The Sketchers Get Together (but apart)

The Sketchers went down to the Library Park in Camden

(in separate cars.)

It's been many weeks since we've gotten together

(but apart.)

I usually forget to pack one item.This time: watercolors!

It turned out to be a blessing!

I loved focusing on values, lines, forms!

I would have missed seeing some wonderful qualities

if I had been distracted by paint & color!  

And I would have missed the feeling of my pen

dancing on the paper.

Behind me,
a waterfall, right in town, flows into the Harbor.

Yes, it's almost mid-May 

and I'm wearing a parka and gloves.

And loving it!

What I've Been Up To...

A little sketching with the Sketchers...

At a most magical shop in town, Brambles...

The owner always welcomes us! 

(I have previous posts/sketches from Brambles...)

Quick sketches when I'm out. 

Still carrying the book everywhere.

This was lunch at the Coop, a great Sketch-Op.

Enjoying my Prismacolors. Here,

they were basking in winter sunlight that streamed in

through the back door blinds.

 Prismacolors on my new "mini memory" daily calendar, 

inspired by the great sketch blog of Lin, View From the Oak
& her "Smallies". Do visit her blog! 

A great form of journaling!

Card calendars for my bulletin board.

Been playing with collage a bit.

Ongoing Daily Journal ritual. Every morning with coffee.

I'm adding more color, drawings & paste-ins

than before.

 

This was the bottom corner of a page. 

That's Washi tape as the base.

Envelope-pocket-journal-folio books, 

taught by local paper craft artist & teacher, Robinsunne. 

Current one in progress.

Elements taped with temporary cellophane tape.

 I mostly didn't send out holiday cards.
I gave a few of these to folks in my Zumba class. 
I hope you all had a fun holiday season.

 My new cork board on the mantle. 
A reminder that I want to paint more without ink line...
A challenge, & outside my comfort zone!

Above, some are mine, some are inspirations by others.

Great time of year for making art!

Back to Sketching in my Small Town

I haven't been sketching much, 

but went out early in November.

How I still love the meditative quality,

the discoveries. We Sketchers met on Main St.

Even though there was a cold breeze, 

I was warmed by the sun on my bench 

outside of Fiddleheads, the Art Shop.

So interesting to see the parade of costumed passersby!

Traci's diner across the street. Traditional egg & pancake breakfasts. I used to love going there, 

but my diet has changed. 

Two of the Sketchers were there, observing out the windows.

A town planning board meeting at City Hall 

about new building construction. 

I had very little idea of what they were talking about, 

property taxes, Tiff's, zoning, 

but it's nice that it was open to the public. 

And I enjoyed some sketching.

This Slicci pen makes the skinniest line 

of any pen that I've ever used. 

I love it, except it 

doesn't reproduce well.

In the meantime, my show is over, 

but I donated two 5 X 7 pieces to the local church 

where it took place. For their Christmas sale.

I love this small town life.

Going Sketching with a Visitor from France

I went sketching with a high school art student 
from France who visited me with her U.S. host family.

Lisa, the talented and artistic owner of Brambles, 

welcomed us to sketch in her front "garden"

of ornaments, potted herbs & flowers 

such as lavender & verbena.

The steady buzzing of bumble bees  in roses 

& floral scents kept me company as I sketched.

My friend sketched nearby.

This is something that I enjoy when sketching with others:

You are together, but separate while drawing.

Then there is time for sharing.

There is a park a few steps down from Brambles, 

next to the Harbor. 
With benches, shade & boats,
it's perfect for sketching. 
While there. a windjammer, rowers, sailboats,
& my least favorite, a smelly diesel boat, came & went.

Sketching in front of well known photographer Neal Parent's Gallery, 
right in the middle of downtown, 
attracted friendly passersby.

Some even stopped to speak to my friend in French.

A city councilor, one of the early Back to the Landers 
who became entrepreneurs in Belfast in the 70's, 
stopped to tell us that he had formerly had a café 

where Neal's Gallery is today. 

Another great thing about sketching:  If you stay in one spot long enough,

you often learn more about the place.


At the toy store across the street, Scott Canon,
local educator, musician & mime
sang a little English language song with his uke,
to my French friend, who is here to leanr English.

There is not a moment, not in any season, that I don't appreciate my little town. 

Visitors & sketching add so much to my enjoyment.

Sketching at the Local Greenhouse

The staff, the airy greenhouse & the plants 

welcomed us Sketchers

to the Aubuchon Hardware Store & Nursery. 

I asked the worker above if we would be in the way.

"No problem," she said. 

"If you get in the way, we'll just water you." 

It was an idyllic spot of light, color, and happy people. 

(Except for the flies, the little black flies.)

Local professional gardener Kate pulled up in her truck. 

