Learning to Draw

Some of you know I have a lot of coloring books. The first one I bought was by Secret Garden, Johanna Basford.  I think it's the book that started the coloring craze.  I have most of her books, not that I have colored them all.  When I heard she was publishing a new book, I was excited until I saw it was a how to draw book titled How to Draw Inky Wonderlands.  My first thought was that I have a ton of books to color- why should I draw my own pictures?  Then I saw on her Instagram page she was going to do a free 10 day course as a companion to the book.  That sounded amazing, so I bought the book and signed up for the course.  (The course is closed now, but if you get her newsletter, she offers free tutorials from time to time)
I have no affiiation with her;  I just love her work.

So I've been spending a lot of time with pencils, paper and ink lately.  I know I posted a couple of these last time, but here's the whole story. 

 On Day 1 we learned to draw some basic flowers and a simple wreath.

 On Day 2 we added blooms and a bee to a page in the book.

 On Day 3 we drew a lovely grid of different flowers to use in our own inky garden.

 On Day 4 we moved on to the ocean part of the book, and made some cute fishies. 

 On Day 5 we learned abut creating symmetrical designs.

 On Day 6 we added fishies and seaweed to a page in the book. 

 On Day 7- the day before Halloween, we used our symmetry skills to create sugar skulls.  I copied mine onto another page and colored him in to use as a holiday decoration in my office!

 On day 8 we moved on to the forest section and drew some sweet little birds.

 Day 9 was another symmetry lesson, where we created a leafy bug.

On the last day we learned to create a lovely circular design that could be adapted for use in greeting cards, invitations, thank you notes....  I goofed up the lines in the center on this one, but the beauty of her technique is that you copy the original design using thin paper so you can change the details if you want!


So, since the course ended, I have kept up with the drawing, and have been following along in the book to gain skills she didn't have time for in the 10 days we had. 

I loved this little drawing I did during some down time at work so much...

...I colored it right away!












A lot of days are just practicing different basic components, or trying new designs. 

combinations of flowers and leaves

simple borders

Posies

Bugs

 More borders

This is a page in the book where she had drawn the simple leafy wreaths, and the reader is invited to add details.  I had fun with it, and colored them right away.  

 I tried a full page drawing the other day.  When I traced it, I realized I had left a sort of path through the middle.  (OOPs- sideways.  My photo editor and I are having disagreements lately.  Sorry)

 So I went back to the pencil drawing and tried again. 

Still not perfect, but I learned something and have a nice picture to color!

Think you could never draw pictures like these?  I did too.

A week or so after the course ended, she announced she was going to attempt to do the world's largest drawing as a way to inspire everyone to pick up a pencil and draw something .  She asked Instagram followers to draw on post-its as a way to show support for her.  These are the ones I did.

 

 She succeeded!  On November 18, in 12 hours, she drew a picture over 5,000 square feet.

I should be knitting socks, or Christmas gifts.  But for now, I'm enjoying my daily doodling time. Like the coloring, it is meditative and relaxing.


I am grateful for:
A new pastime that is giving me great joy.
My family.
The beast is almost finished!!  (Stay tuned)
A day with my BFF.
Any day I wake up without a headache. 

Does anyone read blogs anymore?

I keep posting here, because I feel like it makes me try to get things done, so I have things to show.  But I don't think anyone comes over here anymore- except the spammers, who try to leave comments.  And I suppose the people who try to piggyback on sites to look  legitimate?  (I read an article about it some time ago)

 So, it's been a month again since I posted.  I was waiting for October weather, which finally arrived.   The leaves changed slowly, then all at once, then they were gone.  I found this in the garden one sunny afternoon. Milkweed pods.

 I raked leaves into the garden to protect my tender perennials, then the wind blew.  I can hope enough leaves stuck around to make a difference. 

October was a very busy month for me- as you may have guessed if you've been sitting there waiting for a new post. :-)


 I was responsible for making sure things went smoothly when Linda M Poole visited the Museum Quilt Guild last month.  She was delightful!  We all enjoyed her class, and lecture at the guild.











Since I was with her so much, she and I we had a chance to bond a little bit- even getting silly during her lecture!











And I'm pleased to say that I- who told people I am not a painter-  did this as a result of the class.  I bought supplies to do more of it- when I have time.   The appliqué- the circle- needs a background.  I don't think the one in the picture will be the one I choose, now that I'm looking at it. 











I have spent lots of time with the grands, of course.

Jon and Kiara enjoyed going to the shelter with me on a day off from school.
















And I took Kiara dress shopping for her first school dance.  Isn't she lovely?  Her aunt did her hair and makeup. 












I even had some one-on-one time with Everett.












And the big news here is I am now a (step) great-grandmother!  This is Maverick, born on what would have been my mom's 78th birthday.  I won't be part of his life, since they live in Colorado, but it was a nice connection!

There's one more new addition to our family.  Thanks to Jon telling Papa we had to keep her, I adopted one of my foster babies.
This is Enola.  Now I have two white cats.  I have also bought a few new lint brushes- it was either that or toss my wardrobe and wear only pastels.  Ugh

She has decided a quilt wadded up on the sewing table is a great place to sleep.














For the last couple of weeks, I have been enjoying an online drawing class, given by Johanna Basford.  I'm looking at these drawings and feeling pretty amazed that I did them.  I need a lot more practice, which will be easy since I am enjoying it so much!








I spent some time yesterday coloring this one.  I laughed about drawing my own coloring pages, because I have umpteen coloring books!











So, that's what's new.  I keep saying I need to limit the things I do since my time is so limited these days.  I just can't find things I want to give up.   sigh.


