Going to the Fair...But Not This Year

 This post is an excerpt of an essay I wrote for a local newsletter.

La Table de Nana, 

who can’t make her annual pilgrimage to her

beloved Provence this fall, 

is sharing photos & memories of her past trips.

Do visit her blog!

The Common Ground Country Fair is my annual fall pilgrimage. 

I write about it here each September.

The Fair was cancelled due to Covid.

Each year I go to join in the 

celebration of harvest season, 

of community & cooperative sharing, 

of living in harmony with nature, 

of caring for the the earth & for one another.  

All with joy, artistry, respect, &, well... Love. 

Good things to have in these times. 

I go to rejoice in the midst of 

September’s vivid color, light & energy, 

before the gray of winter sets in. 

  

So many of us fairgoers, farmers, gardeners &

 participants of all ages felt the loss. 

I enjoyed going through old photos & journal entries. 

A reminder of one of the reasons I keep journals.

Over the years my small sketchbook journal 

has been my steady companion at the Fair.

One time the Popcorn Lady popped over

to watch me sketching her Popcorn House!

That gave me the chance to tell her how much I loved it

& to learn more about its creation!

Sketching to live, homegrown music, 

one of my favorite, favorite ways to sketch!!

This year I am adapting. Though sad, I've still been able to find

 September Joy in some beautiful local gardens.

I hope that by next year at this time 

our pilgrimages, 

our active community lives & celebrations,

and our good health will be back.

China Marker Resist: Autumn Flowers

Remember crayon resist in elementary school?

Such magic when the wax lines (Crayola crayons)

got revealed by painting over them with water paints!

Here I drew with white china marker on white paper.

I loved not being able to

see exactly what I was drawing. 

A bit like blind contour drawing.

You rely on feeling the movement of your subject 

instead of the exact outlines.

Late summer sun has been intensely illuminating neighborhood gardens and flowers.

Sometimes I think I've never in my whole life

seen such beauty.

 I 'll post here as long as I can...

Still not sure I want to be forced in the new platform...

Visit to a Sketcher's Garden

I hadn't gone sketching with the group in awhile.

We visited a member's country/woods garden.

The first image was a warm up, a rather chaotic response to 

a beautiful tangle of ferns and foresty plants

and an array of vivid colors in late afternoon sun.

Then, a more tame vignette, which is actually 

a sketch from a sketch using my photo as reference,

once back home.

The observer's eye, brain, & hand, 

like the body, gets out of shape without practice

and I felt it. 

Motto for the day:

Make sketching more of a priority because

I love the whole experience!

(To "Unknown" who asked permission to download 

some of my paintings for her studies: 

I appreciate that you asked.

I would ask that you not to do it. 

I feel vulnerable about my sketches being

on someone else's computer, & used, 

without me explaining my process & teaching.

Also, since I do sell paintings, it's awkward to 

have them be used, even though I know that's a risk

of posting them on the Internet.

And, I always encourage students to not get 

too tied in to some one else's work, but to experiment,

study techniques, watch demonstrations,

& let your own voice, experience, practice 

& responses develop.)

Forget Me Nots

Recently a dear new friend recited a children's poem 

in Polish to me, called Niezapominajki. 

Forget Me Nots.

I made this little drawing/painting to thank her.

 But now this seems like a serendipitous little post.   I may not make many more as the new format for posting is too complicated for me. I'd rather spend time with my art, though I love the 8 years I've been Sketchbook Wandering. 

(The name is copywrited & you may see it somewhere else along with my own name in the future.)

Niezapominajki were a favorite flower of my dear mother's. 

I loved seeing their lightness this spring during my early quarantine-time neighborhood walks. 

Niezapominajki
to są kwiatki z bajki!
Rosną nad potoczkiem,
patrzą rybim oczkiem.

Gdy się płynie łódką,
Śmieją się cichutko
I szepcą mi skromnie:
„Nie zapomnij o mnie”.