Oregon Junco

Another sketchbook watercolor . I seem to be doing everything but the important things I want to accomplish. Maybe soon I'll get back to my full sheet that is sitting on my easel with a little bit of color on it. It could be the weather that keeps me distracted... spring seems to be here in full swing. Sunny one day and rainy the next or rainy in the morning and sunny an hour later.

More spring sketching

Spring rhododendron's are showing up all around now, giving me yet another flower to watercolor in my sketchbook.

I'm really happy with my new "subscribe" link over to the right of the screen. One subscriber tells me it really works great. Once you subscribe by placing your e-mail address in the box, the next day after I update my blog you will receive an e-mail from me, Nancy Van Blaricom: fine art, showing the new post to my blog.

Spring

Watercolor sketch in sketchbook.

Grape Hyacinth

I find this is the time of year that everyone is sharing plants with each other.

This is a sketch of some grape hyacinth.

I'm finding that I'm not very motivated today to work on the important things that need to be done today if not sooner ... I have 15 days to finish a full sheet painting I'm working on to enter in the local spring art show and some of those day's are planned with other events. Also the Farmers Market that I plan on selling some works at this summer will soon start and although I have some inventory I still need to expand on that quite a bit. Meanwhile I'm finding myself getting distracted with other things. But....Today I will:

• get the first signs of the image on the full sheet of paper
• print out 2 more cards and package them
• work at putting the greeting cards on my web-site (I worked on this yesterday but was not happy with the layout... but I'll work to see if I can't come up with something I an happy with.)

Flowers on my deck

With the signs of spring all around I couldn't resist buying some geraniums for my front deck. I purchased 6 a couple of weeks ago ... they have a very pretty hot purple-red flower. The colors of the foliage is not as sick and washed out as my sketch/watercolor shows. I found it hard to make up a pretty green with my small watercolor palette I use for sketching. I guess I should just stick sap green in there an use that, changing the value as needed with either water or another color, but I really would like to mix my own - then again, half the problem seems to be that I use my water-brush, so very little mixing is done on the palette it's self.

Lavendar Iris

Its the time of year when most of us are so looking forward to doing some gardening after being house-bound through the long winter months.
This small watercolor is from my sketchbook. The book is approximately 5.5" x 8.5" and the paper is somewhere between smooth and having some tooth. So although its takes the watercolor fine, the page buckles a little. At first I didn't care for that, but now I've grown to like it ... feeling the familiarity pages filled with sketches and odds and ends taped/glued to the pages.
Have you noticed that I seem to vacillate between a loose painterly watercolor style and more realistic ... I enjoy them both, but this doesn't help sell paintings to go back and forth.

The tulip fields of Skagit County

Yesterday we were in the middle of some beautiful tulips fields about 100 miles north of where we live. People come from all over to see the beauty that not only takes your breath away but keeps you smiling the whole time you see them.

Fundraiser...

"I'll be home soon, Mom"

painted surface: 15" x 22"
framed size: 23.5" x 29"

On April 27 at Harmony Hill, overlooking Hood Canal, in Union WA, Turning Pointe Domestic Violence Services is once again sponsoring an art show/auction. This is Turning Pointe's major fundraiser for the year, as well as a chance for South Puget Sound artist to really shine. Being relatively new to the area this is going to be the first year that I participate in this show/auction/fundraiser. I will be donating a painting I did of my grandson's first school bus ride ... I've tried to capture the look of innocent anticipation and excitement on his face that I saw that day. This watercolor painting I think is appropriate to the show in the fact that so many young children are effected by domestic violence and innocence lost. The call to artists quoted 13 domestic - violence related fatalities in the past two years in our county alone ... how very sad. I hope my painting brings enough money to the services to help in some way.

Garlic Clove

I love seeing the paintings of the garlic clove by oil painters. Making it look almost heavenly - the transparent thin layers of the dried outer skin looking so beautifully transparent. For some reason I almost always prefer seeing the garlic rendered in oil than watercolor... maybe it's just the difference in experience of the artists. I thought I'd give it a try today. The first composition I attempted was of a head of garlic resting in a small saucer type bowl ... it was so pathetic that it's now in the trash, waiting to start a fire the wood stove later. Although I certainly wouldn't enter this into a contest, by any means, it's much better than the last attempt. Possibly it's just a matter of taking my time and "looking"... as with most art.

Two pears

I enjoy seeing paintings with fruit in them, but as a rule I forget to do anything with fruit but eat it ... by then it's too late. Although to paint a pear with a couple of bites taken out of it would make an interesting enough prop. I need to remember those sorts of things when I'm asking myself "what can I make a fast painting of"?

I had purchased these two pears to have pears and some cheese for after dinner instead of a heavy dessert - then only to have to come up with a something different because the pears were still too hard. There is some light colors representing a window that the scanner just refuses to pick up ... just as well, it really didn't help the painting at all.

Vinca Minor

I had a very creative enjoyable day. I was able to get two more greeting cards printed ( that means 12 of each subject ), also being full of creative energy I was able to get a wash on a full sheet painting I'm working on. It will need a few more washes to get the perfect color I'm after, but I'm starting out very light and will end being a nice soft even light foggy wash.

With the sun shining and all the signs of spring around, I couldn't resist getting out and doing a little gardening. One of my favorite ground covers is Vinca Minor - Common Periwinkle. It is a pretty evergreen, with little blue flowers. It makes a nice ground cover in shady locations or under woody plants. Some people have said that the Vinca Minor plant can be pretty invasive, but when I've planted this before, it did just what I had in mind... being a ground cover under huge Cedar trees where nothing else would grow. Also, I was able to get some geraniums planted in some pots by my front door.

