Sunny!

Guess what!? The forecast says sunny and zero chance of rain for two days in a row! This creates an emergency situation in the garden.

I saw the red pitchfork handle from the studio doorway and had to capture it before my husband pulls it out of the ground and starts digging up his garden.

As I stalked my subject to get the right angle of light, I spotted some hazelnut shells dug up by the squirrels, a few little green threadlike sprouts and some fresh autumn leaf mulch in the empty pot. Red robins chirped from the trees in the swale and a low buzzing alerted me to the flight of a sleepy hummingbird in the willows. 

(You can see the the skylight on the roof of the studio and the mullioned windows in the doorway if you look all the way back across the garden.) 

FYI:  This pitchfork has been here since December. Shhhh!

Wanderer

Inside Cover of my 2015 Sketchbook Project

 "Not all those who wander are lost". That is one of my favorite statements.

For my 2015 Sketchbook Project, I decided to meander through my part of the Pacific Northwest, finding subjects either at home or within approximately an hour in any direction. Sometimes I sketched in my book with friends, including the Seattle and Anacortes Urban sketchers. Sometimes I sketched alone on our deck in the back yard, at the kitchen counter or the local public garden.

As you will see, the dates on each page are random, not placed chronologically from front to back. I simply chose the page that best fit my inspiration and used it that day. Wander through my book. You won't be lost while reading it but I trust you will be away for awhile.--Artist's Statement

This sketch sums up my experience of the whole project. I saved the front inside page until the end, so that I would have the whole book finished and I would know how to introduce it.

I'll be mailing my sketchbook off to New York tomorrow. Just in time for the extended, extended deadline, eh?

Possibly the "Perfect Mini Sketchkit" ?

Look what I got! Right there in the middle!  An "angel" heard that I made a mistake when ordering and missed out on the chance to get The Perfect Sketchbook and gave me one of the only two she had. I can't thank her enough!

Update: Thank you, Erwin, for posting my kit and some of my work on your Facebook page, The Perfect Sketchbook. 

All this could fit in a small zip bag, handbag, or pocket of a backpack or jacket:

1. The Perfect Sketchbook (put business cards in the gusseted pocket in back)  
   

   

   Either one of these pencil cases works.

2. Aquash waterbrush (easy to fill and won't roll away)
3. Lamy fountain pen with water soluble black ink
4. Micron Archival black .01 pen (paint right over it, won't smear)
5. Mechanical pencil (no need for sharpener)
6. Micro fiber sponge for regulating water on the brush (dries with a squeeze)
7. Kneaded eraser
8. My DIY mini watercolor kit (more info and how to make one)

Note: Up until now, I have been using a similar sized sketchbook by Pentalic, the 5"x8" Aqua Journal.
See yesterday's post for examples.

Skagit Valley fallow fields

For me, painting is more than a way of seeing. It gives me an opportunity to use all my senses and to explore more than just a single aspect of a scene.

"Skagit Valley Fallow Fields" class demonstration by Michele Cooper

Previously I posted a watercolor depicting the serenity of winter in the Skagit Valley, featuring the quiet season in the farmland. But this painting gets us into the earthy part of the landscape; the mud, the weeds, the texture.

Both paintings came from the same time and place.

Around the World Blog Hop: Michele Cooper, Artist

So, last week the lovely and talented Tina Koyama, of Fueled by Clouds and Coffee, invited me to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop. My thrill gene activated! I was curiously alarmed and intrigued, so I said yes. Go peek here to see Tina's blog hop stop. She managed to make a sketch every single day of 2014 and writes wonderfully informative articles about her thoroughly tested pens, inks and sketching kits! Enjoy more of Tina's on-the-spot sketches and blog posts on the Seattle Urban Sketchers site. You can track back to Joan Tavolott (she invited Tina) and so on and so on.  The blog hop is quite simple: answer a few questions and invite up to three more people to join in. Each publishes on their blog the following Monday after being nominated.

Well, if you look back at the other posts, they're all quite lovely and journalistic.  Unfortunately, my blog is primarily focused on the visual aspect (with occasional flashes of eloquence) so I'm just going to answer the questions and invite three more bloggers (who will surely do a much more poetic job than I have!)

