ffyrebird

More Travel Journal Pages

I have been avoiding my blog and posting since we returned from our trip. I'm not sure why, maybe it was entropy or maybe I just got burned out posting daily earlier in the year... Anyhooo, here are a couple of pages I started while waiting for tour guides to take us through a pair of lovely old buildings. I finished them at home with pics of the sites. Maybe this will get the ball rolling and I will start posting again.

 

These were made in a Midori Traveler's Notebook with a craft insert I cut down to fit. The previous post was the same notebook with a Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper insert. The kiddos think the notebook is cool and looks like something Indiana Jones would own. I'm still not sure if I like it. Having multiple inserts with different paper is nice, so is being able to refill it. However, the narrow width feels weird and forces me to do full spread, double page layabouts. The Aquarius paper is pretty strange also, it feels thin and almost fuzzy. It is a pretty big change from the Arches watercolor I have been working on.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Quickie

My eye is still aching from the Avastin injection yesterday so nothing fancy for today's entry..

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Drawing blind

Passing time while I waited for my eyes to dilate at the retina specialist's

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Ducks at Bass Pro and R2 Surfing

For the last lesson in Jane Lafazio's Watercolor on Location class we had to draw moving animals.  Our house is pet-less since we all have major allergies and it is till way too cold to go to the zoo, so I was stumped trying to figure out what to draw.  Luckily there is a nearby Bass Pro that has an indoors pool with fish and ducks.  I went at night and the lighting indoors was dimmer than I would have liked by the pool and I had trouble really seeing the details in the ducks' plumage.  That was probably a blessing in disguise since it forced me to keep the sketch really simple.  The ducks were in constant motion so this was a really challenging assignment-- but a lot of fun!!

 

When we came back home I wanted to get in my ink drawing for the day and was at a loss for what to draw.  R2 was surfing the web and I really need work on drawing people, soooooo he was my victim/model for today.  The smear on his elbow is where my fountain pen 'burped' on the page.  Vintage pens are nice and have flexible nibs the newer pens can't even begin to compare with, but they are unpredictable........

Squirrel and Church Doodling

The little toy figures by Safari Lmtd. are just so handy!  I was feeling exhausted and in a punchy, squirrely mood so this little guy was the toy model of choice today.

I doodled on one page and took notes on the facing page during the sermon today.  Great way to stay focused.

Fluffball and Tree

I don't have a clue what this bird plushie is suppossed to be. He reminds me of a cartoon dodo, bright yellow with wispy fluffs for a tail, topknot and assorted other bits and kinda goofy looking.

The kiddos wanted to play basketball before the next cold snap hit, so off we went to the park.  It was too chilly for me so I sat in the van and started sketching this tree.  They left a message for DH to meet them there after work so even though it got so dark I had to turn on the cab lights to finish up, they played on.  DH arrived and a friendly teen showed them how to turn on the giant lights over the court so they could keep on playing and exercising their dad.

Caffeine Hairstick, Split Tree

This caffeine topped hairstick was custom made by NightBlooming on Etsy.  I loove her work! I can't function without caffeine so when she did a few custom molecule topped hairsticks, naturally I requested one with a caffeine molecule topper. Just perfect for the tea guzzling, ex-chemist, mad scientist in me!!

It was so nice out today we went to the park.  The kiddos and DH played basketball and I walked the trail and sketched.  The crazy kiddos were in shorts and t-shirts, while I was bundled in cargos, and a hoodie with the hood up over my 180 earmuffs, LOL!!

Historic City Square, Headphones

For Jane Lafazio's Sketchbook and Watercolor on Location class this week, it was sketching outdoors.  It has warmed up here a lot so this was great timing.  I packed up the kiddos and drove to a town south of us with an historic city square complete with a bell tower on top of the old courthouse.  They all sat in the van doing homework while I sketched and painted using the steering wheel easel method,LOL!  We were parked in front of the new city hall anex, I wonder what folks coming in and out thought of the crazy lady drawing away??

