Sketch'n Part IX

I did a series of watercolors recently that I wanted to share with you. The first is a series of birds. I gifted one to Sarah for her birthday.



Another is a series of octopi - I love these little guys!



Going back to the Sketchbook exchange I participate in - I finished my last sketchbook. I can't wait to get my own sketchbook back and see all the art that was done by the other 12 members of our swap.

In addition to several of the watercolors - I added these drawings to Peggy's sketchbook.

I made these Nesting Dolls run across the page - each with their own design. The mosaic cuts out two of the dolls in the middle - but you get the idea....




And finally - I also drew some yellow birds...




I'm just back from New Orleans today. I was there for several days for a business trip. It was sooooo hot there I couldn't believe it. With the heat index it was over 110!

I'm glad to be home with my boys again!

Sketch'n Part VII and VIII

Another double edition of Sketch'n!

The latest two rounds of the Sketchbook swap I participate in have caught me in an extremely busy time! I only had time for three drawings in each book. Here they are:




I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!! Be safe!

Tap tap... this thing on?

It's been a month since I've last posted! I can't believe how quickly time has gotten away from me. All I can say is - I've been working long hours. It's no excuse - but it's all I've got.

John has also started chemo again - he's done 2 rounds and has 8 more to go. He's been extremely tired and it's very frustrating to watch him go through this again. Those of you who read his blog know the details - but in a nutshell - there is still some cancer in his liver. Luckily his colon and entire digestive track is still clear. We just have to get the little suckers still in his liver.

So anyway - I'm doing ok other than my frustrations that I can't do anything to help John feel better. I have been keeping busy - working maybe a little too much though!!

I've been doing some knitting here and there also. Right now I am working on the Shetland triangle. I'm knitting it with the orange handspun I just finished. I'm loving it! I have one more repeat to go before the border. Pictures soon!

I also have new drawings to share! These are my latest sketches for the sketchbook swap.

Giraffes...



Light as a Feather...




Just Hanging Around...




Birds on a Wire...




Coi pond...



Thanks for stopping by!!!

Sketch'n Part V and VI

I'm a month behind in showing you my sketches for the Sketchbook swap. I just finished up a book this week and am mailing it off to the next person today.

Here are the latest sketches:




And here are the ones I did last month:



Hope everyone is having a great week!!

It's a new day...

Sketched while watching the Inaugeration festivities this morning.

It's a brand new day!

Happy Birthday Edgar Allan Poe

Happy Martin Luther King Jr day!

Did you also know that today is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday? He was born in Boston and lived many different places, but he died in Baltimore. The Baltimore Ravens get their name from him and many other Baltimore locations get their inspiration from him.

One of those location is Annabel Lee Tavern in the Canton area of Baltimore, named for Poe's last poem of the same name. I ate there with John and his cousin last week and loved it! If you haven't gone - I highly recommend it.

Anyway - there is Poe stuff everywhere and it inspired me to draw some Poe! I sketched a quick line drawing while sitting at the table waiting for my sliders (they were amazing by the way! Kobe beef burgers with Pulled BBQ on top and some kind of goat cheese spread - yumm!!) and then came home and drew a full sized version in my sketchbook of the month - this time Nancy's.




I love all his lines and shadows - he was the original Goth.

I will leave you with the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe:


Annabel Lee


It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe

Sketch'n Part V

Yup - I'm still drawing in other people's journals for the Sketchbook Swap!

Here is the latest edition (a little late actually) I sent this sketchbook on before Christmas...

I did these:


and my favorite of this go round is my Hurley's Day Dream drawing:



I am daydreaming myself about making this drawing the basis for a children's book on Hurley's adventures!

These were drawn in Leah's sketchbook. Take a peek at her website - she is very creative!

Playing Catchup

I haven't blogged in a while and man do I have a lot to share! This will be my catch-up post.

Two weekends ago I had a bunch of friends over to make Lilly Ollo jewelry. There is a paint your own pottery place near my house - The Pottery Stop - that also does Lilly Ollo silver jewelry. I was interested in trying it - so I called the shop and found out that I could have a party at my house if I got 6 or more people to attend! Yay! So I did.

We had a blast!



We were able to pick out a design, press our silver clay into the mold, fire it in the kiln, then burnish it and pick out a necklace.



Here are my two creations... I finished the tree with a black coating and left the bird plain silver. I love how they came out! I definitely want to try that again.



Moving on to this past weekend - some of my knitting friends and I have a yearly Handmade Holiday Swap where we each get assigned a person to make a present for and then swap at a tea party.

We all loved our presents! I can't wait to show you the amazing tatted ornaments I got from Jen - I just need to take a picture! I was speechless!



Sarah was down for the weekend too and I gave her her Christmas gift a bit early since she was here in person. I made her an apron!



