"It's Been a Long Day"

Using the photo from the Feb. 09 issue of Country Living Magazine as inspiration I painted this on 5" x 7" W/N watercolor paper during lunch today. The red is a little deeper than the scan but I'm really happy with the way this turned out. I drew the sketch in Prismacolor Warm Gray 70% Then used my Yarka pans and light olive and mid vermillion Inktense pencils in certain spots of the afghan and pillow. I want to curl up and relax here. Maybe in front of a fireplace...

The Best Christmas Present!

My friend Kim gave me a gift certificate to Cheap Joe's Art Supply (http://www.cheapjoes.com/) for Christmas! What a perfect present!!

I purchased this empty Yarka palette and about 6 half pans of Yarka St. Petersburg Professional Watercolor and then used some other extra pans I had to fill the palette. I arranged them at first as below, but it didn't seem to make sense...



so I rearranged them in the order below. I think I have two English Reds (left page above and below), and I'm not crazy about that color, so I need to replace that with something a little brighter.



Thank you, Kim!!!

Proof you can sketch anywhere

Waiting at the garage for new tires...


I added color to this sketch of my cup on my desk at work while waiting for new tires at a garage!

I carried my Yarka palette, my Niji waterbrush, and an assortment of pens in a basket. Some people crochet... I sketch.


This is a chair in the waiting room - drawn with the new Pitt Big Brush pen - fun and quick.

A Summer Yard Sale Find - Decorating Idea

This past summer I found these macrame beads at a yard sale. A huge box of them for $5.00. I bought this glass vase Wednesday, December 31 at a local consignment shop and arranged them in it. It makes a very colorful, interesting decorating accent.

I found a treasure!

I made a trip to a local used bookstore on Tuesday, December 30, and found Cathy Johnson's book
Drawing and Painting from Nature!!! This is a first edition, first printing in pristeen condition! I am so excited to have found this!

Another Christmas sketch

We had Christmas at my sister's house last night and amidst noise of children and everybody playing Cadoo2 I sat and sketched Carla's teapot. Her house was so beautiful last night all decorated for Christmas and I couldn't resist a little sketch to help remember the night. All my family were there and everybody was healthy except for a cold or two - what a blessing!

I used my Niji waterbrush, which thanks to Shirley (http://www.paperandthreads.com/) now works just fine. Thank you so much Shirley for this simple solution to a frustrating problem. You can see the post and her comment at https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=27065226&postID=8546208218731309878

I'm off to a friends house and to another family gathering tonight and hope to have more sketches to share...

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!! A beautiful warm day - blue skies - lots of sunshine - high temps in the 60's! A welcome change from the cold and rain of the past few days. I sketched from my living room looking out at my bird feeder.



This is the beautiful ring my husband and daughter got me for Christmas. Very artsy and totally me! So happy!



This is my little corner of the world - the windows look out at my bird feeder and all my "stuff" is spread out where I can play and read, journal, sketch, make dolls, etc. My coffee - now cold, a box of tissues, my sketchbook, a basket of books and other things, my palette, lots of books, my writing journal, my Bible, a devotion book, etc... all atop an old trunk that I restored with decoupage, inside and out. I sit on the loveseat and this serves as my coffee table.

I used my Niji waterbrush and Yarka palette (my favorite) for these sketches, but got very frustrated because the water wouldn't squeeze out easily. It's like it was clogged. Has anybody had this problem before?

A lazy, fun, relaxing, and joy-filled day! I began it at 4:30 a.m. when I got up before anybody else to spend time with God and celebrate and worship Jesus, the true reason we celebrate. I wanted a quiet time before the excitement and noise began. That time of prayer and Bible reading set the tone for the entire day and I am very thankful for that experience. It was well worth getting up early for.

Merry, Merry Christmas everyone.

Books that have influenced my development as an artist

This post is in response to Katy's (http://kathrynestelle.blogspot.com/) question to me in her comment on my post (http://daloweartist.blogspot.com/2008/12/few-of-my-favorite-things-books.html). I thought I might share it with everyone, and pose the same question to you

"Which one of your books would you say has been the most helpful in your development as an artist?"


I've thought and thought about her question, and there is just no way I can choose ONE book. My favorites would be Cathy Johnson's Sketching in Nature and Painting in Nature; and Sketching School and Watercolor School are second to that. Making Color Sing by Jeanne Dobie was very valuable; Tony Couch's Watercolor: You Can Do It, which I don't have anymore; books on Cezanne, especially his watercolors; Christina Acosta's Paint Happy... Wow! I have a lot of books to credit with my development as an artist.

Experience is always the best teacher, that and lots and lots of practice. I'd have to say that when I started keeping a sketchbook in 1996 and sketches on loose sheets even before that - probably around 1990, that is when my art really started to develop. Not just my art, but me in general. Keeping a sketchbook is the one greatest thing I have done toward my development as an artist. And all these books by various artists have been invaluable to me.

These are pages from my new sketchbook, from Barnes and Noble described in an earlier post http://daloweartist.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-sketchbook.html, that I completed today. The arrival of Danny's new book An Illustrated Life inspired me and got me started carrying my sketchbook and working in it again. I have volumes of books similar to these that I picked up at Walden books over the years. This one is a little different, and I think I might even like it better. The pages are thicker and smoother, and even perforated. It doesn't seem like it would take washes well, but it really does.

A Few of My Favorite Things - books!

An Illustrated Life came in the mail from Amazon.com yesterday. I love this book! I just can hardly stand to put it down! Thank you, Danny Gregory for such a wonderful book!
This is two shelves on my bookcase filled with art inspiration. There are more, but this is about half my art book collection.