May31Art

Last day of the Every Day in May challenges, paper money.  I rarely have any paper money at all, use plastic these days more often than actual cash.  Found an old wrinkle bill in my wallet to use as a model, poor thing won't buy much these days.  When I was sixteen this one dollar would put 4 gallons of gas in my car, it would buy 10 small Baby Ruth candy bars, or 5 candy bars and 5 bottles of Coca-Cola, I could return those glass bottles for 3 cents each and have 15 cents to buy a LARGE Baby Ruth candy bar.
I have enjoyed this year's Every Day in May challenge, I'm sad it is over, and at the same time glad it is over so that I can get back to drawing whatever I want every day.

May30Art

Today's challenge draw something you bought on a trip.  I'm not much of a 'shopper' when I go on vacation, but this year I did buy a pair of earrings while in Daytona Florida this March.  Used intense pencils for the blue stones (imitation sapphires I think), and gouache for the weather forecast.  Pop up thunderstorm in progress now,  free water for my garden makes me happy, happy, happy.

May29Art

Today something in my favorite color… I have always liked blue, these days I like all colors and don't particularly have a favorite.  Had to pick something, so Blue sky, blue water… after a long day in waiting rooms and at work… an easy landscape seemed best.  Only 2 more Every Day in May challenges, I do enjoy doing this once a year, as the month wears down I must admit I'm glad it is almost over, and a little sad too that it is almost over.

May28Art

Today's challenge a truck, I used to have a Dodge truck, and Ron had a Ford truck, but that was years ago.  I don't like drawing cars and trucks, mostly because the tires give me fits, just like coffee cups give me fits, I need to practice circles and ellipses.

May27Art

Today something dangerous, to me and my daughter and no doubt countless others a yellow jacket's sting is very dangerous to our health.  I don't see as many of them here in Charleston as I did when I lived in Atlanta Georgia.  Not sure why, maybe they prefer the red clay to the sandy soil around here.  I used gouache on this bug that I drew from a photo found on Google.  Colors used were Paines Gray, Gamboge, and white.

May26Art - Memorial Day 2014

Today's challenge a bench, if I'd been in charge of the list it would have been poppies for Memorial Day.  I suppose people in other countries remember their fallen heroes on other dates, but today in the USA we remember the men who sacrificed their lives to defend our freedom and the freedom of people pretty much all over the world.  Found this quote I'll be adding to this page soon..

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."   George S. Patton

USK Charleston - Marion Square Piccolo Spoleto

Our little band of urban sketchers met today during the art fair of Piccolo Spoleto.  It was a fun day again and this time my camera worked, but I had to leave early so no group photo this time.

May25Art

Today a cat, I have had as many as 3 cats, but now I have no cats.  I must admit that the first cat I ever had was because my daughter JeAnna wanted one (she had to be different, you see Mom had all those dogs).  Over the years I've had cats pretty much ever since that first one, until now.  Our big rescue kitty Yeti died last year and we've not gotten another cat, so no cat to draw from life… I drew this simple smiling kitty in my 'It's raining cats and dogs' sketchbook years ago.
The urban sketchers Charleston group are meeting today in Marion Square downtown, which is why this page got done so early today.  Time to pack up my art back pack, this time I vow not to take everything I own.

May24Art

Today our challenge was to draw something we 'always' wanted.  I chose the Chinese character 'Mu' for Nothing.  I can't think of anything I have 'always' wanted.  When I was a child I wanted a horse, but in my adult life I had 3 horses.  At one point in my life I had 6 dogs, people would ask me 'Why so many?', I have 6 dogs because I do not want 7, and because my mother said when I grew up and had my own house I could have as many pets as I wanted… so I do.  There are some things I'd like today, a new dishwasher, a hot tub, to win the lottery (must remember to buy a ticket) but I have not always wanted these 'things'.  I spent a lovely day today riding down to Beaufort SC for lunch and a walk around the waterfront park there with my husband, I have not always wanted him, but I am so thankful to have found him even if it was very late in my life.

