Little Landscape Painted for a Friend

A cheer up gift for a friend...

From the collection of Maine coast sketches 

that live in my mind. 

Sketching While Waiting in the Car

 

 Sketching is my favorite  way to pass time

while waiting. My doctor lets me wait in my car, 

this was the view. But, drawing this car 

didn't come easily. So this is version #4,

done with the assist of an online photo.

Why was I persistent?

Just for the exercise of drawing.

The training & development of this skill is ongoing. 

Vegetarian

  

I'm grateful to be able to eat highly nutritious, organic food, 

bought at our coop & especially bought from nearby farmers. 

. 

Yesterday I baked butternut squash for the 1st time

in a long time. I was blown away by the vibrant taste 

and juicy texture, 

all the better knowing that I was absorbing

so many vitamins & nutrients. 

I buy fresh rosemary, just for the scent!

Once it's dry enough, I put it in an air tight container.

Now I'm wondering how to use it in my cooking...

Microgreens & pea shoots are divine!

Local apples are still available & delicious!

This was my first vegetarian meal this week 

after picking up the farm produce.

I got some vegetarian cookbooks from the library recently

& am enjoying exploring some new meal ideas...

(I am not a gourmet cook, haha!)

Why am I attracted to vegetarian cuisine?

I just read The Omnivore's Dilemma. It influenced me

in the way that Diet for a Small Planet did years ago.

Fountain Pens & Ink

 I spend a good deal of time in the company of fountain pens. 

Writing in my journal/s, writing anything & everything 

that needs recording or processing.

I'm old fashioned. As much as I love word processing,

it is pen, pencil, ink, & paint that I adore using

(and scissors & glue).

This was a photo that I posted on a fountain pen site. 

It's interesting to be among fellow pen enthusiasts.

I am not the collector that many of them are,

but I do have, well, more than one pen (ahem).

Something new is to draw & paint using inks,

inspired by some of the artists on the site.

 

Goulet Pens sells small vials of ink samples, 

a great way to try out luscious colors & various brands. 

More Card Making Process

I have fiber artist friends

who experiment wildly with mark-making, 

 media & formats. 

I love their work 

& love learning from them, trying some of their techniques.

But in the end, I come back to drawing

&  "coloring" (Gasp!!) as my favorite mode.

These days I use watercolors & Prismacolors, 

but I'm still connected to the childhood pleasure 

I had with Crayola crayons.

I pulled an image from an older journal sketch for

December greeting cards.

In the end, what I love most is 

that I be authentically expressing myself

& finding pleasure in my process,

ignoring that old inner critic.

Recently I did a jigsaw puzzle of an illustration

by my favorite illustrator, the French Sempé.

 I found great joy in learning more about how he uses

ink line & paint & felt affirmed in my way of working.

I am fascinated by grids & boxes lately. 

In the end, my idea for Christmas cards, 

(in the above photo)

evolved to these trees without the boxes.

 

Christmas Cards

Each year at this time I enjoy making cards.

These are for my art group postcard exchange.

I scanned & printed multiples of  the black & white image.

Then I hand colored each with Prismacolors.

Clearing Away November 2021

A great sunny morning for doing home tasks: 

Early morning grocery.

Dishes. Laundry. Accounts. Tidying.

It's time to clear away November,

 and to make a space for December. 

The tractor pumpkin farm drawing is by Nora McPhail,

whose work I adore. She has a blog here.

Two post cards are from a fellow Art Grouper. 

The lady behind the candle 

who is cooking a stew in a giant pumpkin, 

she is someone I created some years ago. 

The embroidered pumpkin pillow was made

by a fellow French Grouper, also some years ago.

Things are different again this fall (pandemic), 

but I still love this time of year! 

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