Jul31Art

Finally, Friday… cooler today, cloudy threatening rain all day, but not a drop fell at our house.  I'll have to water the garden in the morning.  We went to O'Charlie's for the prime rib for two dinner… we haven't done that in a while and it was so good.

ICAD 2015 - Final card

‪#‎ICAD61‬ So long, good bye… it's been so much fun, God willing I'll join this challenge again next year. Hope to see you all there.

Jul30Art

We used to have a Yorkie terrier that lived across the street, his name was Teddy. He was such a cute little dog, such a tough guy too… protecting his yard.  Sadly, Teddy's people moved and now I just have memories of the cute little fellow.

#ICAD60 - Advice… take it or leave it LOL  used Pitt brush pens for the color squares.

Jul29Art

Daisies I think of as white, while the yellow flowers with brown centers we call black eyed susan's… now are they both daisies?  or not?  Trying to find a new flute teacher, since my old teacher moved to Newberry.  I may have found someone to take on an old lady with flute dreams… LOL.

#ICAD59 Plaid means checked, so a checked red and white for card number 59… used a 1/4" flat brush and watercolor, lettering via a stencil.

Jul28Art

Now that I look at him more closely, I think his head is twisted around backwards… Long day, computer issues fixed… so I'm good to go now.

#ICAD58 Prompt for today, Queen of hearts… so here she is, but nose and all, long live the queen.  Pitt pens… for the color and a sepia micron to draw her.

Jul27Art

Monday, Monday… can't trust that day… boy were those lyrics true for me today. I didn't sleep well last night, so with less than 4 hours sleep, I drove to Columbia, where I ended up staying later than usual… came home and had issues with my computer… so I have to go back to Columbia tomorrow too… UGGG… 5am comes mighty early.

#ICAD57 - Splatters of fun colors, going for a wild garden look… I like it.  This Index card a Day challenge has only 4 more days to go… it's been fun, but I'm looking forward to the finish line.

Jul26Art

On the ride yesterday the zipper broke on a little pouch I got at the dollar store years ago, and had been using to carry my sunscreen, nail clippers, a pen and other essentials.  So this is the replacement, it has an added bonus, my phone will fit inside.

#ICAD56 some pink roses, made with watercolor using a Holbein waterbrush.  

Jul25Art

Gorgeous weather for our ride today, somehow we ended up leading a pack of about 15 or 20 bikes, mostly people for out of town who didn't know the area and couldn't make heads or tails of the directions (some of which were wrong, saying to take a left when really it should have been a right turn).  Lots of fun and a good cause.

#ICAD55 - Used Colorbox Ink and a Micron pen to draw my scissors… this was the only drawing I could manage today.

Jul24Art

Cooler today, thank the Lord supposed to be cooler tomorrow.  We're planning to attend a 'Ride for Love' to honor the families of the Mother Emanuel AME church tomorrow.

#ICAD54 Distress Ink and a quote…  what a way to end the work week.

Jul23Art

Afternoon thunderstorms today dropped a bit of rain on our yard, didn't knock down the temp much, forget that 95 degree high it got up to 102 today… too hot to think straight.  

#ICAD53 - Trying out some new stencils,  and lettering stencils too.  Used Golden  fluid acrylic Yellow Ochre with a foam brush… fun stuff.

Jul22Art

I got some Faber Castell Gelatos (the blue set) and I'm trying them out today.

#ICAD52 Used some Fabe Castell Gelatos, spritzed with water on a paper plate, picked up with plastic wrap.  These colors are from their 'blue' set.

Jul21Art

Sketchbook Skool faces in rectangles… this was fun.  Probably won't be making a mask out of any of them… but the week is young.  Maybe I'll find a paper bag or a piece of cardboard.

#ICAD51 Used 10 of my inktense pencils to make this sort of color chart.  I do love these pencils and the intense color you can get with them.

Jul20Art

My hibiscus, being a tropical plant, is loving the heat wave going on in Charleston these days.  Had to draw my pink one today, used Quinacridone Pink for the flower a yummy pink from Daniel Smith watercolors.

