Calligraphy Conference - WOOL

My scanner isn't quite wide enough for my 14" journal spreads, but this one commemorates the Westcoast Odyssey of Letters that I attended recently.  It works so much better as a spread than when scanned as separate pages:

What I Didn't Eat

Social media and urban sketches often feature food.  Food rarely makes an appearance in my journal; it is odd that the one drawing of food that I did was what I didn't eat.

Fall Colour

We've enjoyed a long string of sunny weather this fall, and the colours of the trees have been spectacular.  You'll notice a bit of collage snuck in here too; I was working on some ATC's

Shopping

I bought a bottle of Noodlers waterproof ink to use in my fountain pens.

The irony here has not escaped me.

Books

As you may have noticed in the last two posts, books make a frequent appearance in my journal.  

The letters that I've been using for the dates lately are Ben Shahn letters. I learned them at a recent calligraphy seminar.

Drawing Practice

Often when I draw in my journal I'm motivated by practicing my drawing.  A local park sculpture challenged me earlier this summer, so I returned to try a different tool - this time a watercolor crayon to draw the fat red forms rather than the lines around them.  My hunch was right - it was much easier this way!  Note to self:  Think about which approach would be easier before you start.

An Exercise from Quick and Lively Urban Sketching

My slippers are a frequent subject.  this time I was "drawing shapes", rather than line or form.

Draw Your Day

OK, I didn't actually go to Ephesus, Turkey today, but we're currently reading Paul's letter to the Ephesians at church, so I drew this from a photo I took when I visited there in 2012.

I'm reading a book by Samanthe Dion Baker called Draw Your Day, and although her style is different than mine (of course), her philosophy of drawing your day is basically what my approach is.  

I've been receiving good feedback from artist friends when they see my journal, and one person has asked me to post some on my blog, so I think I'll group them by subject until I get caught up.

Inktober - Days 7 to 12

The daily prompts were:

7.  Exhausted

8.  Star

9.  Precious

The collaboration on our calendars took a turn last week.  My sister has fallen in love with cross stitch, diamond painting, and knitting and hasn't been inspired to draw.  She's great at interpreting the prompts, though, so she helps me come up with ideas.  That's great collaboration, because my brain freezes at some of these. 

10.  Flow

11.  Cruel

12.  Whale

Inktober - Days 1 - 6

My sister and I are participating in Inktober again this year; we're using our calendars to do a little ink drawing.  We're using the prompts provided by the organizer:

1. Poisonous
2. Tranquil
3. Roasted
4. Spell
5. Chicken
6. Drool

I've participated in Inktober before.  If you'd like to see the different approaches I've used you can click on the Inktober tag in the Media and Projects word cloud on the right. 

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Artist Trading Card

This is the last of the fish in odd places for awhile.

The Fish are Still Showing up in Odd Places

He was enjoying the view until you surprised him.

Bedtime

Clubbing

On Vacation

Pooltime

Fish in Odd Places

My next crop of artist trading cards involves fish in odd places.  

And All At Once.....

And All At Once, Summer Collapsed into Fall - Oscar Wilde