We just brought home our beautiful greyhound rescue - white with brown spot on her back and a little spot on her head. She was picked up by animal control in the high desert where hunters often leave the dogs if they don't come home. She was found with at least four pups -- may have had more and they did not live. She was left there to fend for herself and puppies. When we found her through the adoption organization, she was very thin. Puppies were weaned -- so cute. But we cannot handle a 7 week old puppy now with our 11 year grey. She must have picked up a respiratory infection in the shelter in her weakened condition. But she has been to the doc, had IV fluids and antibiotics and is coming around. She is so sweet. My drawing does not do her justice. I will take a picture of her to post. We call her Lotus because the lotus flower is white and because the Lotus car is FAST!
I just have to write my thoughts about this art class I'm taking. One day a week I attend a drawing class in am and then an acrylic painting class in the afternoon from same teacher. It is through one of our community colleges and it is an emeritus class. Makes me feel great because I'm the youngest stduent in the class. Esther is almost 90. I guess there are not many seniors in their 60's taking advantage of these classes. That being said, the students are fun. Our teacher, who supposedly has taught classes in drawing, painting, watercolors, etc. for 11 years, comes in, sets up a still life on a long table and then everyone just starts drawing or painting, depending on class. She never asked who is new in the class or their experience level (and this is supposed to be for all levels). She does not tell you which pencil to use (one week our syllibus did say bring paper bag and brown conte pencil). She does not give any instruction on which brushes to use or how to load your brush. Color mixing theory is SUBTLE - she just tells us what colors to bring and through that we are supposed to learn color mixing, by osmosis I guess. And then towards the end of class she visits each student and sits down and paints over your painting fixing it. In the first class I was not happy that she painted over my work. But I have just decided that it is one way to learn -- watching her. I must say this the craziest class -- nothing as I expected.
Sea shells are so incredibly intricate. There are so many different specimens, it would be fun to draw a seashell a day. They have such delicate, unique lines and curves. When we visited Captiva Island off the coast of Florida, there was a veritable plethora of shells just lying on the beach, each looking so beautiful. Everyday I was doing what is called the Sanibel/Captiva walk. Everyone is walking with heads down as they are looking at and collecting a variety of shells. 
Musings from the weekend. My dh brought me a bouquet of sassy sunflowers. It's easy to get lost in all the petals. One of my fave flowers is the sunflower. Others are tulips, daisies, roses and hydrangeas.
One of my first attempts with Derwent watercolor pencils. I'm happy with it overall. The scan does not really show the darker values of the tomatoes. I mixed a couple colors for the sweet potato, but I was not expecting it to be quite so dark. 
1. Pick up any book.
2. Go to page 127.
3. Find third sentence
4. Post it on your blog (plus these instructions)
5. Don't choose the book, just pick up the one closest to you.
Mine comes from The Brethren by John Grisham
"He paused, listened, heard nothing, then quietly opened a wooden gate and darted between the two buildings behind his."
The idea comes from Martina via Monica and then Anastasia
My second attempt at drawing this onion. I had it on a cutting board, and though the onion was okay, the cutting board ended up being a mess. So I did what any good artist would do. I placed it on a different surface - my tile countertop - and drew it again.
One panel of my "big sack" - a fabric collage I'm making after reading Traci Bautista's new book "Collage Unleashed". I've taken her painted papers class, but have not had the good fortune to take her fabric art class. I figured I would try it, and I'm pleased with this first panel. Now on to the other panel. If you navigate to my flickr site I have added notes explaining techniques.
I loved Danny Gregory's article on "How to Draw" on his website. As he says "You probably will not end up being Tiger Woods, but so what, you'll still have lots of fun". This blog, my sketching, my fabric art and my acrylic painting and journaling have been more about the process or the journey than perfection. I get so carried away, that I lose track of time. It's much cheaper than therapy. Well, I think it is. It does seem like I spend a lot for art supplies. I've also learned a lot just looking at others' art, reading messages on EDM and AJ2. Everyone's art is so different and interesting. I find that when I go to an art museum, I look much more closely at the art. I now want to examine their color mixing and their brush strokes and composition. It is indeed a whole new world for this finally retired, stay-at-home, play like artist.
Part 2 of Somewhere New. I had already experimented with my Derwent watercolor pencils after reading someone's message on EDM about Crayolas being as good or better. I did buy a small package of Crayolas just to see and I could not see much difference - perhaps it was the paper I was using. But since I could not see much difference, I would surely prefer to pay the Crayola price in the future.Still struggling with the perspective (the umbrella is a little skewed).
Part 1 of 2 sketches for "Somewhere New". Still don't quite get that perspective or proportion correct. It was a beautiful day - I took myself to see "The Devil Wears Prada" and was sitting in this open area of the mall. Beautiful fountain - but I left out the sign "No playing in the fountain". Heck, what is it for if not to play in.
I could have picked a much more interesting beverage, but sitting in the doctor's office waiting for my son, there was my water bottle. I'm so far behind on my challenges that I thought this is the perfect beverage and the perfect time.
