The Red Sketchbook (last entry on this subject - I promise!)

Yesterday I went to San Francisco to the Madrone Gallery to see the 2011 Sketchbook Tour.  I checked out several, including my own and artquiltmakers .  It was so great to have my sketchbook in my hands!

I remember from an art history class I took in college a story about the modern artist, Clyfford Still.  He disliked having his art on display and out of his control.  He would paint over works that had been viewed because he said he felt as tho the work had been 'raped'.

I now understand the part about disliking one's art being out of one's direct control.  I really miss my sketchbook.  Wanted to add to it and subtract from it when I had it again in my hands but of course I couldn't!

Other than that, it was a good feeling to know my work is in a gallery.  The show was very well attended and there was a line of people waiting to get in.  Once inside getting a 'library' card and checking out the books went very smoothly.

I tried to find a link so you could go directly to the digitized images of my sketchbook.  However the Library is still building the website so in order to find my work one has to just slog through it.  I looked through the first 14 pages and gave up.  Maybe in a few weeks they will have finished with the website and it will be easier to navigate.  In the meantime.  It is fun to look at other sketchbooks. Go to this link www.arthousecoop.com/users? to see the sketchbooks.

I wish I were able to do the project again this year even though I agonized over the project last year.

Best Buds and Cherry - more granddogs

BEST BUDS - REDDOG AND NIXON

Red is now my oldest granddog, and, don't tell the others, my favorite. His best friend is Nix a VERY LARGE 14" Standard Beagle (with papers). He surpassed 14" at about six months! I used two photos to draw this because the dogs wouldn't pose for me - what a surprise! Again I did a light drawing with pencil and went over it with colored pencils. Wanted to use gouache but because my studio is in the throes of moving (e.g. a total mess!) I couldn't find them.

CHERRY

Cherry is the smallest of my granddogs. She is a feisty Maltese who loves to get in my daughter's purse and go shopping. Black and/or white dogs are very difficult to draw. I really like the line drawing I have done of Cherry. I think it catches her personality and my feelings for her. I sketched the drawing lightly in pencil first and then went over it with a silver watercolor pencil. The darks are graphite pencil.

I only have ten pages left in The Red Sketchbook unless I want to go back and draw on the backs of pages. I don''t really like to do that as it damages the drawings on the front, especially with the paper in this sketchbook. I am thinking about decorating the cover but that is the last the last thing I will do. Possibly use my dog and cat rubber stamps. Will see........

More Red Sketchbook

Got home from Mom's really late Monday night but the 40 oz. iced coffee I had been sipping for the previous three hours kept me awake - what a surprise! So out came the Red Sketchbook and this picture from one of artquiltmakers friends. There is something to be said for sleep deprivation and turning off the left brain/ I did this in about forty minutes! Used blue, purple, and silver for the Newf. Black would not have given him any character, in my opinion! I am very happy with how this turned out.


OOPS - forgot to turn this before I uploaded it! Anyway, this kitty took me about three hours and, though I like it, I don't think it is nearly as good as the Newf and child. I used a grid and was very painstaking with it. Sometimes too much thinking (actually, usually) doesn't help artwork.

Keep drawing! I have to stop as The Big Guy is building shelves in my studio and I escaped to Starbucks for the WiFi. Need to go home and help!

Moving and the Red Sketchbook

We are still in the process of moving and last week the boxes I brought out of storage were a lot of fun to go through. Some of the things we found were our high school year books and photos we hadn't seen in eight years! The drawing below in the red sketchbook and is of SB daughter and her old, now deceased dog, Willie. Willie was a real sweetie of a dog unless you threatened my daughter. He was also my nephew's babysitter! He was a BIG black lab mix and my daughter had him for about fifteen years. When her sister saw this drawing she said "Wow, you look like Dad!". I hadn't seen that at first but when artquiltmaker pointed it out, I did see it.



The Red Sketchbook is coming right along and I have hopes of it being ready in time to include it in the tour the books will be going on. I am enjoying doing the drawings, too. It is especially nice to draw in my new (but very crowded and unorganized) studio. My drafting table is in the studio but it is still in pieces. If the Big Guy doesn't get it put together soon I am going to do it! He has great plans for shelves and stuff for my studio which sound great but he has so many other things to do around the house still that I don't think those plans will come to fruition any time soon!


This kitty is one of the ones friends of artquitmaker sent me. I kept really bad records, though, and don't know whose it is. So if it is yours, let me know and I will e-mail you a copy of it so you can print it out. May do more work on it, haven't decided yet. Sometimes I have to look at a drawing for a while before I see what it needs to be truly finished.

I saw my nephew yesterday. He is taking a painting class at school and I was able to give him a couple of art tips. That was fun for me and I hope the tips help him. I would love to see him develop as an artist. I know his mom loved to have him draw and was proud of his art.

Doggie Drawing

Roxy, the best dog in the world, is one of my favorite subjects to draw. She was laying, asleep, on the floor in my studio (yeah! I have a studio!) the other day and I did a line drawing. Indicated in the drawing the light and shadow of her black coat and later I filled in the body. Of course, she didn't hold still so I drew her head again in the new position. I love the way this came out.

