Friday, October 30, 2015

Sketchbook page

Week 3 of Cat Bennett's online class, "Making Art a Practice" focused on daily life.  This morning my mug of freshly brewed coffee was on my desk.  And at my feet, my sweetie Remy was snoozing.

ink and oil pastels

I enjoy opening up my sketchbook and making a quick capture of the moment :-)

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Nice change

Today is so pleasant, sunny and warm.  Remy and I have been out and back on walkies.  He was a pretty happy golden:

A beautiful autumn day with Remy <3

He finds mysterious things to investigate in the fallen leaves, too.

And speaking of leaves, they are changing color so quickly.  Last week on one of our walkies I had to capture how "well" nature does complementary colors:

A beautiful balance of colors.

Gosh...

Friday, October 23, 2015

Contour drawings

I am in week three of Cat Bennett's online class, "Making Art a Practice".  This week "daily life" is the subject matter.
 
Without a doubt, Remy is an integral part of my life; he is with me constantly.  He was a natural pick for at least one drawing:

Graphite

I always have a cup of coffee so I found a nice soft-leaded pencil and grabbed a sketchbook:

Quick capture :-)

My fruit choices are currently pears and apples (yum) so mid-afternoon I lined up a selection:

Contour drawings are a favorite of mine.

Cat also wanted the class to use color.  Here are the same three pieces of fruit in color (well, the one in the center, sadly, has since been consumed):

Inktense pencils, charcoal, and graphite.



Monday, October 12, 2015

A map drawing

I like to look at maps.  I thought I would draw one of my own.  For this one I used pen, inks, and graphite - undeniable favorites of mine for drawing - and they are great map-making tools :-)

This is the map from today- the "Map of An Unplanned Interaction":

Ink, Copic markers, Sharpie markers, graphite



Sunday, October 11, 2015

No pressure :-)

More about "Making Art a Practice", the online class I am taking from Cat Bennett:

I am surprised how my approach to daily art has changed.  Once I gave up the pressure to "produce something right now", it suddenly made it easy to open my sketch book, pick up a mark-making tool and just go.

Some days I already have an idea of various media I want to experiment with and on other days I begin with a pencil or pen and see where it leads me.  Some pages are done quickly and others may take awhile - and I allow myself the time.

Some sketch book pages:

Water color, Sharpie pens, graphite.

Colored pencil and graphite.

Acrylic, ink, charcoal.

Seriously fun :-)

Thursday, October 8, 2015

With no artwork in mind

I am taking Cat Bennett's online class, "Making Art a Practice".  This is some of my "output" from the first week's mark-making exercises:

Colored pencil, ink, graphite.

Water color crayons

The exercise is about making marks with no specific finished piece in mind, and if specific imagery begins to appear, then move away from it, i.e. if the shape is beginning to resemble a flower, then avoid making actual flower shapes, resist the urge to turn it into a landscape or more likely in my case, a dog :-)

Copic markers, ink, pastels

Gelatos, ink, paint pen

I am surprised by how "guilty" I felt - using TIME every day (!) where my goal is not a finished piece, but instead those of experimentation and exploration.  It's liberating :-)

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Artist Calendars

About this time of year I order my calendars for the New Year.  Not really a surprise that Golden Retrievers are the ones I select - a GR Puppies mini calendar for the kitchen, a nice big GR calendar for my study and then a DOGS gallery calendar for my nightstand.

Last year for my studio wall calendar I decided to select one by an artist whose work appealed to me - Alexander Jansson (Alexander Jansson 2015 Art Calendar).

My choice for 2016 is "Underfoot Frivolity" which I ordered last week and it has already arrived (!):

Very cool art by David Zinn

My first impulse was to page through it but because I like to be surprised by the image each month I have already returned the calendar to its mailing envelope.  It's on the shelf where I keep next year's calendars - out of sight, out of mind - and I won't be tempted to sneak a peek :-)

Saturday, October 3, 2015

The Golden Retriever and the Australian Labradoodle

Remy and his pal, Briggs, have a terrific time rumbling at the park and playground.  Brigg's mom, Pam, took this gorgeous photo of Remy last month.  I love it and I asked Pam if I could publish it to which she kindly said "yes".

Photo by Pam H.

And speaking of Briggs, here is the boy himself:

Such a sweetie <3


These boys play well together and their antics have Pam and me (as well as other people passing by) laughing out loud.


Friday, October 2, 2015

Never Forget

I finally completed this canvas.   The idea of painting it had been noodling around in my head for a few weeks:

mixed media with collage, 8" x 8" x 1-1/2"

I wanted to share a thought that I always find comforting :-)