A much-needed, very therapeutic Saturday of a little cleaning and a lot of sketching, reading, watching You've Got Mail for the 100,000th time... Pure Bliss... (except the cleaning - but the results are great!)

My first page of sketches is below, and then speaking of results...











The more finished sketch below may very well be my favorite sketch of my entire artistic career.  I don't know why, it just has it all to me... great lines and energy, my favorite things - cups that hold coffee or tea, and of course, books.  This sketch just feels like an accomplishment of sorts... And may I add that there is nothing, I mean NOTHING like a brand new Prismacolor colored pencil sharpened with an X-acto knife and chiseled ever so slightly at the end.  YUM!!  I had forgotten the pleasure that simple tool can bring.  The shadows in the white cup were too dark, so I used white gouache to lighten it and add highlights.  I started the line drawing with Faber-Castell PITT pens, and just went a little wild from there.  I do recommend knife sharpened colored pencils.  There is just something about the line they make.

And now I am having cinnamon coffee.  I drink mine black but I'm sure most people use cream if not cream and sugar - black and strong that's the way I like it... Just add a dash or two or three of cinnamon to the filter after you put the coffee in and then brew!  Perfect fall drink!  Happy Saturday evening everyone!

Busy End of Summer Days

One reason I haven't posted in so many days is because I'm too busy DOING to sit still long enough to blog!  I've painted my window casing bright red...took me about 2 weeks to finish it. 

These days are so very very busy.  I am rarely home and so today is a special treat.  A cloudy, cool, rainy day to stay home and be cozy.  I am looking forward to fall days.  Everything seems to calm down around this time of year.  Days are shorter and cooler and I always feel like my life kind of takes on a more relaxed pace.  I hope this fall is no different, because I could sure use a more relaxed pace.

Lately I've been on a book-buying craze (for lack of a better term).  I just can't seem to stop buying books!  Cheap, beautiful, enticing BOOKS!! 

"Books to the ceiling, books to the sky.

My piles of books are a mile high.

Oh, how I love them!

Oh, how I need them!

I'll have a long beard by the time I read them." -Arnold Lobel

This is only the tip of the iceberg!  My house is overrun with books, and all I seem to want to do is READ!!
I just finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and I'm currently working on a collection of sermons by John MacArthur, C. S. Lewis' The Four Loves, A. W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God, and yesterday I found Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey for about $7 with my AC Moore coupon! 

I've also been cooking a lot of Italian food after having finished Peter Pezelli's Francesca's Kitchen.  All these are highly recommended.  I think I'll go have some homemade spaghetti now following Francesca's easy sauce recipe... But first I will leave you with a few paintings/sketches I've managed to do:

Don't forget to sip some tea or coffee on this cool, cozy, September Saturday... Enjoy!