The Red Sketchbook - Roxy's cousin, Sadie and miscellaneous other stuff

We have started to have a real life! The Big Guys cousin and her husband and puppy came to visit the other day! First time they have visited us in eight years - we always go to visit them as we had no room for visitors in the trailer at Sequoians.

As I am doing the dogz and catz sketchbook I took a picture of Roxy's cousin, Sadie the pretty lady, a seven year old cocker spaniel and then drew her. There will eventually be a picture of my drawing but for some reason the program won't take me to picture uploads! Artquilltmaker is home and she showed me that once again, it is operator error! As you can see, pictures are included. Anyway, after I took this photo I worked on it some more and now don't like it. Oh, well.

Welcome to the 18th century!

We also went to the Highland Games in Pleasanton last weekend. I went Saturday and the Big Guy went Saturday and Sunday. We joined our old regiment, Montgomeries 77th Highlanders, at their encampment. It was a lot of fun. In the 17 years we have been reinacting the French and Indian War at the different Highland Games I have never had the chance to see the sheep dog trials. Last weekend our encampment was just beyond the trials so I spent a good part of the day watching the dogs. What fun! The dogs were beautiful, mostly well-trained and appeared to love moving the sheep around. They had a difficult time because it was extremely noisy with the bagpipe bands, other loud music and noisy crowds. I saw about 30 dogs run and I think only about four of them completed the course. Some of them got the sheep so excited that the beasts jumped the fence back in to their enclosure!

This is one of the successful dogs. He did a good job getting the sheep to do what he wanted and he finished in plenty of time. The dogs have five minutes to do the run. I enjoyed this so much I thought to myself 'I can do that and would like to!' then my other self said ' Idiot! Those dogs must cost a thousand dollars, need a flock of sheep to practice on and several acres to run.' Sure was fun to watch!

The Red Sketchbook - looking like one's pet and more blathering about my life

Person Who Looks Like His Dog

I have been taking BART over to visit the grandchild every Thursday since I've been home (after driving to Castro Valley to check the PO Box) and decided to draw the people who were on the train with me. While drawing I realized that this was not a portrait sketchbook but a dog and cat sketchbook. So I imagined what this guy's dog would look like and here is what I came up with.

Have done a little work in my studio, I can at least walk in there now! The other day I set up my sewing machine on the new antique table artquiltmaker gave me for my anniversary/birthday/christmas/mother's day and all. I worked on the food quilt and finished 41 patches completely and another about 30 sewn together but not trimmed or pressed. Am pretty proud of myself! Think I can actually finish it in time for artquiltmaker to quilt it the end of next month. Talking about it makes me want to go home and sew (I am at Starbucks using their WiFi).

The Big Guy and I are being earth friendly. He attached a box to my bike rack and we went to the grocery store on bikes this morning! Then after recovering I rode my bike the three blocks to Starbucks! This little town is quite convenient. The Senior Center, Post office, Taco Truck (GREAT fish tacos) Wahlgreens and Mexican restaurant are all within bike riding distance. We may save some gas! And possibly get in better shape!

The Red Sketchbook (and some blathering about my life)

WAGS

Greetings from moving-land. I think I have toted the equivalent of an elephant in the last two weeks! Where did all this stuff come from? Do we really need it? Oh well.

Chaos is our middle name today. We were informed Tuesday that the rest of our stuff was going to be disposed of because we had abandoned the site! Boy, did that tic me off. I have been out there every other day loading up my truck (one day to load, one day to unload - I'm OLD!!). The coop which owns the land is quite unreasonable and hard to deal with. I am at the end of my rope with them. But we have arranged for Sunday to be the final day of moving. Will be so glad when that phase is over! Then we have our single car garage sized storage to empty. We will have furniture instead of only boxes in the house. Oh boy!

NIXON

Did a couple of Red Sketchbook drawings. One is of Wags, my Mom's late dog and the other is of Nixon one of my granddogs. The Nixon one is done in oil pastel and the Wags is done in dry pastels. I found them in the move! Boy did I find art materials! My studio room is wall to wall two and three boxes high! Some organizing to do there!

The Red Sketchbook - Owl

Owl was inspired by a piece of bark from the huge sycamore tree in our new front yard. The bark is decoupaged onto the page and then watercolor and some shiny paste was applied injudiciously (!) over it. Am a little concerned about the bark staying on the page but can't do anything about that now.



The new house is coming along. The Big Guy and the Landlord are working hard. Well, not in this picture! They did a lot of prep for putting up drywall (on the ceiling - shouldn't it be called ceiling wall - or something?) and today will start putting that up.

One thing the Big Guy had to do was take down the ceiling fixture. We've all heard of plumber's crack..well I got a great shot of electrician's crack! But in deference to delicate sensibilities, I'm not posting it. It does trump plumber;s crack, however! He had to put on suspenders 'cause his pants wouldn't stay up!

