Beach huts

Its is a cold, wet, windy day here - a full week of RDF (rain, drizzle and fog) which always seems to herald spring at some point in April in Newfoundland. But today, I brought summer into my life.

I browsed through images in the Weekend Drawing Event at Wet Canvas and found a picture of some beach huts. I had forgotten completely about beach huts and how common they were on the coast in England. This image reminded me of hot summer days, salt sea breeze, sand in every nook and cranny, hot, tired children, hotter, more tired parents, ice cream, seaside stalls selling brightly coloured buckets and spades and inflatables. And beach huts.

Beach huts have moved upscale it seems. With celebrities snapping them up in select areas, a 12' x 12' beach hut can sell for 125,000 up to 160,000 pounds. More than the average house costs to purchase!

Technorati tags: art, drawing, moleskine, watercolour, pen and ink, beach huts, sketchbook

Art in Newfoundland

Living on a island has benefits and drawbacks artistically. One of the challenges is searching out Newfoundland artists flung throughout the province in every nook and cranny who are creating the most beautiful art.

I have searched out a few blogs and links to art and artists in the province, both as a reference for myself and for those who may be on a similar search.

Gone to the Dogs was my first stop and provided more information that made my research easier. The next no brainer was to head to the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador who act as a reference point for many of the craft and art movement across the province.

After a bit more digging around I found Newfoundland Blogroll, a collection of links to Newfoundland blogs of all types. I've browsed a few and picked out some of artists and some that just interested me.

Artistic Microphage
Painting the Surface
The Truth About Dogs in Black and White
Art in Newfoundland
The Association of Disaffiliated Artists
The Art of Scott Keeping
The Art of Dave Sheppard

A fine art program is taught at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook on the west coast of the province.
The Pouch Cove Residency program Since 1990, has provided live/work space to visiting artists from around the world. Their program provides artists with a calendar month's residency either on the edge of the North Atlantic in Pouch Cove or overlooking the Bay of Islands in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada.

Eastern Edge Gallery
St. Michael's Printshop
Gerry Squires, Artist, art activist and teacher, much of Squires' large body of work finds its inspiration in the landscape and culture of Newfoundland.
Christopher Pratt
Mary Pratt, one of my favourite artists

I'll end here, but I know this list will branch out to a much longer list as the artist community in the province is prospering and this is very much just the tip of the iceberg.

Technorati tags: art, Newfoundland, artists

Catching up

I've been absent for a couple of days in posting. I always feel a little cheated when days are missed when I read other people's blog. Its rather like having missing pages in a book.

Work and meetings have taken my full attention and have taken me away from drawing too. So I'm playing catch up today and through the weekend.

I did have time on Wednesday night to finish a sketch from Mending the Nets by Winslow Homer. I started with a pencil sketch then moved on to watercolour and some ink later. I'm not completely pleased with it because the faces are more ghoulish than those of young women, and also I cropped the image. I think I will redo it in full and see what comes out of it. I love watercolour but am certainly no master of it. When it does work it is indeed a 'happy accident'.

Technorati tags: art, watercolor, pen and ink, Winslow Homer, sketchbook, drawing

It's here

At last my Moleskine sketchbook has arrived! I have searched endlessly to find one within Canada with little luck. I finally tracked one down on Ebay of all places and had it shipped from California. It has a story to tell before its even been opened.

Canada's inability to keep up with my needs is frustrating sometimes! I did find some Moleskines in Newfoundland but the store didn't have the sketchbooks and the price was about 50% more than I paid for the book I bought on Ebay.

So it is here and I sit and look at it and touch it and am almost scared to make a mark in it. I want every page filled with perfection. Why? I really don't know. But I do and that means giving some thought to what I put inside. I have lots of sketchbooks filled with all sorts of trivia, good and bad and I like to be able to riffle through them from time to time and see what I did and why and how.

I will finish a final drawing before I start in virgin Moleskine. It is an imaage I started as a line drawing and then completed in ink and coloured pencil.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, moleskine, cats, pen and ink

Looking to the past

We seem to measure so many things by what has happened in the past, from music to clothing, to art. The masters of the craft are the teachers of technique and form and colour. I love to explore museums filled with old paintings and be amazed each time at how they were crafted in a time before cameras could freeze a moment in time and let you finish it in your studio.

