TA DA! I actually kept up with my daily sketches!

Here are all 30 of my daily sketches for DoodlewashApril2018. Despite a truly hectic teaching and personal schedule, I have managed to keep up through the last day! Actually, this has been my daily respite from all the other stuff I do, including a commission with a time crunch.

My accordion fold DIY sketchbook on Canson XL 140lb watercolor paper with front page folded over.

Day 2-14

This easy to make maze book was from an 18x24" sheet of Canson XL 140lb watercolor paper. I am using this opportunity to test out ink, watercolor pencil, Caran D'ache watercolor crayons and traditional watercolor on this paper. I am thinking about recommending it as an economical paper for beginning watercolor students. Nothing is as wonderful as professional quality Arches or Fabriano or Saunders Waterford, though.

I add each daily sketch where it seems to fit best.

Each day I look forward to adding the next prompt about childhood pastimes and favorite things. Tree climbing, tether ball (I ruled the playground on tether ball!) and bike riding were my sports.

Day 15-25

We made hundreds of oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies, but Oreos were the absolute best on a camping trip!
Day 23-29

With six kids and sometimes a dog or cat, my mom needed an aquarium like a hole in the head. (That was a phrase we heard from time to time.) So goldfish were cheap and we had them as long as we maintained the feeding and cleaning ourselves. We had funerals for departed goldfish in the Great Bowl of Porcelain. My favorite doll was a rubber baby doll with a china head and soft cuddly body, not Barbie.

Two things are missing on the TV because they were used as needed: aluminum foil for better reception on the "rabbit ears" antennae and the kid who was designated as remote control, getting up  to change channels and adjust the volume.

I see a lot of other people have their sketches in chronological order, date stamped and labeled, but after the first day, which I used as a teaching exercise, I just felt like letting the process flow along with the warm memories. It was fun, being like a kid again. I realize that I now have something even better than an old photo album to view and talk about with my children and grandchildren. I can't wait to see theirs.

Here are the daily prompts for April 2018. If you're wondering where the unicorn is, it's on the carousel. Even I knew there was no such thing as a real unicorn!

April Doodlewash up to Now

Day One-Rainbow

Here's what I have for the first two weeks of #DoodlewashApril2018 and #WorldWatercolorGroup. I'm not sure how to categorize watercolor pencils. 

Bunny rabbit, iced treats, dandelions, french fries, birds, zoo animals, bubble gum, partial Monopoly

I'm not that linear when it comes to the calendar, so a daily prompt helps but then I see the whole page as something to compose and things get juggled around a bit. See the sidebar for the daily prompts.

Olive Oyl, daughter of Coal Oyl, I believe

When we played Monopoly, my Dad was always the top hat and I tried for the sports car. Hated the thimble. The Scotty dog got lost. I think my sister took it.

Birds, Olive Oyl again, the rest of Monopoly, Shredded Wheat breakfast cereal, my favorite toy, pets and cake

I always wanted to know if anybody really did like their Shredded Wheat hot? Why???!! And I always crumbled it up before pouring on the milk because it's way too awkward to eat it whole like they showed on the box. These are things people don't know if they only read the box and never try the cereal. Now I just get the Mini Wheats with sugar already on it. And I saw this most beautiful cake on Instagram a while back and couldn't forget it. *mouth watering. heading for the pantry right now!*

A Perfect Little Vase, Hellebores and Gel Pen Sprouts

I went out to the garden this morning to cut fresh Hellebores for my lovely new antique vase. It was given to me by a dear friend and is the perfect size for my desk in the studio. Who knew that this small task would lead to another surprising discovery in my garden?

Helllebores blooming and Gel Pen Sprouts

I was reaching for a few blossoms to put in my new vase, when a spot of yellow, spring green and orange caught my eye. The Gel Pen Sprouts were already up! The orange one was no doubt dug up earlier  by squirrels, but I could see that the clip was already fully developed.

Fresh Gel Pen Sprouts, cleaned and ready to use.

I love the way these pale green and white hellebores go so perfectly with my new little vase.

Five Minute Sketches, WIP

I assigned Tuesday's watercolor classes a little warm up exercise: Take your sketchbook out for a 5 minute sketch. Use any simple tool you like, pen, pencil, etc. Take 5 minutes to find a subject, 5 minutes to sketch and 5 minutes to return to the classroom and share your sketches. It was raining, so just a few chose to brave the cold damp weather outdoors for 5 minutes. The rest chose to spread out all around the interior of the building, sketching what they saw out the windows. I was so impressed by what they did. I think they even surprised themselves! (Sorry, I didn't take a photo of their sketches.)

My five minute sketches from Tuesday, ready for a touch of color and narrative after breakfast today.

Towards the end of the day, I discovered this ingenious little light well with its own pocket garden, flower pots ready and waiting for spring, and a Tuscan mural to cheer up those looking out from the windows on the opposite wall. I only had time to do the ink sketch, planning to add watercolor pencil and ink wash later.

