Tuesday, December 30, 2008

TAKE TWO





(Below is what it says in the small print)



We see our face, head on, each day
and others see us from all angles
we never can see--all so different
looking---photos show us these
differences so we know they exist
but we still view ourselves as
what we see in the mirror when
we brush our teeth etc.





**************





The penciled profile was done with





mirrors and a photo---time I think





was about 20 minutes





versus 7 minutes for





the penned front view.






Inked Self Portrait EDM #56

This was the most scary
EDM Challenge I've tried yet.
And lead free using Pitt M pen
---was that ever brave for me. I did it just
now to "get something" up in the Blog-
---I had an email saying someone was
worried about me as I hadn't posted
in a while--I felt honored to
be worried about for a few minutes
and then
got the mind set to do something
really fast for the blog while
I worked out my book pages
which are not so quickly done.
Naturally I have left out a few
73 year old wrinkles but I think
it resembles me somewhat--not sure.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Making Lemonade....

This sketch book spread reminds me of the

quote, "If life gives you lemons, make

lemonade.", because the marker

bleed through really was 'lemons'

at first glance.



*********************


See the top half and know it was made

from bleed through of black Magic Marker

from previous journal

spread of the glass of juice.

Total surprise to me---as it did

not bleed through

on the spread before it. Must

be because the page after was plain

and more absorbent. ? Live and learn

for sure. When I saw it,

I immediately thought of

Moroccan arches as I had just done the

Casablanca derived glass spread.

So I think an error became a

positive element here.

******************

.





Tuesday, December 23, 2008

EDM Challenge #203 Glass of Juice

This is my favorite glass for a highball.
I love the color, the size and the feel of it--and
to think I bought just one of them--I have
tried to keep it unbroken for years. Cranberry Juice
is a great mixer and Humphrey was "juiced"
at the time he said this famous movie
quote. I used to make believe I was
Ingrid Bergman when playing with my
sister and she would be Mona Freeman.
if anybody remembers her. We had
been told we resembled them and
enjoyed that thought..

Monday, December 22, 2008

How's It Look?

The first snow around here, really started
one night then through the next day making the
outside look like one huge Christmas Card
(this is what I see past the
fence, when I open the front
door) and seemingly halted shopping,
that needed doing, what with all the
things involved with get togeathers etc.
so, today when it calmed down, for
awhile anyway, it was run to the
store to get every possible
thing I could think I might need.
I'm all set now for the
festivities and now missing not getting
into a sketch---but did think alot
about the new Glass challenge...
I just opened the front door and saw the
ending of the days' final glow on the fence
and ran for my camera to catch this once in
a lifetime moment---it's like it is showing
me it's new dress and asking if I like it.



Saturday, December 20, 2008

Matriarchal Cookie Monster Alert




Left click on the photo to read the words better.



********************



I sketched the Matriarchal Cookie Monster last night.



As I do not know what a person or monster looks like



with their mouth wide open, frustrated and hollering



I had to resort to a mirror and what a scary



experience! I suppose to someone watching,



it would have looked hysterical.



I told my niece I would 'do' a journal



page of her faithful treck from Maine each



year laden with cookies---so here it is



*********************



Do not allow this cookie monster in your



home if you care anthing about



your cookies, especially those



with peanut butter in them.



******************















Friday, December 19, 2008

New Book Dilemma

I'm sure many of you don't have any
problems seeing smaller print, but I do and
I just love this book so I will use all devices
locatable, to help me devour every word I can.

A Creative Herorine, Patience Brewster



Drawn for Love My Journal for the favorite

Christmas Ornament challenge. Probably

the quickest journal spread I have ever done

as the ornament is so graphically simple but

extremely witty

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

EDM CHALLENGE #202 COOKIE

I finished this last night after
I bought a small bag of
popcorn at Wal-Marts..There's
some shiny Gold Metallic
trim that does not photo well.
These small ginger boys are sooo
tasty.... and very good,
quickly dipped into
a cup of hot Wassail bowl cheer.