Please please please- pay attention, get the facts, SHARE the facts.  Don't keep quiet about all the things that are wrong in our world.  And learn to talk to people with whom  you may disagree.  We all need to find a way to work together.  Nothing is getting done, except the things being done for the wrong reasons by the greedy and evil people.  And make your voice heard- with your money, with your social media, with  your VOTE!


I am grateful for:
Staying inside to sew weather.
A happy kitty on my lap (at all times these days!)
Long chats with the kids who live far away.
A new skill that gives me great pleasure.
Hugs, always.

Waiting for October

I am SO ready for cooler weather, for weather that won't make me feel like I am obligated to be outside in the gardens trying to keep up so the weeds don't have the huge head start they did last spring.  (they will no matter what, unfortunately).  I have done so little sewing in the last 4 or 5 months and it has started to wear on me a bit.  I NEED to make stuff!!! So hopefully October will be the beginning of sewing season.

 The plants have been moved inside for the cold weather months.  I have fewer pots this year, but many of them are larger so I had to reconfigure how I arranged them.  Maybe having them in a large group like this will help them keep each other moist this winter in my very dry house. 

I finally picked the gourds from the garden.  I didn't plant them, they came up from the seeds of the ones I bought to decorate the Thanksgiving table last fall. Gourds are weird plants, apparently, because there are like six different kinds here, but I only tossed three different gourds out there.  I think.  I may try growing some on the trellis out front next year- or maybe near the deck instead of morning glories.  The flowers are very pretty and they bloom much sooner than morning glories do!

The kittens are growing up. It seems like I've had them longer than I have.  I have gotten very attached to them, of course.  They're the only kittens I've had this year, and they were pretty fragile when I got them, so I know I will cry when I have to give them up.

 

One has caught up to where he should be at this age and will be leaving me next week.  He's very sweet, and I know whoever adopts him will think he is the best cat they've ever had!  Jon sure loves him!!!

Did I mention the stitching I was doing for a demo at my art group meeting?  (Oh, shoot, I need to do the post on the ArtCGirlz blog from that, too!)
Anyway, it was inspired by Laura Wasilowski's "Joyful Stitching" book.  I had tried some stitching earlier in the year- on a project I can't show yet.  This piece was done with no design  other than a stem or two drawn on the fabric.  I enjoyed doing it and am pleased with the way it came out.  I haven't decided how to finish it yet.  I may stretch it on a canvas.  I've never done that before. 

This one is more like what I did earlier in the year; embellishing a pretty piece of fabric.  It's not a very successful piece because I matched the threads to the fabric.  I should have used  more vibrant colors.
















I do like this section, though.  I may never do more on this piece, but I was thinking it could be an interesting background for something.  We'll see.




I got to spend some time in the studio last weekend.
OOPs- I wasn't able to edit these before I uploaded, so you'll have to turn your head.  

This is crater lake in Oregon.  I'm doing a rough cut landscape quilt- no planning, no pattern, just cut some fabric and make it work.  I kept thinking "I don't work this way!" while I was working.  I'll let you know how it comes out at some point.




















I also got part of this panel quilted.  I bought it around 2 years ago, and forgot all about it until recently.  I wanted to get it finished for this October to hang in my "gallery"- the upstairs hallway. I cut the sections apart before I thought to take a picture, so i stuck these three on my wall.  The fourth one, the biggest one, I pinned around the metal bar I use in this spot, and hung it in the hall anyway.  If time allows this weekend, I'll take it down and finish the quilting. 

Meanwhile, it's getting colder outside and the beast is still in exactly the same spot it was the last time you saw it.  I'll finish it and use it, and maybe even admire how it looks on the bed, but I will always have a loathing for the damned thing, based on what an ordeal it has been to get it finished.  Too bad, because it's a very pretty quilt. 

I am grateful for:
The happy hug I got from the little girl who adopted a kitten at the shelter yesterday.
A wonderful weekend with the kids last week.
The kittens are healthy and nearly ready for their forever homes.
Cooler weather!!
At least one crooked politician had the integrity to admit his crimes and resign.

A Wonder Filled Weekend!

So this weekend was a busy one, where I felt like I had no creative time at all, which would normally leave me feeling a little grumpy. But it was filled with wonderful moments- the kind that make life worth living!

On Saturday I went out to work in the garden and there were Monarch butterflies everywhere!  Turns out they were stopping by to feed on the goldenrod- a weed I have in abundance out in parts of the field. 
I took a video, which I hope you can see here.  It's not great quality, but you can tell how many of them were fluttering around. 




Then yesterday morning, this sight greeted me when I went out on the screen porch to open the windows.  I have waited for years to see this cactus blossom.  It has gotten dozens of buds, but they have always dried up and dropped off before blooming. 

I suspect it is a close cousin to my other night blooming cactus, which is white.  But as the bud grew, I could tell it would be more pink.

The best part is this one lasts more than one night!  It was still there this morning!

I'm working so hard to get the gardens cleaned up before the gardening season ends, hoping to avoid the mess I found last spring.  I know there will be weeds in the spring, since they don't die, and some grow under the snow!  But by cleaning up as much as possible, I can hope the first garden bloom won't be a dandelion!

The flowers are getting leggy and tired, but there is still beauty to be found!


















To cap off the weekend, I saw a bald eagle near the swampy area a few miles from my house yesterday.  It is still such a thrill to see one in real life!

I am grateful for all of the moments that make me stop and realize what a gift it is to be getting older, even with all the aches and uncertainty!