Continuous Line Contour Drawing

I've always liked Nicolaides' technique of contour drawing in The Natural Way to Draw. Trains the eye, & the hand to work with the eye. The pure method asks that you don't take your eyes off the subject. (Definitely unsettling but good learning.)

I just got brave & tried a new version of contour drawing: Not (almost not, in my case) lifting the pen. You start in one spot & just keep drawing with a continuous (almost continuous, in my case) line. It's interesting to focus on one small part at a time of the whole view, & it does get you out of preconceived notions of what the things are & into observing their abstract lines & forms. It's a surprise to see that at the end, a whole composition has filled the page. It almost feels like it did it on its own.
(This scene is a view to the kitchen counter, drawn while I was listening to a TV show.)

From the Sketchbook: Dining Alone

Growing up, my understanding was that to dine alone was not socially acceptable. My mother, when my father would be away, would go out alone to the movies & to restaurants. I thought she was courageous. I tried it in my young adult years but was never comfortable with it. 

In our current café's it is most acceptable to be alone, but it seems one must have a newspaper, a book or a device. Society tells us we must be connected, even while eating.

Top sketch was made in a bakery café in Rockland where I was focusing on spatial perspective.The bottom one is from Wild Willy's restaurant in South Portland. I felt sad seeing this man who was actually eating alone without reading. Was I projecting my own feelings onto him? Was he a widower? Was I remembering that even though my mom went out alone, I sensed that she lonely without my father? I suspect that a lot of older people who are alone don't go out much into the world. Which can lead to isolation, which can lead to sadness. I wonder, dear friend, what your thoughts are.

Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

(the little rainbow is real, from my window prism) 

I've heard it's more of a holiday in America than in Ireland? 

I like the "May the...May you..." blessings that come from 

the Irish culture. Click on the image to read some.

 About that paintbox or palette: This is my latest. I bought it empty & filled it with my Winsor Newton paints from tubes. My limited palette is when I choose 3 to 6 of these colors. 

New Snow

Snow ALL day yesterday, which gave me permission to do lots of indoor filing & organizing (yes, I went away from the "art door", see previous post, thanks for sharing your experiences with that, really helpful.) 

The view out the window at 7AM this morning was startling. At first glance it seemed all white, but upon slower observation: so much color! Morning light & shadows change so quickly, I LOVE their drama. 

I've been avoiding observing the outdoors, kind of fighting with the reality of winter cold & dirty snow. But I'm accepting this March snow, even though it isn't considered "right". After all, Calendar Spring is supposed to arrive soon. There may be snow but still, the birds are singing.

Something new: Keeping a paintbox & sketchbook in the living room. Handy. You never know when you're hit with a flash, a sudden need to observe something. Have to act fast. Those of you with cameras know what that's like...

Something else: My new "Luma Bleed-Proof White Opaque Watercolor". Cool. Can even "erase" with it. Opaque watercolor (gouache) & oils or acrylics: A different energy than with watercolors. They're on my To Explore Further List.

Something else new: I have a new ritual, a "Word of the Day" that I sort of listen for as I wake. (I'm borrowing this from Library Jewel.) Today it was "Learn" because I need to study French & go to a class. But I'm adding in "New". March, is a great time for opening to the New. Sort of simple, but I like the way it helps me focus.

Stuck Door: Push Harder?

Just as with physical exercise, a gal can get out of shape when 

she doesn't work with her sketchbook every day.

Question: 

When you feel like there's a stuck door between you 

& the form of expression you enjoy,

is it better to stay & keep pushing/practicing, 

(even though everything you do turns to a Major Nothing), 

or is it better to go away & do something else?

I think it depends,

but I'd love to learn your ideas & experience.

Boston, Cambridge & Robins

Back from the big city. And a flock of Robins is back from somewhere, outside the 2nd floor window! There must be 20 or so, flying from tree to tree & to the ground, & a group was sunning itself in my tree.

We took the train to Boston...and back...North Station.

A view from another window, our hotel at  Kendall Square & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. We were on the 21st floor, looking across the Charles River! Was it a bit of the luck of the Irish before the annual, Huge Saint Patrick's Day celebration that got us this room?