For an ink drawing a grabbed a pair of the kiddos headphones.  I stopped buying them the in-the-ear models after reading how that was the worse type for causing hearing damage and started buying them ones that sat outside their ears.  We've been through almost every version, the ones that hook over the ears like Bluetooths do, the behind the head,  then over the head types.  The kiddos actually like this old school, earmuff type the best.  It's comfy on their ears (they even sleep in them) and they say that they can hear more of the music this way, especially complicated pieces like classical piano.  Yes, they do like classical music and listen to it voluntarily along with just about every other flavor of music there is (barring dark, discordant music like death metal).  They are an eclectic bunch.

More from the Arabia

I did a few sketches at the Steamboat Arabia Museum into the Fabriano Venezia Journal.  The last one was done in pencil then lightly gone over with pen and ink and watercolor.  I like the control and feel of sketching with a pencil, but the tombow was fast to sketch with. Since it doesn't fit completely on my scanner bed, the scan turned out pretty bad, I really have to speed up the search for a large format scanner.

Steamboat Arabia Museum Pen Sketches

Our assignment in Jane LaFazio's Watercolor on Location class was to go sketching in a museum or shop and skip the pencil, instead sketching directly with a Tombow pen.  After church today, I drove up to the Steamboat Arabia Museum to get in some sketches.  I'd never been to the museum before and it was very nice.  Our guide was wonderful, and I would have enjoyed the museum even without sketching.  I'm one of those people who can focus and tune everthing else out (just ask DH, he hates trying to get my attention when I'm reading!!) so I really wasn't bothered by folks peaking over my shoulder while I was sketching.  I did get a laugh when I was roughing in a sketch of a gunpowder flask.  The gift shop lady stopped by and said, "My, you are intent.  Are you sketching the flask or a lightbulb?"  What a hoot!!! Things like that definitely keep you humble!

 

Starbucks

I managed to make it to Starbucks before the incoming blizzard.  This sketch is a two-for:  the last daily drawing in my journal for January and a coffee shop watercolor for Jane LaFazio's Joggles class.  I did this with Noodlers ink in an old Esterbrook pen. On this paper it wasn't permanent and smeared with the addition of watercolor, maybe because it is a book of watercolor paper and the sizing kept it from bonding with the paper.  Any way, I like playing with pen and watersoluble ink so it wasn't that big of a problem.....

Watercolor on Location Class- Week 2

For Jane LaFazio's Joggles class this week we were supposed to sketch in a cafe or coffee shop.  I'm a tea drinker and was starving after a night shopping, so I decided to go to Panera instead.  I got my food right off the bat and settled into a booth to sketch it.  I wasn't even finished drawing when one of the employees, came up to me to say they were closing.  Ackkk!!  (The server was really very nice and said I could stay until I was finished, but I didn't want to be impolite and keep the staff from closing.) I slopped some paint on and gulped down my dinner.  The lettering and story were added at home.

More summer backlog...

Vacations took up a lot of our time this year even though we really started preparing for them last year.  We decided we wanted a travel trailer so we could go camping.  Next thing ya know we are proud owners of a Trailmanor Trailer. It's a really cool trailer that folds down flat like a popup then does this origami transformation to become a nice hard-sided full-sized trailer.  We even bought a nifty Expedition to tow it with.  Unfortunately, we found out that once you get six bodies, our gear, and the trailers hitch weight loaded up we were going to overload the SUV's weight limit, ACKKK!!  Lots of research later we decide on a Ford f-250 Superduty.  The only problem was last years model didn't have a shoulder belt or headrest for the kiddo sitting up front in the middle.  Those are pretty important in a crash so we decided to wait for the new models which would have it.  Long story short, we got the truck less than a week before our first trip.

Lots of stress leading up to the trip with a new vehicle and never having towed a trailer (read about our comedy of errors in the Murphy's law pic below) before but I snuck in some time to bind a spiral journal for the trip.  The zutter binding tools are awesome!!

