Pencil Shavings

Back from the Wild.

There is getting away from it all, and really getting away.

We took the trailer and camped out, and chose to get away without the electronic clutter that we keep around us all the time.

As a result I got to think more, instead of reacting to things, and create more on paper instead of creating with electrons on the screen.

I took my travel easel with me and did some painting at the campground.  I didn't take it hiking (it's just too darn heavy to to drag for kilometers uphill).  I did do some painting on site when we hiked and lots of drawing too.  If you stay tuned in a while I'll catch up to those days for the 365 Days of Art and show you the things I made.

Meanwhile I still have to clean out the trailer, and wash all the smokey clothes and drink coffee out of a china cup with a nice cookie on the side.

I also have lots of work to catch up on and send out for The Postcard Project.  You might want to check that out this week and see what's up.

Wait, can you hear that... it's the coffee pot calling my name!

Back from the Wild.

There is getting away from it all, and really getting away.

We took the trailer and camped out, and chose to get away without the electronic clutter that we keep around us all the time.

As a result I got to think more, instead of reacting to things, and create more on paper instead of creating with electrons on the screen.

I took my travel easel with me and did some painting at the campground.  I didn't take it hiking (it's just too darn heavy to to drag for kilometers uphill).  I did do some painting on site when we hiked and lots of drawing too.  If you stay tuned in a while I'll catch up to those days for the 365 Days of Art and show you the things I made.

Meanwhile I still have to clean out the trailer, and wash all the smokey clothes and drink coffee out of a china cup with a nice cookie on the side.

I also have lots of work to catch up on and send out for The Postcard Project.  You might want to check that out this week and see what's up.

Wait, can you hear that... it's the coffee pot calling my name!

If You Tell Your Wish It Won't Come True

Out of the blue this weekend we decided on a trip to Europe with the kids next summer.  They are both good travelers, and they both have interests that would fit nicely to a trip to Europe, lots of history to see and places to see.

We quickly looked into flights, and things to do and see (to figure out how much money we'll need to save).  I'm not sure when it turned from a germ of an idea to an actual event to plan, but it did.

Then while we were using Google on two different laptops to plan our adventure the words slipped from my mouth.  "I would like to live in Europe for a while." 

"I could live anywhere in Europe."  He said looking at me over the top of his screen to gauge my sincerity.

"Let's see if we can make that happen before the kids are too old to come with us."

And the wish was spoken out loud, and there is a chance that it might come true.  I have always steadfastly maintained that I don't desire to leave my mountains.  But I have traveled a bit and suddenly I have the urge to immerse myself in another culture.  There are job options for us out there, and the chance to walk in the footsteps of great artists is calling to me. 

365 Days Of Art - Day 52 - Looking Around

On Sunday I was busy just doing quick sketches of a lot of things that I could see from where I was sitting. Glasses, bowls, coat hooks and my husbands elbow were among them.

This was another draw what you've got days.  I just worked away trying to get as much information about the cabin and the atmosphere of the place as I could.  The idea being that it will hopefully prove to be inspiring for later work.

It also provides more information for my visual diary. Lots of little life tidbits.

Sunday was the last day of of our mini vacation.  There were some tears as we left our friends, it really was a wonderful break.

However as we drove home I kept seeing images in my head that I wanted to paint.  I have a feeling that while the kids are in school I'll be putting some miles on my little car looking for that perfect little vista to capture in paint.  I may even try some acrylic plien air.  That could be interesting.

365 Days Of Art - Day 51 - painting with kids

Saturday was "Art Lesson" day.  The evening before when I had consumed too much red wine and Baily's in celebration of our host's birthday his daughter asked me if she could come sketching with me the next morning.  I agreed, and was reminded of the promise at 8am!

I took all three kids out in the big pick-up and drove country roads until we found some beautiful views.

Then we set up some lawn chairs on the side of the road, in the shelter of the truck, and did some painting. The hour really flew by and we had a great time talking about colour, distance, composition.

I took lots of pictures and the girls were wonderful and patient working through our hour of art.

I did cut out some of my process (like initial sketching) and it shows in my paintings, but they do have a nice fresh quality, and I will remember how much fun I had with the kids when I look back at them in the sketch book.

365 Days Of Art - WOW Day 50!

It was Friday at the cabin on our mini holiday and "the men" had arrived.  Dads  were the hit of the afternoon and the girls were very excited to have men around to play with.  I guess mom's get boring after a while.

I didn't actually realize that this was Day 50 of the art challenge.  I might have wanted to look for something more flashy to draw or paint for the day, but I settled on the drawing the men folk as they focused on their small fry.

In the end, actually, I'm glad I didn't go for something flashier.  All along this has been about what is in my life and what interests me at the moment the pencil is over the paper.  I suspect that is also the point of this whole exercise, documenting my world.

365 Days Of Art - Day 48 head in the clouds

  The first day of our mini vacation involved a lot of time spent with the kids talking about art.  Our host's have a wonderful daughter who matches the ages of my kids really well. She was really into watching me do my work and asking lots of questions.