Art Renewal Centre is one of my favourite sites to explore fine art. Reproducing master paintings or drawings is something many like to do for pleasure and to learn. Most reproductions are based on museum pieces and often completed in situ. For those concerned about forgery, the work of copyists is not forgery. For one thing, art enters the public domain if the artist has been dead for more than 75 years. For another, the work of a copyist must be at least one-fifth larger or smaller than the original work. Copyists who work in museums also receive an official museum stamp on the back of their canvases that certifies the work as a copy. Moreover, a forger would have to take great pains to make a copy that is indistinguishable from an original. He would have to paint on authentic old canvas, stretch the canvas on an authentic old frame and use authentic paint from the era to fool the experts. A different profession altogether! This site will provide further details into the art of copying a master painting.

This week the weekly drawing thread is based on a master painting. It can reproduced as a graphite drawing or further pushed into a painting. Mending the Nets, by Winslow Homer. Homer (1836 - 1910) was an American landscape, marine and genre painter. He was born in Boston, where he worked as a lithographer and illustrator. In 1861 he was sent to the Civil War battlefront as correspondent, his work winning international acclaim. After the war, he worked as both a painter and illustrator. In 1876, Homer abandoned illustration altogether to devote himself to painting. His chief inspirations were the American rural scene and the sea. His paintings are in leading museums throughout the United States.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, Winslow Homer, masters, painting

Symbols

There are traditions regarding holidays no matter what the religion. Some are steeped in history others in imagination. Easter in the western world is a mix of both. Just how the Easter Bunny got into the mix I'm not sure. Its more a symbol of spring than of religious significance, just as the egg is. That of course morphed into the current multimillion dollar manufacturer's bonanza of chocolate eggs. And rabbits and chickens and every mutation onwards.

I think of Easter as the harbinger of spring. Colour reflected in flowers and clothes all make me think of spring.

Here on the farm, spring means cranky animals. The male geese are territorial and agressive. The horses are contrary and argumentative. The ducks argue amongst themselves. It seems everyone is having a bad day every day for about a month.

So what better to draw than something representative of Easter and spring? A goose egg and its producer, a goose. This is one of the brown Chinese geese who lay large white eggs that we either incubate for goslings or if infertile, use for craft sales. I used Derwent Drawing Pencils for the egg as I love the soft colours that remind me of sepia photos. They are thick pencils like a cross between a pastel and a pencil with a smooth buttery feel to them.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, sketchbook, derwent drawing pencils, goose, egg, Easter

Drawing on eggshells

There are lots of ducks and geese and chickens in the barn and lots of eggs. The goose eggs that aren't used for hatching or infertile ones are sold for craft purposes for $1 each. I have taken a dozen of these blown goose eggs and have begun to think out designs to create. There are a number of ideas spinning around in my head. One is the image of an embryo gosling, almost like a window into the mysterious world of a hatching egg. I'll work on that image for awhile.

Then I explored a bit more to see what other people are doing in art on eggshells and came across this site of Jules Grant. He does the most amazingly detailed drawing on eggshells. Just beautiful.

Another artist creating on eggshells is Ginny Barkman.I wish everyone could experience the moment of revelation of the final colors and design as I am able to do. Each stage of the design is done simplistically, but the combination of all parts revealed is extremely complex. Some times the anticipation causes me to work feverishly to the end with long hours. I want to see the final finished egg that has been hidden for so long. To me, this is the enjoyment of creation, to see the end result and marvel at it. ~ Ginny Barkman

Or Ruth's beautifully decorated eggs.

My own egg decorating hasn't advanced much yet so there's nothing that I dare show. Instead I'll share some of my sketchbook for today. The first is a dog from the weekend drawing event at Wet Canvas and second the start of a self portrait.

Technorati tags: drawing, sketch, sketchbook, dog, self portrait, eggshells

Illustration Friday - Spotted

Coccinellids are brightly coloured to ward away potential predators. This defence works because most predators associate bright colours (especially orange and black or yellow and black) with poison and other unpleasant properties. This phenomenon is called aposematism. In fact, most coccinellids are indeed toxic to smaller predators, such as lizards and small birds; however, a human would have to eat several hundred coccinellids before feeling any effects. Adult coccinellids are able to reflex-bleed from their leg joints, releasing their oily yellow toxin with a strong repellent smell. This becomes quite obvious when one handles a coccinellid roughly.

Coccinellids copulate for up to nine hours at a time, and males may have three 90-minute orgasms in one session. Coccinellids lay eggs which hatch into a larval state. The larvae then go into a pupal stage before becoming an adult coccinellid.

