make a wish

2009-05-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Enchanting

2009-05-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Another lovely fairy from the fairy fest.

More Wings

2009-05-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Dogs in cars #2

2009-05-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

Bad drawing...Nice wings

One Happy Dog

2009-05-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

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

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

Art Show This weekend

2009-05-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

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

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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

2009-05-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

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

Happy Belated May Day

2009-05-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

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.

EDM #217 Draw your umbrella

2009-04-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

EDM Challenge #218 draw a knife

2009-04-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

My main kitchen knife

Sun Gazing at OMSI

2009-04-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit at OMSI. There was a local astronomy club out on the sidewalks with their telescopes set up for people to view the sun. The picture above is drawn from a photo I took.

Colored Pencil Workshop with Pat Averill

2009-04-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is Pat's version of our example for class...this is what it is supposed to look like.

Please note that the drawing above and this image is copyrighted by Pat Averill.

This is how mine turned out. I didn't quite get it and since one of my shadows looked like a bat I played that up and went for a more illustrative, spooky look. Instead of the sun I turned it into the moon, so this could also be the everyday matters challenge of draw the moon.

Pat Averill with samples of her work and steps in the process of doing this piece.

Class samples

More class samples

If you ever have a chance to take a class with Pat, go for it! She is a very, kind and patient teacher!

EDM #212 Draw something with a mirror image

2009-04-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

I was able to get this picture with my camera (while stopped at a stop light).

I will be in a colored pencil landscape workshop both Saturday and Sunday so I won't be posting until Monday morning with the results.

A Lone Soda Cup on a Busy Highway

2009-04-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

Okay. I have been obsessed with this kid who, until this past week, has been standing out on Highway 99 in Portland, Oregon, every day, dressed up as a Quizno's soda cup. I shot this picture from my car window. The light was red, so no, I didn't shoot is while driving though I have been tempted. I don't know why this intrigues me so much. Maybe I think it takes guts to dress up like a soda cup and hawk sandwich specials? Recently I also saw someone dressed up like a mattress and a woman dressed as the statue of liberty to promote a business called Liberty Taxes. I have another view of this coming up for tomorrow.

Virtual Sketch Date for April

2009-04-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

My entry for virtual sketch date. Check out the entries here.

EDM #35 Draw a bicycle

2009-04-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

So I was early for work yesterday and it was a beautiful day here in Oregon. So I whipped out my small moley, took a deep breath and drew this bicycle. I am pretty pleased even though this was HARD! Wish I had thought to take a picture of it so I could try again.