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?

Monday, November 10, 2008

Golden Sunset

When I was in Jessica's class and an assignment
was to photo skies with different lights, we never
had any sunrises or sunsets that particular week.
This sunset was last night and a long time
coming for sure. I am able to go out
on the back porch to get a quick shot where there is
nothing to silhouette against the glory of
the sky. A V formation of honking
Canada geese would
have been nice and I
heard them in the distance....
and anxiously waited for them
but they must have
been headed elsewhere.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Time Changes

Posted for David from an old guitar
player and back problems artist, now
loving the sketch journal life---who finds
his blog brightens my day. The spread is
about almost twenty years passing, but
each day can make such a difference.
Please know we all stand together with
good wishes for you.
(Left click on photo to see it larger.)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Katy Doing ?

I love this photo by Sumner W Fowler
in Novato Cal. (my brother)..
he managed to get the Katydid
preening himself---herself?
Sumner is my mentor in photography
and has helped me all along the way.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Old Timers

Here's an extra for today---I saw these two old
Model T's when I went down town and made
a note to photo them on the way back --they
are in such disrepair but look great sitting there to me.
Of course coming home I forgot then
remembered so I stopped and doubled
back and got this shot I liked---I could work
out the roadside fence but it
adds to the sense of place I think.
I'd like one on the front lawn at
Christmas time with maybe
a big wreath on the door

RED SHIRT HANGING

(Left click on the photo to read the words )

Driving on a road I was not supposed
to be on, according to a warning
sign, I saw the weathered house
with the clothesline and I do love
hanging clothes, so it was take
a quick photo and go a bit
further to see what was around
the next curve and down a hill...
and then I saw the place the big
boats load and unload cargo,
turned around and got out
before I was thrown in the brig.

********
21 watercolor pencils used---
I know it doesn't look like it,
but tis true and I have no idea
what the names were as I choose
them by their shade and
then put them all back in the end.
*********
Note of interest:
Eastport is on Moose Island
is which is the the largest,
with Carlow, Dog, Treat, Burial,
Spectacle, Matthews, Goose,
Dyer, and numerous islets making
up the remainder
of the islands in the Bay.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Kid Brother


I did have a kid brother in 1949, but he was
younger than this perhaps 9 year old...
thinking about matters of concern to him.
I think my generation was the last age of innocence
and my brother thinks his was---- I base my summation
on no drugs on the scene except for some Hollywood
star getting caught smoking pot. We did live in a
dark brown house with brick foundation and not shown
is an incredible attic. My brother will want to
know why I didn't have his really snazzy hightop
sneakers showing and the answer is, I wanted a
horizontal spread----you do see the tops
of his jeans where the really wide roll
up of the pant leg shows---better than
falling off I say. Before I put the watercolor
pencils away I counted I used 17 for
this spread.







Monday, November 3, 2008

Sign your work


. Fellow Art Journalists,

I don't know how to show you what

I mean without posting this

photo to show how to sign

with the c (artist's copy write) in the

circle by your signature....I have been

remiss with the sketches and signing

this way--I will add it from now on.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

"Its" a good thing...


A friend came to visit and left her


hat and Miattabroom. I thought the


hat looked like "It" on the Adams


family (?) when I put it on


the rabbit that is the official


greeter here, sitting there in


shadows with a breeze moving


the hair ever so slightly while the


cock is crowing in the distance,


calling out his every morning


soliloquy on companionship...he only


has about 6 in his harem at the


moment.