Coccinellids lay extra infertile eggs with the fertile eggs. These appear to provide a backup food source for the larvae when they hatch. The ratio of infertile to fertile eggs increases as with scarcity of food at the time of egg laying. (Perry & Roitberg, 2005)



Technorati tags: art, drawing, sketchbook, colored pencil, ladybird, nursery rhyme, illustration

Technorati tags

I have seen the phrase 'technorati tags' on people's blogs followed by some key words relating to the post and I wondered what it was. So I decided to investigate a little more. This is an overview from the Technorati site.

Technorati is a real-time search engine that keeps track of what is going on in the blogosphere — the world of weblogs.

A few years ago, Web search was revolutionized by a simple but profound idea — that the relevance of a site can be determined by the number of other sites that link to it, and thus consider it 'important.' In the world of blogs, hyperlinks are even more significant, since bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, which creates the sense of timeliness and connectedness one would have in a conversation. So Technorati tracks the number of links, and the perceived relevance of blogs, as well as the real-time nature of blogging. Because Technorati automatically receives notification from weblogs as soon as they are updated, it can track the thousands of updates per hour that occur in the blogosphere, and monitor the communities (who's linking to whom) underlying these conversations.

The Pew Internet study estimates that about 11%, or about 50 million, of Internet users are regular blog readers. According to Technorati data, there are about 70,000 new blogs a day. Bloggers — people who write weblogs — update their weblogs regularly; there are about 700,000 posts daily, or about 29,100 blog updates an hour.

Technorati displays what's important in the blogosphere — which bloggers are commanding attention, what ideas are rising in prominence, and the speed at which these conversations are taking place. Technorati makes it possible for you to find out what people on the Internet are saying about you, your company, your products, your competitors, your politics, or other areas of interest — all in real-time. All this activity is monitored and indexed within minutes of posting. Technorati provides a live view of the global conversation of the web.

Communication is a wonderful thing...as is art. Here is a sketch I've been working on over the last couple of days. I'm calling it complete, simply because I don't have the time or patience to create anymore fur/hair. Use of technorati tags can expose more people to my work and to me. Part of art is to share. It is not something that is hidden. Its like that 'if a tree fell in the forest and no one was there, would it make a noise?' question.

If art is created and no one sees it, does it exist?

Technorati tags: art, drawing, technorati tags,
koala, sketch

Stress

My life is filled with stress, mostly work related. It reaches the point where there is so much to do, I don't know where to start. I try prioritizing but everything seems to scream at the same level - URGENT!

Stress keeps me awake at night and affects my eating. Its one of the worst events in life, this stress, because I don't see an end to it.

So I draw to escape from stress. I can retreat into a state that the rest of the world can't enter. There are invisible walls that are erected which make me oblivious to what is happening externally. Speech, noise, talking, phones, chores all fade when I submerse myself in art. It almost has a meditative quality and I like that, but I feel rather put out when someone insists on dragging me out of the state. In fact, I get quite irritated when they do. Its a bit like being pulled unwillingly from a deep sleep. You function on awakening, but you're not really there. You're back in a dreamstate til reality insists on making you pay attention.

Other people can't understand this ability to 'disappear' and to try to put it into words, they look at you as if you have 10 heads and should be certified to the nearest mental institution. They may have their own way of escaping. Art is mine.

I found an old watercolour which I did years ago. I have always rather liked the looseness of it. It is time to take out the watercolours more often. I am out of practice with them and tend to be too tight and controlled. I need to bring them to that place of escape. They might be freer then.

Technorati Tags:
art watercolour drawing

Money and art and productivity

Which fuels which? Do you draw to make money? Does more money mean more productivity? Or more productivity mean less art? Or do you produce art because it is an internal drive that has to come out? Its likely a bit of all three for most of us in varying degrees.

One site I've stumbled across combines these elements Sketch It. For a dollar, the artist sketches your concept in under a minute. Unique, interesting and if you want to lighten your pocket change and put art into your thoughts its worth a look.

So many art related blogs are turning up that help jog creativity or nudge your mind into productivity. There are sketch crawls, drawing rooms, blind contour drawing, everyday drawing, sketch books of every description. Its pure eye candy for the artist and his/her mind to be inspired.

My inspiration is the initial sketches of some dogs that are a commission. I like to do a small version and experiment with colour and pose before I tackle the full image. Here is the first drawings.

