The Sycamore Tree Part II

The Sycamore Tree Series continues.  

These three will close out the series for the year 2022. The month of November in Wisconsin was filled with highly diverse weather...for the most part much warmer here than normal...barely light jacket weather many days including the day (Nov 2) when I did this sketch above.  And took many photos.  I sat directly under the tree and sketched en plein air for this one.  People dropping by to look over my shoulder and we visited about the tree, about sketching, and about life in general.  This is one of those plus things for outdoor sketching. And it's probably the last outdoor sketch day for many months.  But I took a lot of photos.  

This sketch above was done indoors but directly looking at the tree out our window (and some of the photos I took on November 16).  That day was our first very wet and beautiful snow fall in Madison.  The snow lasted about a week before disappearing.  These branches are highly visible from our window in Sycamore Tree House on 4th floor facing east.  I used toned paper, and graphite tinted watercolors in muted tones for the branch itself.  Then added white acrylic ink for the snow itself.  I shadowed the snow with cobalt blue Daniel Smith watercolor.  I always love how the seed balls on the tree get a snow cap that look for all the world like a child with a white hat. I've had several folks suggest it would make a nice Christmas card.  We've not had any real snow since then but pretty cold temperatures in the teens and single digits at night now.  

 

This last sketch done Nov 29 is from a photo taken back in early November sitting outside and looking straight up at the amazingly strange bark of the Sycamore.  The bark falls off as the tree expands...usually this happens in the late summer.  Big chunks of bark fall off and surround the base of tree.  The "patchwork" of texture left on some parts of the tree is smooth and in other places hugely textured and unusual.  Again I tried out the Derwent Graphitint Paint Pan set.  The colors are subtle and grainy.  They lean toward pinks, greens, golds and grays.  I think they will be nice for painting rocks too.  

Painting in a series has some interesting challenges.  I've kept the task to just this one amazing tree for now.  Looking at it from different angles, using different seasons and using different media.

There's been a lot of interest in it  among the residents of University Woods because it stands close to where some de-construction will soon take place.  The tree has been here a long time.  It's an unusual tree...probably the only Sycamore on the property and also it's unusual to see one this far north.  

Sketches as "Shorthand" in my sketchbooks!

 “The sketch hunter moves through life as he finds it, not passing negligently the things he loves, but stopping to know them, and to note them down in the shorthand of his sketchbook.”  Robert Henri

Never throw art away...well, let me rephrase, at least not without looking at it with a practiced eye.  Old paintings that did not work out?...I've tossed a number in my day, of course.  But it is a good idea to use a viewfinder or you old mats to see if maybe there might be a little hidden gem somewhere amidst the larger painting.  This is what happened here.  It's been so long I don't even remember what I was attempting with the larger format...but with a paper cutter or scissors I snipped some little sweet spots out of the painting and tucked them into an envelope to save.  This one was cut down to card size (5 x 7) and it was only after I discovered it that I added the ink, the shading, and line work.  I added the pine trees, some stones along the shore, highlighted the birch trees (which were there but not highlighted), darkened the shadows under the trees.  July...high summer now...is green, green, green and this little painting says that.  

Voila..a lovely little vignette card to send to my grandson for his 21st birthday!  I think it's frame-able myself.  

Outside Oakwood Apartments in the conservancy is a little home made cage for moth and butterfly cocoons (in season).  And dear Gretchen makes it part of her spring and early summer hobby to curate the cocoons and chrysalis and then share them with residents for release. This screened.  

The Madison Urban Sketchers have been at it again...this time introducing me to the Biergarten on Lake Monona last Saturday.  (Note the Madison capital building in the bottom far right corner.). Pretty amazing view across the lake!

Gorgeous Saturday afternoon about 82 degrees and a light breeze...many folks out enjoying the cold beer (Greg and I had root beer floats.).  There were large home made soft pretzels for some folks and also brats.  But the sketchers were too busy to eat or drink much...lots of sketching going on.  People were paddle boating, canoeing, swimming, and having parties under tents.   (No life guard on duty but looks like once upon time there was!). On the beach was this dark old wood box that look for all the world like a coffin!  So I sketched it in.  Maybe Mr. Olbrich decided to stay in his park?  

