Sketchcrawl 22

Saturday morning was another rainy, miserable day to have a sketchcrawl. I love doing the sketchcrawls, but so far we have not had the greatest weather for outdoor sketching. So my sister Joan and I decided to do something that we had wanted to do for a while, that is, to sketch at one of the NYC museums. We drove into Manhattan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and found an unoccupied bench in the Greek and Roman room. This is my sketch of a Marble Statue of a Muse. Did you know that they only allow pencil sketching in the museum?

I did several other sketches which you can see on the sketchcrawl forum (http://www.sketchcrawl.com/) and then we went to see the AWS show. What a great show! I wish I could have spent longer there, soaking up the great art and hoping that some of it would rub off on my own watercolors.

A Bunch of Daffodils

As planned, we painted daffodils today. There were a few different kinds, which made it more interesting. They were in some sort of a square-ish glass container with beads hanging from it - I wasn't really crazy about it so I just did the flowers. This one was also a quick one, as my friend usually leaves early and she took her flowers with her again. Oh, both this one and the tulips from yesterday are quarter sheets.

Yellow Tulips

One of my painting buddies brought a pot of yellow tulips to our group on Thursday and I got to paint these from life. I had to be quick, since she was leaving early and the tulips were leaving with her. Tomorrow she says she is bringing daffolils. I'm getting quite a workout in painting yellows this month.

A Cyber Award

My sister Joan http://www.watercolorsbyjoan.blogspot.com/ presented me with this cyber award (do you think she might be a little biased?). Here's what she said about me in her blog:

" Michelle Himes (my sister) who's wonderful watercolors inspired me to begin watercolor painting, She is a good art partner, plein air partner, and workshop partner whenever I want one, and a great sister too." Right back at you, Joan!

There are a few of these awards going around, and I've been "awarded" by a few of them before, and embarrassed to admit that I did not always respond to them. I've decided to respond to this one. The "rules" are to name seven things that I love (easy), and to name 7 other artists that I think deserve this award (a little harder). Not that I can't think of many artists that deserve an award for their passion for painting, but since Joan and I know a lot of the same people, it's difficult to come up with someone new.

Here are my choices for the "A Passion for Painting" award:

Cecilia Price - http://www.artmaker-cecilia-price2.blogspot.com/ Cia paints beautiful flowers, and has made some great instructional CD's for her students, and sells her work on eBay. I've known her through several art forums for many years.

Enrico Casarosa - http://www.sketchcrawl.blog/ - Enrico is the "inventor" of the Worldwide Sketchcrawl. I discovered this phenomena a while ago, and have participated in several of the crawls. Enrico and his sketchcrawl have inspired me to start drawing again.

Marilyn Fuerstenberg - http://www.marilynfuerstenberg.blogspot.com/ - You will love Marilyn's beautiful watercolors.

Jane James - http://www.janefranart.blogspot.com/ - Jane is equally proficient in watercolor and pastel, is very versatile and does wonderful realistic and abstract work, landscapes, figures, and animals.

Susie Short - http://www.susieshort.com/ - I "met" Susie when I stumbled into her Yahoo group for watercolors about 10 years ago. Susie is an awesome watercolorist, and teacher, and has helped me out with my paintings many times.

And the last is a group of friends that I have painted with for many years - http://www.lesbellesartistes.blogspot.com/ - I love these girls

And the 7 things I love:

1.Family

2.Friends

3. Art, especially watercolor

4. the beach

5. summertime

6. Maine

7. ice cream