Tomorrow it's Inktober! Are you in?

Want to get better at drawing? Want to have fun with other artists all over the world, drawing every day for the month of October? Jake Parker has just the thing for you!

See how it all started here on Jake's YouTube. Suggested materials are listed in the video itself and the video description.

If you can't think what to draw, here's the official prompt list from Jake Parker himself!
Scroll down some of my examples from previous years here.

ARTbeat 2017: Cirque du Surreal

I am pleased to announce my contribution of the painting "Mystic Reflections ", to Kirkland Arts Center for the fantastic 9th annual ARTbeat Benefit Auction & Gala.
The evening includes a delicious 3-course meal and complimentary wine and cocktails.
Date: Saturday October 28, 2017

More details about the auction here.

"Mystic Reflections"  Original watercolor by Michele 15"x22" (22x28" framed and matted)

About the painting:
Distant headlands float on a milky layer of fog as rocky peaks along the shoreline appear above the mist. Rhythmic waves can be heard beneath that silky blanket, coming to rest in shining tide pools at your feet.

About the artist:
I view my painting experience as a "conversation with the light". It's a constant give and take during the hour or so that I spend on location. My desire is that, even without words, the viewer sees that there is room in this dialog for them, too.

I am a professional fine artist, working mainly in watercolor and occasionally in oil in the Seattle, WA area. I have been teaching watercolor since 1979. My work is in corporate and private collections internationally and has been published by Northlight Books and various art periodicals. My sketches on Flickr have been featured in "Explore" numerous times.  I am a blog correspondent for Seattle Urban Sketchers, and recently attended the 8th Annual USK Symposium in Chicago and the 7th Annual USK Symposium at University of Manchester, UK.

Affiliations:

• Northwest Watercolor Society, Signature Member
• Women Painters of Washington, Signature Member
• National Collage Society, Signature and President Emeritus 
• Blog Correspondent for Seattle Urban Sketchers
• Teaching artist at Kirkland Arts Center, Skagit Valley College, North Cascades Institute and others

After the Rain

Finally! After more than 50 days without rain, forest fires and smoky, hazy air with ashes from forest fires falling on our heads, we had measurable rain for a few hours today. What a relief!

The fields still look dry with our new record for most consecutive days without measurable precipitation (55 straight), the city’s combined rainfall tally the past two months of just 0.02 inches ties 1914 for the driest July-August on record.

I hopped into the "mobile studio" and drove to a spot across the road from an old barn, shoulder deep in dry grass and right on the flight path to the municipal airport. Here's my initial pencil line work, just one, in my Pentalic Aquajournal and my watercolor set up, using the new color dots from QoR, one of our generous sponsors from the Chicago Urbansketchers Symposium.

Here's my mobile studio setup, trying out the little QoR sample palette.

Rain at last! Some like it, some don't.

It finally rained after 55 straight days of dry weather. You tend to forget a few things about taking sunshine for granted:

1. No matter how diligently you water your plants, they don't appreciate it as much as even a few drops of rain. (That's "Knucklehead" the potted pumpkin. Look at those big leaves reaching for the raindrops!)
2. Not a good idea to  use water soluble ink, even if you're sketching under the eaves on a dry patch of the sidewalk. Instant specks!
3. A cat can forget that its secret nap lair leaks in the rain.

Our neighbor cat emerged from her secret nap lair, VERY disgruntled and soaking wet.