May23Art

Today a fan, so I thought I'd draw a fan from the days before churches had air conditioning.  Next to the Hymnal was your fan, and combined fanning of 100s of souls on a hot Summer Sunday could actually move some air and make paying attention to the service possible.  How many people remember these I wonder?

May22Art

Today a remote, I chose my tiny window air conditioner remote control.  We have so much computer equipment in a small room, we have two window air conditioners in here, to help keep the temperature bearable in the Summer.  Today was the hottest day so far at 95, it is only May… Summer will get even hotter here.
I used blue painters tape to create the rectangle area, used all my blue intense pencils then a 1/2" flat brush to activate the color.  Lettering and drawing done with a Uniball Signo white gel pen… my favorite white pen.

May21Art

Today a close up, I chose knitting.  My Great Aunt Mary taught me and my cousin Barbara to knit when we were about 7 years old.  Aunt Mary was my maternal grand mother's younger sister, she had Barbara late in life, so while Barbara and I were only a couple of years apart in age, out parents were very different in age.  So Aunt Mary taught me to knit, and I have knitted ever since, my paternal grand mother tried to teach me to crochet a couple of times, but I never was able to get it… and so I preferred knitting.

May20Art

Today a Fork… so immediately a 'Fork in the road' came to mind… which road to take?  Added the primary colors, thinking it would keep it from being so dull… but now that I see it here, it is a bit confusing looking.  Guess I zigged when I should have zagged… LOL

May19Art

A rope I've seen several ZenTangles involving ropes, I've even tried a few, but I'm not consistent nor patient enough to draw a rope accurately.  Used my whilte gel pen for this and a bit of deep blue Intense pencil for the shadow side.  Been a very long day today, watching the Rangers and the Canadians in game 2 .. Rangers lead 2 to 1 for now.

May18Art

This was a tough one, something that need polish, I thought of shoes or silver spoons. I don't have shoes that need to be polished nor do I have silver, frankly I don't polish my nails either, but I have them and they are constantly in need of polish so… my fingers it is for today.
We had a great day today, the weather was iffy all day, looked like rain and then it'd clear up and be sunny for a bit, then cloud up and look like rain… never did rain at our house, but since it still looks like it might I added a touch of rain.

May17Art

Today a soap dish and/or soap dispenser.  We got one of these hands free soap dispensers a couple of years ago, we liked it so much we got one for the kitchen and for the guest bathroom… we have instant soap without the mess of a bar.
We went out and about on the Trike today, went to the toy store for models to draw, an owl, a tiger, a dinosaur and a couple of awesome looking dragons… watch for them in June :-)  Burned my leg on the hot pipes on the bike, first time I've ever done that, hurt like the devil… I'm thinking I'll be way more careful from now on.
Will 2014 be the year we have a 'Triple Crown' winner… I hope so.

May16Art

My old swingline stapler was the model today, I've had this little stapler for ages, and ages, it may be 30 or 40 years old… still works just fine.  I like it because it is small enough to hold in my hand to use it, instead of leaving it on the desk and hitting it to staple pages together.
Back to watercolor today along with qouache and markers and pens.  I draw with a fountain pen full of Lexington Gray Ink, which is my favorite drawing pen.

May15Art

Challenge today… COOKIES… had to draw my favorite cookies (from memory) haven't had one in forever… as a diabetic cookies are not allowed.  Used my gouache for this page. Stormy weather today nice steady rain, with some lightening and thunder that scares Gracie but doesn't bother Beau at all these days.

Another drawing of Beau sleeping, done with inktense pencils on a very cheap paper, only slightly heavier than copy paper.