I'm typing this blog entry and yesterdays blog entry on notepad. Storing it until I get over to Starbucks to use their WiFi. We don't have the utilities in our name yet and think I may not get any wireless or TV. Have heard that we can get TV with digital rabbit ears where we are (because it is FLAT and mountainless!) Starbucks is free and within walking distance. It would keep me from spending hours on the net and I can use that time to paint. A win-win. With texting and my cell I can keep in touch with everyone.

The Red Sketchbook - Red Dog

Page Two!
Red is my favorite (don't tell the other three) granddog. I couldn't find an actual picture of him to draw from so improvised. He is Rhodesian Ridgeback and Boxer. If he weren't trained so well he would chase, catch and eat cats. But there is always at least one in the house so he has to mind his manners. We were privileged to have him (and his Akita big brother, Truman) live with us for three months when we lived in the Twinkie (a 20' antique Corvair RV). It was quite cozy but we got to know the dogs very well and came to really love them. Truman bonded with the Big Guy and Red with me. He is always very happy to see me and I am happy to see him, too.

Maybe I am over artist's block with this sketchbook. Two pages is a good start and I am actually looking forward to doing one of the cats you have sent me. I also need to find a picture of my late cat, Bear. She was a beautiful mix of Siamese and calico. She looked like chocolate drink powder in milk which had not been stirred enough. She was right up there with Roxy as the best animal friend in the world. She was 19 when she died. Like Roxy I had gotten her at 4 weeks old. She came home in Artquiltmaker's sweatshirt pocket.

It is really hot here at Super G's. In the triple digits the past three days. I'm melting!

The red Sketchbook - Baby Roxy

Going thru my 'edit blog' page I found that I had never posted this drawing! Or this post...so some of it is outdated, for example, I did make squares for the TN flood victims, JJ suffered mightily from his sunburn but WLs T-shirt protected him and I peeled but had no pain from the sunburn (give me ten years and I'll get some ugly bumps on my skin :( .....)

Didn't fix the thumbnail but may yet do that. Baby Roxy has grown up and is shivering from cold lying on my lap in her G-ma's Flower Garden crocheted coat. So read on for an early summer blog...........


This is The Best Dog in the World at four weeks old. She is the first drawing in the red sketchbook.

BTW, thanks for all the great dog and cat pictures! We sure have some handsome 'animal companions', don't we?

Once again, looking at this drawing in the photo shows me a glaring defect! The thumbnail needs to be toned down! My eye just zeros in on it. So I guess this is just iteration number two and not the final!

I was looking at The lazy Quilter's blog this a.m. and saw that she is also (along with artquiltmaker) making 12 1/2 inch squares for the flood victims in Tennessee. I guess I'd better get my act in gear and do it, too. I really want to so should just sign off and get myself in gear!

Had quite a day yesterday at Hurricane Harbor with the best boys in the world. They went on the scary slides, I just floated the river with them and went in the wave pool. When I was a kid we had a place called Pop's Willow Lake. It was a series of concrete pools of all different depths, very shady with grass all around. HH reminded me of that on steroids! The tag line all the workers say instead of 'have a nice day' is 'have a Magic Mountain day'. I figured out what that means: Spend every red cent you brought with you today! It has been almost twenty years since I have been to a theme park and I had forgotten how expensive it can be. Luckily I couldn't get the amount I thought I would need from the ATM so got $50 more. Came home with $19.75 and feel lucky to have that. Cost almost as much as Mom and me flying home on Monday! Hope the boys took away some good memories! Have no pictures as the camera isn't waterproof. Did I mention we are all sunburned? Bad Aunt Gramma! Did I mention walking on concrete threw my knee out (again!)? Oh the price of fun!

Better pull out fabric for that 12 1/2" square!

The Red Sketchbook

THE INFAMOUS RED SKETCHBOOK!

Have I groused recently about the red sketchbook project I have been unable to start? Guess what? I actually started it. Perhaps artist's block is gone.

Had a venti latte on my way home from 4th of July BBQ with Mom at SBdaughter's (apaperaddict.com) yesterday so of course I couldn't go to sleep. Set up a makeshift desk on my bed - the one with the brand new mattress that is soooo comfy - and started drawing away!



Am using the webcam as the cord for the camera still hasn't turned up so you get a little bit of background in the picture :[. This is the title page. May color it in later but it's a start anyway. See the D for Dog?



And here is the author page. Love the cat icon after my name!

Have you ever tried to hold something to get a straight picture with a webcam? Everything has to move backwards or perhaps it is mirror image....... A bit of a mind bend for me.


And here is the first layer of the first drawing. It isn't done but I have a good start. This is my beloved dog Roxy when she was just four weeks old!

Stay tuned for the final version.

Calling all dog and cat lovers!

Help me fill all 80 pages!

If you have a picture of your dog or cat I am collecting them to draw and put in my book. Send them to me via the comment section of this blog and I will send you a photo of the final drawing. And your furry friend's drawing will go into a museum with art house co-op.