Friday, September 29, 2006

Today is my birthday!

Yup, today is my birthday. And here's my birthday wish (besides bringing the soldiers home from Iraq, world peace, and to appear on Oprah): Will those of you who look at my blog, and never comment...Would you comment today? Let me know you're out there? It will do my (gulp) 56-year-old heart good.
Last night's sunset, from my house.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Art Quilt DVD shoot


A local company, WonderChannel.com, is creating a DVD starring yours truly teaching 3 art quilt techniques. The DVD will run about an hour, cost about $30, and be for sale on Amazon and various other websites. Estimated release date is January 2007. Cool, huh?

The stage is set


I even had a makeup person!


Wednesday, September 27, 2006

art quilt in process

I do love pomegranates, and here's a wool felt quilt I'm working on.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

love that shade of green

This is one of my fave pottery pieces. It's by a local artist, Ed Thompson.


And Happy Birthday to my brother, Brent!

sketchbook moleskine color pencil

more from the sketchcrawl

More from the San Diego SketchCrawl. This is a view of the backyard foutain in the Cardiff backyard.
watercolor moleskine

Monday, September 25, 2006

Torrey Pine

San Diego SketchCrawl group had a lovely outing at a beautiful backyard garden in Cardiff. A gorgeous giant Torrey Pine was the centerpiece of the landscape, and the homeowners had used the colors from the Pine to paint the exterior and interior of their house. Very classy indeed.

And speaking of classy, here's a snap of the group on Sept 24. Susie took the photo.


Sunday, September 24, 2006

ensanada altar


I created this little wool felt quilt (~8x11") of a Dia de las Muertos altar I saw in Ensanada last year. Here's the page from my sketchbook, that inspired me.

I'm getting ready for a 4-person exhibition at Boehm Gallery, at Palomar College. Reception Oct 28, 4:30-6pm. The exhibition ends November 17.


Friday, September 22, 2006

another page in my sketchbook

The collage on the left is made from a photo of a flower arrangement from Martha Stewart mag. I just love the colors. (I want to take it to the paint store, and try to get paint chip colors to match, like Hollie Heller's suggestion.) The Mola design on the right, is an attempt to use the same colors as the flowers. The design is s'pose to be a tree, but looks more like a star burst. (It should be viewed horizontally, so tilt your head to the left to look at it.) So..I'll try another...

sketchbook moleskine: pen and watersoluable crayons

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

san clemente state beach visitors center

Inspired by Danny Gregory, as always, I wanted to draw some architecture. I'm actually quite proud of this. It is the San Clemente Visitors Center, in the state campgroud, and it's the perfect little SoCal Spanish bungalow. I drew this from about 8-9am, perched on my little sketch stool in the shade. Afterwards, husb and I walked the beach for 1-1/2 hours, seeing surfers, trains, pelicans, and sand. A delightful get-a-way!
watercolor moleskine

What kind of pine tree is this?

Husb and I camped overnight at San Clemente State Park, which overlooks the beach. As we were walking down to the beach, early Wednesday morning, an old surfer, carrying his surfboard, was on his way to the beach. I commented on the gorgeous day, and he replied "THESE ARE THE DAYS." He went on the say that these days are the perfect weather days, and there aren't many left. A metaphor for life, I think.
My fave quotation:
“What I do today is important because I am paying a day of my life for it. What I accomplish must be worthwhile because the price is high.”
watercolor moleskine

Camping at San Clemente

Husb and I went on another overnite camping trip. This time at San Clemente State Park, on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. Here's what was on our picnic table at 7:23am (dried seaweed and bananas). He made coffee in our 12V Auto CoffeeMaker, the truly 'can't live without camping item.' (You plug it into the car cig lighter!) The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we walked and walked on the beach.
watercolor moleskine

Monday, September 18, 2006

Kitchen Sink and bathtub

Drawn from an OLD photo of my brother, Brent, giving me a bath in the kitchen sink of our house on Greenwood Drive. He was about 8 years old and I was about 1 year old. So many memories of that house, and kitchen from soooo long ago.
sketchbook moleskine


Sunday, September 17, 2006

Apple

Variations on an apple. Hockney-like.
color pencil and watersoluable crayon and real leaf.
sketchbook moleskine

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Doodling

My sketchbook Moleskine contains collage, inspiration, mememtos and doodles.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Buddy on Myspace.com!