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Cookie Challenge prep stage

Here's the ingredients--now to NOT burn
them would be my goal at the moment.....!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sign of Store Doom

Here's an unleaded Mall scene from Taco Bell's
lot---I always have my small Moley with me and
often do a pencil sketch I work up later---this is
one of a few raw ink sketches I've done which
I don't like to do--but I saw the store
going out of business sign and know
there are many stores in the same foxhole. The
pen seemed right tool to use at the time
as it does improve my
sketching eye---which is a good thing.
However right now in December 2008 I do
not feel comfortable going unleaded. I've
many sketch books from the past and
have found the use of
the watercolor pencils
suits me to a T

Another chair photo for my collection

How I wished the white cat over to the
top right had been sittin on
the chair
--the photo would have
been more charming.
Something like this scene,
catches my eye as a moment
in time to be preserved for some future
sketch I may want to do. It does say
things if you look and listen--could this
be the tag end of a yard sale or aftermath
of a dispute---it does make me feel good
to be just driving by....and out of town
...this yellow VW I drive is soooo
spotable!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Sill

Well, here is one of the corner kitchen sills
with the stapled greenery--plus,
old Mother Memory box and plump
pine cones showing. Under are
some of the pans I like to use for
popovers, corn sticks and muffins.
This was taken just now and boy,
is it ever blowing outside and not
all that cold, which is strange.
I didn't start out to make a card,
it just developed into one---
which surprised me.

Monday, December 8, 2008

STAPLER EDM CHALLENGE #201

Don't forget to left click on the photo
to see it larger, to read it better
This stapler had not been put back in


the old tool box under the kitchen window...


it sat, silently on the table waiting for it's


portrait to be done. It had been a big help


making the Christmas greens nestle


on the windowsills I look out each


morning with my coffee.


Pencil, Pitt Pen,


watercolor pencils and waterbrush--are


the tools, I'm most comfortable with.


Sunday, December 7, 2008

Scuss's Riot

This is Missy who belongs to Scuss, who
is a regular commenter--I asked to use her
recent photo of the new kitten.
I enjoyed putting the characteristics
of this pet,
around the border as she
will be pleased, I'm sure.
I feared inking the initial pencil
sketch would take away the
softness of the kitten so kept
it light in color to help --



Friday, December 5, 2008

The Great Napkin Debate


I'm telling ya, a book can be done

on the lowly napkin---I did not

begin to scratch the surface of Napkinry

and my head was swimming with

sketches I'd not have the time to

do, without a signed meaty contract

for same. And this does not

even include the silverware---this spread got

started with a remembered heated debate

with my grandson (which at the time

got laughed about)on how he thought napkin was

pronounced . His mother's baby

talk had remained for continued

use, in his brain.....

as can happen. I know when

speaking to a cat, I still use my

mother's baby talk.....I can't be

alone in this......can I ?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

SKETCH FROM THE PAST

While trying to clean out the room a bit I came
upon lots of old sketch books and slips of ideas.
Here's one from 1997 that was a design idea for the
back of a sweat shirt--I still think it's a good
idea and would buy one today. I know I
could have painted it on but never wanted to
spend the time involved. Today I would redesign and
have my moleskine journal and
sketching supplies be prominent.
I'm busy on several
pages at the moment so I haven't posted lately,
but have been enjoying what others have
been showing---I haven't got the new "book"
yet---and am still being calm about it---
but sort of chomping at the bit, a bit.

Monday, December 1, 2008

EDM Challenge # 200 My Talisman

Left click to see the words...this spread
had a true story to tell in 75 words or less.
I worked all day on it even if the basic sketch
seems simple it still took me quite awhile
to like it---I rearranged it several times.
I sure thought this challenge had so many
ways to go and am anxious to see what
comes in--they all have to be so interesting

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Merry Christmas EDMers !

I worked from a photo by my brother,


Sumner W. Fowler in Novato Calif.


This lucky little guy was adopted the day this


photo was taken. I added some


Christmas decorations and am sending it out


Dec 1st---that'll be one thing I get done


on time in this busy season.