#ICAD50 While in Chicago for their Urban Sketchers Workshops last weekend, part of the swag I got was some water-soluble pencils called 'General's Sketch and Wash'… you draw with them like a really soft pencil, but then you can touch a wet  brush to blend your lines.  Really fun tool I'm enjoying playing with.

Jul19Art

Very hot and humid today, and finally an afternoon thunderstorm, which sadly brought little relief from the heat.  Days like this I like throwing paint on the paper… got carried away just a bit LOL.

#ICAD49 - Used inktense pencils to try out some waves and a sunset sky… didn't quite work… inspired by Rebekah Jones Bible art challenge.

Jul18Art

Combined this week's Sketchbook School DOTS homework with the Velazquez Palette that I learned about in Chicago.  All colors were allowed to dry before the next color was added, so these are glazes using just 3 colors. 

This 8 1/2" square journal is too big for me to scan a 2 page spread, but on the facing page I did the same sort of glazing using my two other yellows and all three blues, I added my cool red to the top, and my warm red to the bottom… interesting exercise.

#ICAD48 Ink blot monsters… this is brown ink, with eyes added using a red Derwent paint pen. The ink was dropped on the page then a straw used to blow the ink around.

My Sketchbook Skool homework ink blot monster… very messy and probably not something I'd try again… 

Jul17Art

I've noticed my handwriting has gotten sloppy in this big sketchbook… maybe having all this room to spread out is the problem.  Today I got the expedition arts new art kit in the mail, a lighter aluminum palette and a small moleskine.  I set up a Velasquez palette plus a green (yellow ochre, french ultramarine blue, burnt sienna  plus sap green) in her new bigger pans.  With room for six other colors so 2 yellow, 2 blues and 2 reds. Hansa Yellow, New Gamboge, Verditer blue and Cobalt Teal, Permanent Alizarin Crinson and Scarlett lake.

#ICAD47 Inktense pencils, and then a sloppy drawing/sketch of the dog nail clippers on my desk.  Gracie needed her nails clipped today… so they were available to draw.

Jul16Art

Laid down the color on this page early this morning, but didn't get around to actually drawing something until after 9pm.  My trusty back scratcher, I have this persistent itchy spot right in the middle of my back… and keep a back scratcher in my car and on my desk… just in case I need them.

#ICAD46 A card full of little thumbnail doodles, colored with inktense pencils.

Jul15Art

Sketchbook Skool Playing was to draw your clothes. Not exactly my clothes, but the pattern on my pajamas as I'm late getting everything done tonight.

Catching up on my ICAD scans

#ICAD39 - for the games theme… just a wonky ink drawing of a chess pawn.

#ICAD40 - My pocket palette colors, top left to right Cadmium Yellow, New Gamboge, Raw Sienna, Translucent Orange, Quinacridone Magenta, Scarlet Lake, and Alizarin Crimson.  Bottom row left to right Thalo Blue, French Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Teal, Verditer Blue, Mineral Violet, Quinacridone Burnt Orange and Sap Green.

#ICAD41 - an ink drawing of my car key and other nonsense on my key chain.

#ICAD42 - Ink drawing of a snail (my computer was slow that day) and colored with colored pencils.

#ICAD43 - Ink drawing of my thumb a patient and reliable model my left hand is always ready when I can't think what to draw.  Used colored pencils to color it.

#ICAD44 - I must admit I studied this quite a lot, pride would not allow me to ask what it meant.  Background done with Colorbox inks.

#ICAD45 -  My handy little flash light drawn with a big fat sharpie, because my usual pens clog up with this Distress Ink background.

Jul14Art

Spent today doing laundry and scanning/transferring photos… did a long blog post about the weekend in Chicago.  Went to the dentist, picked up prescription from the drug store, then having to go back to the store because it wasn't the right thing… check your scripts folks… pharmacists are human and make mistakes sometimes.  The above popcorn kernels  were drawn from life, but I popped them in my mouth before painting… and realized I had no idea how to paint them… so this is my best guess LOL.

Urban Sketchers Chicago Workshops 2015

I flew to Chicago on Thursday, and moved into Laurel's room for the weekend.  This is the view from her 37th floor room. Laurel and I were going to attend the Urban Sketchers Chicago workshops on July 11 and 12.  We did an intense shopping trip to Dick Blick on Friday, I rarely get to browse thru so many art supplies in person, so it was a treat for me.

