Registration NOW OPEN for Earth and Sky From Sketch to Stitch

Earth and Sky: From Sketch to Stitch 

A Mini Master Class

Earth and Sky is an Eight Week Mini Master Class divided into 2 Four Week modules with a One Week break in between the two modules.

Module 1: Sketch, Draw, Paint, Surface Design

Break Week

Module 2: Sketch, Surface Design, Stitch, Embellish

Class begins April 15th! 
Lifetime Access to the Class

NOTE: Because of the intensity of this class I am limiting the number of spaces available to 20!!!

From Sketch to Stitch

My Aurifil thread color palette for my latest series "Field Notes"

Field Notes was born out of several loves, passions of mine:

The love of the prairie.
The love of crops as they rise out of the ground each year.
The love of the symmetry and simplicity of how the fields themselves are arranged in the countryside.

Field Notes in progress on my table.

Some color studies.

Watercolor crayons, water soluble oil pastels, and water soluble graphite on sketchbook paper.

Figures in Motion

Figure in motion, charcoal on gesso'd watercolor paper.

Figure No. 2 in motion.  Figure No. 1 slightly gesso'd out and then No. 2 added on top of the wet gesso.

Figure No. 3, done same as No. 2.  I may have enough space to add another figure.  Taken from Muybridge's photo series of back side shots of a nude male throwing a ball.

Pastel & Charcoal Heaven

I ordered a couple of more pan pastels when I placed my order for the Derwent XL Charcoal sticks.  I have two tints and maybe a half dozen shades to extra dark shades I want and my palette will be completed.

Two at Once Sketch

A five minute sketch of John's father with a charcoal pencil taped to a sepia conte pencil.

Bumble Bee

Black mark it all pencil and charcoal smudge bag on newsprint.

Black conte, oiled black charcoal, and charcoal smudge bag on sketch paper.  The stippling is due to my sketching this on my drawing table which has a rough surface.

white mark it all pencil, white conte, and white charcoal, on black sketch paper.

Drawing

I finally have my easel adjusted to a height that is comfortable for drawing, and this was no small feat because every adjustment required me to sketch to see if the height was correct or not.

I'm also using my drawing table for what I intended it to be used for, drawing.

Experimenting with a variety of charcoals and pastels.

I have a new affliction, it's called charcoal!

Portrait Time

Getting ready to create some 30 second and one minute portrait drawings for a class I'm taking.  I spent the better part of today scanning in images of dead relatives, mostly because the images were in black and white, for this assignment.

Day 2 60 Day Bird Journal Challenge

Day 2 Story

Resting in arborvitae beside my house

Your song brings to the trees to life.

Is your song ushering in the coming storm?

Or are you singing a song of joy?

A tasty morsel to share,

No creature dares to leave the protection of the tree.

Branches shivering, the Sun twinkling, and the sky a brilliant blue,

Deceptive beauty as nature braces for a fatal blow.

The wind smells of snow.

Going back to Day 2, I had a head start by a couple of days because well I'm writing the prompts, etc., so noticed that I had made a couple of attempts at either a poem or story in my journal.  

I think the sketch pretty much sums it up, it's frigid out right now, the birds are all huddled in the neighbors arborvitaes, I know they are roosting in the tree because you can hear them chirping away if one listens closely enough.  I suspect that they are egging one another one (pun intended) to leave the tree for food and water and no one wants to give up their warm spot on the branch.

60 Bird Journal Challenge Begins in Six Days!!!

Join me in 2015 for the 60 Day Bird Journal Challenge!!!

Each day for 60 days you will receive a newsletter emailed to you from me that details an Observation, an Activity and finally a Challenge!  There will be plenty of opportunities to write, sketch, paint, and even sing during this challenge!  

To join the challenge subscribe to my newsletter that I've created specifically for this challenge, the only way to receive the prompts is by subscribing to the newsletter.

Two Red Pears

Two fresh red pears 

I asked for three but it's the end of the fresh pear season here so I'm doing good to have gotten two!

These are not as red as the Barletts I had earlier in the season, these are rudier and are more in keeping with Pantones color for 2015 "Marsala".  I also am quite enamored with the greenish blush on the large pear and the stripes on the smaller pear.

Since I have only two pears my original idea is well, will no longer work.  So I'm playing with these to see how I want to use them in my work.  Next up some thumbnail sketches and I think I will slice one open it could get interesting!

Still Life Number 1 for Fall 2014

First still life for the Fall season, actually I really can't wait for the colorful leaves and the pumpkins!

Buckeye sketch attempt no. 1 (three minute sketch).

If your thinking you can't draw, don't worry about it I can't draw either, lol, that said well I used to be able to draw but without practice the brain and muscles tend to forget.

So I will spend the next couple of days doing quick sketches and color studies of these buckeyes and the rest of the nommies in this mini still life.  I will spend time studying and drawing their curves, etc., another words I will get to know them.

I started with a quick sketch, and then photographed the different sides of this particular buckeye.

Another view, here you can see how the color and the pattern, yes there's a burl like pattern on this particular buckeye, vary.

The spot that on the shell that makes a buckeye recognizable as a buckeye.

Experiments in Sketching

Layers of ink, water color, and pen on watercolor paper. Inspired by Lascaux.

Sketch and Note Books



Sketchbooks and notebooks all a part of my creative process, even for natural dyeing.  I keep swatches of fabrics in the notebooks with notes on how I acquired the color.

WIP - Bins

Will add more color, layers, and texture tomorrow, am much happier with hit now though, as compared to the earlier post from today.

Cottonwood Stand

A beginning sketch on cotton fabric, more pen and ink and then some stitching and then maybe I'll rust and compost it for some additional color.

My favorite Sycamore Tree.

Stand of Cottonwood Trees at Bjorkboda Marsh

Progression - Poppie Sketches

Now to add a little bit more background color and texture and then to finish the edges.  As you can see I need to update my sketchbook sketch of the poppies as well.  I started this small piece way back in 2009, I may finish it yet.

Thomas the Watcher

I was sitting at my table merrily away sketching images onto canvas cards, for my new thank you card series, and suddenly realized I was being watched.  I looked over into the suitcase and there was Thomas watching me sketch, he really does love sleeping on silk fabrics and is such a silly cat he'll even pull out a piece to sleep on, when I'm not looking! 

Poor Angel is trying to stay cool.

Favorite Colors

Just a few of my favorite copic colors!  The marker in the middle is the colorless blender.

Sketch Book - Motifs

I made my own sketch book journal to fill with various patterns and motifs I was finding around the house, this one is from a stencil I'm in love with.