Field trips

I like to wander and see other artist's blogs and experience what they are creating. It amazes me the levels of creativity and productivity that exists in the world. It makes what I create pale in comparison.

Duane Keiser's site always amazes me with such perfect little paintings of every day life nearly daily. I am succeeding in daily drawing, but its not always easy or the end drawing is scrapped.

My productivity depends on external factors and emotional levels. Weekends let me recharge and draw for hours. I can almost feel the calmness indicator rising as I draw or paint. This weekend I have found time for the Weekend Drawing Event at Wet Canvas and came up with a couple of sketches from the images available. These were done in pen & ink, and coloured with Derwent Studio Pencils in my sketchbook 8 x 5.

Dreams

There are days in early spring that give you hope. There is a scent of earth and sea on the wind and the grass shows a hint of green. The air is cool but with a promise of warmth and the sun feels warm through windows as days lengthen.

Instead of icy rain and snow, precipitation seems softer, less driving, coaxing life from the ground and from my soul.

But here, in a short season land, it takes time for promises to turn to truth, so I wait and dream of sweaters tucked into deep closets, boots banished to the basement and open windows.

A little sketch of sandals spurs this dream on and let me dream of hot days.

Illustration Friday - Speed

Everyday life

I am trying to draw and write every day. Sometimes objects are interesting sometimes mundane. This is what was on the dining room table this morning as I sat with my coffee.

I've bought a Moleskine sketchbook on Ebay as it seems impossible to find one in Canada. These Italian notebooks have sturdier paper which will hold a more diverse range of mediums and not bend and ripple like my current sketchbook.

'I never travel without my notebook.
One should always have something sensational to read in the train." Oscar Wilde

More Cats

I have always had cats in my life but never had that bond that some people strike with them. But this week for some reason I am drawing cats. House cats, large cats, coloured cats. I don't know why but they seem to find their way under my pencil or brush.

The other thing that has occupied me this week is a video cam of a bald eagle nesting. This is live and on Horby Island, British Columbia. It becomes rather addictive and I have it sitting in my task bar all day, pulling it up to see what's happening if they make a sound. The eggs are due to hatch around the end of the month. Have a look. I think you'll enjoy it. Adjust your viewing time to BC time. http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/

More perspective

Perspective is foreign to me in many ways and pushes me well outside my comfort level. But I still pursue it for reasons I'm trying to analyse. Ask me draw a dog or a person or a still life and I'll tackle it without fear, but ask me to draw a simple room or street stretching off into the perceived distance and it strikes fear into my heart.

I think its because there is so much technical about it. It isn't free flowing. It hasn't got curves (I'm sure that comes in a later lesson) to sweep around. It needs precise measurement that smacks of mathematics - one of the things that I have never gotten along with.

But I am determined to conquer it. Poor Robin, she has her work cut out for her with a full class of people all at various levels of knowledge and experience. I am in the back of the class on this one and climbing the learning curve slowly with many mistakes. I wait to find out the results of the quiz and drawing 'problem' provided with as much anxiety as if a final grade depended upon it.

Here is what I hope is a correctly portioned room based on instructions for this exercise. I'll get it sooner or later. Or spend the rest of my life avoiding long streets and rooms!

Cats

I seem to have experimented with a lot of cat drawings and paintings lately, from meek house cats to laid back lions. They have interesting shapes and colours and can be quite a challenge to draw.

I need the practice though and will continue to sketch them as they arrive. This week's drawing thread is of cats as well. Must be a portent.

This is the initial line drawing. I may try expanding it with watercolour. Keep your fingers crossed!

Stilled life

I have had a headache all weekend that I can't shake and have been so tired. Its likely a combination of stress and work and life in general, so I've retreated to art for most of the weekend. It hasn't helped the headache but it feeds the soul.

This is a drawing for the weekly drawing thread and a reference that I've had tucked away for months,but never had time to make a start. I finally had a good look at and pulled out my sketchbook. Mechanical pencils 2H & 2B did the rest.

Illustration Friday - Spring

What better harbinger of spring but a baby goose. This is a Chinese brown goose, one of 15 hatched two days ago.

Catching up

Travel and work and life have taken over most of the past week and I haven't had much time to devote to drawing or writing here. I did a little perspective practice while waiting in airports and hotel rooms, but it still doesn't inspire me too much. I really need that block of uninterrupted time to concentrate on it and do justice to the subject.

Here's part of a quick sketch done at Halifax airport while waiting for a delayed flight.

