Pencil

A Sunday Morning in November

| Gina Lento

Today, John and I decided to get out of the house. I have been working on some ornaments over the past couple of days and John installed some sun shades yesterday for our patio. We really didn’t veg out too much yesterday so this morning we just sat outside and enjoyed our morning coffee. We try to leave the weekends open to just relax and, gasp! do absolutely nothing. After coffee and breakfast, we decided to get out of the house. We had no plan in mind until we drove past a new local coffee shop, just a few minutes from the house. After deciding to pop in to see if it was open yet, we were surprised to find that it was open! Apparently the shop is open every day from 7-1 every day and I was ecstatic because now we have two local shops to go to for coffee that are both in Jensen Beach and within biking distance.

After getting two iced coffees, we found a table in the shade. (Almost all the tables are under trees and in the shade, which is nice.) This shop is just across the road from the Indian River Lagoon, and beyond that, Hutchinson’s Island and the Atlantic Ocean. We couldn’t see any of the above because of all of the vegetation but we did enjoy the benefits of a lovely sea breeze.

I have been trying to get out of the studio and back in the habit of outdoor sketching so this seemed like a great opportunity for that. I love Bismarck palm trees with their blue green leaves, so I chose to do the one at the edge of the property, which had lights hanging from it. I pulled out a mechanical pencil and my trusty Lamy Safari sketched the scene. Then I added watercolor. I didn’t have a water container with me but I had water brushes. Unfortunately they chose today to make things difficult. The watercolors I used were a gift from a friend plus I also had use my mini palette, which has colors that I just can’t do without when painting anything green. The brushes were annoying but I managed to get by. (I’ll probably pull them apart after this to see why the water wasn’t flowing down to the brush from the barrel.)

This sketch is the end result of sitting outside drinking an iced coffee and dodging a rain sprinkle or two. It was a nice relaxing morning and John and I had a nice chat while I sketched.

Perfect way to start the day, and week.

Plein air watercolor and ink sketch of a Bismarck Palm. There are two strings of lights on the tree. Sketch has lots of greens, with a little touch of red blooms on a shrub.
Plein Air Sketch at the Crazy Dog
Plein Air sketch scene with art supplies and subject
Plein air sketch with subject and supplies
Plein air sketch with art supplie including a Stuart Semple watercolor palette.
Close up of sketch with supplies

Festive

| Gina Lento

I started this today but I have holiday chores to do. This is still a draft. I started to add color and didn’t like it. I am going to stop working on it for now come back to it with fresh eyes another day.

Ooops

| Gina Lento

I forgot to post this bunny. Lol. I thought I had and scrolled through and yup, no post. So one more bunny, coming up!

Gigi practices for the cheerleading tryouts every day. She wants it to become an Olympic Sport and wants to get the first Gold medal.

(I had to check to ensure it wasn’t a sport yet, lol.)

Jenny

| Gina Lento

There, hidden in the palms! Jenny saw another creature, just like her!

This is an abbreviated version of what I just wrote about Jenny. Jenny is already, unexpectedly, becoming a story. Yeah, she’s weird looking and could potentially be scary

But looks are often deceiving, aren’t they?

This is an Artist Trading Card sized art. ATCs are traded between artists and they have to be 2.5 x 3.5 in. I prepped a few ATC sized pieces because I can do those quicker than larger pieces. And I can also work on them from anywhere.

An ACEO (Art Cards, Edition and Collection is a ATC that an artist sells. I have seen ATCs/ACEOs that were framed very nicely. They are tiny art but they are also fun to collect.

Carmella

| Gina Lento

Just hatched this morning, everything was new to Carmella. She looked down at her feet.

“Wow, what are those? Can I eat them?“

This is an Artist Trading Card sized art. ATCs are traded between artists and they have to be 2.5 x 3.5 in. I prepped a few ATC sized pieces because I can do those quicker than larger pieces. And I can also work on them from anywhere.

An ACEO (Art Cards, Edition and Collection is a ATC that an artist sells. I have seen ATCs/ACEOs that were framed very nicely. They are tiny art but they are also fun to collect.

Think of them as baseball cards for artists.

And now for something different…

| Gina Lento

It was a quiet day in the woods, until Raleigh and Lotus got lost.

Carla Sonheim has a book and classes called “Imaginary Creatures”. They’re excellent for finding ways to create creatures from your imagination, or even real ones with personalities you wouldn’t normally thought of on your own.