Amaryllis Sketch

This is the latest page from my sketchbook, showing an amaryllis that I did from an old photo. I had purchased an amaryllis in December, thinking that I would grow it right after Christmas. I waited too long, and my house was too warm, and the plant started growing in the box and was too far gone by the time I realized it. So today I bought a new amaryllis, and planted it as soon as I got home. I plan to sketch it as it grows with the expectation that I will eventually have a beautiful amaryllis in full bloom to paint. Keeping my fingers crossed.

First Sketchcrawl of 2012

It was barely 20 degrees and snowing hard this morning, so I did the sketchcrawl at home. I only got three sketches done because when you are at home, you get distracted by other things. First up is a sketch of my breakfast along with the view from my kitchen window. Next is my "snow removal guy", my son Kevin. And last is a view of my street going North. By this time it was late afternoon and the plows had come through and the street was clear.

Merry Christmas

Maine Trip and Pumpkin Festival

I recently took a trip to Maine with my sister Joan. We sketched at some of our favorite spots, like the Curtis Island lighthouse and a park near Boothbay Harbor. We visited the Colonial Pemaquid Historic site, and sketched in the cemetery. We discovered the Oven's Mouth Preserve, and did some hiking along with sketching. We enjoyed the Damariscotta Pumpkin Festival, and stopped at Marginal Way on our way home. It was a quick and fun trip and I got to add several pages to my Maine journal. I also did a few sketches of the Pumpkin Festival from photos after I got home.

I did these last four sketches from photos after I got home. The chef pumpkin and the lobster pumpkin were huge, and two of many decorated pumpkins outside the businesses in downtown Damariscotta. The regatta sketch was done from several photos taken quickly while the race was going on.

A New/Old Collage

I started this stained paper collage a couple of years ago during a Gerald Brommer workshop. It was on the last day, and I didn't get to finish it, and never got around to working on it again after I got home. Recently one of my painting buddies saw some stained paper collages in a magazine and suggested that we try them at our weekly painting sessions. I told her that I had one that was already started, but didn't know whether I could get anything good out of it. I ended up finishing this one successfully and starting another one. This collage is based on a photo I took of the Junipero Serra Museum in San Diego. 11x15

Two Florals With Fun Backgrounds

I worked on these two at my Thursday painting group for two weeks. They are based on a book called "Watercolor Without Boundaries" by Karlyn Holman. I liked her backgrounds, and tried to incorporate them in my work. The rose (from my garden) is 15 x 15 and has a white border all around. The rose of sharon (courtesy of my friend Anna) in a vase is 11 x 11, also with a white border all around. These were really fun to design and I like the effect, so I will probably be doing more of these in the future.

Painting With the Grandkids

I spent the month of July with four of my grandchildren. They each had a week with me, and we had fun swimming, painting, taking photos of animals, mini-golfing, movies, and playing ball. In addition, my granddaughter and I made some beaded jewelry. Here are some of our paintings. Justin did a painting in primary and secondary colors (after making a color wheel) as a requirement for his Cub Scout art belt loop. Ethan did a watercolor of a red tailed hawk, and Joe did a painting of a bald eagle. The boys were very into photographing and painting animals on our trips to the zoo and nature center. Jadyn did a painting of the turquoise and shell necklace that she made. And since that week, the WetCanvas journalling forum was doing gems and minerals, I did a journal page of some of my own specimens.