Lunchtime Meditation

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Hibiscus: blue micron ink pen

Hibiscus: blue micron ink pen

Lately I haven’t had much time at work for lunch, it’s just been so busy. Normally I take about 10 minutes to do a little meditation, but for the last couple of weeks (maybe more) I am taking 10 or 15 minutes to sketch instead. It seems to work just as well at energizing me for the afternoon! Now I need to carve out 10 minutes for actual meditation and 10 or 15 minutes of sketching! That would be super awesome for a lunch break!

Maybe a New Year’s Resolution in the making.

Daisy: micron ink pen

Daisy: micron ink pen

State of Mind

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micron ink pen: pelican

micron ink pen: pelican

I can’t concentrate! This is something that makes me so frustrated. My holiday family situation is a little on the tense side. I really didn’t expect that to interfere with my art vibe. I have a few things I want to do and I am finding that I just can’t concentrate on them well enough. So, I decided to just do a little ink drawing and some color grounds. My micron pen is running out of ink…time to get another one. I love pelican’s, but man, they aren’t easy to draw. The goal is to get up early tomorrow and maybe get a little bit of good drawing time in.

Finishing up

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Casein & colored pencil: 5" x 7"

Casein & colored pencil: 5″ x 7″

Some work does get abandoned….but not always forgotten. I have been looking at this in an unfinished state since August! I carry it around, and keep thinking I will get back to it. I did a pencil sketch that I actually like better…but, I wasn’t ready to relegate this to a permanently unfinished piece. So, without too much extra time involved I completed it today. I love the richness of the background against the white. This white iris was blooming in front of my very red japanese maple. Nice memory.

Christmas Eve

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Inktense and colored pencil. 4x6

Inktense and colored pencil. 4×6

Everyone in my house is taking a nap (except me). It’s one of those kind of days I suppose. It should be snowing, but it’s not quite cold enough, so we have a little mist hanging around at the mountain. I was able to find just enough time to finish this little drawing that I started last weekend. Hoping to get a lot of time in for more projects between now and Sunday night. Tomorrow will probably be filled with lots of cooking for others.

If I can carve out some time tomorrow from cooking I will try to organize my little art corner and do some planning for the new year. Can’t wait until sketchbook skool!

Merry Christmas to all!

Holiday Rush

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Quick sketch: micron ink pen

Quick sketch: micron ink pen

It’s closing in on Christmas and I am trying to enjoy the season and not get anxious about all that there is to do. The drawing time is getting slim, but once the 25th is actually here I will be able to spend several days devoting myself to sketching and painting (this is my hope). In the meantime, I am looking around at all the beautiful scenes and storing up images for future projects.

These little salt and pepper shakers are so awesome. I love them! Each table in this restaurant had cute little shakers, all different. I like these the best.

saltandpepper

 

Stuck on shells

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Inktense and colored pencil

Inktense and colored pencil

Seems like shells are the subject matter of the moment. The great thing about them is that I have so many to choose from! Before my #sketchbookskool class  I was drawing a lot more from photos. I have discovered I really like drawing from life. Many of the shells I have are tiny, so I can just put them in my purse and pull them out to draw at any time.

For my next few drawings I am going to work on putting color down first and then working over in ink pen. Love, love, love working in ink. And, I am surprised at how much I like working without any guidelines.

Quick sketch: ink pen

Quick sketch: ink pen

Working the background

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water-soluble crayon and colored pencil

water-soluble crayon and colored pencil

Doing these little detail drawings is a lot of fun. I am working on incorporating some movement and activity in the background. This background was inspired by the pattern on the topside of a scallop shell that I picked up a long with this broken shell. The broken shell reminded me of Georgia O’Keefe shell paintings, so I thought I would try to do one with that as inspiration.

I like the texture and movement in the background, I am going to work on these combinations for a few more pieces. I need to work on doing a better job of creating a motion feeling…but it’s starting.

This was drawn in my moleskin sketchbook.