EDM Challenge 165

Also the beginning of a new water color Moleskine journal. The EDM challenge to draw the front of one's house fit in perfectly with the theme I've chosen for this journal. Prompted by a fellow journalist's entry of the floor plan of his boyhood home, I'm planning to use this journal to leave some mementos of Grandma's house for my family....or more accurately, "Grandpa and Grandma's House". This is from a photo taken when we first bought the house in 1993...the trees and bushes have either grown considerably and/or been removed or replaced in the meantime.

Okay, new stuff this time!

I've re-drawn some things from some of my old sketchbooks to use for watercolor practice and here are some of the more successful results. I'm still very uptight with the color, and the little journal I was using for the first two drawings isn't the best quality watercolor paper, I found. For the third one, I used a piece of 300 lb. Arches I found stashed away upstairs from my long-ago efforts. I wish I could make myself a journal with that paper, but I'm afraid it's too heavy for that.

More Old Stuff

I probably shouldn't show these....it was a less than successful attempt in an effort to loosen up my brushwork and deal with watercolor washes. I keep thinking that if I had just kept at it, I might just have learned something by this time!

This one was a bit more successful, but done with colored pencils this time, in an online class with the very talented Angela Jarecki.

Older work

Here are some things I did some time ago. The first was a watercolor study for a small table I was painting.

This one was one of many I did at that time in an effort to gain some insight into painting with watercolor....never did master it, but I'm still trying!

This one I did in a watercolor class at a small local college. It was done from a photgraph and it felt much akin to painting by number!

They're ba-a-a-a-ck

For the first time in 3 years or more, a pair of bluebirds appeared in the yard this past week looking for a nesting place. I called Roy to see them and we hurriedly went out and put up the bluebird house we used in previous years. Within a half hour or less they were checking out the house. An aggressive robin made a valiant effort to chas them away (I never saw an aggressive robin before!) but they persevered and have been carefully surveying the neighborhood to make sure it's safe before building the nest inside. Today they seemed comfortable enough to begin and have been diligently scurrying back and forth with twigs. They build beautifully constructed nests with no leaves or other unrelated materials, just twigs. I do hope that no predators discover them now that they've decided to stay.

Drawing May 3

Well, it's an attempt at a watercolor actually. I'm teaching myself from a book by Cathy Johnson (Kate) and having a great time without feeling pressured. I've wanted to learn watercolor for a very long time, but haven't had the motivation to just sit down and do it! So this is a start...........

EDM #169

This is my first response to a weekly challenge on EveryDayMatters, a drawing/painting/journaling group I joined recently. The motivation to hone my drawing skills, and even finally learn to "master" watercolors, has been very good for my lazy, good for nothing muse, who had just about abandoned me this winter.
As you can see, I had a battle with that plate over perspective. Unfortunately the plate won! I'll have to work on that....
So I'm off again on a new direction....or perhaps more to the point, on a quest to get back to areas of creativity I've let atrophy! I hope I'll have much more to share in the days to come........