May14Art

Today the challenge was to draw a glass of juice.  I have Welches Light Grape Juice every morning with my breakfast.  It has always been a favorite, I love orange juice too, but it is too loaded with sugar. I used my new InkTense pencils to color this, the colors I used are on the side.  I really like these pencils.
The Charleston Urban Sketchers are planning another get together to sketch in Marion Square during the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Sunday May 25th 3pm at the fountain.  http://www.piccolospoleto.com

May13Art

This shell sits on my desk I have sketched it from every direction I do believe, sometimes I almost get it right.  Added challenge learning how to paint with gouache, I need to find some you Tube videos on this.. I'm floundering around with it.  The lettering was fun, and turned out better than the shells I think.

May12Art

Draw something on your mantle or a shelf.  Our house in Charleston SC doesn't have a fireplace nor a mantle, a shelf it had to be.  Nothing fun on any shelf in my house, so I used a picture in a magazine that caught my eye.  Coral and starfish and blue bottles… back to gouache for this page.

Today is my baby brother's birthday… so happy birthday to buttercup. (That's what our grandmother called him).

May11Art

Draw something from the internet was the challenge today, these wooden coasters with constellations painted on them caught my eye. 

I got a box of art goodies from Dick Blick yesterday, which included a set of 36 Derwent Ink Tense Pencils, I love how vibrant the colors are that these pencils produce much brighter than regular watercolor pencils (in my opinion of course).  I'm quite pleased with how they did on this toned paper, and I like that very little water is needed to activate the color.  Below are the colors swatches I did on a wire bound Strathmore Visual Journal with 140 lbs watercolor paper… so more fun with color for me.  I also got some Koi paint brush markers, and will be doing color charts on them soon.

May10Art

Today we were to draw something 'cracked'… besides eggs and concrete (which I think everyone did) the only thing I could think of was this line drawing by Picasso, couldn't remember the name so it took quite a bit of google searching to find this simple drawing.  He actually did a lot of these sorts of minimal line drawings of a penguin, a wiener dog, a flamingo, a camel, a bull, an owl and many others.  So forgive me for this shameless copy.

May09Art

I used watercolor for the bricks (Trans. Orange) and the shadows a combination of Verditer Blue, Brown Madder and Mineral Violet… I used gouache on the Palmetto tree, and the visible fronds.  I don't think this paper likes watercolor much, the paper buckled pretty dramatically, it did not do that on the previous page where I used very little water with the gouache only image. I didn't get the depth of color I was hoping for, but I wanted to see how this paper worked with transparent watercolor.  I took this photo in Savannah Ga in February at the Urban Sketchers sketch crawl there.  I took lots of shadow photos that day, the sun was intense and the shadows dramatic.

May08Art

Well this is my first gouache journal entry/painting… it took longer for me to do than using watercolors usually takes me.  I wasn't sure how it would behave and I don't have a palette yet so I'm using a small porcelain cup like thing I've had for ages (searched for my flower porcelain palette but couldn't find it), so I could only do one color mixture at a time.  The blue sky was first, ultramarine blue plus a touch of titanium white, and mostly white for the clouds in the mirror and a bit less white in the clouds in the distance, I let this dry completely.  I then used Paynes Gray and white for the car's mirror, and again set this aside to dry, and again washed my little dish (a waste of paint no doubt about it).  Finally, Prussian blue mixed with Hansa Yellow to create green for the rest of the painting.  I'm probably going to revisit this page and add the dots of color I used.

Book 26 - Strathmore Toned Gray sketchbook

I used gouache to paint the daisies, I'm thinking I'll be using it a lot in this sketchbook… and I need to practice I've had these paints forever, and never really used them until a couple of weeks ago.  I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

May07Art

Today's project draw a microwave, pulled out my pentel pocket Brush pen and went for bold lines and wonky perspective on purpose.  A bit of transparent orange to make it POP off the page.  This is the last page in this Hand*book watercolor journal, next up a Strathmore Toned Gray sketchbook portrait format.

Beau

This is my 16 year old Jack Russell Terrier Beau, he is going deaf and so nothing disturbs his naps these days unless you touch him. I've been drawing him more and more lately so this assignment was a pleasure. 
Because of the size of my sketchbook (8 1/2" x 11") I can't fit a two page spread on my scanner and have to stitch the images together with photoshop… my skills with photoshop are limited and so this is where the funny looking line comes from.