Maybe my daily 2 mile walk is finally giving me some energy.

A little birdie ...

This little ceramic bird has been in my possession for so long that I can't remember exactly when I got it. It was in a secondhand store, and seemed to be calling my name to buy it. Its a very plain little bird with very few details, drab in color ... and yet so very sweet looking. I always keep it in my studio perched on the speaker to my computer. I used an HB mechanical pencil and watercolor, in my nearly completed sketchbook. It was a great day, very much looking like a perfect spring day. The bird and the weather were a natural go-together.

Huckleberry Branch

Today I surprised myself by remembering to pick up something to sketch while on my daily 2 mile walk. After walking most of the way with friends, I walked a couple of blocks by myself. I found myself with only a few bird sounds as background chatter. The Huckleberry bushes are profuse around here and lately I've noticed there are a lot of tiny pink blossoms on most of the bushes. This is exciting news ... possibly some Huckleberry Jam or pies in my future. So naturally I felt compelled to bring home a very tiny, wee, small branch.(do you notice the guilt in my voice for having picked some possible berry's in the making?)

Also, I think I'll admit to you all that I realize sketching and painting with the cat laying on my lap in dim light watching Jeopardy isn't giving me the best results.

Is it a nut ... is it a fruit?

Reference.com says that the ACORN is the "fruit" of the oak tree, actually a specialized nut borne in a cup-shaped structure. So, guess it's both a nut and a fruit ... huh? Sometimes facts just confuse the issue.
I keep forgetting to pick up something on my daily 2 mile walk to sketch ... I'm pretty sure that's because I walk with anywhere from 6 to 8 other people and we are talk, talk, talking ... but today while looking for something else in my studio, I found these beautiful large acorns that I had gathered last summer while at a family reunion. A number of us grabbed a hand full to take home. Wonder what the others did with theirs? These were fun to sketch with my pencil and paint with my water-filled brush.

Broken twig ...

I wasn't going to post this but then I looked at the date and realized that today is the last day of February and it would be nice to post just one more for the month ... you know, to go with one of my "goals" of posting/journaling more. I broke this branch off a dead tree because I thought I would like to see if I couldn't show the moss growing on it, but I was in a hurry and didn't try very hard ... maybe later I'll give it another try. What you see down the center of the page is where I cut two pages out to make room for pasting objects in my sketchbook to allow room for expansion. ... boy it sure shows up good in this photo, huh?

Just one of many ...

This is just one of many sketchbooks I own. I have some large ones, some very small ones, some hard bound, some soft bound, some with great quality paper, some with such poor paper I think the manufactures should be ashamed of themselves ... but my quandary is why do I start so many sketchbooks and fill very few. In fact I can only think of one that is completed. I love it ... poor quality paper and all ... because it is finished. This one has a corigated brown cardboard cover with brown paperbag type paper and appears to be hand bound. I did this drawing with some inexpensive "decorating chalks" ... or so the plastic container says. I thought it would be fun to do the whole book with little chalk drawings. There are only two sketches in this book and the date on the drawing says 10/21/03. So much for filling it up fast, huh? I'm pretty close to filling up one that I used to show the last two watercolor sketches. I'm now wondering should I fill up one of the others that is only partially full, or start yet another one.

Hemlock branch

This little hemlock branch is what I picked up today on my walk ... I'm not sure if you can read the date, but obviously wrote it down wrong ... my computer telles me it is Friday, February 23,2007. Again the same scenario as the last sketchbook entry ... sitting in a recliner with my cat on my lap. By the time this little watercolor sketch was finished we were both annoyed.

A finished product.....

Lately I've been working on a vignette for a friend who owns 3 cats ... I think all of the cats are becoming elderly. I hope I've done them justice........


This is the finished product and will go in the mail today ........

I had planned on ...

For the last two day's when I go for my daily 2 mile walk, I plan on picking up something from nature, to sketch/watercolor. But once home I realize that I've forgotten to grab a twig, a cone, a weed etc. Today when I realized it had happened yet once again I remembered that a friend had given me some bulbs to plant. So this evening, while the cat was sleeping on my lap and I was watching Jeopardy, I grabbed my sketch book and tried to get a likeness of the bulbs on some unforgiving sketch paper that doesn't like watercolor.

and you thought ....

And you thought I have been doing nothing. To tell you the truth, I want sketching/drawing to be a daily habit. I'm finding that when I do sketch something I've hurried and have a poor rendering on the page so in return I become discouraged ... that in return makes me reluctant to do more. I can hear you all now saying that's part of the dues that need to be paid in order to become better. I hear you ... I'll continue. But let the record show how much pain I'm in showing these few sketches .... and you can bet these are the best. *wink*

The first, from left to right, is s blueberry plant that is not in good shape... with only a few leaves left, the only color I added is some green to a the leaves. The next is some raspberry's from memory... The far right is a lantern/lamp that has a paper shade on it that sits in my studio. It is used only in the early mornings when I awake and can't stand the glare of other lights. On the bottom left, taken from a photo, is an Airstream trailer we use to own. Lastly is a small Carmex jar. It is poorly done... the ellipse is all wrong and the jar is too tall in the drawing. But, now you know what I've been up to lately.... trying to squeeze in a drawing or two, in between other things that seem to have invaded in my art time.