In Hiding

At the moment I am in transit on my way home from a superb few days in hiding somewhere in the hills of New Hampshire. Oops I think they call them mountains… Anyway I thought I would share another one of my daily sketches. This is part of what I did that memorable day last week at the Devonian Gardens. I used felt pen this time. All of the sketches are executed with whatever happens to be handy, ball point pen most of the time. This particular sketchbook resides in my purse along with a little pouch a wonderfully thoughtful friend once gave me. The pouch contains all sorts of small items I do not wish to hunt for at the bottom of the cavern, things like pens, pencils, erasers (for the Sudoku) I tend not to erase my drawings. With felt pen there is little chance of erasing anyway. With any permanent mark maker the trick is to choose carefully where to begin. I needed a frame of reference against which I measured everything else so I began with the paintings on the table before me. Perspective is easy once one can relate the objects one is drawing to something already drawn. So fun! Life is good.

Rooted III

“You won’t know until you try it!” Well, I’ve tried it: the outdoor venue. It was an absolutely perfect day in the Devonian Gardens yesterday. Just enough wind to keep it cool and drive away the bugs, sunny and rainless. The staff was most accommodating guiding our vehicles in and out so we would not have to walk too far with our goods for the show. Chatted with some other marvelous artists and the visitors! They came from all over the globe! So refreshing. The day went quickly. Of the forty invitations I had made for my upcoming show in November with the same series only one remains. And I sold one package of cards. A lovely lady suggested a possible venue in Edmonton where I might be able to sell some more. Will I do it again? The jury is out. As you can see in the photo the sun bathed two of my paintings almost all day. I feel fortunate the wind did not damage anything; others were not so lucky. Standing in the right place at the right moment helps. All in all it was fun and relaxing. Life is good.

Consistency

Honing skills requires consistent practice. It has been a while since I have managed to do so. I had dreamed of getting out and painting ‘en plein air’ and I may yet; the thought of loading up and going somewhere is somehow daunting. Another artist began three hundred and sixty-five days of daily sketches; I suspect she started in January. This simple task inspired me with the confidence that it could be done since I love drawing and I always have a sketchbook with me. Now I may not have all the sketches in the same book. That would be too consistent. In any case, I have managed the first four. Another artistic activity this week is preparing for the outdoor show in the Devonian Gardens on Sunday. I will be in a tent with a display of some work from the “Connections” series which will include the book and notecards made up from the same images. The gates open at 10am and close at 6pm. Drop in and visit for a while. Life is good.   

The Latest Medium

 Catering for a wedding involves a lot of planning. Most of the food cannot be prepared ahead of time. The cake is one of the exceptions so this was the first thing on the agenda for the wedding. I baked it on Monday. No eggs, no ordinary flour and no dairy. Thank God for gluten free cake mixes. Nine mixes later I had a thirteen by twenty inch cake. That is the size of my fridge freezer. Unfortunately, once the cake was made I realized I could not open the door sufficiently to slide the cake into the empty space... I sent it home with my daughter, my other daughter! Tuesday I iced the cake and the leftover bit which would be a bit of a joke on the bride. I had pots of various tonal values and food colouring all over my workspace. Using three photos, one for my daughter's smile, one for the groom's eyes and the other for their cozy embrace I managed a fair portrait of the two of them. The wedding took place on Saturday and the temporary work of art is all but consumed. Such is life. So good!