a couple of grandkids . . .

. . . sketched from photos since they live so far away.

Since I would like to learn to draw people better, maybe I should start with all the photos our kids send us. It seems much harder to capture a likeness of those we love, so the challenge would be good practice.

Quen loves wearing button-down shirts, REAL ties knotted loosely, and cool hats. Don't know where he gets it but he has very distinct ideas regarding fashion, but it certainly fits his love of musical instruments. Maybe he'll be a cool jazz musician someday.

Jayna has had long hair "forever" --- she was born with a full head of it. But she wanted to give it away to Locks of Love, like her mommy did last year. So Carrie cut it off for her --- just in time to start gymnastics! Probably much easier without hair in her face.

tulips from a friend

Hearing the funny trials of our tulip thefts, my friend Ginger surprised me with these tulips from her yard Sunday. I keep them where Bill and I can enjoy them every day but well out of reach of my "Ferdinand the Bull" cat, Bear. Like Ferdinand, he loves to smell flowers --- but at 22 lbs. with that enormous Maine Coon tail, he is clumsy.

Bill's tulips

Unlike the tiny "wild" tulips in our yard, I planted these especially for Bill --- he loves red tulips!

Four of them came up this year . . . . true to form, our "tulip thief" stole one --- this person only takes one at a time over several days.

So last week, I cut the remaining tulips and brought them inside so BILL could enjoy them instead of the thief. And later the same day, a wind averaging around 60 MPH came up --- it would have torn them apart!

* the rest of the story:
Sometime this morning, Bearcat jumped on the table (where he is not allowed) to sniff the tulips (he loves flowers!), knocking the vase over and breaking them apart! I just had to laugh.

up and downs of life

Ceilidh insisted on tackling the front steps by herself after the first few times, running from me before I can pick her up. But she is still wary of coming down them.

Sort of like us. In life, it's much more exciting to go forward when we are feeling "up". Harder to function on the down side.

sketchercise from last week

This time I painted these grape hyacinths with gouache w/o pencil first. The background was was done before leaving the house, with a thin wash.


This and the sketches below were done after taking Ceilidh on one of our small daily "walkabouts" --- she is slowly getting the hang of walking on a lead. I'm looking forward to longer walks with her but until her third shot we are avoiding other dog's areas.





And this is what happens to the 7 wild tulips in our yard every year. We may dig them up this time and place them closer to the building.

("wild" in that we didn't plant them -- they are placed very irregularly in the side yard --- they have unusually short stems of only a couple of inches.)

75 day challenge is finished!

Not a very exciting sketch for the final sketch, but I'm really looking forward to getting back to this art journal pictured above and using watercolor!

I am very glad I took the challenge from Brenda Swenson (to do one ink sketch a day for 75 days with no pencil under-drawing first). I have noticed a "lightening up" in my attitude -- I'm not as concerned as I used to be about the finished product looking exactly as seen in my mind. Now it's more drawing for the joy of it.

busy Ceilidh

I find it very hard to even do quick gesture sketches of a puppy that is NEVER still and NEVER returns to the same pose twice. These were sketched from photos taken the first 2 weeks of her coming to live with us.

I'm also having a hard time getting just the right black mixture to use for her. Here, I've tried various blends from ultramarine, burnt umber, lunar blue, or burnt sienna.

birthday card for Shirley

Recently someone commented on my Flickr site that they would like to learn to draw and asked if I could tell them my experience. I thought what I wrote might help someone else . . . .

In 2005, I was afraid to even try to draw again. While growing up, I drew all the time, but had not done so since and now I was 51. But a friend asked me to come with her to a small watercolor class. I had never tried watercolor but felt this was actually from the Lord --- that He was gently leading me back into art. Otherwise, how would this friend have ever known I was once interested in it?

I played around for a couple of years but without much direction. Then I found so many sketchers and painters on Flickr . . . . and then found the Everyday Matters (EDM) group and their weekly drawing challenge. One day in May 2007, I bought a sketchbook and did my first sketch. Then a second one. For a long time, I simply did the EDM challenge list, one drawing at a time. Eventually that gave me confidence and I began to post them on-line (shaking in my boots as I did so!)

This is like learning to play an instrument or driving a car or even learning to write your own name (which is just a line drawn) . . . . the more you DO IT, the more confidence you gain and the more comfortable you become. I never think I'm as good as I want to be, but I think that is a universal feeling. Just keep striving to be better. As you do, your own personal style just sort of "happens" and you grow.

Hall of Waters

Finally winter loosened it's grip and we were able to have a sketchcrawl in Excelsior Springs on Saturday --- and on a weekend that Bill was not on-call --- hurray! (Last month's planned sketchcrawl was canceled due to ice.)

We drive about 3 hours from home, partly through the always-changing Flint Hills. I've tried to get local artist friends interested in a sketchcrawl closer to home, but no takers. So I meet up with artist/writer Cathy "Kate" Johnson and other friends I've met through Flickr.

We always have a great time . . . even with a thunderstorm this time. We met again at the historic Hall of Waters and stayed out of the rain. Hopefully next time it will be sunny and dry so we can go look for spring wildflowers in the nearby woods. After sketching, most everyone has a light meal or snack at one of the eateries in town as we pass around our sketchbooks.

It's a nice get-away for Bill --- no cell phone and no pager. He takes a book along to read while I'm sketching. Ceilidh went along for the adventure, traveling in an old cat carrier because she's still so tiny. We are trying to get her used to car travel so she can head for Texas with us sometime this summer.

Ceilidh arrives at last!

I drove to Oklahoma on Sunday to pick up our new Scottish Terrier baby from our breeder, Pam. Right away I could tell she was an awesome little personality -- so much curiosity and confidence! Her tail never stops wagging and flying like a little flag.

As I was driving south to pick up my new baby, our son Jason was driving north for a spring-break visit, along with our son Jeff and grandkids Jayna and Josiah. They also brought Maxwell, my former Scottie who now belongs to Jayna.

Ceilidh seems to love everyone and can't get enough of exploring her new territory. She has already claimed her basket of toys, "killing" a furry fox several times, and stealing the cat's toys.

The only down side is that I have had no time for sketching at all. It's like having a new baby in the house, needing some kind of attention at least every 2 hours. She sleeps through the night MUCH better than any of our human children did though!