You can tell we had a good turn out.  I'm standing WAY in the back row. And at that point I hadn't finished painting some things in.  

We are in Madison, obviously, for a few weeks.  Summer is lovely here and I don't want to miss the whole season...it's been so windy, wet and cold up north.  But we'll leave August 9 (after we vote in the primary) for another two week try and hope weather will improve this time!!!  

 

Cabin Time

 And yet I know that hope is not a default, it is a choice, it is daily intention and action. Writing a better story is not a given, it is an intention, it is how we lean into the next great turning.

Carrie Newcomer

There is an amazing "aura" about time at the cabin...it takes about a week for me to "fall" into the ambiance of a the new-old ways of cabin life.  Ever so slowly my metabolism slows down and I begin rise and wake with the sun again.  To hear the frogs and birds more closely to smell the lake and breathe more deeply.  To smile over the smell of cinnamon French toast in the morning, to sit with my book in late evenings and watch the wild storms sweep over the water.  To really "see" the verge flowers along the road again.  

Time on the deck with my sketchbook letting my breathing go slow again...following the flow of the ink and waving at friends at boats going by.  Smelling the woodsmoke, sharing stories over wine and feeling the sun on your back.  Intent on writing a better story* (based on the old memories).  Welcome to summer at the cabin. 

*Having my two daughters with us this week has been SO delightful. 

I can't thank them enough for a wonderful week together.  Great food, great stories, great memories, wonderful help, laughter. As we "lean into the next great turning." 

Odds and Ends of art fun in April

Walking through the 9 acre woods here at Oakwood brings just the tinges of the first spring flowers and mother goose on her nest in our pond.

An Easter card for my sister in "cartouche" style Zentangle.

Grandson Patrick's 16th birthday card in Zentangle Framing.

A little fun with cards for Easter envelopes 

using Dingbats style Zentangle

My favorite Easter Sketch using Zentangle framing.  This was done during a commercial being filmed for University Woods 

at Oakwood on April.  

 

Collaging two Urban Sketches

So after I did the one little sketch of the Mt. Dora Queen Anne style  house at home and then did a little demo in class on gray toned paper...I decided to try to "collage" the two of them together.  

Not sure if it was successful but it's kind of interesting.

Makes you look twice and think..."what?"  

I interpreted the house a little differently in each sketch.

I have drawn this house several times over the years.  

John P. Donnelly came to Mount Dora in 1879 from Pittsburgh, PA. He married Annie McDonald Stone in 1881 and built this Queen Anne style house in 1893 as a gift to her. He was among the founders of the local yacht club, and served as the city´s first mayor in 1910. The Donnelly House, now owned by Mount Dora Lodge #238, F&AM, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1975.

Lovely Stop Along the Way...

Although weather has not been generally kind to us so far on the annual trip south...we have safely ignored this and followed our itinerary (see previous post) with integrity.  

The wonderful "early" 80th birthday party in Warrenville, IL on Sunday was wonderful and it was sunny and chilly and the party room at my daughter's townhouse association had a huge fireplace that crackled and glowed brightly as I had a chance to hug a lot of people who mean a whole lot to me.  

And our two days and nights with friends Jim and Roberta in southern WI were so so delightful.  They have a wonderful welcoming and comfortable home.  And we found ways to work around having to cook which we all loved...we brought in a Papa Murphy's pizza the first night and then we all ordered our favorite Chinese the second.  Lots of fun conversation with two amazing smart, funny friends.  Our mutual connections to the UCC church and the town of Williams Bay, WI made our enjoyment even greater.  And their wide range of interests from nature and sports to art to music to theater made our talks endearing and warm.  