I created and posted my very first video, using my digital camera. Check it out! It's Buddy and the HP Officejet.

favorite things

Next week, I'll be doing an art lesson with the elementary school kids, where I ask them to bring in and draw their favorite thing. It's a fun lesson, and the kids really enjoy drawing something that has meaning for them. Don't we all? My father gave me this little blown-glass sculpture probaby 35 years ago! I've always really liked it, and had it on my desk, at the various jobs I've worked; now it's in my art studio.
watercolor moleskine

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Webb Lake

A very quick sketch of the 'lake' while waiting for my dentist appointment. It's a lovely (man-made) lake, but it is 100 yards from a major freeway, so quiet, it's not. Sketched on location, and painted it at home.
watercolor moleskine

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

The CATS!

Here's Buddy (on the left) and BeBop. They are getting along great!!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Cezanne lesson


I taught the Cezanne watercolor lesson today, to the 5th graders at Los Penasquitos Elementary. They did great! I had them fold (and cut) an 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper in such a way to make a tiny book. They titled their sketchbooks on the front cover.

Cezanne lesson


I gave each kid a piece of (artificial) fruit, and they sketched it on each page, then watercolored, just like Cezanne. No, this is NOT my illustration, it's a 5th graders! It's gorgeous!!

Cezanne lesson


You know, I just love children's art. Here's another 5th graders' work.

Cezanne lesson


And another 5th graders. Excellent job of keeping some of the white of the paper.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Another Cezanne Etude

More Cezanne-style in preparation for the art classes I'll be teaching. He painted watercolors exclusively the last 10 years of his life.

I picked these unripe apples on my walk this morning, and it was hard (and not particularly successful) capturing the colors. I added the fruit sticker because there's a flickr group called orangepaper and fruit sticker, that I posted this to. Crazy, huh?
watercolor moleskine

Sunday, September 10, 2006

another pomegranate

Gallery staffing, with Jeannie, last night. I brought a pomegranate, and painted it at different angles. I love painting pomegranates, and have done dozens over the years. [While painting this, a young woman asked me to paint a small study of figs--I've never met anyone so crazy for FIGS! Made me smile.]
watercolor moleskine

Friday, September 08, 2006

geometric felt quilt

This little quilt is made from wool felt. It started as little 'doodles' of square abstracts, that I stitched on while teaching. I assembled them, adding more layers and pieces, inspired by the Molas, I'd seen recently at a museum. I'm teaching something like this today, in Art Quilts, at Oceanside Museum of Art.
~8-1/2 x 11"

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Shells from Carlsbad Beach


Shells collected on our camping trip last week.
watercolor moleskine.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Buddy

Here's the newest member of our family. We got Buddy at the Escondido Humane Society yesterday. He's about 5 months old and a little love machine. He's very friendly, affectionate and cute. We're slowly introducing him to BeBop. BeBop (1-1/2 years old) is quite curious, and nervous about this new 'thing.' Neither of them have hissed at all, so that's a good sign.
We named him 'Buddy' because we got him to be a buddy to BeBop, and he seems like that little red-haired, freckled, nerdy guy you knew in school, who wanted to be your best friend.
Our home seems more complete with two kitties.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

another e'tude

Another Cezanne style still life, in preparation for teaching art classes to the elementary school kiddles. I read that Cezanne would draw, paint then go back in with more pencil and more watercolor, so that's what I did on this.
watercolor moleskine

Sunday, September 03, 2006

another afternoon at bernardo winery

The left half of the page is from the august 12 san diego sketchcrawl. The right side, from today. Husb and I went to the free jazz concert at the winery, and he 'insisted' (ha!) that I try the wine tasting. Nice afternoon, though hot weather and wine don't encourage sketching!
watercolor moleskine

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Cezanne-like e'tude

It's September and I'm preparing to teach art to kids at Los Penasuquios and Del Mar Heights Elementary Schools. I've decided to do some lessons on Paul Cezanne's watercolors. Here's a still life in his style, with reiterated pencil lines and loose, brief watercolor. I learned that e'tude usually refers to a musical composition, intended mainly for practice of a particular technique. In Cezanne's case, he did many watercolor paintings as an e'tude. Versus, a tableau, where he would have taken great care in setting up a still life arrangement, before he painted it.

watercolor moleskine

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