I know Sarah loves to cook and thought she would enjoy an apron to use in the kitchen. She told me today she plans to wear it to spinning to help keep the fiber off of her clothes! What an awesome idea!



Miss you already Sarah!!

Phew - all caught up.... almost.

Stay tuned...tomorrow - a new free pattern!

Sketch'n Part IV

Another edition of the sketchbook exchange has come around. Here are the drawings I did in Heidi's book:

Pink Swirls:




Rain:
It rained alot the day I drew this one :)




Moby:
I've been seeing lots of cool drawings of whales lately - and thought I'd draw one of my own...



Happy Little Trees:
I think Bob Ross would be proud :)



Starfish:
I drew this while sitting in traffic court. I was inspired by the "star" shaped badges of all the police! (I got out of my ticket by the way - the police officer didn't show up when my name was called. He actually was walking in when I was walking out - ha!)



Fancy Crane -



If you want to see more drawings from this exchange - the Flickr group is here.

Sketch'n Part III

I thought I'd share a few drawings from the latest edition of the Sketchbook Exchange I am participating in.






PS - this is NOT a political statement - I just felt like drawing a circus elephant :)





Thanks for stopping by!

Watercolor days

Growing up, my mom and I always did art together. One of our favorite mediums is watercolor. She was down for a visit last weekend and we decided to have a watercolor day.

Here are some of my painting:

Tilt - A play on perspective...



Tweey Bird II - I loved the pen and ink version of this I did in the sketchbook swap. Since I drew it in someone else's book - I had to send it away! So I wanted to paint something for me!



The Mist



I'm working on another painting right inspired by some photos of Venice. I can't wait to finish it!

Sketch'n

I joined a sketchbook swap! What is a sketchbooks swap you ask?

You buy a blank sketchbook - I got a moleskine - and draw on the first 7 pages. Then you mail the book to the next person on the list. They draw on the next 7 pages and send it on to the next person. This continues until all the people in the swap have drawn in everyone's book. Then the original owner get it back and it's full of cool artwork!

I'm so excited to be participating in this. Here are some of the drawings I did:



I am eagerly awaiting the sketchbook I will draw in next!

If you are interested in seeing more of people's artwork - there is a flickr group here.

Art and Baseball!

This Saturday Coleen, Jolene and I went to Artscape in Baltimore.
We saw all kinds of art...



and crafts. We made a special stop at the Ceyeberfiber yarns booth to visit Erin and Dawn - hi ladies!



I picked up another Loop batt while there too - no picture yet because Erin was kind enough to hold on to it for me so I didn't have to carry it around!

There were also some wild and crazy "art cars"...
The lobster and fish one was mechanical and they danced and sang around!



Coleen was enamored with this gorgeous Great Dane.



And it looks like Mr Natty Bo is enamored with Ms Utz and decided to propose! How cute is this!




It was a hot and sweaty day so we didn't last too long. J managed to fall asleep for a bit though.



After the Artscape venture - we headed over to Camden yards for the Stitch and Pitch game.









There was some knitting...



But it was soooooo hot I had to stop - the wool was sticking to me! They were handing out free ice and it was cute to watch Joe enjoy the icy cold goodness for the first time. Sadly - I forgot to take pictures of that!

We left about the 6th inning - due to the overwhelming heat and no breeze, but it was still a fun day! I ran into Hollyanne and Margaret and they had the right idea - they went down to the air-conditioned restaurant and watch the game on tv!

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Hi everyone - it's been a while! Sorry I dropped off the blog for a while. I have no excuses!

Let me try to catch up!

Last week Coleen and I hit DC to take in the Smithsonian Follklife Festival.

The themes were Bhutan, Texas and NASA. Yeah - not sure how NASA is considered folk... aren't they the exact opposite of folk? I mean they use computers and space ships and stuff!!! As for Texas - I was also a bit thrown off by their displays. There was a wine making display (don't really think of wine when I think of Texas), and music and that's about it. So needless to say we spent most of the time in Bhutan. Oh and in case you don't know - Bhutan is situated in the eastern Himalayas and bordered by China and India. (I had to look too)

I could see a great deal of both Chinese and Indian influences in their art.

Bhutan's displays were beautifully ornate and rich with history.

The first thing you see when you step out of the metro and onto the Mall is an amazing recreation of a traditional Bhutanese Buddhist Lhakhang (temple).





After getting some of their delicious rice and chicken with chilli and cheese - we sat down to eat and watch some dancing.



Next it was on to the textile arts. Wow! Just wow. The details and colors were spectacular! We immediately honed in on some luscious silk yarn:



There was weaving and spinning and embroidery and every other textile art you can imagine.














There was also painting in progress. Just look at the details!



This was one of my favorite things. I'm not 100% sure what it is - but it looks like a temple or shrine of some sort.



The details and colors were just amazing.



After walking around the festival - we enjoyed some other beautiful things on the Mall. More on that later!

Happy Tuesday everyone!