Above you see one of Jim's most cherished places, the conservancy in Williams Bay. (Also dear to me due to my old friend Kendra and her love of the place).  Being there brought her memory back so vividly.  Despite WIND and COLD, Jim took me for about a 45 minute walk on the south board walk yesterday and I did a few fast sketches to remind me of this special place.  Jim tells me there is a new app to download on your phone that will give names of plants and animals.  It is called "Seek".  I want to look this up!!!

This little sketch in my smaller journal actually took far longer than the one above!  It is Roberta and Jim's "kitchen sink garden" overlooking the beautiful woods.  

We are now headed to Janesville to visit Greg's cousins, Len and Rick and their wives and then up to Madison, WI tonight to stay with my daughter, Julie.  Saturday is THE wedding.

Zentangle Inktober Challenge day 4,5, and 6

Zonked, Jalousie, Flukes

My friend Maurine Rice is also doing the Challenge.

She is doing two per tile where I am doing 3/tile.  I posted my first three on Oct 3.  

Here is hers so far:

Walk-And-Draw Journaling

This kind of journal entry I call "walk-and-draw" journal entries.

These quick line drawings were done in a 5x7 journal with a PN Sakura pen.  I was standing while sketching...talking with my daughter Julie as we walked (ambled) along the road near our Northwoods cabin...discussing what we were seeing and trying to identify some of the plants we were seeing.  Some easy and other not so.  Julie identified a Sarsaparilla plant which I had seen but never identified.

(note corrected spelling from my notes.) It appears this plant is used for medical properties.  

There were two plants we noted but could not identify.  I'm still searching my wildflower book.  

I stopped to do a brief sketch of the neighbor's old pump they use for a name holder for their cabin.  I've seen it a million times but today it just seemed so old and lovely that I had to add it.

We also found what we think is a "white milkweed" and at least 20 tiny Monarch caterpillars on each plant...less than an inch long!  Must have JUST hatched.  I never would have noticed this if I wasn't walking slowly with my daughter and my sketchbook.  How lovely and amazing is that.

So how are you feeling about happenstances that change thinking?  Or change the course of your thinking? Or coincidences that just seem (at the time or later) to have impacted your life in small but sometimes amazing ways?  Perhaps opening new doors or allowing you to change your mind or even making you wonder about the "magic" in your life?  It's a topic my daughter and I have been exploring. It certainly fits with my journey to "pay attention".  

See Sidewalk Oracles: Playing with Signs, Symbols, and Synchronicicity by Robert Moss.  

So tonight around 7 a storm blew up on the lakeside and we had about half an hour of wind and rain which has now moved off, leaving everything dripping and the temperature down.  Julie and I are curled up on the porch doing a jig saw puzzle, reading, and chatting. She has to leave tomorrow.  Sigh. 

Hospital Sketches

The View from my chair...
Behind my TV and the Announcement Board is a little mural.  That's my closet under the clock.  

My view out the window

Yup, it's me.  Finally in a place where I can pop in and say hi again.  Whew...that "knee replacement surgery thing" is really a show-stopper.  Like all stories there is the good and the tough.

  

I had my knee replaced last Wednesday around noonish at Florida Waterman Hospital in Tavares, FL.  What a wonderful hospital.  Super nice room with huge picture windows.  Great nurses and helpful PT and my doctor (Donald Perry) gets a big thumbs up.  

For those of you who have gone this route already you know that they give you a "pain block" that makes you feel pretty darn good for the first 48 hours.  But as that wears off...reality sets in! I've decided against posting the photo of the surgery scar at this time.  

  

These sketches were done while the pain block was still working.  I became pretty famous on the floor as "artist-patient" in residence for awhile!  So I waved the staff good bye around 2 on Friday.  And I am writing this on Monday morning.  The home-health nurse dropped in on Saturday.  

The weekend home went okay..my daughter is here from Madison, WI answering my every beck and call.  I am icing the knee as much as possible and trying to wean myself off pain meds as much as possible.  I expect a call from PT anytime today setting up the home PT schedule for the first couple of weeks. I am forewarned that this is going to be tough going.  Grrr.

My daughter flies home this afternoon (boo hoo).  

My other daughter has been "coaching" me from Illinois by text.