EASTPORT COUPLE CIRCA LATE 1800'S

Original pencil sketch which includes
The Happy Crab and The Blue Iris :
Sketch printed onto brown paper
using regular colored pencils and then
adhered in the Moleskine sketchbook :

Watercolor pencils:

I'm including the original pencil sketch where you can see the details
suggested of what it looks like on Water Street to day---to cover up and change quite a bit of the initial idea was on the daring side for me---as this was not intended to be this way at all...but, the experience was priceless I think-- I used to do this a lot---imagine the past in my work--
*****************
Once this pencil and a bit of ink sketch, was printed onto a dark paper bag type brown paper , I could not use the watercolor pencils---so I used regular colored pencils---which I did not know were so waxy to use---I found this out when I tried watercolor pencil work over the top---not gonna work...and also the biggest annoyance was I could not re-ink any of the linework with the Pitt pens---too waxy. This project turned out to be quite the experience and finally I got it to be pretty much the right color with the regular color pencils and using them to darken the lines---good thing I took a photo at this point as the next thing I did was spray the spread to see if I could get rid of some glare from pencil work---low and behold the spray (which I forgot to shake) covered the pages with a grey coat---which I tried to wipe off with paper towels before it dried.....so now it looked like it was a sketch from the graveyard---so I then used the reg colored pencils to try and bring it back and did to some degree. Whew!------I drew in some Vintage people that worked in the Sardine factory and today's Water St photo I took, which I revised to olden times in my imagination.
The last photo is the original sketch with inked lines and watercolor
colord pencils used--it has the morning sunrise suggested on
the lower left and is the lightest one.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Everybody Wave !





Here are two views of the same sketch. One was done in pencil then Pitt pen ink. The next was printed onto brown paper used in scrapbooking. It is not used with water color and stiffer than copy paper. On the brown one I used watercolor pencils (but did not use any water with them)to add color and sprayed with Matte Spray, as I did not have Workable Fixative, between added layers to build up the colors. Be sure to shake the can well and do this outside. I was going to use regular colored pencils and forgot. Right click to see better and read the words. It seemed awesome to me to be on a three masted ship in Maine on a whale watch and close enough to Campobello Island Canada to get some houses right near the water. A once in a lifetime trip for me---I have tried this with another spread and the regular colored pencils, too---the look is quite different from watercolor pencil when you use the darkish color paper...I did not like the bit of texture on the paper and prefer the Moleskine smooth coated paper.
...also I tried the colored paper to get white to show up better and it did.
This particular spread looks better in the sketchbook then in a photo..
I trimmed the sketch and adhered it into the small Moleskine
sketch journal with double sided tape--it gives the journal a
different look and lies nice and flat.


I need two pencils and have to order them--grrrrrrrrrr---no place close by
carries what I need---I better order more than 2.....


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Influences




(You must left click on the photo to see


the detail and read this one)


This is a page from an interactive sketch

book I have a lot of work in with things


to push, pull or open up---thus the interactive tag.


This spread shows on the left the initial sketch

and on the right a photo of the large acrylic painting.


It's called "Influences" and has lots of

references to people or things that


have been strong mentors etc.

One of my favorite things in the


painting, is my mothers lace edged


handkerchief in the lower right.





Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Boss Turkey

I'll never forget the Turkey that jumped on my
car hood--making sure I'd stop before entering
my driveway for his mate to cross the street.

And here he is over on the roadside
starting to display himself as a thankyou
gesture---(oh right)
Nice feathers but.....


a face, only a mother could love...






Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Now and again, I bother to cook breakfast

Cooking Alone with Winna--(oxymoron?) I'm sure we've all read a delicious sounding recipe and had only some of the ingredients---this was the case here in the string shoot of Flaming Hot I Yi Yiiiii Corn Cheese Egg Somethingorother...which became "Jill's Cheese Egg Omelet"... using more butter than usual for me. I used Irish butter, two eggs, some Seriously Sharp Cheese and half an onion I had left over...I could make it again sometime and use the corn with some fiesta seasoning added--IF I get the urge. The onions cooked in butter
until very very brown made this extra good for me.
*************
The reason in the first place, to take the photos was for a sketch spread
****************
Below the basic ingredients laid out









































































































































Sunday, November 23, 2008

"NO SPOONS"

First I bought the plate because it made
me feel good to use something cheerful
looking. Then, I liked all the fork challenge
drawings---I looked at, and in the back of my
mind was "Do It"---but I ignored this, until...
there appeared the fork with the shadow on the plate
and "Aha!" came to mind--this is IT---I strongly felt the
need to do the challenge

Friday, November 21, 2008

Mr Fix It

My brother, Sumner, posed for this
Mr Fix It photo. Makes me laugh!!!

