Playful Bird Sketches

I so love the blogs I read in which people share their photos of nature & their journal drawings from their country lives! Thank you! Several people whom I know & love are bird watchers &/or birders & I love listening to the stories they tell. On this journal page I wanted to get a sense of some different bird poses, so I sketched a bit from some bird book photos, & then added colors & features from my imagination.

26 Mugs, 100 Monkeys

A drawing from my "Private-Play" Journal. 26 coffee mugs from imagination, drawn in one session.

Noah Scalin in "365: A Daily Creativity Journal: Make Something Every Day & Change Your Life!" has inspired a number of bloggers. Quantity is generated by this practice, but more importantly, I think, perseverance & continuity. It's a daily workout of creative muscles. 

I'll never forget the art show at the Smithsonian in the 80's, "Yani, The Brush of Innocence" by a Chinese child prodigy. Her prolific calligraphic paintings included a scroll in which she challenged herself to paint 100 monkeys in 100 different positions in one session. I'm not a child, nor a prodigy, but I enjoyed my 26 mugs. And that's the beauty of the accessibility of art & education & books in our culture: the enrichment of individual lives, no matter what the degree of inherent talent.

Shaun Tan has a new book, "The Bird King: an artist's notebook". Tan is an accomplished artist of very refined graphic novels such as "The Arrival". This is a powerful story of the experience of the displaced immigrant. In "The Bird King" he features selections from his private journal of "doodles" & drawing experiments. There is only one thing to do to confront "artist's block", he writes. "Just start drawing", where the meaning of the drawing is secondary to the "simple act of making". Klee called it "Going for a walk with a line."

Will I try  to draw more than 26 mugs in a sitting at another time, in the style of Yani? Probably not. But a little series involving something else? Yes!

A Carnaval Tradition~ en Provence

My sketch, 6 X 9 inches

One March, in the hilltop village of Venasque in Provence, while on an immersion trip with Valérie Guillet & the Language Exchange (click here to see this semester's French offerings) we were surprised by music & costumed villagers (des villageois déguisés) parading through the streets. It was le Carnaval de l'école (school children's carnival), which occurs each year on a Saturday about 40 days before Easter, just about the time that other cities are having Mardi Gras celebrations. Some people in the parade held signs that had messages like "No to war" (Non, la guerre) or "Neither violence, nor misery"  (Ni la violence, ni la misère). The final destination of the parade (le défilé) was the square just outside of the rampart, the defensive wall built by Romans in 1347, where a huge paper maché "evil" octopus ( une pievure maléfique) was waiting.  

  

Photo taken by Jean-Paul Guillet, the father of Language Exchange's Director, Valérie

The villagers, especially the children had written messages about things they wanted to let go of. Perhaps they were wrongs they'd commited, perhaps they were cruel aspects of life, I didn't know for sure because they were written secretly & folded up. They were gathered & placed in the lap of la pieuvre maléfique. La pieuvre had a log (un bûcher) under it which would have been set on fire, so that all would be burned, except drizzly & windy weather didn't allow it (we heard it got done later in the week). This ritual's purpose was to chase away evil spirits (pour chasser les mauvais esprits).

You might ask: How much power can a ritual like this really have, be it Christian, pagan or any other religion? Well.  I came to Venasque on the previous day with 3 mauvais esprits: a toothache, (mal aux dents), a backache (mal au dos) and broken out skin (une maladie de peau). By the next day, all 3 had disappeared! I'm not kidding (Je ne blague pas)!!

To my French readers, including Professeur Guillet: Please excuse any errors of French, &, as always, corrections are welcomed!

Maine's Valentine Bandit

Portland loves Valentine's Day.

Three Valentine Fairies walking around, blowing bubbles, spreading cheer.

Students from the art school? Naaaaah, Fairies.

Note the heart on the door behind them.

It is the work of Portland's Valentine Bandit.

 Each year since 1976 the Bandit tapes hearts everywhere in Portland:
On shop windows, statues, even parking meters! One TV station caught the Bandit during the night,

but to their credit they did not reveal his or her identity.  

This tradition has spread to other cities such as Bangor, & Montpelier Vermont,

but Portland is proud of its Bandit: the first in the country!

The hearts make us feel good, & they also get us to slow down & really look at details in our city.

Valentine's Day in Portland. Better than Christmas, in my opinion!

Abstract Snow

I knew it was to be temporary, but I didn't know exactly what I'd find.

Yesterday I went wandering with camera instead of sketchbook at Portland Head Light. (Today it's raining.)

The play between the drifts from the previous day's blizzard & the shadows from the mid-morning sun created a landscape that I identified as part some other planet, not my little world of the expected.

I found myself knee deep in snow in places, & on bare ground in others, sometimes with sudden transitions.

 It was no longer snow or drift or shadow. I was a part of a magnificent natural masterpiece.

If I was a bit disoriented, it was with pleasure.

Several other dramatic landscapes & formations revealed themselves too, all within the very small area of this seaside public park! More to come tomorrow!

Making Valentines in a Snowstorm

 Today's view from the kitchen window...

What do you do when you are snowed-in?