And my neighbors here have been so delightful!  Can't say enough about the friends.  

Hoping to at least keep up some sketching during the PT and rehab.  I think the real "grit" part of this is ahead.  

Finishing up the Pen and Ink

Just reposting this as I finished the lower section.  I decided on some grasses and some leaves.  I looked up birch leaves to make sure I had them right...oaks I know!  I decided on no color for now...I could always change my mind another day.  

But it is framed and in the Hawthorne Art show for this afternoon!

Hoping to do another pen and ink soon as I found this fun and even relaxing to do.

The time for my knee replacement surgery is drawing near...a week from Wednesday so we are trying to get things in order here allowing for me to relax and rest and do my therapy.  My daughter, Julie, will arrive a week from Monday and stay a week with us...holding down the fort.  

Weather here in FL is lovely now...will be in mid 80s the whole time my daughter is visiting.  My two favorite months in Florida are November and April.  But March isn't bad.  Coping with the time change today.  

It is full spring here.  The Jacaranda trees are purple and the Tabebuia trees are bright yellow.  Azaleas are almost done now.

No hibiscus this spring since the hard freeze in January did them in. But they are re-greening now so there is hope.  Hawthorne bushes are in bloom and orange trees send amazing sweet smells.  The oaks here lose leaves and grow new ones in the spring...bright green and shiny.  We have a pair of sweet ducks on the pond now probably nesting.  (also a few small alligators!).  The song birds are nesting now.  Lots of sweet sounds in the yard!   

Carrying On in Black and White

Obviously anyone who loves Zentangle® would love black and white too.  It just follows. I posted the beginning of this drawing already and I've been spending some relaxing time playing with this a little more.  I know it's not done yet, but I am to the point where I have to think it through a little now.  One problem in the lower third of the drawing where I need to make some decisions about grounding the trees.  Lots of choices here.  Grasses/leaves, or even color.

One idea is to make some copies on the printer and then add color or details to kind of get a feel for how that would look.  I'd sort of like to finish it up next week.  

Testing and lab work and etc prior to my up coming knee surgery is almost over now.  I still have a lot of follow up appointments but that should wind up soon.  The surgery date has been pushed back to March 21 which may in the end be a good thing.  

After I do some of the "idea" work I may post so you can the options.  All depends on how much time I figure out for this.

Hawthorne is getting ready for the big art show and I'm doing the program and it needs to get to the printer this week.  So first things first.  Would you believe that the theme of the show is "Black and White"?  

(did I tell you I am going to be a great grandmother come July 19?)

How exciting is THAT!  

Keeping Sane With Art

Last week I signed up for my friend, Jackie's pen and ink class.  Her subject matter was some old mailboxes along a road.  But I immediately thought of OUR old chipped mailbox up north in Wisconsin standing forlornly or maybe resolutely in front of our cabin sign.  The cabin name of "Rip's Place", by the way, is a reference to Rip Van Winkle who's ability to sleep was legendary.

The cabin is a great napping place.  (Note, we once had someone come to the cabin door asking for Rip.  How we laughed.)

So instead of Jackie's idea...I adapted it.  So much more fun to have it portray something that has personal meaning, right?  This is a quarter sheet of Arches 140# watercolor paper and Sakura Micron Pens, 01, 03 and PN.  

Above is just about an hour and half worth of beginning work.  I am enjoying the pen and ink.  Of course I work with pen and ink often in Zentangle and sketch in my sketchbooks in pen and ink all the time.  But this is an "extension" of that. 

It's a relaxing medium to work in...detailed but gentle and soothing to create. Just the beginning of the pine tree in the right upper corner is what I'll work on next.  I decided I wanted a good photograph of pine needles before I went further.  There are so many kinds of pines!  We have a number on our property.  

I do intend a little color on this when I am done.  Jackie says you can "rouge" it in oil, you can use pastel, colored pencil, or watercolor.  It'll be watercolor for me.  But just exactly what colors or which things will get color?  I'd like to keep it subtle.  I want it to be about ink...not about color.  So we'll see.  Keep watching.