Nifty Nest

I guess the people that live here like the nest
as much as I do--this is the 2nd year I
photo'd it and see some plastic wrap has been
stuffed inside to keep it waspfree--It's
not close to photo (on an upper Eastport floor)
and to get this much detail
was a thrill and a half.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Art Supplies The Soul

Here's one of the main things I love about sketch journaling--the supplies are
easy to carry around with low maintenance.
A big idea I had years ago was to do
a sweatshirt design that some art supply
business would clamour to buy the rights from me
with a sweet contract that would keep
checks flying to me. So I did such things
as you see here and several more around
the yoke of a bright red shirt and made up the slogan, Art
Supplies The Soul...then I wore it to the store I
thought would see how great it was and immediately
buy it right off my back. Well, I slunk back to my
car for the ride home, my dreams crushed with the
owner's dismissal remark of "That's nice..."
The woman on the lower right is from people shots
I take in many places to use later in some sketch. The colorful
pen with Egyptian type designs is old and does not
have any ink--but a beautiful ceramic point that works
best for any transfer of work I may do and that's very little
I mostly like how it looks--it even has Nefertiti on it!
*************
Of interest, may be the fake (bought for some
Halloween years ago) hand that I laid the supplies
on to draw them---it is so real looking I must be
careful not to startle myself when sliding a draw open
where it may be kept.
.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ropes On Board

(Every Day Matters Challenge #196 Ropes)
On a whale watch in Eastport Maine
I spent time taking photos of the
different ropes and there were
plenty of them. Only when doing
this EDM challenge did I notice the color red
on the rope and think it must
be some sort of measuring mark.
Some ropes had black instead of red. A
sailor out there, might know the
reasons. As the Moleskine sketch
book gets fuller, it becomes harder to lay it flat
for a photo, so my hand will be in the
journal photos from now on, maybe.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Seacrets of Pisces

This is from a series of 12 Zodiac signs
I created on tin ceiling tiles. That
became a set of 2. I did
not get any enthusiastic reactions to them and
went on to other things, thinking they were darn
unappreciated for sure. I sold the Gemini this summer
to an intelligent, handsome and great buyer.
Now the Pisces one still hangs on the wall
amongst a few beeswax collages done
in a technique learned from Claudine Hellmouth,
a wonderful teacher of beeswax workshops
if you ever get
the chance to take one. The fish in the collage
is one of my imaginative ones and the word
is all about the Pisces trait of being able to
keep secrets and the sea influence.
It hangs by my own paintbrush with
my DNA all over it.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Influence Symbols

we might as well see the humor
in how mixed up most of us were,
as we started to become adults....

Friday, November 14, 2008

UConn Ages

I was driving around the UConn campus
which is not too far from home, and
had time to get a photo of a student at
at stop light--her pom poms dancing
on her boots were so darn lively.
I had already taken a shot of the
old barn which always looks new
as they maintain it so well, and
to combine the two made
the sketch interesting to me.
UConn started out as an agriculture
school back in 1881. This is where
my husband went after his
stint in the Army--which resulted in
a partnership with his brother in a dairy
farm which was a darn good place to
raise 5 children.
Now I am
such a fan of the girl's basktball team
I plan my life around their games!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Talisman Watches

You'll have to left click to read this..
I sketched this two days ago while
sitting in the car waiting for the
PT session to be over--I had already been
up in Sean's room, (My grandson who suffered head
injuries in a car accident).
I coud not help but see Kimpossible hanging there
from the rear view mirror over the dashboard
---I do not know the
story of this character on TV , I think---all I
know is, it gives my Kim hope and so I
drew it to strengthen that which helps her.
I certainly became so absorbed in the
sketching and also the inking in my small
Moleskine (that I turned around to get
a vertical view ) that the time flew and
it seemed just as I added the last pen line the
car door opened and Kim and Siobhan
(Irish for Shavon) were climbing in for
the ride back home.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Saving a Page

This small Moleskine spread was
the result of sketching a page
in a light thin pen line that
bothered me to no end---I wanted to '
to tear it out of the book but
that was not an option I could
accept--so decided to show my
frustration with it and made the spread.
I guess that's me inner self and
her quirks. While I may like
something in another's work, it
does not feel right to me in mine.
I will lay it to blame on being the
second and middle child and needing
to "show up" more to not feel lost....

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Sapphiresaki ?

this beautiful color caught my eye,
with the sun making it look like a
good sized jewel on some one's lawn.
Who do you think owns it?