The Museum of Science: "Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture." (& history, economics, ecology, anthropology, biology, geography...) Kids running around, me taking notes...

 Some beautiful displays including old fashioned large scale dioramas, plus models, films & interactive technology.

Besides Harvard Square with its international college population & foreign language book store, the MIT Museum was a high point with articifical intelligence (Robots!) & mobile machine sculptures by Arthur Ganson. (Click here for more.)

Maybe someday there will only be Robin Robots (created by brilliant minds at MIT), but for today, back here at home, I'm glad to see the old fashioned kind...

Veggies Ready to Deliver!

9 X 12" Arches hot press.

 Finished veggies, ready to deliver! Yay!

Prescription for a gray snowy day...

The End of the Alphabet!

I made it to Z. Yay & Youpi!! (see previous alphabet posts)

Lotions & Portions

I sometimes gaze longingly at cosmetic bottles in shops.

One of them just might contain the perfect elixir

that will fix my age or skin or hair.

The prettier the bottle, the more promise it holds.

While certain natural lotions & potions help me to take care of my physical self,

I'm allergic to most chemical scents & products...

Yet, & yet, I still sometimes gaze longingly...

Remember Ponce de Léon?

February Thoughts Turn to Travel

The Valentine Stuff is put away for another year (below), 

& the February light sparks me out of my frozen January frame of mind & body.

Thoughts turn to travel & movement. 

I have 3 favorite cities to which I LOVE to return (especially off season in March). 

I've posed the question to myself: "But what new places are there?" 

Dear Reader, I would love to hear YOUR answers for your favorite travel destinations.

A Cup of Valentines

 Valentine's, just for you! 

Rien que pour toi...

Illustrated Alphabet Part 3: O-T

F is for Fun. P is for Patience.

T is for Thank you for visiting & commenting.

Y is for Yay!! (I got to T!)

(Any favorites here, Dear Visitors?)

Illustrated Alphabet Part 2: J through N

Continuation of my Alphabet Storyboard (draft). 

No time for perfectionism, today. Ack!!

But: Get it done! Finish.

Later there will be time for tweaks & edits &  final versions.

At this stage, other words are popping up,

so I've started keeping a list. 

They might come in handy, who knows? 

In fact, whole other series are popping up: plants...animals...doudou's...

...or how about a Polish alphabet, or an adjective alphabet...

or one of Maine or of art words...or a multi-word alphabet with scenes...

HOWEVER, using the French expression, 

"Revenons à nos moutons" (let's return to our sheep, or get back to the subject), 

I am determined to see THIS alphabet through to Z.

 Knowing it's a rough draft, Dear Visitors, 

I wonder again if you have any favorites from "j" to "n"...

Illustrated Alphabet

I'm making my first illustrated alphabet. I had various themes in mind, I chose French nouns. Très simple. I may re-do some. It's a process.I was inspired to finally make one by Edward Gorey's mini book, The Eclectic Abecedarium. When I'm done, I might create a book... or stitch them together in a hanging quilt sort of thing. The trick is TO FINISH~ all 26 letters! I wonder if you, Dear Visitors, have a favorite letter picture in this group.

I have several, but I can't tell yet...

The Illustrated French Language Study Journal

Pages from a 2002 journal, 4 X 6", handbound (but not by me) book with high quality paper. 

When I was newly studying French I enjoyed copying French text from sources of interest & then illustrating it.

Above left: a class exercise: Imagine that you are visiting the famous fortune teller, Madame Soleil. 

What would you want to ask her? 

Excerpts from a favorite watercolor book: "Les clés de l'aquarelle",

translated from the English "Basic Watercolor Techniques". 

 Color charts are always fun, but learning French names of colors... 

...& learning French art vocabulary is double fun.

 A brief description from a brochure of the Tulip Festival in Ottawa, & some vocabulary related to fairy tales.

Triple Journal Fun: Art, French, & Subjects of Interest!

PS. To the noters who said my French was perfect: 
I must explain that it wasn't MY French, it was copied from texts in order to learn.