Then on to a hotel room view leading to the entrance. Will this perspective ever be useful to me?? Yes, likely so, but not being a landscape or architectural artist, it may be limited in practice.

Getting it in perspective

I'm doing a class in intermediate perspective. Now this is something that doesn't come easily to me as it involves careful measurement and technical knowledge. I prefer free flowing thoughts and marks. Robin, the instructor, has the patience of Job and the verbal skills to pass on her knowledge in a way that makes it easier to understand. However, I still don't know if I will 'get it'. Practice and time perhaps. Back to vanishing points, eye levels, horizon lines, etc., etc., etc.

I can see now why I prefer drawing people and animals to landscapes or street scenes. However, its good to be pushed outside my comfort zone at times. Its a learning experience.

While my brain is being tested in one area, I go back to comfort in drawing a dog for a friend. This is Bonnie, a bluetick beagle. Its a work in progress and should be complete by the end of the week.

Home remedy

This image was painted years ago from a memory of a Guy Fawkes night bonfire party that I had taken the children to when they were quite young. I still recall the sights, sounds, smells and tastes from that night. The girls likely do too.

This image also serves as a reminder of the ideas that art creates. They are bright and sparkle, they have heat and light and take shape quickly, and remain in our memory, just as the flames and fireworks do.

Reading Robert Genn's twice weekly letters provided some food for thought. Here is an exerpt. You can find the full letter here
http://www.painterskeys.com

Joe knows my interest in the neurology of art. He told me that while Dr. Sacks blurred science and art, he thought that his studies of isolated peoples had shed light on the actions of the creative mind. Current Art Therapy practice has certainly been affected by his writings--and his ideas have implications for active artists. Joe said that there was stuff going on around our studios that could be just what the doctor ordered.

We came up with a few:

Focusing the mind on a higher purpose.
Exercising skills for sensitivity and understanding.
Employing idiosyncrasies and weaknesses for enrichment.
Blurring the area between reality and imagination.
Enduring monotony as the keys to freedom and action.
Yielding to and articulating the condition of isolation.
Making a contribution to the greater community.
Satisfying the inborn need for creation itself.
Attaching oneself to the miracles of nature.
Building of self-esteem by consecutive jobs well done.
Exploiting the richness of the childlike dreaming world.
Activating the mind to delay potential dementia.
Exercising the body through thought-gathering travel.
Making and sustaining friendships with interesting people.
Exercising the brain with bicameral interaction.
Building purpose-filled activity for joy of achievement.
Enhancing life through praise and appreciation.
Feeling of well-being derived from taking control.
Pacing work periods to suit individual capacity.
Seeking perfection in an imperfect world.

Something new

I wandered through an art supply store today and came across some oil pastels on sale. I've used chalk pastels before but not oil ones, so I bought a dozen of them and took them home to experiment. I really know little about oil pastels but have found that they have a lovely, buttery feel to them and like oil paints build up slowly, blending beautifully and you can acheive that same textured effect of layers as well.

I think I like them.

Here's part of my experiment with them.

Fridays

Fridays seem to have turned into very busy days for me. There is the weekly drawing event, illustration friday, the heralding of the end of the weekly drawing thread and the usual flurry trying to fit it all into two days of my weekend.

Here is this week's sumission for the WDT. Scamp, Deirdre's dog, along with the initial line drawing.

Time

I'm still trying to find time to build up my portfolio of animal portraits, without a lot of success. There just aren't enough hours in the day or night to allow me time to complete works to sometimes even start them.

This is one of the my first portraits of a Great Dane. He's a bit colourful but still quite elegant in soft pastels on black mi-tientes paper.

I love the impact of images on black, but the black can distort colours sometimes needing layers to build slowly.

Aging and art

Why is it that we have so little recollection of our very early years? Is it that our brains are not developed enough at that stage to form lasting memory or we don't have the language ability to put experiences into something we learn from?

I recall my earliest memories from about 3 - traumatic usually. Falling or being hit at a birthday party - simply because I wanted to see the birthday boy's new rocking horse. Birthday boy is now a cardiac specialist. Perhaps I should remind him of his misdemeanour in youth.

I see images of myself from so many years ago and wonder why I can't recall what I was thinking or doing that day. I want to remember and experience it through the eyes of a child.

Art is a bit like that. You need to open yourself to ideas and colour and experiences and accept them as new, as a child would. You then see the world though new eyes. You can see your morning mug of coffee not as a white steaming mug but as a an image glowing with colour and shape. Each image in life can be new and interesting. You don't really see something until you draw it. Then you explore each curve and line and find things you never have discovered.