1.  What am I working on? I have several things going simultaneously at the moment:

a. Sketching as often as possible with the urban sketchers at home and in my travels. This has proved a wonderful way of meeting local artists and keeping up with my regular sketch journals.

b. I have a panoramic format sketchbook that I want to fill. It's already halfway full.

I sketched in the car at the Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes, WA.

c. Planning lessons for the winter quarter of my watercolor classes. I teach watercolor in several locations around the greater Seattle area. 

2.  How does my work differ from others' of its genre?

Tea Party at Gasworks Park

Every artist's work is as unique and individual as the artist.

I'm sure there are certain facts about things that everyone sees pretty much the same way, like the freeway commute to work, a cup of tea or the dairy section at the grocery store. But I have seen truly unique paintings of these mundane subjects simply because they are viewed uniquely by the artist. I particularly enjoy it when ordinary things appear to me in an extraordinary way.

Sometimes the day takes a whimsical turn. I met with the Friday Group of Seattle Urban Sketchers at Gasworks Park on a drizzly August morning. What I expected was a selection of great industrial looking shapes from which to choose. I didn't expect that one of those shapes would remind me of a teapot and another of the stacked platters of cakes and sandwiches at a tea party. Once the "creative train" crested the hill, the rest of the day's sketches followed in a fantastical way.

3.  Why do I write/create what I do?

I create my sketches as a way of seeing. We move our eyes along the landscape from right to left to right and back again. That's why I feel the panoramic format is so appropriate for landscapes and marine subjects. 

If a sketch is a phrase, then perhaps the painting is a sonata. So the painting will be more carefully composed, but relies on the information gathered quickly in the sketch.

This sketch developed into more of my "completed watercolor" style as I lingered to savor the experience. 

I share my knowledge and experience with my readers and my students because I believe that it's such a fulfilling thing to be creative. I want everyone to know what that is like. I know my students have something to say with their work and all they need is a little bit of courage and the tools to make it happen. I think I can help with that.

4.  How does my writing/creative process work?

I started blogging as a means of sharing my paintings in a more spontaneous way than I was getting with the somewhat static, business card style of my website. In the beginning, I posted small images and very little text. First the visual, then the verbal. That's because, to me, seeing and painting/drawing/sketching is a language in and of itself. And for me, that is my first language, my heart language.

When I am out on a "sketch hunt" I try to keep an open mind about subject matter. Sooner or later the atmosphere or an arresting pattern of shadows or unusual contrasting shapes and colors will "speak" to me. Sometimes the connection is immediate. Other times, it may take two or three or more successive visits to a location, but eventually the subject evolves as I deepen my experience. Out comes my sketchbook and I try to get the important part of the message down before it all changes. I often start with ink line (Micron pen) followed by watercolor washes.

The weather was changing moment by moment, so I quickly sketched the unique shapes of foreground, middle ground, background very simply. I relied on my brush to add contrasting values, colors and shapes. From a recent trip to Hawaii.

Every little minute detail is not essential. I want just enough description to get the point across with room for the viewer to add their visual contribution to the conversation. As the viewer, your memories and experiences activate as you view my work and it becomes partly yours, too. 

I visited Jennings Park in my town for three days in a row to make this 15" wide by 7" tall spread. It includes a sketch of my own DYI palette of 6 colors which I made in an Altoids Mini tin. I made the accordion fold sketchbook, too.

I do love the written and spoken word. If it enhances the sketch, I will write my thoughts, impressions or facts about the subject right there on the sketchbook page. I often write haiku in my other sketchbook next to thumbnail sketches to eliminate unnecessary details and get at the essential core of my subject. Sometimes I read poetry or particularly fine literature to inform and develop the concept of my painting. After all, reading is a visual experience, too.

I wish that I could be as eloquent as Robert Henri, author of  "The Art Spirit" and one of my favorite authors for encouragement and inspiration. When I thought about inviting three people to join me in this blog hop, I knew whom I would choose. They live continents away, but we met this past year by admiring each others' art on Instagram. Our acquaintance reminds me of a quote from Henri, "Through art mysterious bonds of understanding and of knowledge are established among men. They are the bonds of a great Brotherhood. Those who are of the Brotherhood know each other, and time and space cannot separate them."

