Harpers Bazaar 1944

The illustrations in "Fashion Illustration 1930 to 1970" are so inspirational!  I copied this from a drawing by Tage Werner.

Vancouver in the Rain

The side streets in the 'hood are ablaze with colour...even in the rain.

It Never Hurts to Practice!

The other day I was practicing my quick face sketching by drawing from Modigliani paintings.  Each of these pages were filled in less than 10 minutes.  Practice, practice, practice.  I can't get enough! 

Mandala in Gold Watercolor

Giving Thanks

It's still the season of thanksgiving.

Crane in the Forbidden City, Beijing

This is another sketch from a travel photo. I was in China in 2009.

Mandala

We learned to draw a pointed pen mandala at last night's Westcoast Calligraphy meeting. Easy and fun!

Pocket Sketch

I'm practicing quick, small sketches in preparation for an upcoming trip to Israel. I went downtown on the train yesterday and did these in 10 minutes or less.

Echinacea

I forgot to take pictures of all the ATC'S I made for the Vancouver swap last Sunday. Luckily I held this back for my sister, Dianne. It's a Studio G stamp on alcohol inks.

Pocket Sketch

Obviously I need to practice my perspective lessons a bit more!

What? No Art?

That's what my friend Janice asks when I haven't posted anything for a few days.  This time we can credit her for this.

It started with a play day of alcohol inks.  She posted about it here.  What she didn't say in this post is that she kindly brought a couple of storage bins for me.  "In case you can use them", she said.  The next day my office/studio looked like this:

It took a few days, and it still isn't finished, but now we have this:

Calligraphy Supplies

A Clean Desk Drawer

Organized Craft and Office Supplies

Thanks, Janice!  I really needed to discard some things I no longer use, and you prompted it all.  Thanks also to my sister, Dianne, too, who gave me some good ideas when my office was torn apart and I couldn't see the way forward.  She and I call it "doing a reorg".

So, I haven't done any art this week.  I'm off to Tai Chi this morning, but I must think this afternoon about the ATC swap tomorrow.  That might prompt something!

Sunflowers

Gouache, in my Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Journal

I had a lovely weekend of painting, thanks to Paint My Photo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so many things to be thankful for, and so many people in my life who give of themselves in so many ways.

Some of them I don't even know - including the good folks at Paint My Photo who post their lovely photographs for me to paint from!

Bocce Ball in the Park

A Fountain on a Field of Stone

An exercise on drawing water from James Richards' book, Freehand Drawing & Discovery.

Practicing

I'm working my way through a wonderful book by James Richards, called Freehand Drawing & Discovery:  Urban Sketching and Concept Drawing for Designers.

This is an exercise on drawing people.

Community Garden

First Canvas - In Process

My dear friend, Janice, invited me to Raw Canvas last night, where we ate, drank, laughed, and descended to the "paint pit" to throw paint on canvas.  Janice has already written a good blog posting about it, including lots of pictures.

My cactus is far from perfect and still needs its spines, but all in all I'd say my first painting session was a success.  I'd love to have a real studio where I could throw paint around and not worry about the carpet.  For now I'll have to finish up in the laundry room.

September Draw Your Awesome Year

Where did September go?