Sunday Sketching -

Tiny purse Moleskine from the back of the room (much squinting happened)....

5x7 sketchpad and closer-up 'models'....

Merry Christmas to all....

...and to all, a good night....

Hope you had a very merry....

Good tidings of great joy....

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in their fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night....."

For you, I am including my favorite musical Christmas performance this season:

Wishing you a joyous, peaceful Christmas Eve surrounded by those you love....

Christmas "Adam"...

...the night that comes before Christmas "Eve"....right?

The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir....

(Another image repost.) My folks flew in yesterday for Christmas, and last night we went downtown into Seattle to see "A Festival of Lessons & Carols" - which was fabulous. Such amazing young vocalists. Plus the live musicians - it was a very moving performance. "The Holly and the Ivy" was one of my favorites. And Benjamin Britten's “This Little Babe” was new to me, and absolutely breathtaking.

Happy Solstice -

A repost from a few years ago
(someday I really must paint more of these)...

I have news for you:The stag bells, winter snows, summer has gone
Wind high and cold, the sun low, short its course
The sea running high.
Deep red the bracken; its shape is lost;
The wild goose has raised its accustomed cry,
Cold has seized the birds' wings;
Season of ice, this is my news

--9th century Irish

I did this painting as part of a series on The Celtic Tree Alphabet. Pine being one of my favorites. This particular 'tree' was based on my Uncle Bill, who actually raised Christmas trees for a living the latter part of his life. "O Christmas Tree" was his anthem - and we had to stand and put our hands over our hearts when we'd sing it. He died 7 years ago. I miss him still.

Sunday Sketching -

I tried a new view today - drawing a child upside-down (kind of messes with your head!). This also demonstrated a good example of reverse psychology: one of my wiggly Primary boys-who-cannot-sit-still spent part of the day hanging upside down in his chair. Tired of trying to get him to sit upright-with-feet-on-the-floor, I told him he needed to *stay* in that position so that I could draw his face. He did try for a few minutes, but then managed to remain relatively upright and forward facing for the rest of the time rather than stay still in an inverted position. :-)

(Try it though! It turns your learned-drawing-behavior - un-surprisingly- upside down).

Thinking about snow....

I'm hearing such snowy reports from the east - just in time for Christmas week.

We're damp, grey and relatively balmy here. (My husband actually turned on the house fan for a brief time this afternoon).

Seattle and 'White Christmas' are not often companions....

Critique Meeting -

My critique group of ten years held its monthly meeting tonight
(which is chronicled in a little more detail on our POBL blog) -

- this month also being our annual Christmas card exchange.

I am so grateful for this group of lovely, talented, supportive women. They have so helped me in my artistic journey and have enriched my life.

Thank you.

Sunday Sketching -

The sleepier I am, the more I must draw to stay awake....

Tiny Moleskine-

-tiny Moleskine-

5x8 pad with rough paper.

Life Drawing -

Started today out with a couple of minutes of 5 second micro-gestures again - which continued to be awesome.

After those, everything else feels downright leisurely... :-)

It was draped model week again.
This pose, 40 minutes, drawn in charcoal.

Temporary Digression....

Over on tor.com, Irene Gallo has been hosting a thread: Show us your tentacles: A Lovecraft art meme which captured my fancy. I really don't have time to be doing anything but painting my current horse book, but due to forces that seemed beyond my control, I was unable to resist the compulsion to draw a Cthulhu of my own... I did a rough sketch of a tediously unoriginal critter trying to be sort of creepy when I realized that I needed to just go with what I've become practiced and adept at doing-which is, turn *any* kind of thing into a fairy (I've been doing almost nothing but sparkly fairy illustration since the middle of 2006). So, I am 'embracing the cuteness' and the result is Fairy Cthulhu:

I am now seriously behind where I had hoped to be today, but it was an incredibly fun digression. Now back to the coal mines.

[Edit for Vickie: I drew him in one of my Utrecht "oatmeal" paper sketchbooks. The paper is so lovely that I bought a small stack of various sizes. Drawn with graphite and white charcoal.]

Sunday Sketching -

Drew kids today. In various ways...

-Quickie gestures-

-Slightly longer, larger faces-

- (this darling girl is naturally incredibly elfin looking. I did very little stylizing actually outside of her ears)-

-and this one in the lobby, waiting for my daughter's Youth Symphony performance to start....

Of Life Drawing, Ice, and Funky Chickens...

We've had a few days in a row of chilly, frosty weather -

(iced fountain in the courtyard outside of our Life Drawing class in Country Village) -

-the chickens do not seem the least bit daunted - neither the funky ones at Country Village (this is a Crested Polish) nor mine in the backyard.

Inside, we had a full house of folks drawings today! (yay!)

This past weekend, I participated in a streaming live-course from ConceptArt.org called "Sketchbooks and Observational Drawing". One of the things that were discussed were timed gesture drawings. George Pratt, who was one of the instructors, showed a number of examples of amazing 5-second gesture drawings. That is definitely faster than I've ever done before - so we tried that today. Wow. I didn't get much done in 5 seconds - but after a page of those, 60 seconds felt like forever!

And then 20 minutes seemed incredibly long - for poses at least. I'm still not happy with my ability to manipulate charcoal in an accurate or pleasing way...

...yet another thing I'd like to work on when I finish up these books...

Speaking of which, I must back at it...

Treats -

I can deservez some now?

Book #10 is drawn, scanned and printed out. Tomorrow, painting will commence...