The next part of the hop:

In the spirit of our global (and I mean global) blog hop, please hop on over (to France, Britain and Australia) on Monday, January 12, 2015 to visit my three new friends:

Juliette Plisson, of http://julietteplisson.blogspot.com/,  is a correspondent for USk France. She lives in Paris, France and spends her vacations on an island called Noirmoutier. Juliette and I met on Instagram while we were both trying to keep up with friends who were attending the 5th International Urban Sketching Symposium in Paraty, Brazil, this past summer. We exchanged a few conversations online and have been viewing each other's blogs, Flickr feeds and IG accounts ever since. I am sure you will agree that Juliette has produced some beautiful sketches (see her Instagram here) with expressive line, beautiful watercolor and just the right amount of white space.

MMFXRofe, who describes himself as  Shabby wanderer, stumbling thinker... Founder of the #postcardartgroup. His recent watercolor studies of Britain's dusk, dawn and evening skies remind me of the musical compositions of Claude Debussy, Clair de Lune being particularly apropos. See them here on his Instagram.

MMFXRofe is in the process of making a new website and blog. I will update this post with a link as soon as it is launched. If for any reason his blog isn't ready yet, I will host a guest spot for him here on my blog on Monday, Jan. 12. Update: The new blog is up! http://mmfxrofe.blogspot.com

Suzi Poland of Vignettes de la Vie. Suzi is one of the most accomplished persons I have ever come to know. Again, we recently met on Suzi's Instagram, through her #coffeeosophy tag. Unknowingly, I plunked a sketch of a cow spotted coffee stand right in the middle of her beautiful black and white cappuccino sketches. I apologized for my error, was forgiven, and gained a new, gracious friend. If she ever comes to the Pacific NW, we are going to go out and sketch that coffee stand together. Swim on over to Suzi's blog for a peek and then make sure to see how she will answer the four questions on Jan 12. I say swim, because it's summer where Suzi is in Australia right now and she's got a few great swimming spots to share with you.

I eagerly await hearing more about all their creative processes next Monday!

You can certainly peek ahead and enjoy what they already have on Instagram, Flickr and their blogs. 

Glass Fishing Float

Tropical downpour is keeping us indoors today. As I look around the house, I see something that reminds me of the beautiful ocean not too far from here.

Blown glass fishing float

Sketching, Snacking and Chasing Birds in the Park

Three days of activities with Leila. 

There are lots of things to do at the South Pacific Studio with two sweet little girls to keep up with. This two page spread is about Leila, our five year old granddaughter.  Trust me when I say that we are both sketching nearly every day. There is barely enough time to post our adventures before we are off on another one. These sketches are from Dec 14, 17 and 19. 

We don't have a scanner here so pardon the perspective and focus of handheld iPhone photos. 

Chicks in the Median

Here's a perfect combination of urban and rural sketching. We crossed the street on our way to Macy's and there in the median was a hen, digging for a little snack for her chicks.

She was a very diligent digger, so between the far flung leaves coming our way and the temptation of Macy's One Day Sale right there across the street, this was a very quick rough sketch indeed. 

Quick breakfast

Busy week. Barely enough time to have breakfast. It's hard to resist our daughter's homemade strawberry jam, though.

Seven from Starbucks

7 more for NaNoDrawMo! Total: 42 with 7 days to go!

As I left the house on a sketch hunt today, I thought I would be parking across the street from a barber shop I know. The light was good. I had my Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook, Micron Pen, Lamy Pen and mini kit. All I needed was a nice, warm latte to keep me company.

