Winter in bloom

We have a small collection of orchids on our bedroom windowsill that take a break from blooming in the fall. Every year, in December, we move them from the west facing bedroom to the south facing window in my husband’s office to make room for holiday decorating. That speeds up their rebloom so that by Valentine’s Day, most of them are either budding or in bloom.

One of Carla’s assignments this week was to take photos of flowers and then share them. So a rare treat, photos of our orchids, the roses my husband gave me for Valentine’s day and more!

Temp job

I am taking Carla Sonheim’s 2018 365 days of inspiration. One of the prompts this month was “temp job,” to create temporary “art.” Two of my grandkids visited over the weekend, so I baked a heart cake that I assembled by using square and circle cake pans. We cooled the cakes and my husband and I assembled and frosted them We left the decorating to our three year old granddaughter…..as you can see, she was a little bit heavy on the embellishments….And yes, the cake was VERY temporary!

Catching up

Lots of stuff to post! Stay tuned.

I participated in Sktchy’s Creative Cupid Valentine yesterday where we signed up to sketch someone for Valentine’s Day and someone else sketched a reference photo that we posted, and so on. I was assigned Yang Yi-Ting.

Here was yesterday’s Sktchy Valentine of Yang…..

I did a test drive and warmed up with a 5 line sketch before I did the portrait above….. A 5 line sketch is when you only use 5 lines to record your subject….so same photo as the reference above, here is the 5 line version;

Looks like a Picasso, lol!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In between making sketchbooks, making Valentine’s Day cards and a multitude of other projects, here is my map for Valentine’s Day, which is also up on They Draw and Travel’s website.

My favorite candy is Lore’s Chocolates in Philadelphia. But I love See’s and I like Kilwin’s ice cream (their candy isn’t bad either.) See’s candy has a special fondness in my heart because my grandmother used to buy us a box every year for Christmas. John and I found a See’s when we were in Seattle last year. We bought a pound and it never made it home. Castronovo is a new favorite, they make the chocolate right from the bean. OMG it is amazing.

However you like to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I hope yours is sweet!

Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day.

Here is the link to my map on their website.

http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/illustrations/10985-candy-sweet-shops-throughout-the-us

Making sketchbooks

Recently I have been spending some time making my own sketchbooks. I like making my own because when you make your own sketchbook, you can customize it any way you want.

There are several going on here….the following photos give you an idea of the process…

Below is the inside of one book….this is just before stitching the text block

Supplies

You can see the stitching below….I am using the long stitch.

This a completed book below….

Another book all set up to be assembled. I used copies of art from my sketchbooks as covers. I use a good inkjet printer and good paper.

Here are three covers drying. I give them an overnight or a full day for the glue to dry.

Sketching in the city

I was in the city today sketching with the NYC Urban Sketchers. We sketched at the NY Waterway Ferry terminal.

There was a ferry that was sitting at the dock. I was able to sketch it because it was just sitting there. The other ferries were careening in and out of the terminal and it looked more like a taxi stand than a stately boat terminal. I wondered how often they crashed into something. It was humorous watching them go in and out.

These two sketches below were done early on. The gentleman on the left was eating grapes in a most unusual way. On the right, I was practicing another sketching approach that I learned in Chicago from LK Bing. It was cold today.

After sketching we went up to see the Rogues Gallery Exhibit of courtroom sketches at the Shiva Gallery. That was amazing! They had Son of Sam, the Preppy Killer and many others. I was really glad I got to see that one.

Sketch from Wednesday

Good afternoon!

Below is a sketch I did with my sketch group this past week. We get together once a week, pick a subject and we bring in those items to sketch. I didn’t get much sketching time this week because I was taking care of some administrative stuff for the group, but I did get a little bit of time to do this sketch of a can of WD 40.

Also this week, I have been busy with projects and I have been making some sketchbooks. The second photo is of sketchbook covers of in progress. They were wet so the paper was still bubbly, but like stretched watercolor, it evens out as it dries. I blew up my own sketches to use as covers. I like to make my own sketchbooks because I can customize the sizes and the paper in them.

I will try to remember to post some of the finished books.

Have a good weekend!