I'm in awe of her, her artistic talents, her knowledge,

& her strength. In the old days of my childhood

only men had trucks & tools like this!

You could spend days sketching individual plants!

 After our greenhouse visit we went for lunch

at the local café & diner. There we discussed 

our sketching experience & other matters of interest.

Café With a Fellow Sketcher

I met one of The Sketchers at a café downtown...

She is our steadiest & most persistent member

& a total inspiration.

It's so nice to sketch with someone else...

We draw, we chat a little...it frees my process...

Takes the pressure off that my brain wants to impose.

That's my Kakuno fountain pen 

filled with Platinum Carbon waterproof ink. 

The pen is very inexpensive,

but draws super well on Moleskine sketch journal paper. 

It felt like the pen was drawing rather than me!

Exploring New Watercolors

My new watercolors are 

much more saturated than the old ones.

Still getting to know them. 

With these new paints

my small sketches are more abstract these days.

(This was a scene in shop of pretty things

here in town.)

Sadness has come into my life recently...

I release it onto paper... 

Life has it's darkness as well as lightness.

Colors change from day to day, month to month...

C'est comme ça.

Sketchers Go to a Beautiful Space

 An initial rough sketch made at 

Beyond the Sea, (Gifts & Books & Café) 

Not great paper in my sketchbook, but it works.

Another field trip with the sketch group.

The owner has created a sunny pastel space 

in the back of the shop, 

looking out to a salt marsh 

on the edge of Lincolnville Beach. 

I had sketched out the window in December,

on a solo visit. 

Today the focus was on my friends.

Tourist season has not yet begun, 

so we each had our own table. 

We chatted lightly, sporadically,

punctuating the space with art tips & experiences. 

The above two images are illustration-sketches 

on watercolor paper,

derived from the roughs in my sketchbook.

They aren't meant to be portraits, nor to capture likenesses.

They are impressions that bring back the afternoon.

They allow me to linger in a pleasant experience...

Sketchers Go Downeast

 

Sketchers went Downeast, to Stonington. Field Trip!!

Sketchbook Wandering!

 

 I got to ride in the back seat...

Quick impressions on the road to Deer Isle. 

Last chance to enjoy tree branches as buds are sprouting.

I got car sick from all the curves & hills, but it was worth it!

 

Glimpses drawn from imagination & memory.

In the sketchbook, not on watercolor paper...

Low tide.

If I could sum the voyage up in word, it would be: BLUE!

Blue & breezes & springtime sun, 

replacing frozen grays of winter.

On the way home we stopped on top of Caterpillar Hill,

and looked out across the Bay! So often I have looked out to 

Caterpillar Hill from my home on the mainland! Amazing!

Sketching: From Observation. From Imagination

 Drawing with the group at a local "Antique Mall."

Because we are an official group, we get to go to

many fascinating places! 

(one of us always gets permission beforehand.)

My visual challenges were about  proportion, perspective, & relationships between objects.

Some others in the group focused on individual object studies. 

I'd like to do that too, studies with more depth & detail,

but for now I'm attracted to the interplays. 

There were many "nooks" with displays by individual vendors.

With so many objects to view in any given spot, 

the items were intriguing for themselves

(an antiquer or cultural historian would have a blast!)

 as well as for their

 lines, forms, angles, placements.  

 

Recently I've started to practice a new type of drawing:

From Imagination! 

A new Journaling group at a local library, 

based on cartoonist Lynda Barry's teachings in her book, Syllabus, 

is opening new channels in my brain.

Above, The beginnings of a "Self Portrait."

In my usual way, I take notes from the book. 

But I sprinkle these with my own memory/imagination

 drawings & writing. Syllabus is really a workbook. 

I was taught at a (too young) age to draw ONLY from observation. 

I don't know if drawing from imagination was ever a strength anyway, 

but what there was got squashed. 

Barry deals with the fear adults have of drawing from memory. 

She aims to "bring drawing back into people's lives"

(from their childhoods as most kids love to draw & then stop),

instead of "to teach drawing" to adults.

Stay tuned: Sketchbook Wandering: The Cartoon!

Sketch Group at the Home Garden Boutique

A cold winter's day at a local home garden shop. 

The proprietor of Brambles welcomed 7 of us sketchers,

& even lent us stools. (I ended up buying mine!)

 

Brambles is one of 

the most artistic and nourishing to the senses shops 

I've ever been in! 

The owner, so friendly, so happy, and no wonder! 

She is surrounded, 

all day long, by gorgeous colors, scents, 

handmade objects that she herself has selected, 

plants that she has grown, 

and by cheerful customers and visiting friends!

Aaah, can you smell the flowers?

This in mid January! Note the contrast!

Outdoors, let it snow (and be monochromatic!)

Brambles will infuse you with happiness 

during any season!