the yard sculptures

We made these from old fence wood. I've always wanted fun yard art. Now I have some.

What have you done with YOUR old fence wood?

19, 180 and 185

Challenge 19 is draw something you've made. We recently replaced part of our fence and the old wood inspired me to design and then make, with dh's help, 2 yard sculptures: a giraffe and a cow. Not all family members are enamored with them, but at least they are tastefully displayed in the backyard.









Challenge 180 is paint something in my favorite color. So I doodled some cows with all the different blues on my watercolor palette. I had just been out sketching cows, so they were fresh on my brain.















And challenge 185 is draw a cat, of which we have 2, and I draw them all the time, but Gilbert decided he'd stretch out in the cool grass and pose for me.

Challenges 178 and 179

178 was draw something red, so I did some raspberries that we picked from Nye farms in Georgia, Vermont. They were delicious. Ballpoint pen and watercolor.













179 is draw an onion. Ballpoint and watercolor.

Challenge 176--something summer

Summer means flipflops. I started drawing mine and after doing all the colors of the left one, I decided to simplify and left the colors off the right one. Then I did a pair with no colors, just a blue. Ballpoint and colored pencil on a summer afternoon on the porch.

Challenge 69--favorite beverage

I was drawing my hand after the advice in Drawing From Within, which encourages the artist to draw pages of hands for the rest of one's life, and I realized I was also drawing my favorite summer beverage!

Challenge 166 - draw a fish

166 fish
Originally uploaded by luv2draw

While on a sketchcrawl with some family members, we stopped at a fish hatchery and I drew this perch, which was a pale and sorry specimen of a perch compared to what we normally catch on the lake. Maybe perch in captivity lose their colors.

Plein air sketching in Minnesota

While in Minnesota I took a walk to a favorite marsh and painted it. Last time I was here it was frozen solid. There was a family of wood ducks in the middle and they would not venture very close to where I was. They are so skittish but can actually die of fright in captivity. Poor things.


This is an ink drawing of the same marsh but from a different angle. I wanted to see if I could describe all the different foliage and textures with just line. It was exhausting and invigorating at the same time.

Another photo sketchcrawl...Italy

More sketches from photos, taken in Italy in 2003. It's really fun to go thru the trip album and sketch. I hope it's good practice for future travel sketching.

sketchcrawl from photos

I've gone back through some photo albums of memorable trips we've taken and sketched various things, kind of like doing a sketchcrawl via photos. It also does not aggravate members of the group who do not want to stop and sketch. So here are some sketches from Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks.

Ink, watercolor, colored pencil.

challenges 173 and 174

173 was to draw something from memory. I drew the dirt road by the meadow in Vermont where we would vacation. When we were kids, we'd ride the trailer the tractor pulled with the garbage cans and help dump them in the various sites in the woods. One site was for biodegradables and another was for glass and cans. Those sites have been cleaned up now that the property is part of the land trust. But for kids, it was a fun job.












174 is draw a bridge. This is Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy. I drew it from the window of the Uffizi Museum, then later painted it. I should redo the painting sometime.

1

challenge 165

Draw the front of your house. I ran out of room in the landscape format book I use for these challenges, but I captured the essence. It's humbling how askew parts can get if one is not careful. Oh well.

challenge 59

Challenge 59 is draw a sign of spring. I love irises and went on a walk to places in the neighborhood where others have them in their gardens.

Challenges 154 and 164

Challenge 154 was draw a lemon. This is what my elementary science classes did one day, and what a fellow teacher asked when she saw the set-up. Ink and colored pencil.


















And here is my camera for challenge 164, draw your camera. It has a whopping 5 megapixels, which was a lot back when I got it, but now is hardly anything. Still, it serves my purposes. Drawn with a 2B pencil.

More Seattle sketchcrawl

I rode the monorail back to the downtown area and went to the market. I sketched some of the fish at the Pike Place Fish Market.


















At the end of the market I sketched some of the homeless guys milling about, as well as others who were just enjoying the fresh air.



















I met dh at Tully's for a delicious hot tea and to check email. I added color with my small watercolor set and my waterbrush. When I got home, I realized I hadn't sketched the Space Needle, so I made a quick sketch from a photo I had taken.

Seattle sketchcrawl

While in Seattle I decided to have my own personal sketchcrawl. I started at the Space Needle, and made this sketch with one of those Magic pencils that has a multi-colored lead--it was the only thing I could dig out of my bag at the time.














I walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park and enjoyed all the sculptures. It was COLD and windy, but if I was out of the wind, the sun felt great. I sat at this man-made beach and sketched. Added color later, but made color notes.













A passing freighter.











For some reason this slowly turning sculpture held my interest. I watched it for a while from the eye benches, and sketched the different shapes. I want one for my yard!!



















I had to sketch Calder's Eagle. Calder is one of my favorite artists. Added watercolor pencil color to it later in a warm place, but the color is not quite right.

Even more Seattle

Sketches from the plane going back to St. Louis
















Waiting in Seattle...

















And on the plane to Seattle. Sorry about the reverse order.

more Seattle

More waterfront sketches...



















These cranes in the distance look like large orange giraffes.














It was cold, so I retreated to the hotel lobby and sketched some there.

Seattle

Dh had a meeting in Seattle and I went with him for a few days. I sketched in the airport,...























... at the waterfront...

challenges 159, 152, 128,147 and 158

Challenge 128: draw the view looking through a doorway into another room. Ok, not the greatest view, but a view all the same.











Challenge 147: draw or paint something made of wood. This is a wooden cowbell from Africa, and I was told Ethiopia, but I have no real proof of that. It makes a pleasant woodblock sound, and I can imagine that it would be very pleasing to hear a group of cows moving and wearing cowbells like this. My grandparents had it in their stuff and it caught my eye/ear.













Challenge 152: draw a nut. Here are 2 cashews, one in a very AA Milne style and the other a badly-scanned, even when tweaked, pencil drawing.









Challenge 158: Popcorn, a staple in our house.














Challenge 159: a favorite kitchen utensil. This pizza cutter is terrific and still very sharp, but the handle is coming off and it's probably not safe to use it. I've replaced it with a plastic Cutco cutter, but this one served us so faithfully for years that I can't toss it yet.