My journal, Stonehenge paper with some colored pastel, charcoal sheets in the back.  The cover is a sheet of scrapbooking paper over Daveys board.

Some pages out of the journal........

I don't usually paste photos into my journals but I had used a copic marker onthe otherside and it bled through so I put two pics by R2 up on the left side.  I love the jellyfish, he has an eye for photos.

My youngest, R4, helped with that one while we waited on the rest of the family to ride a coaster. He helped me draw the squirrel from memory then he painted it!!

Our next trip with the Trailmanor, to Rocky Mountain National Park, went much smoother.  I'll post a few peaks of it as soon as I finish it off.  I was too busy hiking (and gasping for breath) to do much drawing so I wanted to go back and do a few drawings from photos we took.

Return to blogging

I've been away from the blog and not posting for most of the summer.  There were two main reasons for that - the kiddos ball season and our vacations.

We were pretty busy running the kiddos around and watching games, but that's not the real reason I didn't post anything during ball season.  You see, I got this 'great' idea to use my time sitting at the games to draw people since it's an area I need to work on.  Unfortunately, when you try to learn something new sometime your initial efforts stink.  Mine did,  definitely not fit for public viewing.  I should have realized, kids playing ball move--a lot.  I was reduced to doing composites of players, blah.  Then I tried doing gesture drawings.  I love looking at gesture drawings in books, the lovely flowing lines, rhythm.  Mine looked like preschool scribbles.  Still, I struggled on and here are some of the ones that are 'public viewable'.  One small problem with them is that they are all graphite and my scanner hates that and barely shows the image.  I tweaked them to show up on the screen but I prefer the softer look of the originals.

The first is of R1 umpiring a game, 'bout time I put it up since my sketch of R2 umping has been up for months.

Next, a few random victims..............

 

 

Then there were gesture sketches and if I got bored I always had my feet.......

 I did get in a few color sketches like this one.It was done while hiding under a picnic shelter waiting for the game to be cancelled....

 

 

 

Doodling at the ballgame

R1 and R2 both got summer jobs as umpires this year.  I was waiting around and got to see a t-ball game R2 was umping.  The little kids were soooooo cute!  They looked like tiny bobbleheads with their batting helmets on.  I tried to get a little practice sketching them but they were so wiggly that I gave up.  I did manage to sketch R2.  He says it doesn't look anything like him and unfortunately, I agree! LOL!  Still, it was practice and it burned up a little more of the Reflexions sketchbook ( nasty paper, only good for pencil work IMHO).

2010 EDinM #31

Today is the last day of  Every Day in May and my drawing is a bit anticlimactic.  We spent all day just running around like crazy.  I managed to get in a very quick sketch while we were sitting at the Noodle Company.  Just a quick scribble of a nearby chair to end the month.

2010 EDinM #30

 

Only one more day to go for Every Day in May 2010.  With Memorial Day and the family grilling out, somehow this water tower seemed appropriate. (LOL)

2010 EDinM #25, #26, #27

I'm playing catch up with my EDinM posts, again.  I wanted to get in a few sketches of people, but I decided to try practicing with Manny first...

Since it has been sunny we managed to get in some ballgames....

 

2010 EDinM #24

Today I intended to sketch another little old church.  I got carried away with the tower and didn't have room or time enough for the rest of the church so this is just a sketch of a bell tower.  Actually, now that I think of it since it had no bell, is it a steeple??

2010 EDinM #23

Normally DH takes R4 to his baseball practice, but hubby had stuff to do for work so I took him to it.  I brought along my sketchbook so I could get in some practice of my own-- drawing people.  We were the first people there so it was easy to set up my folding chair and get all nice and comfy with my feet propped up on the side of the bleachers.  While the boys were warming up and playing catch I managed to get a sketch that remotely resembles a ball player.

