little treasures

There are lots of little finds from yard sales and markets, all around the cottage.

Birds and fish are a strong theme. I love the sea glass in the hanging wire fish.

W/c on my usual sketch paper.

inside

One of the cottage things to do is watch movies. This TV has a convenient internal VCR, so visitors can ignore its poor TV reception and watch movie after movie.

Just to say, those trees above the TV are carved wooden trees sitting on the window ledge, not distant real ones. Their placement looked ambiguous after I saw the post.

Tech pen on Superaquabee.

hiking with w/c pens

On a separate trip recently, I walked out to a rocky point in Maine, juggled the watercolor pens amid grass and boulders, to catch this scene.

The blue pen turned out to be the exact color of the ocean. I did no color mixing among pens, which, for me, takes a lot of fun out of the process.

On Aquabee superdeluxe.

corner shelving

More practice doing a quick sketch while standing. A way to add wonkiness!

Pencil in the journal.

black cat

I don't know if there's a good story behind this clock--looks like a Disney-inspired early cartoon in black plastic.

Practicing with the Akashiya Sai watercolor brush pens from Jetpens.com. I like the flow and the brush tips, but multiple colors are a lot to carry and uncap/recap compared to one brush pen and a little palette.

Fun to play with, though. I got the autumn and spring colors; the price/color mix seemed the best.

another thing to burn wood in

An attempt to draw the chiminea on the deck. Abysmal, but now I really know what its details are.

The darkness underneath is really water on the dark brown metal tray, plus a shadow. Not able to portray that!

Fibertip pen on Superaquabee.

not needed this time

The heat for the cabin is by woodstove, but it was just warm enough not to need to use it last week.

Pencil on Superaquabee.

something else to sit on

This collapsible stool from REI is comfortable, lightweight, and so great for taking on drawing excursions. I used it a lot last week to get a good position for viewing the object.

Fibertip pen on Superaquabee deluxe.

wicker chair 2

And another one. This one took a lot of looking, to get those crossed wickers right! (Is that what they're called?)

4B pencil on Superaquabee.

wicker chair 1

One of her chairs. I prepainted several pages in the sketchbook. Learning to do that with a much lighter touch!

Fibertip pen on Superaquabee.

drawing escape

Last week I spent 4 days at my friend's cabin, drawing, walking, cooking, and escaping the normal schedule. It was wonderful!

Lots of sketches will be posted!

This one was practice for drawing while standing in the road. Tech pen on Superaquabee deluxe.

green feet

Drawing with paint, then layering to mold the forms.

W/c on 140# Arches.

indigo mug

Practicing brush drawing.

W/c on Strathmore drawing paper.

town and country abstract

The similarity to trees in the upper left is a total accident. I was just sploshing and dragging paint.

Acrylic (for once) on Strathmore drawing paper.

purple foot

W/c on 140# Arches.

juggling choices

For the DVD, VCR, TV and computer, plus the universal one.

Drawing all the buttons remind me of drawing skyscrapers with all the windows. We have created remotes that mirror our city buildings.

Click image to read the words more clearly.

Fountain pen and w/c on Strathmore drawing paper

random intensity

Playing with paint and angular lines.

W/c paint and a Derwent 8B watersoluble graphite, on Aquabee superdeluxe.

imagining scenery

I started playing with paint on the gessoed journal paper, and it turned into this. I take no responsibility.

I think I used some colored pencil, too.

stubbly brush

Another experiment on gesso, using a stiff bristle brush to draw with. I have started to like the puzzle-piece look of leaving white between the color shapes.

Gesso on journal paper. Makes it feel like heavy wallpaper, very nice!

45 seconds of play value

Like nearly all the toys I buy for the cats, this one interested Chaucer for all of 45 seconds. Now it's a model for drawing.

His expression looks haunted and tense. But he need not fear. The cats don't want him.

Brush pen filled with diluted Noodler's Ink, and pencil, on journal paper.

crossed, a variation

Always there, available to be drawn.

Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

filling paper, merely

Capturing the shapes of the jumble of Golden Liquid Acrylic bottles.

Watercolor on journal paper.

journal sketch

A new pair of sandals that have turned out to be a great success.

Fountain pen and w/c on journal paper.

the bald guy

Whenever I idly draw a head, it turns out the same--this guy. He's my template for experimenting with art supplies.

Playing with watercolor crayons and pencils, on Strathmore drawing paper.

Marblehead kayakers

The same yellow kayak, in 2 different positions, as they passed the viewer.

Tech pen and w/c on Moleskine w/c paper.

at the coast

From a bench at Fort Sewell, overlooking Marblehead harbor. Quick sketch, painted later, quite erratically.

But it holds the memory of the whole visit and the fabulous day. Why I draw.

Tech pen and w/c on Moleskine w/c paper.

blue bowl

Just playing.

W/c on random paper.

the bearded one

Drawing beards is harder than I thought. Getting the shape and shading to look halfway real. All that practice on cats has helped, probably.

Tech pen and w/c on Cachet studio paper.

imagining flowers

To manage a post a day for month after month means I sometimes just imagine flowers and a vase, to get by.

Marker and colored pencil on 90# Canson.

the chair challenge

For some reason, the proportions on this chair have always been difficult to get right, even in a wonky way. But after drawing it over and over, this version finally looks better.

That shaded lump in the chair is a cat.

No color added, for once.

pencil case

I used everything on this one. Pencil, w/c, colored pencil, ink.

Should have started it on better paper than the thin lined stuff.