Meanwhile I am getting ready for total knee replacement of my left knee on March 12.  The amount of preparation for this is amazing...tons of testing and MRIs etc.  I even have to go to "Knee School" one afternoon.  In between these stressful things will be a very nice project to work on.  

Spring is coming here to central Florida...the azaleas are blooming and many of the flowering trees in wild pinks and yellows.  The grass is bright green due to recent rains and soon the oaks will drop their leaves as the new leaves push out.  Falling leaves and raking is a SPRING chore in Florida.  We expect 80s most of this week.

Sketching is Not So Much Learning About Art as Learning About Seeing

I am pulling together some of my sketching resources as I write up the marketing materials for the classes I am going to teach at the Woodson Museum in June in Wisconsin.  One is Zentangle but the other is WC Sketching.  

Information has to go into print months in advance for these sorts of things.  Hard to think of June in January.  (But if you in one of those winter storms you probably ARE thinking about June.)

I was actually surprised by how many books I own that directly apply to sketching.  Several are out of print now.  Precious books!
It will be fun browsing through them again this winter and picking parts that may be useful.  

I am suggesting an inexpensive option for beginners in the materials list. It is a Koi outdoor sketch box and it comes with a water brush pen (still collapsed in the box).  It's only about $10. Has 12 colors including white and black. I decided I needed to try working with this kit myself for awhile to see how it responds.  I never use white watercolor so I immediately tipped that color out.  In it's place I put quin. gold.  I have never understood why companies put white in.  White gouache is sometimes useful.  But not white watercolor.  I carry a white opaque pen with me in case I need some opaque white for something small. 

Once I put together the water brush pen,  I think I might glue in a few empty half pan cups in that area and add a few of my favorite go-to colors like "leaf green" and alizarin crimson.  The empty tiny pans are about 50 cents each online.  A little super glue would hold them in place.  I would squeeze tube colors in the pans.  

There are dozens of empty Sketching "tins" with little half pans to fill that you can find online now.  But if the students are brand new, they are not going to have the tube paints to squeeze into them.  We have 2-1/2 hours to do this class.  So things must be simple and quick.  

I am giving some consideration to teaching a "dry run" to this class at our community park here in FL in March when the weather is more consistent.  Speaking of which it is still in the mid 30s here at night in central FL.  Sunny and maybe 50 in the daytime.  NOT warm like we are used to!  Slowly warming.  We should be 78 on Thursday.  THAT is more like it.  

Sketching in the Leesburg area

A little time for some outdoor sketching this week...friends Pat and Pete were here from WI and so we managed to get out and about with them a bit.  On Friday afternoon we sent up to the Farm-all Tractor Museum in Leesburg.  Who would have thought to go there?  But the guys were all excited about it.  It was actually quite an amazing collection of just about every tractor and machine they ever made!

Plus some retro things that were fun to see.  

Saturday the guys went to a model train show up in Ocala so Pat and I headed over to Yahala to the Bakery which has live music and outdoor seating on Saturdays from 11-2.  We had a lovely outdoor lunch and enjoyed 70's music!  So relaxing.

Just nice to have a pen in my hand again.  

I have so many projects half done or unstarted yet in the studio.

And a busy week of many obligations coming up!  

Hope to have more artsy fun to share again soon.

Weather beautiful in FL...80s.  

I remembered to set my clocks to "fall back".  

Have a good week.

Preparing for a Joanne Sharpe Class

Preparation

We finally got home to Florida...a week ago Sunday night.  An uneventful but exhausting 3 days and 2 nights down from northern Illinois.

I think we slept for two days straight enjoying our OWN bed again!

Then we woke up and discovered nothing was unpacked...you apparently have to do that yourself.  😉

So that took 5-6 days (with lots of interruptions).  So now I trying to figure out how everything in the studio actually FITS in here.  Stacks everywhere.  Sigh.

