Sketching Downtown on a Rainy Day

                                         

Went rainy day sketching with just 2 of the Sketchers. 

When my paper started getting wet, I stopped with a quick

black & white sketch and the 3 of us retreated to the porch of 

 our favorite plant/home/gift boutique. 

Later, at home, when I added color I didn't use reference photos. For me that was daring, 

to add paint from memory & intuition. 

There is always something new to try when sketching!

The cold rain meant very few people were out. 

And it felt good to be with fellow sketchers. 

With distance.

Our outdoor days are limited. 

What will we do in winter when, on some days,

 the weather will prevent outdoor sketching & visits?

Travel During the Pandemic. Summer of 2020

A sketch from a journal sketch (see post of July 2...)

For years my favorite back road trip was up to

Skowhegan & Jackman, ending in Quebec City.

The Canadian border is closed, & I stay home a lot these days.

But road trips are still possible.

From Belfast to Brooks, Dixmont, Winterport, Hampden.

This is organic farm country in towns like Montville & Monroe.

Roller coaster ribbon roads. 

Forests, farms, scattered country homes,

occasional views of distant fields, faraway mountains.

Here & there, political signs appear on the sides of the road,

but I try not to look at them.

This is not the coastal route with its crowds & cars,

Its clusters of restaurants & hotels.

For a short time the world feels safe, normal & familiar. 

Beautiful.

The radio is off & I drive slowly, glancing, occasionally stopping.

I am told I will be able to visit Québec & other cities again.

In the meantime, how lucky I am to be here.

Sketching: A Pause From Stress

7AM crowded grocery shopping 

once again triggered anxiety. 

An unhealthy looking man, 

coughing & sneezing, no mask,

lingering in the aisles. 

Scared me. 

I talked to our pleasant manager, 

but once home, tension lingered.

So I gathered my art bag

and headed to a bench in City Park.

Highlights on lively small waves,
like 4th of July sparklers, 
sun & breeze. 

View of Penobscot Bay to Blue Hill  

and the distant mountains of Acadia.

It didn't completely take away my stress, 

but for some brief moments

I breathed in healthy air. 

And sketched.

Home-Time in My Small Town

Since retirement, my home-time is very pleasurable. 

I have "stations" around the house for:

Painting • Drawing • Zumba & Exercise

Special Projects • Writing • Reading.

I am grateful for a working kitchen.

This is one time where being an Introvert comes in handy.

My life is less disrupted than are many others' lives.

In my small town the changes don't seem drastic to me,

 even though we do run out of toilet paper. 

We are lucky that we can afford to be calm & accepting.

We walk outdoors, & passersby are pleasant.

We are still a town of Hello's & waving to strangers. 

Yesterday as I was walking the Harbor Walk,

 a woman on a bench called out to me:

"We can still do this!" & she did a thumbs up,

& I replied "Yes, we are lucky!" 

and raised my thumbs to her.

 Kathy at the blog Catching Happiness 

(click Here) 

has a post about "Staying Positive..."

She mentions "Stress Cleaning."

I've been enjoying "Stress Organizing," like

taking inventory of my colored pencils. 

At some point I will do a phone order/roadside pick up 

at Fiddleheads,

my local art shop, which is closed...

Temporarily.

 Oooh, order & labels for my fountain pen inks!

(the small ones are samples I get from Goulet Pens.)

 Writing in my journal remains a daily pleasure.

On this day I was listening to France Bleu radio

& decided to create a sort of dictation & to search words
in the dictionary (Reverso online).

I just started a new Rhodia daily journal.

A new Lamy "Turmaline" fountain pen arrived from Goulet 

just before things shut down. 

Goulet is a small business with heart, 

that is paying its employees during this time. 

Voilà. 

Nice to reinforce good feelings via online networks 

in a time of physical isolation. 

How are you occupying your time 

in your "confinement" and "sheltering."?

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.

I Finished my Book!!

This is a continuation from my previous post.

 Stopping to face my situation of the too many ideas 

& projects that had started to form,

& asking for help did the trick! 

Beth wrote to Just choose one project & finish it.

Not rocket science, but it helped to hear it from outside 

my own brain which was turning somersaults! 

Organizing my space & hiding the other projects was key. 

And accepting that my finished book would not be perfect...

All along there were decisions to be made.

What to do with the wildflower cutouts that I had drawn & painted 

from photos that I had taken for my project?

I had to abandon my original idea of 

making the flowers pop up from the page, 

(something I love to do in my little handmade cards),

because I had a cover that I'd bound that I'd wanted to use.

A new stiff white paper replaced the green Mi Teintes. 

(Thanks, Fiddlehead Artisan Supply for being right in town!!)

From there on, the book seemed to make itself.

Book Arts prof. Rebecca Goodale says that there's nothing

like the feeling of you & the paper working together "as one."   

(I'm paraphrasing...)

The beginning.

It's an accordion book, but can be view one spread at a time.

The middle.

The end. 

 One of my favorite parts was writing text,

inspired by my original thoughts on my subject. 

Lots & lots of editing to keep it focused & brief.

I had written in the previous post that "there was 

so little left to do" on this book. 

Haha!...Little did I know!!!

