The Times - Greeting Card

 

7x5 water soluble graphite on watercolor paper
greeting card
$30 + $5 sh

One of my favorite things to do - sketch people in coffee shops. Its interesting to note that its primarily men who read the newspapers.

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There is still time to buy a piece of original art for a gift that lasts lifetimes.
See my ETSY store for large and small works.

Window Seat - Greeting Card

7x5 water soluble graphite on watercolor paper
greeting card
$30 + $5 sh

Barely have had time to paint, but am doing so in fits and spurts. The season is upon us, and I am finishing last gift shopping, wrapping and shipping and beginning baking. Lots of little parties for the kids and family. Its all holly jolly!
We've snapped out of our arctic blast here and are enjoying some lovely "winter" weather - 70 and sunny. :-)

Today are the class parties and in the afternoon the Girl Scouts are going caroling at a nursing home nearby. I hope that all my cyber friends out there are having as pleasant a time - remembering the reason for the season. I myself have been a little too stressed and am trying to take deep breaths. So much to do... best to remember WHY we do it.

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Check my ETSY store for more available art. I've shipped to Italy and Australia recently. So amazed at the reach my artwork can have. So very blessed too.

Thankfully

7x5 water soluble graphite portrait sketch

Commission - nfs

Happy post Thanksgiving! What a perfectly lovely afternoon we had at Joel's on Wednesday. I got to paint and sketch a perfectly lovely young lady for a friend's Christmas gift. 

I think I made my model look a little older, unfortunately. But hopefully she will grow into her portrait! Lol

I started a second sketch using casein. But the eyes are all wrong. My limited palette of casein is an issue. As is my inexperience with the medium. I will finish this at home  either with oil or casein. 

Now - I don't want to ignore the fact that this is the biggest shopping weekend of the year (though I almost feel ashamed for us at all the desperate commercialization I'm seeing.) But truly in the spirit of expressing my gratitude to my friends and fans, I have a special discount for my email/newsletter subscribers only! Sign up today - in the right column ➡ and I will send you codes for 25% off and/or $100 off purchases over $500. My shop on ETSY is filling up with my studio inventory finally. Help me make space (literally and creatively) for new work!

Zesty

7x5 water soluble graphite on paper (greeting card)
$30 + $5 sh
 

One of many small original sketches available at our "open studio" event.

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Please join artists Robin Cheers and V....Vaughan at their "satellite studio" for gourmet chocolate and new collections of gift sized artworks just in time for the holidays. With Joel's offering amazing artisan chocolates, locally crafted teas, fresh coffees and seasonal treats, Robin and V.... will be sketching from life. So bring YOUR LIFE, a child or pet to pose for an original sketch by the artists...a truly original gift idea. Also available are original art greeting cards and small paintings. 

Wednesday -  November 20th - 4 -8 pm

Joel's Coffee House

11301 Lakeline Blvd, Ste 120

Austin, TX 78717

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Upcoming Events: 

• November 20: Chocolate and Chiaroscuro Event, Joel's Coffee House, Austin
• November 29: Major's Fundraising Art Sale begins 
• December 6: Small Gems show dk Gallery, Marietta, GA

 

Jenny and Jill Sketch

A page from my sketchbook

When I've had a few minutes to sit down lately - in between errands, chores, volunteering, dog vetting, party hostessing, decorating and undecorating, etc. - I've been sketching. Mostly with the water soluble charcoal. But after awhile, I felt that I had no finesse with it so I switched to a mechanical pencil. It may have something to do with my paper in my sketchbook as well. This is rougher than my last book... and I prefer smooth... just like my painting surfaces.

I was working from photos on the laptop this evening when I found these mules and liked their faces. I painted them awhile ago and the painting is still available at Castle Gallery.

Here is an image of the painting and the gallery's mobile site from my handy iPhone. 

All this work in grays has me craving color. I cannot allow so much other stuff (the computer/email especially!) get in the way of painting the rest of this week!