In between I am preparing the material list for Joanne Sharpe's class up in The Villages next week.  Thus all the pens collected on the table tonight.  I didn't have to buy any new pens as I am a pen freak anyway.  I just bought some wc paper that she suggested and some commercial washi tape...although I really like my own hand painted tape better.  And will take that too.  

I really let the Inktober challenge fall through the cracks.  Darn.

Once I got in the car and headed down I just could not figure out when to do it.  It is fun to look at the sketchbook and I need to start back into this.  Then friend, Sandee, sent me her marvelous ink sketches and boo hoo, I wish I was sketching too!  

Tomorrow I am meeting with a group planning to paint a mural by our swimming pool this winter.  Friend, Susan, has invited me to join the Friday morning class at the center for the arts on the 10th to see an Urban Sketcher give a demo.  Love urban sketching.  And I am prepping to do an art interview on local in-house TV channel THIS Friday morning.  I am beginning to see some actual space on my art table...that's a hopeful sign.  

Don't give up on me.  I'll be "arting" again soon.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Inktober Drawing Challenge Day 1-3

Inktober is a wildly popular event each year with artists.  Just a fun encouragement to draw with ink every day for 31 days.  

There are many "prompt" lists... there is the official one but then lots of groups post their own prompts.  Last year I used the official list and it was sort of challenging to try to get something each time that fit.  But this year I am a bit lazy and am in the throes of the annual packing up from our north woods cabin to Florida.  

So I've decided that I am going to post every 3 days or so and am going to do 1/3 of a sketch at a time.  The idea being I'll have a page sketch every 3 days.  But I warn you this is just an idea that could go out the door as things get crazier here.

 So the above inked drawing is a very sketchy view of one wall of our cabin drawn in 3 parts over 3 days.  (That funny snowshoe shaped thing on the far left is actually a grill for grilling fish!).  

Some artists like to draw with graphite first and ink over.  Makes for a little more planning freedom but I am just carrying on right in ink for time's sake. Hoping I'll get better in 31 days.  By the last day I'll be in Florida again so you get a sort of travel journal of the trip.  

Fun fact about today:

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII declared that the day following October 4, 1582, would be Friday, October 15, 1582. By leaping over 10 days, the pope corrected the Julian calendar, which was 10 days out of sync with the seasons. The new calendar became known as the Gregorian calendar.

Fine Line Paint Pen Anyone?

Mark making tools become an obsession after awhile.  It's fascinating to try all KINDS of pens.  This is a Loew Cornell Fine Line "Paint" pen.  It is designed to hold any thin liquid.  I am trying out Hydrus Watercolors here (pre-mixed liquid Dr. Martin brand).  

The barrel at the top is gently filled with the liquid (I use a small paint brush as the filling tool because it helps keep any bubbles from forming.  You can also dip it fully into a liquid but then you have a lot of wiping to do.  So I prefer the paint brush.  You don't get a huge amount of printing before having to refill, of course. That is a downside to this.

It is definitely a "studio" printing technique end not designed to be carried about for use.  I have used liquid acrylic paint in this and this works nicely too and would provide more opaque lettering that you could wash over.  And the white works nicely over black backgrounds too.  I like that you can use a huge variety of colors and paints with it...not just your normal black, white, and blue.  

It's important to wash and clean immediately after use, of course, so the tiny nozzle won't get clogged and it does come with a tiny wire you can use in case this happens.  You can also blow through it to clean it out after it is washed in clean water.  So it has some housekeeping issues. But I rather like it.  The marks are easy to make...liquids flow so nicely that the pen just glides over smooth paper.  

Has anyone else tried one of these?  It is not expensive.  

Architecture in Watercolor

Architecture has always been a special love of mine.  My dad was an architect.  Friends are having a big anniversary party here at the lake in early August and so I took a photo of their lovely home here with the idea of surprising them.  

So first I did a tracing of the photo (on tracing paper) and now I am deciding the style in which I will portray the final drawing/painting.  I will do it in watercolor and ink...but I have a number of different ways that I can portray it.  I am thinking of maybe a sketch-like drawing rather than an exact portrait of the house.  Something a little more "artsy".  (It's about 12 x 16.) The odd line across the front under the eaves is a shadow line, by the way.  