She asked about clouds and I showed her a super quick cloud study (I think the grand total of the time spent was two minutes, including wetting the paper.)

later that night I managed some more intensive sketching time and got my hour of art done after tucking the kids into bed.

Our host's have a lovely cabin near a lake.  It was interesting to be in a different environment and working on my art.  It wasn't bad, it was just different and I had to adjust a lot of things, including how I set up to work.

In the end I was just happy to get the work done.

Sunday Morning!

Well the hike we went on yesterday to Larch Valley was a bust.  We made it out to our starting point, and started up the trail, but the friends that we invited, invited another friend along (does that make sense?  oh well... the coffee still needs time to work) and the friend of our friends couldn't do the hike.  She couldn't do the uphill part.  Oddly, there aren't a lot of flat trails in the mountians, but if I had known she couldn't go up I would have found a hike she could do.

Instead we went back to Moraine Lake (one of the most beautiful lakes in the Rockies) and had a picnic at the lakeside amongst the wandering tourists.  The lake is truly beautiful and the colour comes from the rock flour that is ground up from the rocks the glaciers crush above the lake.  The particles come down to the lake and reflect the most amazing blue/green that is a mix of Pthalo Blue (GS) and utramarine... with a lot of leaning towards the Pthalo blue for that grean tint. 

It wasn't our plan to hang with the tourists, but it was good enough for yesterday.  We still have the hike on our to-do list and now have one less weekend to get all our hikes in, but we do have some beautiful memories and I did get to sit beside the lake and do some drawing and painting with the kids while the grown-ups wandered down to the falls (being a grown-up is over-rated.)

I think we'll try to head back next weekend, and try again... third time is the charm - right?

Up Before the Birds

Although I have to be fair, it wasn't much before the birds.  I woke up earlier than I had planned because my daughter had discovered that her bear was "lost" and needed him to snuggle.

CocoBear was having a sleep-over at his friends place in the livingroom, so I woke him up and brought him to his best buddy.  Since I was up anyway I decided to take advantage of the fact and get a few quiet things done before the house woke up.

I did my hour of drawing, nothing super inspiring, but it was nice to get lost in the abstract shapes and kind of meditate on them in the quiet of the morning, with the cool air pouring in through the kitchen window.  As I waited for the first birds to arrive at the feeder.

I love this time of day.  When everything is quiet and I can be alone, but also have the security of knowing that my family is all tucked in thier beds and soon their own special brand of chaos will take over the house.

Sometimes I wish I could live in this quiet, inbetween world a little longer than I normally get.  The sound of the blackbirds singing down by the pond is a wonderful melody to draw by.  The chirp and half purrs of my cat as she watches the feeder waiting for the birds to come (and her frustration of being trapped inside!)  The click and gurgle of the coffee maker, and the soft rubbing/scratching of my pencil on paper as I sort out mass, shadow, shape and form, and also take the time to sort out my day.

Soon the family will be up and we will start getting ready for our busy Saturday.  We are heading out to the Rocky Mountains today with frinds to do some hiking.  I hope there are lots of pictures to be taken. snacks and laughter to be shared, and memories to be made. 

But first, there is a little more work to be done in the quiet of the morning

The Big City (part 4)

After lunch we kept walking up 5th Avenue towards the Empire State Building.  We didn't actually go to the top, (the cost was pretty high and we only had a few hours left in our day).  But we walked up and around it and took some pictures.  Then we kept walking, heading for the library and eventually Times Square.

On the way to the library we saw smoke coming up from underground and lots of emergency vehicles... I have no idea what it was – but it was certainly smoky!  We did a little detour around all that and wound up outside the New York Public Library.  What a great and amazing building.  The reading rooms are awesome and more.  I didn't get a gift for the girls from the gift shop, but I did promise myself that one day I was going to bring them here to see for themselves the wonderful lion statues and the beautiful floors and reading rooms.

Then it was just a few blocks walk to Times Square.  We stood in line for 45 minutes and got tickets to see  God of Carnage with James Gandolfini (which is what sold it to us) but in the end Jeff Daniels stole the show.

Anyway back to more exploring.  After we got our tickets we made our way to Grand Central Station.  I was getting tired and the late nights and early mornings were getting to me, but I was still happy to stare, dumbstruck, at all the beautiful architecture around that area, including the Chrysler building, which was really the most amazing thing to see up close.
We did a lot of walking, managed to miss eating dinner, and then had a coffee and a croissant before the play started.  It was a really surprising play, very funny, very offensively shocking in a lot of ways.  But I really enjoyed it and I hope it has a long run. 

We took the subway back to the hotel, and I did my last sketches on the trip back.  We could have gone out to dinner locally I guess, but I was too tired to even think about it.  I fell into bed (after showing my husband the blister on my little toe) and slept for four hours, because we had forgotten about the time change to daylight savings time.

We got up at 4:30 to catch our plane home.  I was really very sad to leave the city.  I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.  It was exactly what I expected to see, it was amazing and beautiful, dirty, and desperate, and yes, I would happily go back to do it all over again.  I am hoping that I can bring my kids next time and let them see all the wonders that I did, and more.