32nd International Sketch Crawl

Yesterday was the 32nd sketch crawl and 2 of us ventured out into the heat. We lasted a few hours and here are my pages.

sketch crawl pg. 1

sketch crawl pg. 2

Catitude

This is a little painting of Alice I did at camp this summer. That's her signature look.

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

This fellow was in the parking lot at work the other day. The top of his wing was iridescent purple/blue and the under side was dark with orange-red spots. So different and so beautiful.

A leaf for Elizabeth

My friend Elizabeth commissioned me to paint this Japanese Maple leaf for her grand-daughter. I have about 12 glazes on this little painting.

WV weekend

Here are some sketches I made this past weekend in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.

Another Botanical Workshop

I took another botanical illustration class with Lara Gastinger at the wonderful William Cox Inn. This time we worked on spring flowers and I attempted a native columbine. I didn't have as much luck with it as I did with the seed pods in the Fall but it was still lots of fun. Unlike the dried seed pods, the flower kept changing so that by the end of the workshop, it was rather sad looking. I guess the trick is to paint on site and don't pick the flower. And work fast. I will not be posting an image of this painting. You'll just have to wait until I do a better one.

Abstract, abstractus, abstracti

I finally got an image of the abstract I did in Steve Griffin's workshop. It was accepted (along with another one) in the Abstract Show for May at the FCCA. Thank you Steve!!! I titled it Ode to the Gryphon. Hopefully someone will "get it."

Beware the Ides of March

That is today, isn't it? I'm just so excited that it's almost spring, I'm already way beyond March.
Have done some fun things since my last post. I took an abstract painting workshop with Steve Griffin a few weeks ago. It was a real stretch for me--abstracts, acrylic paint, large format...
I really kind of enjoyed it. Acrylic still is not my favorite medium but it worked for this application. I even did one that I might enter in an upcoming show but best of all, I'm now thinking about doing another one. I've been planning it in my head but it probably won't end up looking anything like I expect. That's kind of what I like about abstracts--there's always a surprise. Maybe that's just because I don't really know what I'm doing yet, but I like being a beginner.
I'm also going to teach an Illustrated Journaling class in June. Just a quick, one-day workshop but I'm hoping it will get more people interested in sketching. We had a good time at the last Sketch Crawl but it would be more fun with more people.
I'll post my abstracts for your to see soon. I'd just like to do one or two more, so stay tuned.

30th International Sketch Crawl

Hi everyone! I just uploaded the four pages from my sketch book from yesterday's 30th International Sketch Crawl (Fredericksburg's 3rd). There were four of us on the crawl and we had a good time. It was far too cold to work outside (I don't think the temps got above freezing all day) but we found warm, welcoming places inside.

After meeting at the coffee shop, we walked a block to St. George's church and spent some time there. It was a busy Saturday with the altar guild arranging flowers and the cleaning lady sweeping and dusting and the jazz (really!) band rehearsing. Those Tiffany windows are always amazing but with the new organ and new decor, there was lots to see and draw.

From there we went to LibertyTown Arts Workshop where crawler Ruth Ann had a still life set up for us to work on. Risa and I did that for a while then joined Bob in Betsy's studio where I sketched Betsy's work table.

We were going to make our last stop the library but we ran out of time so we all met up at Eileen's and had a lovely lunch. After lunch, Risa and I went to see the realism show at Belmont which was fantastic. It was the 2nd time I had been there for this show and I was even more impressed. Be sure to see it if you get the chance.

I uploaded them a little out of order but couldn't figure out how to rearrange them without re-uploading all of them. If any of you have a clever way to do that, please let me know. Thanks.

Meanwhile, hope you enjoy my sketches below.
P

30th International Sketch Crawl

oops

Someone just pointed out that I was really planning ahead in the previous post where I announced that the Sketch Crawl is Jan 22, 2211. I've corrected it, thank you. It should, of course, be 2011. I wonder if they will still have crawls in 2211...

Sketch Crawl

Mark your calendars! If you live in the Fredericksburg, VA area, or are visiting, the 3rd Fredericksburg Sketch Crawl will take place on Saturday, January 22, 2011. This is part of the International Sketch Crawl movement (http://www.sketchcrawl.com/)
Join us at Hyperion Espresso Bar at 9 a.m. and we'll plan our day.

New paintings

Here are 3 new paintings of dried fall woodland detritus. I'm really enjoying getting back to details. I spend hours and hours on each of these and get totally lost in them. I've found it's rather like meditation. I get up from my chair after 3 hours and I'm not stiff or sore, just relaxed.

Leaves and Grasses

Watercolor on Fabriano Hotpress paper

Sumac

Watercolor on Fabriano Hotpress paper