Sketching 101

sketch from photo - working out composition and light/shadow patterns

sketch from life with graphite wash

sketch before painting "en plein air"

Whether you are working from life or from photo reference, sketching is a wonderful way to improve your "vision." I find that if I take a little time to work out my composition and value pattern with even the simplest sketch, I am better able to express myself in painting. Its easy to be overwhelmed by all the information before us. We see in 3D, but have to render in 2D. As a scene changes, or when we need to edit, its wonderful to be able to refer to your first impression caught in a sketch and keep yourself on course.

Come and sketch with me and V.... Vaughan at Joel's Coffee House in Austin on Saturdays in June (except the 29th). Bring your supplies, or use ours, we offer instruction, demos and hopefully inspire you too with some delicious coffee and truffles (or hot chocolate in my case.) Cost just $20.

Figure Sketch

V.... sketching, chatting on the phone, etc.

Still get together with V....Vaughan regularly to sketch and talk shop. Last week, she was taking care of all kinds of business - and sketching her rodeo riders - and was an inviting subject herself to sketch. I think the top one needs to be a painting.

Sketches @ Le Cordon Bleu

I'm officially back to work! I spent the first two weeks of the new school year putting my studio back into order. I've rearranged and cleared out and have a beautiful space to work in again! I began painting again today - working on a few painted sketches for a beach commission. I hope the client likes one of the ideas so I can get to work on the large piece.

I've been sketching a lot lately. My friend V...Vaughan is teaching a sketching workshop once a week this month so I've joined her in that. And then I heard of an open house at our local cooking school in Austin and we met over there to enjoy the demo, sketch and take notes on some delicious French and Italian dishes.

I have more and more things in the works this fall and a full page of "to do" items so stay tuned. :-)

Everyday People II

10x8 oil on carton board
$150 + s/h

Another random portrait. I sketched this homeless man who was sitting on a curb during an arts festival downtown. Below is the sketch. Today I felt like painting his face... though it tells a bit less of his story.


a page from my sketchbook - nfs

A Page from my Sketchbook

I went downtown this morning to paint with Plein Air Austin again. Rather than painting, I opted to sketch. I had a great view south on Congress and got much of the street going when a thoughtful model came and filled the perfect seat there to give my drawing some life... and a focal point. Dead center.... but it works for this. There was a friend with him who will perfectly balance out the left corner when I make this an oil painting.
I have only recently begun to take this sketching seriously. I have always loved to draw, but now am using it more and more to prepare for finished paintings. While I focus on a scene from life, I am developing the oil painting in my head. This scene is not nearly so interesting in a photo, but because I studied the light, the shadows, the sihouettes against the light, and the drawing, the painting will be so much more interesting. I've solved a lot of problems already. And a sketch like this will only help me retain that gestural quality I like to get in my finished paintings. Something that is a real challenge with buildings! Stay tuned to see how I do!

A Page from my Sketchbook

pen & watercolor wash

I sat in a coffee shop window downtown yesterday and sketched the opposite corner. This intersection reminds me of San Francisco with the hill and the low buildings with some nice architectural features. None of which I accurately captured. I really got excited about the people at the bus stop but the buses kept pulling up and blocking my view. I want to go back and do more studies of the people waiting. Their gestures were all so interesting. I love to observe people.

Watching Rehearsal

pencil sketch

This little girl was in her leotard, just came from her dance class, and got to watch the big girls rehearse The Nutcracker.

Dancer Waiting - Sketch

pencil and paper

Ok - another of these. I can't tell you how tired I am today. I have been dragging. Could be the interrupted nights with my daughter coughing so much. My cold is lingering too and to be honest, my foot is hurting more now than post surgery. The dr. says it will be another month before I am 100%, with the pain actually increasing these next two weeks. And so - I didn't accomplish anything today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and I will feel better. I can't face the holiday season in this frame!

Dancer Sketch

pencil on paper

My daughter's cold was worse today - her asthma is always irritated by colds - so she stayed home with me. I got some business things done, but no painting. All I have to show you is another dancer sketch. BUT....



