Landscape Sketch

'North Georgia Landscape' 5x5

Today I was painting this North Georgia landscape from a black and white photo.
I decided to try a quick pencil sketch of the scene. Now I think I'd like to do another sketch and develop the Queen Anne's Lace more. I think that would be a fun challenge. When I paint them I am using big chunks of color to represent the 'lace'. With a pencil drawing I will try to get more detailed than I usually do in a painting.

Hats & Shades

Here is another page from my cruise sketchbook. I found myself drawn to sketching all of the different hats I saw. Tomorrow I am going to my nephew's swim meet so I hope to capture the energy of the meet in my sketchbook. It has been a crazy week. I haven't even unpacked yet! I taught two classes and spent the rest of my time framing and organizing my work for an exciting new venture. I have taken a spot in a new type of gallery in the historic Marietta Square. It is called the Art Forum at Dupre's Antiques. About 10 local artists have space in the Art Forum to display and sell their work. The Marietta Square is becoming a great art destination and it is exciting to be a part of it. But is has been a lot of work to get everything together! I will be posting the directions for sending me your tropical sketches next week. I can't wait to see what you have done (or will do!)

Sketches from the Cruise

I had a wonderful time on the cruise. We spent most of our days on lounge chairs on the ship. I love people watching and there was much to see on the cruise! I decided that since I really don't draw or paint people that it would be good practice to sketch my fellow passengers. I just used a pencil for these but I wish I had used pen. I am trying to figure out a good way to take photos of the sketches since the lines are so light. More tomorrow!

I'm Back!

I am back from a wonderful vacation. I did my sketches and surprised myself with sketching people mostly! my fellow passengers on the ship made for great subjects. I still am unpacking and getting organized and need to photograph my sketches. But I wanted to check in today. I hope you are working on a sketch for the 'Tropical' theme!

Announcing the January Sketch Challenge

'Tiny Treasures' pencil 5x5

This has been such a hectic week but I am determined to work in my daily sketch! Thank you to all of you who have joined me. I know we will challenge and inspire one another! I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow and will be away until January 17th. I have my sketchbook packed and I will be drawing everyday but most likely won't be posting. I am taking a cruise and the internet access is very slow and expensive. I really hate to take a break from my new blog but I will be back soon! In the meantime I want to invite you to January's challenge.....The theme is 'Something Tropical' and your challenge is to draw something tropical...use your imagination! At the end of the month I will post the directions for submitting your sketches and I will be posting them on the blog. I will follow up with more details but for now keep sketching!

Daily Drawing day 3 Claret Cup Cactus

I had just finished a painting of this cactus and wanted to work on my daily sketch. Should I do a sketch of the cactus? Sure! I figure if it takes to long to decide on a subject each day it will make the project more like work. I want to have fun! Besides the sketchbook challenge I am starting a new pastel series. I am going to paint a native wildflower for each of the 50 states. My first painting is of the Claret Cup Cactus which represents the State of New Mexico. Have a look at the painting on my painting blog.

Daily Drawings day 2 Cats

Today I decided to use a micron pen to sketch. No erasing and fussing with a pen. I like that I can just sketch and leave all of my lines. I wanted to draw my cats and I have 6 of them! One was running around the living room chasing a stray ornament and the rest were sleeping. I didn't think I wanted to tackle a running cat....yet so I opted for the cats at rest. Don't you just love when they curl up into little balls?
If you are thinking of joining the daily sketch project I have added details on the sidebar. I am hoping that you will join and post to your blogs and we can share links. I also plan to feature an artist each month as well as host a monthly challenge. I will be posting your challenge drawing here at the end of each month. So send me your blog links and if you don't have a blog...why not start one!

Drawing Project Day 1

Happy New Year Everyone! I am off to a good start with my first sketch completed! Now I read somewhere that it takes 21 days of doing something for it to become a habit. I need to remember where I read that so I can give credit! So if we stick with the project for 20 more days we should be able to keep it going. It felt great to sit with my coffee and sketchbook and just draw. I used a 5x5 spiral sketchbook and a charcoal pencil. I thought I would draw my coffee mugs but I was not ready for the elipses! I definitely need to spend time working on them this year. So instead of my mug I chose a pear. I love painting pears and sketching one was fun too.
Whatever you decide to draw in your sketchbook today we will draw it again next December 31st. It will be fun to see how much we improve our drawing skills! Come back tomorrow for some book recommendations and my next drawing. Have fun!