Here is a sketch from Illustration Friday's weekly inspiration for drawing. Feet. I like the shadows imprisoning them.

Digital art

I have a digital drawing tablet that I pull out from time to time and tinker with. I am still finding my way around Photoshop and similar painting programs as well as playing with other paint specific programs. The learning curve is similar to Mount Everest in Photoshop and as soon as I learn one technique, it slips from my mind like water down the drain. I continue to play with it and experiment.

There is controversy over whether digital art is true art. It can be as simple as a cleverly manipulated photograph or something complex with many layers and drawing skills requiring hours of time and program knowledge. So is it art or cheating as some people think?

I prefer to think of it as art, especially the polished, complex pieces. Yes, they are computer enhanced, but the colours and details and shapes are chosen by human hand in the same way as they would be if drawing or painting on paper or canvas.

Here is my meagre offering in experimentation. You can decide for yourself if it is art or not.

The force

There is a weekly drawing event on the forum that I frequent - quite different from the weekly drawing thread that I also participate in. This past weekend I had a flow of creativity.

Its difficult to describe. It is a feeling that transports you to another place and gives you focus and the pen or pencil or paintbrush seem to work effortlessly on their own without havng to put thought into strokes. If it were the 16th century, it would be called 'possession' or 'witchcraft'. Whatever it is, it doesn't always happen and Ihave learned that it can't be forced. It is either there or not. When it is, it is glorious.

Now having said that, it doesn't translate into perfection for each and every drawing and in many cases, they are still fodder for the bin or the fire, but at the time of production they feel good.

Here are some results of this weekend's drawing event. All based on Irish subjects and all done with pen and ink - koh-i-noor nexus - sepia and coloured ink.

Illustrated journalling

I am experimenting with colour and loose sketches,combined with writing as I start a new sketchbook. I pulled out an ancient box of watercolours and tried my hand and learned that I am out of practice and that the paper in the sketchbook isn't heavy enough for waterbased mediums. I knew that before I started, but the colour won the argument in my head.

I think it is time I tracked down a source for a decent Moleskine sketchbook. I haven't found a source in Canada yet, but I live in hope.

Music inspired the next - Maria Muldaur. I usually listen to music as I draw or paint and today that jazz/blues sound worked well. I was looked at the cover of her cd 30 Years and l liked the freshness of the young earnest version of Maria. Sepia ink did the rest.

Something or someone I love

In another group that I am part of, Everyday Matters, there is a weekly challenge in drawing an item and then journaling about that drawing. This week, the challenge is to draw something or someone that I love.

That is a difficult choice as there are many somethings and fewer someones that I can commit to paper or words.

I will start with two images. One is the completed portrait of my youngest daughter. She is 27 now and lives thousands of miles from me. I recall good times and hard times and funny times with her. We clash at times because we are so alike and we laugh because we are so alike. I love her because of our differences and despite them. My oldest daughter is another of my loves, who also lives far away. Her portrait will come soon as it is equally important to me. As is her presence in my life.

Another love I had that I didn't know was so great until it was gone was my dog. He died 3 months ago at the age of 16. I watched him in the last year as his health faltered and old age gripped him. He didn't complain as most dogs don't, but stiffness and heavy sleep filled his days along with deafness and the cough of heart and lung congestion. I sketched him as he lay sleeping on the floor or the sofa, noticing how rough his fur had become. He had that 'old teddy bear' look and the same musty smell.

Once he was gone, it felt unbearable for a week or so, then gradually I adapted to an empty house. It is true. You don't know how much you love someone or something until they are gone.

Ireland - Two Thousand Miles Closer

That is what Newfoundland is. A little piece of Ireland, with origins after the Vikings to Ireland and England. Even now you can tell where someone's roots are by listening to them talk. There's still a thick brogue in some and phrases in others that aren't heard anywhere outside of Ireland or the West of England.

So St. Patrick's Day here is the same excuse for a party as it is in Ireland.

I don't participate usually with green beer, kiss me I'm Irish hats, or Celtic music even though I ahve connections to Ireland. My first husband was Irish, from Cork and I lived there for a year experiencing all the good and bad that it has to offer.

A conversation tonight sparked off memories of my early days in Ireland and how I travelled from coast to coast, some by bicycle, some by train, some by car. I went from Cork to Galway and the Aran Islands to the north and back across to Dublin, visiting small vilages are large urban centres, each different and unique.