Anyway, I am about ready to get started on this one.  I'll let you know what I decide!

It's pouring rain and 55 degrees at the Northwoods cabin today.  So how do you like that weather report?  Sigh.

Whispering the Names of Things in a Walk Through the Woods

"....My lips whispered over the names of things
in the meadows, in the orchard, in the woods,

where I sometimes stood for long moments

listening to some bird telling me of the strangeness of myself;

rocked in the sinewy arms of summer."    Ruth Stone

A walk through University Woods in Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday June 1.  It was such a delight to see so many old friends-spring or early summer flowers.  

I carried this journal with me and a pen...and I would stop when I saw one I loved and try to make some marks that would call back the flower or tree to me.  June flowers in southern WI are nostalgic for me.  I may have time to add some color later.

"OH" I would gasp at the Jack in the Pulpits. Memories rushing around me of other places I had found them in years gone by.  Yellow Lady's Slipper in full bloom ready for some tiny lady to slip her plump feet into...wow.  

And such a jewel,  a humming bird nest with a tiny humming bird sitting on it near quite near a bench in a Sycamore tree.  OH my. 

We think she might still have been building it as she seemed to us to be gathering spider webs...really she was...and bringing them back to the tiny nest.  

Too late for trillium and violet but I might catch a few at the cabin in the north woods next week where colder temps keep things slower in coming.  

We continue to went our way around southern WI and northern Illinois now for a few more days.  Involved in family gatherings and enjoying old friends.  We are in a mood of wanting to be done with the trip and still looking forward to things.  

Our granddaughter will graduate tonight and it "appears" that the weather front which warned of rain for today all week long as pushed that off one more day!  How lovely.  So outside us in DeForest, WI this morning, we see nothing but blue skies.  

We are happy not to be rushed in leaving this morning.  

We had a lovely hot breakfast in the hotel and now are slowly gathering our things, showering and soon will be heading off again.

Lucky us.

Line Over Line Lettering

Often when I am procrastinating I find something...some bit of distraction that has been sitting on one of my desks (I have 3 to organize...but that's another story) and I run with it for awhile. 

Wastes a good deal of time but is SO satisfying.  Unfortunately the job you are trying to avoid tends to be still there later.  Hmmm.

Joanne Sharpe, who is my absolutely favorite "whimsical" printer (as contrasted to calligraphy or serious font making) is above doing a demo of her new DVD.  She is so generous with sharing her love of letters.  So she just has a bit of fun with this nonsense.  

Just use your own script (fairly large...at least 2-3" big I would guess) and write a word forward as normal and then...the fun part-- quickly retrace the word going backwards in a wonky way sort of not trying much in the least to really trace it...then go forward again rather quickly doing the same thing.  The point is to make lots of little unusual shapes but still be able to read the word.

Then (and you'll love this if you are coloring book fanatic) you get out your favorite coloring tools (markers, colored pencils, wc) and you spend a bit of time coloring in the bits.  I used colored pencils above.  This is my first attempt.  I hope I get better at it.  But it sure was fun.  I think this would make a great card...journal printing...or a title on a poster or booklet.  I think it is more effective if you stay with 3-4 colors.  Or at least stay in the same color "family".  But you can try whatever!  You can watch her do it here.

ps...the job I was avoiding did not go away and so I had to start packing up art supplies for my workshop with Sandy Maudlin that starts on Monday.  I LOVE workshops.  I just don't like the packing up part.  But it's all done now.  Can't wait to share the workshop with you all.  It is one of watercolor/batik but in a very usual style.  

All this HAD to get done today because tomorrow (Sunday) is our all-day art show here at Hawthorne Park.  40% chance of rain tomorrow...am hoping that it waits until night time!  We usually get close to 400 people there!  Rain could put a damper on things.  I am co-chair of the event and have to be there ALL day.   And I have to leave at the crack of dawn on Monday!!!