A little color

How is your 20 minutes going? I have had only teeny blocks of time and energy this week and have used those minutes for focusing on minimalist drawing skills and just touches of color. I find it encouraging that I can accomplish something in such little time. My drawing skills are improving and so is my ability to work with watercolors. When I paint with acrylics or oils, I feel in control. But watercolor does not behave itself, so I am at the mercy of what it has a mind to do. Like a collaboration. And less is definitely more, like in airbrush makeup!

A 5 Minute Drawing

One of our clients was waiting near the close of day, so I took out my pen to sketch her before her daughter arrived. The sky was really beautiful behind her. I will try to add some color to this tomorrow.

A Four Minute Drawing

...as I waited for enchiladas to be boxed up for take out! Then, dimension added with eye shaddow from my makeup palette!

This was done with my homemade Plume brush

Not my best painting ever, but the plume worked pretty well, although it is softer and harder to control than my Plume de Becasse from Sennelier in Paris. If the world keeps getting more dangerous, I'm not sure when I will get back to Senellier to buy replacement plumes. We hope to go back next year for our 30th wedding anniversary.

Making my own Plume de Becasse

It isn't a woodcock feather, but we will see how this stout little feather will work for me once the glue dries. As soon as that happens, I will test it with my drawing ink. If it is a success, I will paint the handle with my signmaker's enamel to give it a nice finish and protect it from the water.

This is a tiny wing feather, attached to a bamboo skewer, glued with gorilla glue and carefully wrapped with strong thread.

Happy teapot in my kitchen

This teapot belonged to my daughter Aly and she left it for me when she moved to California earlier this year. One of the many things I look at each day which makes me miss her! It is bright and adorable just like my Aly!  :  )

A quick watercolor with my Sennelier set

It was such a beautiful day today. The fresh snow and the golden sky inspired me to paint. The words around the painting are lyrics from John Denver's song "Aspenglow."
See the sunlight through the pine...taste the warm of winter wine...dream of softly falling snow...winters gold, aspenglow...winters gold, aspenglow

I am so blessed in my life and it runs over. Alaska is dark and cold this time of year, but also breathtakingly beautiful. Find the beauty in your life today!

My new Sennelier paint box!

 I only had enough time today to unwrap my 24 half pans, organize them in the box, and laminate the tiny wrappers so I can keep the colors straight. Maybe tomorrow I will finally paint!

My 20 minutes today...

...was spent gently plucking the tiny feathers off of a sweet little sparrow that ended its life today by crashing into our window. Maybe it is weird, but since I have been enjoying my plume de becasse so much, I thought I might be able to use this poor little bird's feathers to make a new brush for myself. And to make its death a bit less tragic, I may be able to create some beautiful art from its tiny feathers.

I will keep you posted.

Button is very excited about it.

My 20 minutes today

Although I had more errands than I could get done before work today, I stopped for a musubi (I still can't believe I like the stuff after growing up on spam!) and a breve and drew this scene. I am very excited to try my new watercolor set and experiment with 24 colors instead of the 8 I have been using in my mini set from Sennelier. I found a beautiful three level box set which included 24 half pans of colors, two squirrel brushes, a graphite pencil, embroidered Sennelier cloth, and a ceramic pallet. I ordered it from Blick and it was here in three days! Next time you see this drawing, it with be in CoLoR!!!

My Hemingway Cat

This was drawn a few years ago using ink and colored pencil...Hemingway LOVED polydactyl cats, and if you go to Key West, make sure you go to the Hemingway House. The place is still crawling with polydactyl cats. Here, you can count Button's toes...all 23 of them! He even has 5 instead of the usual 4 on the back feet.

Quick draw

No, I wasn't testing to see how fast I could draw my pistol...I was trying to draw my polydactyl cat  Button before he fled the scene! He kept moving his head into a profile position to peek through the blinds, so this was HARD! He hangs out by this window every day STILL looking for the sparrow that was eating her way through the siding to make her nest. Last SPRING.

MetrOasis, my home away from HOME!

My dear friend Amanda helped me figure out what my palette was missing so I can make a beautiful purple next time... but I had to settle for blue walls this time!

Last Wednesday's 20 minutes

I went into Black Cup and it was so crowded! I did not have a choice of where to sit, so I just drew what I saw. Baristas were on my right. Nice place to get a good cup of coffee!

So how's your 20 minutes going?

The purpose of this blog is to encourage you to spend 20 minutes a day doing that thing that gets put on the back burner because everything else feels more important. Are you a writer? an artist? a musician? a __________? but not taking the time to do that thing that brings you joy? Carve out 20 minutes each day to do it. I attempted to do this since the beginning of October, and you know what? I didn't draw every day. But I'm not beating myself up over it...I have drawn more in one month than I have done in five years!

I Miss Aly!

We had tea here every week for 7 YEARS!  It's not the same without her!...hence the empty portrayal of the place that is usually bustling with people!

This is what happens when I draw without focus!

Kind of surreal, isn't it? ...me and Dali...we be mates!

What did I do this last week?

My drawing was very minimal, because my focus was off. We had orientation this week, and my heart just wasn't into getting my art stuff out...I attempted to draw at Starbucks while simultaneously FaceTiming my daughter, and the perspective got all skewed. It was actually a really strange experiment. I was able to concentrate fairly well on her, but not on what my eyes were seeing. Like my hand was drawing without my eyes and brain communicating. I will take a picture and show you. I wasn't on drugs. Honest.

Sennelier Aqua-mini, I LOVE YOU!

This handy little water color set is NOT your "I'M 5 YEARS OLD AND I AM DOING ART!" set. NO no no sirrie! It may look like that... but these are high quality pigments, well worth the price you pay for an amazing set that you can take with you. Included inside: an outrageous high quality teenie paint brush.  Thank you, Yuming Zhu, for showing me this set in your travel kit!

Today's plume de becasse

I am going to try to add some color to this one later.

Plume de becasse and watercolor

Breakfast. Need I say more?

The Rustic Goat Cafe

It was hard to get time to draw this week, but I spent bits and pieces inking this in...and finished this morning. Now I am playing with a teeny watercolor kit from Sennelier. I will post the results later!