May06Art

My Dad passed away two weeks after Father's Day in June of 2005,  I still miss him.  My father wore this ring, a wedding ring and a watch as his only jewelry. My mother gave me this ring after Dad's memorial service.  It is a Masonic ring, funny that I have no memory of my father ever attending meetings away from the house ever… and yet he wore this ring, so he must have been a member at some point in his life.

May05Art

Today we were to draw something to do with a hobby.  My hobby is collecting paint brushes, some of them I actually use from time to time. All it takes for me to get another one is a suggestion and I'm adding to my collection.  Then there's the stack of sketchbooks… is it a Hobby or a Habit?  I'll share Diana Gessler's saying… 'You are here for the joy and delight of your soul'!

May04Art

Today's mission, draw my thumb, I did the easy thing and drew my left thumb, the very next time I draw a thumb I think it should be my right thumb the gets the honors.  My right thumb has a pen in it, since the late 1980's so I have no practical use of my right thumb.  I can't grip anything heavy, nor even open a jar with it, thankfully I can still hold a pen or paint brush, and tap the space key on a keyboard.  It is useless for smart phone scrolling though, I will never be able to use it to text, poor me.  Oh and the pen did correct the pain my thumb was causing me, so I am thankful there is no more pain… wish I'd known before I had the surgery that my thumb wouldn't work ever again, I might have decided to put up with the pain… now you know more about my thumb than you ever wanted to… sorry folks.

May03Art

Today's EDiM sketch was an umbrella… did this one with paint brush only, no pencil or ink drawing first. For a simple shape I can do it… Journaling about our Charleston Urban Sketchers get together today at the waterfront park in downtown Charleston.  It was a lot of fun and a great success, thanks to Anne B. for organizing it and setting up a Flickr group and Facebook page.  I do hope she shares the pictures she took, my camera died at the start of the meeting, I was so disappointed not to get photos of the day. I did create an Ipernity group for the Charleston USK, as a prefer that to Flickr http://www.ipernity.com/group/uskchs

This was my feeble attempt at the Pineapple fountain… I'm going to dub this a warm up sketch… and move on to the rest of my sketches….

My idea was to get to a shady spot that I could see and sketch the bridge from… no such location was found, and the Italian Ice girl, in her shorty shorts caught my eye… so I did a sketch with 3 people for the very first time… yikes.

Found a great place to sit, with a wall I could lay my book on… this is my favorite sketch of the day… a palmetto tree, sailboat leaving the harbor.  The group got together and shared our sketches and we're hoping to make this a monthly get together this Summer.

Wish I'd gotten everyone's name written down, the young lady on the left in the orange sweater, her name starts with a 'B'… that's all I remember, next to her in the blue shirt is Anne B. (she organized the meeting), the gentle next to her is Bill W. from Mt. Pleasant, next to him… ME, behind me is Linda V., lady in the sunglasses name starts with an 'S' I think, and the lady next to her I never caught her name at all.  I know Anne collected names and email addresses, so maybe she can fill in the gaps on my new friends names.

May02Art

Today a knife for EDiM #2,  I have this little knife in my painting kit.  I use it to separate pages from blocks, or to scrape grasses on a painting.  I debated adding more words to this, a title or something, but I like how this looks just plain.  So this is it.  I've been enjoying reading thru Roz Stendalh's lessons, I have followed her blog for ages, but I'm learning even more from this remarkable artist.

May01Art

The Every Day in May 2014 group has chosen a list, created a Facebook page and a Flickr group and challenged artists to draw an item on the list of 31, every day in May.  I draw something in my journal every day, but usually draw something at hand or something that tells a story of something that happened that day.  For me the challenge will be drawing something someone else chooses…and that is a challenge for me.
I have also created an Ipernity group for this challenge, so all my friends on Ipernity can participate here http://www.ipernity.com/group/edim