One spot that captured my heart and imagination was a tiny village called Inch in the southwest on the Dingle Peninsula. I bicyled from Killarney to Dingle over two days and spent one night in Inch. Its claim to fame is a 6km sand beach that is breathtaking. This is an image of Inch Strand.

Sketchcrawl

Most of us are familiar with pub crawls where you go from bar to bar to bar but end up with nothing much to show for it besides an empty wallet and a hangover.

Sketchcrawls are similar in principle but you spend a day sketching, exploring your city, town, house, garden, wherever you choose to go and fill your sketchbook. You can go alone but there's safety and more fun in numbers.

I will explore this idea soon and take my sketchbook on the road for a morning and afternoon, a day and see what I come up with.

http://www.sketchcrawl.com/ is a great place to visit and see worldwide sketchcrawls. Join in, draw, enjoy.

My sketchpad is always at the ready and here are a couple of samples.

My Stash

I have a confession to make.

No, I haven't had secret plastic surgery or run off with a delicious man. Its more secretive than that.

I have a stash.

Of knitting yarn.

Now don't look so shocked. It is a common affliction. Let's be a little generous here.

I knit. I have knit since I was taught to by my father and in a painful experience in 4th grade by a teacher. Even though those experiences, I still stuck with it, knitting big baggy cardigans in the 70s, on to baby clothes as my children arrived, endless sweaters for people, myself, for no one in particular. Hats, mittens and scarves are countless in production. I evolved from basic forms to complex patterns with historical significance such as 16th centure guernseys or arans and usually have at least two projects that I can work on at the same time. One for simple, mindless knitting that takes no thought and another that demands full concentration with complex patterns or colour changes to test my mental ability.

Part of the process of knitting is in the planning, and poring over patterns and yarn choices. That is where the stash comes in. Yarn stores or yarn sections of larger stores, even online yarn stores have a magnetic pull to me. And I cannot leave without at least a couple of those on sale alpaca yarns in my hand, or that pure wool handpainted in Uraguay. Then there are the simply too good to pass up sales of brand names at bargain prices. Sigh.

I have a full set of cupboards in my utility room, like a set of kitchen cabinets, top and bottom. The bottom is filled with yarn and some half finished projects. The top cabinets are filled with patterns. Yes, I admit it. I can't help it. But it IS good insulation and Ill never run out of things to knit with and people who come to visit browse through it for hours as if it were a store, selecting yarn, patterns, needles and settling in for a good afternoon knitting and chatting.

The stash of yarn is like art in the wings, waiting to spring to life. The colours are my palette, the patterns my lines and the final product is a piece of art. You can't buy one of those sweaters or hats or mittens in a store, each is unique with history, time and love gone into it.

So now I have a few more balls tucked away in the sideboard that I must transfer downstairs....did I mention that part of the stash habit is being secretive? Others just don't understand the need to keep searching for that ultimate Trophy Yarn. Then again, I'm fickle, my Trophy Yarn changes every few weeks.

Mice and art

There really isn't a connection unless you consider that both are found everywhere. Even here in a blog.

But although I don't like the thought of mice running with wild abandon through the house, I do like their form with tiny faces and delicate feet. Yes, yes, they harbour disease and germs and bubonic plague you say...no wait, that was rats. (they, I don't like much)

The barn is the ultimate Disneyland vacation world for mice. Warmed by animals and poultry. Hay and sawdust to make nests with and lots of grain and feed that chickens or horses spill. Horses aren't a danger to mice, in fact they're quite scared of them and at times won't go into their stall if they've seen a mouse scutter past. Can't blame them really, I wouldn't want one in my bed either. The chickens and ducks are another story altogether. They will chase down, kill and eat mice. Traps keep mice at bay to lessen risk of disease and keep the population at bay. The trappings are then tossed as a peace offering to the crows - a sort of pact with them not to get me out of bed at 5 am in the summer with their 'melodious' songs.

An overpopulation of mice in the barn was the inspiration of this drawing. And just as the barn houses more inevitably, so does my head and hand so this little guy is for sale. The drawing measues 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. Rendered in graphite on Bristol smooth and framed in black with white corrugated matting rimmed in black.

Frustration

Aren't emotions the oddest things?

How do they take over your body and your mind and your soul no matter how hard to fight against them? They creep in and invade all elements of your life, no matter what the origin. They can interfere with functioning, eating, sleeping, speech and creativity.