The map for the class locations, the central meeting place a fabulous old home, converted into artist studios.

We spent Saturday morning with Barbara Weeks, for her Urban Sketching for beginners.  It was so nice to finally meet Barbara in person, such a delightful lady and wonderful teacher.  Focus on the process not the product… excellent advice.

I used a red micron pen on these thumbnail sketches, influenced by some sketches Laurel had shared with me in her sketch book done with a red pen… I liked hers a lot and got myself one at Dick Blick on Friday.  Gave it a spin on Saturday morning.

Here's Laurel's pencil sketch made during Barbara's workshop.

Laurel and I had lunch in Bloomingdales then back to Palette and Chisel to meet up with Andrew Banks our Perspective and Value workshop Saturday afternoon at St James Chapel.  A very noisy corner with ambulances, and wedding parties and street noise made it difficult to hear Andrew, he gave us excellent hand outs and spent a bit of time walking around and helping everyone.  It also started to rain as our workshop drew to a close. The scene was overwhelming to me, so I just tried to do the clock on the church.

Snapped a picture of Laurel sketching the church, but didn't get a shot of her drawing.

Sunday we were greeted with fine weather, nice breezes and high in the low 80's. Our first workshop was Sketching Architecture using the Velasquez Palette of just 3 colors, Yellow Ochre, French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.  I was very impressed with the instructor Keelan Kaiser, and with his fabulous sketches in a tiny 3 x 5 moleskine using this palette… below is just one example of his work.

He also did a demo of his techniques using watercolor.  After a quick sketch he laid down a pale wash of Burnt Sienna (even though he said he usually starts with Yellow Ochre as an initial wash) because the Newberry library stones had a pink color showing.  He then mixed Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine blue, to lay in the shadows on the stone work.  

Finally, he goes in with pen or pencil to emphasize the lines. Below his finished demo for us.

I did a bit of practice on some of his techniques and a small sketch on this page.  I need to practice buildings, and I need to practice using this palette, I was a bit heavy handed on my sketch/painting using these colors. Check out this video on YouTube, the woman in the white Chicago t-shirt behind the instructor, is me… https://youtu.be/q0pOfGTgvTQ 

Laurel really liked this limited palette and here she is using watercolor pencils and a waterbrush on her sketch of the library.

After lunch at an Irish Pub, we met with Angie Hauch for a Capturing the Figure in Motion Workshop… Laurel is very good drawing people, I on the other hand find people a huge struggle.  To start off, we paired off to draw each other, this workshop had another young girl very close to Laurel in age, so those two paired up and made friends during the workshop and planned to meet up at the next Chicago sketchers outing next month.  So I paired up with Yao Lin and we drew each other… except for breaking his ankle I think this was one of my best people sketchers ever… maybe, having permission from Yao… to do a bad drawing of him helped me go for it.  He did a great drawing of me too…   I even attempted another woman from behind but she left which is why she only has one leg 

Next we tried to sketch people walking down the side walk toward us or away from us… only about 15 or 20 seconds on these… and we were using vine charcoal… which I did not like at all.  Even after fixative was sprayed on this rubbed off on my sketch of Yao.

We walked a couple of blocks to a tea house in a triangle shaped area.  Below are some of my attempts at the people around the side where I sat down.

When I thought it was close to time to meet up to share drawings, I walked around the tea shop and found lots of others there sketching the man singing and play the guitar.  I had heard the music but did not realize it was someone there live, he was a very good singer.  I quickly got a sketch of him, managed to ink in a few lines and then it was time to go.

I really enjoyed visiting Chicago, spending time with my granddaughter Laurel and my son-in-law Jon and an added bonus of sharing art with them.  Thanks to all the people who made this weekend possible, and especially to Barbara Weeks for letting me know about this.

Final sketch in Chicago, a beautiful young woman (I have to say that in case my drawing doesn't reflect her properly) whose thumbs were flying texting on her phone on the train… this was all I got done before she left, she never even notice me.