I will also promote the first ever Daily Painter's Gallery book Colour, Obsession, Joy and Torment. It looks like such a nice volume, featuring 146 artists whose work is found on the Daily Painter's Gallery. This group began sometime around the time I started blogging and has grown so successfully. I owe most of my blog's success to that site. There are some wonderful artists who exhibit their work online and are included in the group gallery. The book also has several well-written essays on the inspiration for the title (a quote from Monet) and on the subject of the technological art age which we're now embracing. I think I now believe that this is an official art movement. Artists are so much more accessible than in the past and in a time when reproductions and cheap pictures can be found at any store, I applaud any effort that artists make to educate people about original art and to make it more available to patrons. I can't wait to get my hands on this book. Stay tuned for ordering information.

Ballet Dancer

colored pencil on paper

As we gear up for the holidays, the Nutcracker is such a nice Christmas story to set the mood for celebrating. We go to Houston in two weeks to see it there. Also going to the Galleria to ice skate of all things!

Saturday was the opening of the Small Works North America show at the Greenwich Workshop Gallery in Connecticut. Exhibit winners are chosen by votes from patrons. You can actually register online and vote for your favorite small works. The show is really quite impressive. I am thrilled to have two works in the exhibit which are hanging alongside many of the top painters in the country. This was a milestone for me. I have a couple more to yet check off my list, but they will come in time.

Ballet Dancer

pencil on paper

Last Thursday my friend Tess Walls and I went to Ballet Austin for a behind-the-scenes look at a Nutcracker rehearsal. The dancers were below us. We watched from a landing above the studio, the wall behind them is all glass and they were often silhouettes in front of it, making the figures all the more dynamic. The girls wore their practice tutus and I saw Degas in my head. I wish I could capture more of that dynamic line he did. (and like my friend Tess's sketches... beautiful!)
I was tempted to add some color, but I sent my pastels to a friend who is convalescing in Houston area...
I am convalescing as well. The surgery went fine and I am laying about for the most part. I am sketching though from my photos and things in the room (dog, husband, child, toys).

Macy Again

pencil on paper, nfs

If I dared post a picture of my studio at the moment, you would laugh. Its so packed with frames, boxes, paintings, etc. that I can barely get in. Poor Macy can't follow me in, there isn't even room for her to sit. Besides the mess in the studio, the rest of my life is rather brimming too. I've been volunteering a lot at school this week and not had the time I have wanted to paint. But here is another sketch at least. Macy has very bad posture. I've never seen a dog sit like her before. She rolls over on her hind end so that her back legs are lined up with her front ones.

Macy Sketch and Fall Shoes

Pencil on paper, nfs

I took the day off today. I went shopping with a friend. Very unusual for me. So here I have some more sketches of Macy. And yes, to answer my mom's question on the previous sketch, she is this fat unfortunately.
Ya'll have a wonderful weekend. I'm hoping we get some cold weather. 81 is too hot for mid-Nov. and I want to wear my new stacked-heel "oxford" patent leather shoes. This is really off topic, but I love shoes. My husband calls me Imelda. He buys racing tires - I buy a different kind of tread - and we're both happy.
Hmmm, maybe I should paint these - they are really pretty.

Deer sketch

This morning on my walk with Macy, I saw several deer resting under the oaks. Since Macy can't see now, she doesn't get all excited and disturb them. We live in the 'burbs, but we have a lot of wildlife all around. There is still a lot of undeveloped land, canyon land and hills, so there is a habitat for the deer. They are pretty used to people too so they didn't mind at all when I lingered with my pencil and scrap paper. It was a fun exercise to then try to paint what I remembered.

My teacher here in Austin, Elizabeth Locke, once told me of her professor who set up a still life on one floor of the art building and made the students set up their easels on another floor. They had to go up and down stairs to see their subject in order to paint. That made them work very hard to commit what they saw to memory and be very sure about every stroke. I can think of a whole lot of reasons that would be exhausting.

Macy - Doing What She Does Best

pencil on paper, nfs

I had the need to sketch this weekend. And what better subject than my dog snoozing in various positions? She is adapting to her blindness really well now. She loves her walks and does very well on them. She's learned new words which help her on the stairs and when I say "careful" she slows or stops quickly to avoid crashing headlong into whatever might be in her way. She really relies on her hearing and sniffer. As long as I continue to speak to her and let her know where I am, she is confident. She is pretty lazy in the house, though she always was. All in all - she is quite normal and many people don't realize she can't see them.