Make Valentine's Cards! These cute 3X4" graph paper bags (hearts added by me) are by Whisker Graphics, bought at my favorite papeterie (translated, "stationer's boutique", but it's so much more) this side of France. It is Rock Paper Scissors in Wiscasset, Maine. Anticipating today's storm, we took a trip up there yesterday & I took photos! (I will show you next time!) I am so happy to have permission to "hunker down" (translated "s'installer" by Wordreference...), but am wishing & hoping that we don't lose electricity...

Looking Out the Window

Just before I got sick I was planning to spend a day in Boston. Apparently last year at this time I had the same desire... It's cold there this time of year, but there aren't many people.

You get to see a bit of the skeleton of the city.

The Public Garden is gorgeous at any time of year!

My Prescription for the Flu

Un froid de canard! It's Cold!

For my French & francophone friends, click on the image to read better the above notes. (& please excuse any errors.) My master's degree was about integrating arts into learning. For one of the 1st times in my life, I, as student, was encouraged to learn through my individual style, thereby later accepting various learning styles of my students. I try to study French grammar & vocabulary at least 15 minutes each day, using a traditional graph paper notebook (très linear). But here is an alternate way. French language integrated with my non-linear mode of sketching! I wonder if you have a favored learning style or mode for comprehension & expression.

Little Snow Folks

Snow, all day yesterday. Snow! not rain!

I shovelled & roof raked, conscientious adult, I got it done.

But, for the first time in many years, I also stopped to play.

If an adult needs justification for play,

then let it be for the serious purpose of "Stress Reduction". 

This morning I dressed these little snow folks that were born yesterday.
Just as I was finishing the school bus rode by

& some of the children quickly sat up, pointing. I waved, they waved.

If an adult needs justification for taking the time to play,

then let it be to make children happy.

But, here's the thing:

A little joy, a little love, no better justification than that!

Daily Sketching: Sunday at the Café

Sunday early at Mornings in Paris. What a great way to start the day!

Sip, draw, write, gaze, listen, fully relaxed, fully present. I was so grateful for the time!

Cycles: One Year Ago Today

Sketchbook page, January 12, 2012  Canson #1557 Drawing pad, 9X12, 90 lb paper 

Keeping a journal is a way for me to glimpse into my past. Seasonal patterns often emerge. The annual return of the morning light of January & February energizes me.  

A year ago today I had started a practice of Daily Drawing, influenced by a some of you at Blogspot. By March I was getting ready to go on a trip to France & I abandoned it for my travel journals.

Yesterday I finished a week long art class on creating picture books. It put me on an edge of comfort: drawing from memory & imagination. It's something I, like many (most?) children, loved to do in childhood. Then some outside voices shut that down & sketching the concrete life before me became my trusted process. I'm continuing to play with the new/old practice of creating from imagination. And today I've taken out what's left of my year old sketch pad so I can do one observational journal drawing. Will I do this for the next 365 days?

The future will take care of itself, they say. 

Last year there was a big snow on this day, this year we're in the midst of a January thaw. Looking at the above page, a year ago I was in a state of gratitude. 365 days later, that hasn't changed. 

I'm glad to be here. Good January 12 Day to You!

Fruit Tree: Vietnamese Proverbe

Such a lovely Vietnamese proverb. 

Click on the photo to enlarge.

The potted tree in the drawing is based on one I saw on 

Rue St. Dominic in the 7th arrondissement in Paris 

on one fine April day, 2009. 

What a contrast to our Maine January snow, 2013!

Magical Powers of Snow People

I haven't been sketching much lately, but the other morning I sketched 

a shop window display looking out the window 

of my café in the Old Port. 

 

Several years ago a snowfall created a perfect medium for creating snow folks. Don't you love the snowdog? One year, the Child Me made a snowhorse. You could actually sit on it & rock it as if you were galloping! 

Snowfamilies were out in full force the year of the snow sculpture snow.

Personalities appeared, & you felt the energy of the families working together.

I had few picture books as a child, but I loved the ones I had. One of them was a story of a talking snowman who eventually had to melt (no, it wasn't Frosty). I think there were icicles who told the child how sad they were to leave, but that they would be back the following year. I don't recall the name of the book & can't even find it on the site "Stump the Bookseller". But the impression was deep & lasting.  Then, in the 80's, at my graduate school, I first saw the film based on Raymond Briggs' book The Snowman. 

Here was a snowman who danced, flew, & even visited the boy inside his house, all told in gentle animation with lovely music. I was charmed all over again.I did my final project on an integrated curriculum around the theme of snow.

I can hear my mother's voice right now: "Go out & play in the snow while we have it!" 

OK, Inner Mom Voice, I'm putting on my boots.

The Light is Returning

We took the back road from Belfast to Camden, on our way home from last night's community celebrations in Belfast. The shadows & sunlight played with the snow today, drawing & sculpting masterpieces!

Ducks under the footbridge in Camden, gathering to discuss something of great importance. Perhaps discussing us (rather loudly I might add) & the fact that we hadn't brought them any food. 

As this January first night falls, it offers comfort & well being rather than November's heavy darkness.

The light is returning.