Color obsession and movies

I've been receiving the Illustration Friday notices since May.  The above drawing is only the fifth one I've completed and I thought I would share it here because I really need to blog about something!  The word for that day was Obsession and the quote, from Claude Monet, is "Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment."

The color in this piece follows no theory.  I just drew away with the pens I have.  Often when I draw spontaneously I use every color I own.  For a first draft that is fine.  It would be a good exercise for me to re-do this using some color sense.  Use all the same shapes but with organised color choices.  Stay tuned! That actually sounds exciting.


I was in So Cal for three weeks, staying with my nephew and visiting my mother.  I drove 2500 miles in those three weeks - you're welcome, BP!



Made it home last Monday night and spent a good part of Tuesday asleep!  That must have been what I needed because by Wednesday I was myself again.

The bad news is somehow my washing machine died while I was gone! How can something that was not used, break?  It is a fancy, front loading Whirlpool that I just love.  It is one of my favorite possessions!  How sick is that? LOL The control button - one of many on the thing - says 'control locked'.  So, Monday, I have to call a washer repair guy.  I guess worse things could happen!

Last night the Big Guy and I went out to dinner and a movie.  We ate at a new (for us) place called Rooster Juice.  BG had prepared to order with no slat fajitas and I had a fajita salad bowl in a corn tortilla bowl!  First time I have ever seen a corn bowl.  They are usually flour, which I cannot eat.  So that is on our list of places to go back to.

The movie we saw was that last Harry Potter one.  I really enjoyed it.  BG found it confusing.  It has been a long time since part one and BG didn't read the books so I can see how it would be confusing.  I wondered if they filmed the sequence with Dumbledore at the very beginning?  Or did they use some movie magic to recreate him?

My favorite thing to do is watch movies and this past week was a bonus.  We also went on Wednesday, during the day because we were so hot and the theater has AC.  We saw "Cowboys and Aliens".  It was quite entertaining, too.  Well worth the $3 ticket!

Well, my poor old truck needs some attention so I am taking it for an oil change.  Will try the new mechanic first but if he can't see me today, then SpeeDee will get my business.

Bulldog

Sitting at Starbucks the other day I drew this in my pursebook (a sketchbook which also has lists, phone numbers, and other ephemera) without much thought. Now I wish I had drawn it in my 'raining dogz and catz' book. I may still.

Going to see my granddogs tomorrow and will take my camera. Want to draw them in my book. My granddogs also have a kitten, Reagan, who looks like a baby version of the Easy Street Cat, Orangey. So he will get his picture taken and sometime I will draw him in the sketchbook, too.

I did the title page and have started a drawing on the first page of Roxy as a baby lying in my hands. I hope it turns out well. I have printed up several pictures of the cats and dogs I love or have loved to draw. Bulldog, above, is my interpretation of a dog from a magazine.

Now I'm worrying that I am doing too much 'fine' art drawing. But it doesn't matter right now anyway cause Mom came over to the table to play solitaire and I can't draw because that shakes the table. So I'll just blog for a while.

I have misplaced the cord for my camera which transfers pictures to the computer. The Big Guy says I can get one at any Radio Shack, probably Circuit City or Best Buy, too. In the meantime I took the above picture with my webcam. That worked but isn't as accurate as the camera.

Hopefully, my next post will be out of the 'catz and dogz'. Keep your fingers crossed.

Sketchbook project

I may have mentioned that I joined the sketchbook project with Art House Co-op. Participants select a theme from a long list, I choose "It's Raining Cats and Dogs", and buys the sketchbook. One can also elect to have the completed sketchbook digitized for an additional $20 fee (the sketchbook fee is $25). I did go the whole nine yards and paid to have my book digitized. I must return it by Jan. 2011. The Co-op sends participants a bar coded sketchbook, info on the project, and a library card for the Brooklyn Art Library. The completed books will go on tour and afterwards, be available for the general public to look at.

When I graduated fro CCAC (now CCA :() my artistic goal was to have one of my pieces in The Whitney Museum of Art in NYC. This is cool as it will be in a museum in New York!

The problem is ......... it is a brand new EMPTY sketchbook. The first drawing is always the hardest. Plus, I want it to be spectacular. I have always told my students to "just draw!" and now I don't seem to be able to.



I have been practicing in my current sketchbook which feels pretty lame. Artquiltmaker suggested I make lists of what I want in the book and I have done that, too. Still not inspired. But I have heard, and just remembered that art is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. In other words (thanks Nike) JUST DO IT!

My favorite drawing/watercolor teacher at CCAC (now retired), Richard Gayton, gave me some hints on how to start a new sketchbook. One was to leave a few of the front pages blank so you didn't have to look at a crappy (my word, not his!) first drawing. A trick I do too, is to start on the very back page as one must improve as on goes forward, right?

Well, after all this sniveling I am going to go back and read the Art House Co-op info on the project and see if that inspires me.

Pretty cool dog drawing, above, I think. Maybe I can do this.........