After that, they mainly had pitching and batting practice.  I tried to get a handle on sketching the batters, but didn't have any luck.  Working on the foreshortening in their stances and the changing batters was hard enough, but then this other parent, who had been sitting at the far end of the bleachers, plunked down right in front of me!!!  Grrrr!! So I sketched him, take that Mr!!  LOL!!!

2010 EDinM #17

After I dropped our older kids off at the teen devo, I drove over to sketch in a little old, historic downtown.  Someone had converted this filling station into a barbecue joint, of all things!  DH and our youngest son were with me. I sketched and R4 did homework and DH did stuff for his job.  I'm surprised a policeman didn't stop by-- I was scribbling away on a pad, DH was ploinking on a computer and lugging paperwork back and forth from the back of the van-- we could have been plotting rather nefarious deeds, LOL!!

 

 

2010 EDinM #14, #15

 

I didn't get to post yesterday, so I'm doubling up today.  This is the courthouse tower on the city square just around the corner from where I found the log cabin I drew for the twelfth.  I only did the tower because it was impossible to get a place where I could park long enough to draw and see the whole courthouse.  When I found a decent place to park, it had buildings blocking the body of the courthouse.  Actually, it was no big deal as I was just interested in the clock tower really.  

 

We planted Japanese Maples (I think) in our front yard a few years ago and either I am really unobservant or this is the first year for them to make seeds.  I found a little green whirligig seed pod on the drive today.  I'm pretty sure we've never had them before from our trees, but when I looked at our little tree it had tons on it.  I plucked one off the tree, along with a leaf, to draw tonight.  I wonder if a tree has to be so old or big to make the little seed pods??

2010 EDinM #12

 

We had a short break in the ongoing rainstorms so I went out driving to an older town south of us looking for neat buildings to draw.  Just off of the town square I found this log cabin.  It was getting late and I was losing the light, but how often do you run across log cabins?

2010 EDinM #11

I'm still working on my problems with drawing buildings.  I really love old barns so when I saw this one with a convenient little pull off nearby I couldn't resist.  I pulled off and parked the van and started sketching.

2010 EDinM #4

Today's entry for EDinM is another quirky little old house.

 

 

 

2010 EDinM #3

 

  I was over by Unity Village after dropping off my children for a teen devo, and I thought that it would be a lovely place to draw.  The campus is so lovely, but a lot of the visual goodies were roped off due to what looked like construction.  I found this little Hobbit-like house sunk partially into the ground with an incredibly tall chimney and couldn't resist trying to sketch it.  I sat on some steps and got to work.  Thankfully it is a pretty safe place because I zoned out while I was drawing.  Some people came down the steps and were walking past me before I even knew they were there.  That was a wake up call for me to pay more attention to basic safety rules.

2010 EDinM #2

I really have problems with perspective and buildings so today's sketch is a building, of course!  I want to be able to sketch interesting buildings and get the flavor of a place when we go sightseeing onto the pages of my travel journals.  I know the only way to do this is practice so...........  Putting myself into tourist mode, I drove over to an interesting little old church in our town.  I parked across the way from it and working over my steering wheel drew and painted this little sketch.  It's not perfect, but it is a start.

Zoo "Animals"

When I took the kiddos to the zoo recently, I thought the biggest obstacle to my getting in a few quick sketches would be them getting bored waiting on me.  Instead of them getting impatient, they were a dream to be with and it was the other patrons that ended up frustrating me.

The day wasn't a total loss, we got to get out of the house, get some exercise, see some cool animals, and enjoy each others company.  Plus with everyone carrying a camera, I have lost of photos to draw from.  I hooked my laptop up to the TV and tried to do a quick sketch of the poor gorilla.  It was really easy to see on the big screen and the colors seemed truer.  Now if I could only figure out how to keep my laptop resolution from changing and rearranging my desktop icons each time I hook up to the TV, I'd be set.

EDinM 6

 I went to my youngest son's baseball practice this afternoon and saw this little tree over by the shelter house.  I decided to play with my brushpen and do a quick sketch of it.  A fun way to spend a practice.