 

The cover came last. 
I wanted to decorate it more, but I had a deadline.
The handmade books, the final projects 
from our Book Arts Class will be on view at USM 
during September with a lecture & reception on September 9.

The book was delivered yesterday, & I am exhilarated!

What joy to start with vague thoughts & ideas 
& to work with them 
as they evolve into concrete words & images~
Bound into a book!
I got to experience what my young art students
used to experience!

And, I finished it!!

Thank you to USM & Rebecca Goodale's 
Summer Book Arts Course!

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.

Maine Country Road Trips

Road trips in the countryside from Midcoast Maine. 

An idyllic corner on earth.

This is the region of many small, organic farms, 

2nd or 3rd generation of back-to-the landers:

Blackbrook Farm, Many Hands Farm, 

Sunnyside, Aqua Terra, Royal View Farm...

Many of the farms supply the food coops 

in Belfast & Brooks &

 sell their produce at farm markets and

the beloved Common Ground Fair in Unity. 

The views from the hilly roller coaster roads 

leading from Belfast to Unity, Brooks, Jackson, Monro

take my breath away!

A frequent road trip out of Belfast: Route 1 South.

Last week, like a kid on summer vacation

I was so excited to drive down to Rockport with a friend.

While she went to the doctor, I sketched out the window

of a café. Then we went to the Guini Ridge Nursery

across the road road to buy plants. 

To do a little farming of our own! 

For other posts on Farmers Markets and The Common Ground Fair, click on these in Labels.

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!

The Full Moon Rising

I made a point of watching the moon rise, 

the last night before Spring officially turned. 

I sketched quickly from the upstairs window.

This gorgeous ball,

moved quickly as she rose.

Forget science, forget tanky machines & flags 

on the moon, THIS was the poetic moon 

of childhood wonder & awe!

A sketch, once she was higher and...

again, color was added from memory. 

 

I prefer to sketch & write notes.

But sometimes I'm grateful for my little camera. 

 

She is called The Full Worm Moon,

March being the month when earth worms begin to appear.      

   (Well, maybe not in Maine.)

Also The Sap Moon, when maple sap begins to flow...

 Below: Same place, the next morning.

The sun was now taking the moon's place, 

rising in just about the same place, to the East. 

 And while we had slept the night before,

that old moon had worked her way 

across the southern night sky, toward the West.

I went out to see her before she set behind western tree tops.

She was the same size as the night before, 

but she had on a misty, softly lit robe,

instead of her dazzling nightime party dress.

Springtime! A new awakening!

What's in a Bookshop name?

Sketch based on my local bookshop, Left Bank Books

Have you seen the illustrated books 

Books & Mortar:

A Celebration of The Local Bookstore

by Gibbs M. Smith? And

Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores 

by Bob Eckstein

and the postcards of his illustrations?

This is some of  what I found in these books & 

in the What's Next brochures

that are given away at independent bookstores:

One More Page Books, Arlington VA

The Dog Eared Book, Palmyra NY

Bookbug, Kalamazoo MI

Once Upon a Time, Montrose CA

Hooray For Books! Alexandria VA

Red Balloon Bookshop, St Paul MN

The Corner Bookstore, NY NY

Politics & Prose, Washington DC (of course!)

Books & Books, Coral Gables, FLA

The King's English Bookshop, Salt Lake City UT

Page & Palette, Fairhope ALA

Is your local bookshop listed here?

What is the name of your local bookstore?

What would YOU name a bookshop?

Leave your answers with a comment!

The Skeletal Views of Winter

Out the living room window on a cloudy, post-snowfall day. 

In summer hummingbirds frequented the azalea bush.

They & the blossoms are gone,

but skeletal scenes of winter are very much here!

Stage 1 of the sketch. The minimalism of winter!

Sketchbook Wandering, close to home...

Good Bye to Autumn Colors

This little sketch isn't really about today.

Pumpkins are now covered in snow, 

& green appears on evergreen trees 

rather than in downtown window displays.

But it's one I reworked recently.

The oranges, warm browns & golds that you see on 

all those Thanksgiving cards have been replaced 

by blues, grays, cool browns: & lots of white! 

Brrr!

The Volunteer Gardener

 One of the last small pieces I did, 

just before hanging the show.

She is a local volunteer from the Belfast Garden Club

who creates & tends town gardens.

On this hot morning when I was sketchbook wandering 

she was taking a break from

her flower beds around the police station,

on a bench in front of the post office.

We had a lovely conversation which is handwritten

by fountain pen below her image.

It's not here, as I would have to get her permission,

but I will tell you that this is one very positive lady

who loves what she is doing!

She enjoys, in Barbara Cooney's words,

 "making the world a more beautiful place."

Belfast has its very own Miss Rumphius! 

Not Far From Home: The Show

Based on a local scene, down by the waterfront...

Taking liberties, playing with color more than 

making an accurate representation...

The show is up at the Library. 

"Not Far From Home: From the sketchbooks of Rita..."

I am adding more writing to the sketches these days. 

Several viewers have said, "This looks like a book!" 

That makes me happy.

The little guys. 5 X 7's

Like the ones I most often sell.

 A mess of sketchbooks in a case.

The show is not framed in fancy ways.

They are mostly rough sketches.

I enjoy it that people enjoy it. 

Sharing my fun. 

And encouraging others to 

keep sketchbooks too.