WELL. Turns out that the clouds came over and ruined my lighting. Plus, the chairs are quite comfy at one of our local Starbucks. So I ended up with 7 little sketches instead of a larger, more complicated street scene. This doesn't hurt my total for NaNoDrawMo, either!
Here's the story:

1. My most frequently used sketch pen, the Micron .01 Archival Waterproof. (The barista stand, #5, was with my Lamy pen, however.)
2. Left handed, leaning over, pouring cream in a to-go cup. No need to remove his huge puffy jacket. He's in and out in no time! (Yes, the mornings are pretty cold this week.)
3. Ignore pen again. *This ginger haired worker took his break in three different chairs. First, he sat in the sunny window which was decorated with long streamers of colorful tissue. I didn't sketch him the other two times as he faced me both times and seemed to be wise to my sketch hunting presence.
4. Two pounds of Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend. What a pretty, autumn leaf package!
5. Top edge of the baristas' brewing machine with the gigantic coffee filter on top right. Blurry scan.
6. Lower left. Another table hopper. He seemed so uncomfortable, trading tables four times, including using the bathroom, taking off his hat, smoothing his hair, opening and closing his 3 ring binder. He escaped before I could draw any more.
7. Lower right. This Mo Bro (I detect two different stages of facial hair--grown out mustache and newish beard) was easy. Even though he got up and down twice, he always returned to the exact same position. Thanks!

*Question: Are male coffee shop workers referred to as "baristos"? Answer from Yahoo: The term baristo (and correspondingly baristos) is occasionally found in English to refer to a specifically male bartender. This is a hypercorrection, as it is a misinterpretation of the -a ending as a female ending, while in fact barista is used for both males and females."

Personal observation: the vast majority of men in and out of the shop had facial hair. I wonder if they are participating in Movember? Wanna be a Mo Bro or a Mo Sista?

Sunday Painters: Be an unofficial Mo Bro or Mo Sista, even if you don't have a mustache. Draw and/or paint someone with a beard or mustache today!

Shabby French Market Journal Page-A Memoir

Sometimes it takes me a while to decide what part of my sketch page will be written and what I want to say. I was so full of thoughts about The Shabby French Market experience with the Anacortes Sketchers that it took me until today to write them into my sketch page. (After putting down my thoughts, I have to say that I have a ways to go in the antique French script writing department.)

You enter the building from the street and immediately have so many options: up two more floors on a beautiful, wide, handcrafted wooden staircase or into one of the many doors leading off the foyer or to your left around the corner and downstairs into a treasure of shabby French nostalgia. Our rainy day meet up with the sketchers was planned for the basement. It's warm, cozy, with clear lighting and a sofa and a dozen or so chairs you could use. There's a bed, too, but it is definitely not meant for customers' use.

Last page in my Stillman & Birn Beta Sketchbook click to zoom

So I walked around the shop, like wandering through a memoir, stopping to sketch with the colors of fog and mist. The things that caught my eye were the hand-tied raw silk lampshade on its leaded crystal base, the silver hot chocolate pot with its aged patina, the fleurs-de-lis everywhere, along with delicate bouquets of dried hydrangeas. There is a little key-shaped wall mount for hanging your keys. "Mais oui!" Everything had the feel of treasured, though time worn objects with yet another home to grace. In the background, 1940's pop tunes and French-sounding jazz added to the atmosphere.

Many thanks to Elizabeth and Tom for welcoming our little group for an afternoon of sketching in their delightful shop.

Day 31 of Inktober 2014 - I did it!

For the last three ink drawings of Inktober I chose to draw windows, from inside looking out. Each one is a window from the building where I taught my watercolor class that day.

For Wednesday, I chose a view across the rooftops and beyond. For Thursday, I chose the window display at the gallery and through to the outside. For today, I looked out the second floor window of Kirkland Arts Center and down to the rainy street corner below.

All done! 31 ink drawings in 31 days! See my Instagram for the entire collection. 

It was a Yummy Day!

I should have posted this yesterday, but I was interrupted by life. Here is my sketchbook spread from our Anacortes Sketchers outing to Skagit River Produce.

My friend, Sylvia, gave me the title for this post. It truly was a yummy day!

What's so tough about rainy season plein air?

The beginning of a unique outdoor sketching season in the Pacific NW.
Advantages:

1. Comfy seat, with optional warmer. 
2. Climate control.
3. Watercolors and inks stay dry. 
4. Cup holders for your painting water AND your latte. 
5. Built in steering wheel/easel.

Car sketching

Disadvantages:

1. Viewpoint must have parking. 
2. Risk of being taken for a stalker in unfamiliar neighborhood. 
3. Drips and spills have consequences.
4. Your umbrella may atrophy from disuse.

