Leaf by Elizabeth

I'm still loving my foray into drawing. The women from my spring drawing class and I have kept meeting over the summer. We've met twice so far, and our teacher has come as well. It's great to have companions on this learning journey. My focus recently has been on light and shadows, which I find much more challenging than contour drawing (edges). Our teacher is fabulous, though, and is pushing me to draw faster and looser, getting the general shapes on the page and then honing the drawing, as opposed to working very slowly on each part from the beginning. It's fun to try this out on the page (who knows, maybe it will run over into my lifestyle too). :) An onion, with an "on-the-go" sort of feel. My hand (the background is sort of unfinished). My foot (another convenient and ever-present model).  I thought it would be fun to show the stages of a drawing, so for this next one, I took 3 different pictures. The white balance on these is strang

I've just finished a 6-week drawing class, and am so enjoying this new adventure. The class was based on the book, "Drawing on the right side of the brain", which is brilliant. One of the things she says is that learning to draw is not so much about getting more adept with your hands, but about learning to see differently. That was fascinating, and quite encouraging too. She says that we all have ideas about what a tree or hand or eye should look like; instead, you need to draw what you actually see- the curves, angles, and spaces. There's something spiritual about drawing, I think, how it requires you to be present and to really pay attention to what you encounter. When I draw, I feel deep affection for what I'm drawing- it's a wonderful experience. And afterwards, I feel like I've really seen it, and know it so much better. Here are a few of my sketches. A pile of laundry. I thought it was quite ironic to be drawing the laundry, instead of fo

For the past number of years, whenever possible I've taken off work on my birthday, so I can take a day to relax and have fun. I love celebrating with family and friends, but there's also something special about spending part of the day on my own. Since having kids, a whole "vacation day" hasn't worked out (yet), but even a few hours feels luxurious and rejuvenating.  This year we're visiting my parents overseas, so thanks to their generous offer to babysit, I got to enjoy a few hours of special birthday time in a favorite sunny, elegant cafe. Chocolate eclair and hot tea- a great combination. I love the architectural details, like the wrought iron fence and lantern.  . It's not often that I can wear sandals outside in late February! Hooray for spring coming earlier here (it's been in the low to mid 60s) And to complete the lovely afternoon, a rainbow of chalk pastels for drawing.

My art table was put to use for some fun projects in December. I happily stumbled upon a library book about presents kids can make, and Lucy and I set to work making teddy bear button ornaments and butterfly coasters. We used my great-grandmother's buttons for the ornaments, painting some and matching others. Then Lucy and I glued the buttons onto felt and I sewed around the edges. Each teddy bear had its own personality, and we were sad to say goodbye to them!  For the coasters, I picked up some 4x4 tiles that a local tile shop was going to throw out. Lucy and I traced butterfly patterns onto contact paper, which we stuck onto the tiles. Then we sponge painted around them, and lifted off the contact paper once the paint was dry.