A light well hides a secret garden.

My 5 minute sketch with the Sharpie Pen after class.

Here's the result of some simple color and ink washes on the secret garden sketch. I have time lapse video demo on my Instagram feed of the color/wash process. See link in right column.

See my Instagram feed @michelecooperart for a time lapse video of process of adding color.

I managed to get a few trophy shots of my other two 5 minute sketches (see below)

Afternoon sketch. Looking straight across the alley at the cracked wall and weathered window on the next building.

I had planned to go outside and was headed for the elevator for my first sketch when an unusual appliance in the parking lot caught my eye out the second floor window.

I have no idea what this is....maybe a refrigeration unit? But what fun to draw!

I started on the right hand side of my Pentalic Aquajournal in the morning, then added sketches in the afternoon and after class.

Tuesday am sketch demo (right side) and pm sketch (left side)

I have a heading, 2nd FLOOR, but still haven't decided what my narrative will be for the rest of this two page spread in my visual journal. I will post it here when it's finished.

Abandoned Art drop Tomorrow, Which One?

Which one should I leave at the Grand Avenue Marketplace?

Here are some examples that I demonstrated for my watercolor classes this week, while encouraging my students to make progress in their watercolor skills by working in a series. They’re all 5x7” hand painted watercolor mixed media greeting cards.

Get your vote in on my Instagram @michelecooperart and then come sketch with Seattle Urban Sketchers from 10-12:30pm. 

I will drop one of these cards sometime during the sketch outing at Grand Avenue Marketplace. Once I’ve abandoned it, I will post a hint on my Instagram feed. I’ll tweet @michelecoopart  Find it and it’s yours!
Details about the outing here on the SeattleUsk blog.

Winter Workshop Day Two

Looking over the Great Wall of Art and final projects on day two.

If every expert was once a beginner, then these beginners will  be experts in no time. Just look at all the work they did this weekend! What a great group!

Congratulations, Krista! You won the drawing!

Introduction to Watercolor workshop day one

Here's the classroom during lunch break after a morning of learning new techniques in watercolor at Kirkland arts Center. We are just  getting started in the Winter Introduction to Watercolor workshop.

Projects at the end of Day One

Free Kickoff Event at Daniel Smith, Inc on March 3–Join Us!

I am honored to be teaching one of the workshops for beginners. 

For the second year, USk Seattle is taking part in 10x10, the worldwide initiative to offer educational workshops wherever sketchers live. Launched in celebration of Urban Sketchers’ 10th anniversary in 2017, the program brings a variety of courses on urban sketching techniques taught by talented local instructors in their home cities.

All workshops are on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Registration begins Sunday, March 4, 2018, 9 a.m. The cost is $60 each.
UPDATE: My workshop May 19, 2018 (#8 First Steps into Visual Journaling) is FULL
Wait list taken. Please send your request to usk.seattle@gmail.com , and you will get a response regarding your status on the list. 

A free Program Kickoff Event will be held March 3, 4:30 p.m., at Daniel Smith’s Seattle store. (Although the kickoff is free, registration is required.) Meet the instructors, see their sketchbooks, and learn about the workshops before registering. The kickoff will be followed by an unhosted, informal “drink & draw” at a nearby location, which will be another opportunity to talk with instructors who attend this optional event. Hope to see you there!

Street corner sketch by Michele Cooper 

Please see the Seattle blog for workshop details and registration information. 

Snow, trees and the Stillaguamish River

I'm putting my dagger brush to good use in the studio today. Now that most of the residual snow has washed away, I want to preserve some of the winter beauty while the memory is still fresh in my mind. It just so happens that I haven’t done my “trees “ or “river” prompts for February World Watercolor Group Challenge yet. I’m almost all caught up!

The dagger works as a watercolor wash brush, yet has a fine tip for details and fine lines. I let the brush do most of the work. This is about all the preliminary drawing I did. I scanned it darker so it would show up but actually the pencil is very light.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me?"

I doubt that Macbeth had to feel guilty about killing a good sketch, but that quote came to mind as I prepared to use my "dagger."

The brush with the shorter tuft is called a dagger, a longer one (also made for watercolor) is called a sword and the very long tuft but shorter handle seen above is a dagger striper. I have had the latter for decades. It's usually used by sign painters and car paint detailers for long, thin lines.

Douglas Fir Pine Cones

See my Instagram feed for a quick video of how I use the dagger brush for creating soft edges for snow shadows,

Trying out a new bleed proof disposable fountain pen.

I think my ink started to freeze while sketching out in the cold today, but it was the only viewpoint that I wanted for my pine cone sketch for WorldWatercolorGroup prompts. I'm all out of sinc with the calender now, so I'm just having fun catching up. Three more days to finish the February daily drawing challenge!

How's it going for you?