A Sunday sketch drive on the road to Lake McMurray

Do you remember taking Sunday drives with your parents, like I did? There wasn't necessarily a concrete destination, just a reason to pile the family in the car and go see what was out there. Sometimes we packed a picnic lunch to eat when we found a likely spot. How about doing that with your family today? Take your sketchbook and camera with you and combine two of the nicest things you can do on a day off.

Look east of the covered porch and you will see another great Sunday drive, the road to Lake McMurray.

If you take Exit 221 off I-5, you'll find beautiful country views, and a great place to stop for lunch and for fresh meat, fish and produce to take home for dinner tonight. Skagit River Produce is family run by some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Skagit River Farm sketches

On Thursday, I mentioned that I would soon post the finished sketches from my two recent visits to the Skagit River Farm Barn. One of the co-owners, Gary, was sorting corn on the flatbed outside the big barn and told me that he ran the gas station across the street for 35 years. I remember stopping there many times on my way to the tulip fields for gas and a bloom map.

My finished two page spread of sketches from SRF.

3 years ago, Gary and his son built a brand new, yet beautifully reminiscent barn across the street from the gas station. They have filled it with fresh local produce and a kitchen that makes homemade soup every day. There is even an old fashioned pie safe, stocked full of fresh baked pies. You have got to stop in! It's right off Exit 221 on I-5 at the Lake McMurray exit.

Kubota Gardens Sketchbook

My sketchbook impressions of the day - 8/8/14

They seemed to merge with the stones. Chisels ringing, stone masons from Japan and around the country worked together at Kubota Gardens yesterday as a group of USk sketchers observed and created pages in their sketchbooks. Once in a while, a whiff of dust would come through the chain link fence as a stone worker blew it out of a granite crevice with his bamboo "straw". Cranes lifted the stones, one or two at a time, and placed them where directed by Junji and Suminori Awata, 14^th and 15^th generation stonemasons and masters of their craft. In just 14 days they will dry fit the granite into an 8 ft. base for the new Terrace Overlook.

Called Rock People Chisels, I am grateful to have shared the experience with my granddaughter and great-granddaughter yesterday.

Sharing Our Work at Breazeale Interpretive Center

See my previous posts and more accounts of this wonderful experience:
Sketching Bay View, Anacortes Sketchers

Ed views sketches of his garden

"You touch the wet paper like this....see what happens?"

Cap Sante Marina with ASk

Met with Anacortes sketchers today at the Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes. Right away I noticed the masts, flags and rigging of two tall ships.

Hawaiian Chieftain now joins Lady Washington, the Official Ship of the State of Washington, in educational cruises and ambassadorial visits along the west coast throughout the year.

My shady spot disappeared at the point where I was adding color to my sketch of the distant rigging of Lady Washington. Even so, I needed to let background washes dry before adding darks and details.

So Joyce and I walked down to see the ship up close. I found out the name of the boat blocking my view of the entire profile....Zorro. :-/

Checking out our own sketchbooks

Jennifer, Tina, Michele and Judy

We made it! Judy Gowdy and I got to the Sketchbook project around 1pm today. I drove from Marysville and Judy from Bellevue. We met Tina Koyama, of USk Seattle, who walked up from Pioneer Square after sketching with the ad hoc group this morning. Tina is lightning fast, and posted her account way ahead of me. :) (see link with her name)

We also met someone new, Jennifer Smith, an artist with a studio at Inscape Arts, the former INS building. She walked over to see what the Sketchbook Project was all about and struck up a conversation with us.
Here we are with our own sketchbooks that we all checked out, plus a random one apiece. We found a nice bench in the shade and traded them around. That way we got to see 8 sketchbooks! Jennifer's were chosen by the librarian, since she doesn't have a book in the project yet.

We would have gotten more books, but the check-out system is a bit challenging. So if you get over there before it ends tomorrow, give yourself a generous amount of time.

One book, that Judy got, was from a New York artist who illustrated the history of the handbag. The sketchbook was beautifully hand bound, with 3-D attachments and patterns for the construction of classic handbags on some of  the pages. At the end, there were tiny drawings of over a dozen classic bags, all in gold ink! Artists are phenomenal, aren't they?

PS I didn't see the food truck today, but I did see a school bus.