Today I can feel the frustration as a physical knot in my stomach. Its real, tangible proof of its existance, but I can't reach it and remove it. A combination of my mind and circumstances can make it disappear, but I can't will it away.

Creativity doesn't exist well in the circle of frustration and becomes stifled. I can't reach that magical point of almost disappearance into creativity if it is present. It is like a wall blocking my entrance.

I came across the following article that may serve to break the circle.

The Ultimate Creative Conspiracy Theory

Whether it's the second gunman on the grassy knoll, the alien mystery at Roswell or what really is hidden within the high-security confines of Area 51... conspiracy theories abound. Many of us are amused by the speculation, while hardcore buffs examine every nuance looking for clues to support their version of the story.

If you'll notice, all of these conspiracy theories involve some type of dastardly deed or cover-up. Someone is out to brainwash us or hide the facts from the public. After all, "the truth is out there," according to X-Files scripture. I never seem to hear people suspecting, for instance, a conspiracy by furniture salesman to stuff money into the nooks and crannies of the couches they sell. Yet I always find change under the cushions when I clean. Hmm... maybe they're secretly... Oh, never mind.

There's another kind of conspiracy conjurer. You know the type. The artist, musician or writer who believes the deck has been stacked against him or that nobody will ever give her a break. "This town is just not artist-friendly," he/she proclaims. "This sucks. Why bother?"

To listen to these people, you'd think the radio stations, theatre groups, art galleries (or whatever venue applies) were all part of a sick joke, trying to obliterate creative growth. And just like the bigger conspiracy nuts, they find clues and plenty of ammo to support their claims.

"See, that guy never returned my call," they announce. "I can't buy a job in this town." Anything even remotely inconvenient that happens to them lends credence to the devious master plot.

Here's a fun little game that I challenge you to play. It's called the Inverse Conspiracy Game. For one entire day, I encourage you to go through the day believing wholeheartedly that there is a conspiracy involving you. Only with this Inverse Conspiracy, the whole world and everyone in it are involved in a conspiracy to help you succeed.

If you're familiar with the recent Jim Carey movie "The Truman Show," you know what I mean. In the film, everything that happens to the main character is a preplanned scene -- only he has no idea it's fabricated.

So for one day, imagine that everyone is pitching in on a secret mission to help you. There's a positive reason behind everything that happens to you. Even seemingly negative events are put into action in order to propel you toward a reward that's just around the corner. And it's your job to break the code and figure out exactly how the world intends for you to use what happens to your advantage.

True, this isn't your father's conspiracy theory. It will take some brain work to reorient your mental perspective -- especially to keep it up for an entire day. But just think how this shift in attitude might alter your progress. You'll be forced to view everything in a far more constructive light. And when bad things do happen, it will be your mission to find the hidden opportunity (instead of more reasons to stop trying to reach your creative goals).
Give this inverse conspiracy theory a try. You can always go back to looking for evil schemes and cover-ups. In the meantime, you just might discover an alien on a grassy knoll waiting to help you succeed.

Bob Baker is the author of "Unleash the Artist Within," "Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook" and "Branding Yourself Online." Get a FREE subscription to Bob's newsletter, "Quick Tips for Creative People," featuring inspiration and low-cost, self-promotion ideas for artists, writers, performers and more. Visit www.PromoteYourCreativity.com for details.

Lost weekend

I have been holed up all weekend trying to catch up on work and drawing that is well overdue and I actually made progress.

Sometimes deadlines provide the incentive to create or finish tasks as without them I can meander and put things aside for another day. Today I made inroads on a number of creative and mundane tasks, mostly satisfying even if some of them weren't quite what I would have chosen to do.

One of my horses is the reference for a weekly drawing thread. Lady, a quarter horse is a beautiful animal, but rather tempermental. In her short 6 years of life, she's had at least three homes that I know of and some of them with less than ideal owners. As a result, she is very mistrustful of people, but slowly coming around. Here is the image that was used as the reference and a sketch that I started of it, but haven't yet completed.













I'd like to start this drawing again but in colour. I just need another 'lost' weekend.

I've worked more on the portrait of my daughter and am at the adjustment stage. I have most of the elements and tones in place but am finding slight adjustments to features or tone need to take place to ensure a likeness. Its always tiresome to do this as it becomes a little frustrating but it helps me learn to be more accurate and not rush my drawing in the future! Here are the updates as they occurred. You can see the adjustments as the drawing evolves.