January 31!?!

First assignment

Seems hard to believe that the end of January is here.  Normally thats a "no big deal". It is now a big deal!  This has been a month of remembering, and inputting more art into my life.  Drawing has been a pleasure this month.  Its relaxing, restful, and there is a joy in just doodling.  There's no project to finish, no goal in mind.  Just creating and no expectation for what the page should look like when I'm done.  I like that.


I joined the "Art of Silliness" drawing class by Carla Sonheim, and that means I'm almost at the end of the class.  Sadness.   Each day we've had a drawing assignment, a silly joke, and silly words or haiku assignments.  Its been great.  I plan to go through the exercises again.  She has a book out as well which I am trying to find.  Its been fun to add silliness to my daily life!  I even recorded the first glimpse of silliness.  I was trying to figure out what it meant to do a thumb nail sketch, a simple art term, and I was stumped.  Something flashed in my mind. I quickly drew this picture.  I later found out that I had just drawn a "thumb nail sketch".  (And no, it wasn't what I had thought.)  I felt a sense of accomplishment as I  was starting to get catch on and have some silliness at the same time.  Yeah!

First glimpse of silliness

This month there was a Picasso exhibit shown at the Seattle Art Museum.  Joanie and I hopped the "Sounder" and rode to work with Josh one morning.  How I love riding a train, and seeing what I can see!  This has been something I've wanted to do for a L O N G time.  Today was my special day!  I brought along pencil and paper as I wanted to do was to try sketching what caught my eye.  I saw fun patterns, saw rivers ready to overflow their banks, I saw a black cat right by the train tracks, as if waiting for the train to pass.  At one point, a memory flashed in my mind.  As a second grader, my class took a field trip on a train.  We rode all the way from Renton to Kent.  Or maybe it was Auburn to Kent.  I just remember that as we stopped at the Kent train station, I remember RIDING the bus home from our field trip.  Nothing else about the trip except that a little boy I liked, Vern, wore a train hat that day.  Isn't it funny what we remember? 

Picasso was great.  I didn't realize that he did sculptures as well as sketching, painting.  Some of his quotes were painted on the walls of the exhibit.  I'm not sure how many paintings he's done, but he was prolific!  I was surprised that I didn't see many of his well known paintings.  As we finished the six or seven rooms of pictures, I came away encouraged.  Some of his drawings/paintings were somehow "normal".  Though I could not reproduce what he's done, I felt encouraged to keep at what I'm doing.  Not everything will be spectacular or extraordinary.  Just enjoy art and do what I am compelled to draw, sew, paint, etc.  I guess I will paint more than barns this time.


January 31 also means the first deadline for the Sketchbook Challenge.  Our theme for the month of January is to draw things that are highly prized.  There are much I highly prize like the Lord, my family, MY GRANDCHILDREN!!!!, time, salt, hot water, oatmeal. I so value what my pocket full of keys represent.  But the picture I'm posting today is something for which there is no picture.  I highly prize the creativity that was placed within me.  I love to draw.  This month as I have included more art into my life.  Its been so good.  Sometimes as I draw, I've had flashbacks of drawing as a child; the creativity that longed to come out and I just didn't know how to do it.  This month I've realized that there is a desire for artistic creativity in the quilts I make, the hats I knit, and to instill some artistic beauty in whatever I'm trying to make.  My original goal for drawing this year was to excel in my machine quilting.  I'm revising my goal; I've broadened it to just simply recognize and highly prize my artistic creativity.  I have artistic creativity.  It seems weird to say out loud, but it is true.

January 31 is also the first deadline for posting pictures for this challenge.  How does a person post "artistic creativity"?  I don't really know but this sketch is the idea of fern fiddleheads and the texture of Indian snakepipes.

So now I have documented some of the drawings I've done this month.  Its a base line for my drawing, and what better place than here!

Christmas is flying in!

Our family Christmas gathering was postponed until Januray 8th this year.  Today is the first installment of our Christmas.  Our third granddaughter is coming along with her parents.  Can't wait to hold her.

Wanted to post some pictures before the flurry of activity. Created some goals and then a one word summary to remind me.  Conquer, Lifestyle, Input and Create. 





I've been enjoying my "playing".  I saw a pattern on a pair of shoes four ladies bought at the Houston show.  As I played with this design, it reminded me of "fiddleheads" (ferns) and also of a vegetation called "snake pipes".  So I combined the two.  Fun to see how curved lines can create dimension.  I've got a lot to learn.  Am enjoying my play very much!



One of the ways I will be able to create art is to put some of the utilitarian projects away.  I've cleared my design wall basically to show the pieces I want to finish.  But I must admit there is a filing system of sorts on the leftside of this wall.

The Waiting Is Over!

It was still dark.  What time is it?  We had greeted the New Year with dear friends, and now we were snuggled into their guest room bed.  Its dark as I said, no illuminating clock numerals announcing this dark hour.  I was just awake.  It is so good to get away...  so good to be with friends.  Pondering this new day, I smiled.  Today is January 1, 2011.  Today the Sketchbook Challenge begins.  I smiled again....I'm looking forward to this!  Silly me....

The January challenge is "Highly Prized".  So I began making a list of things I prize.  Lots of typical things, but as I thought about challenges that face my friends and acquaintances, I find increased value in things I've taken for granted.  Eyesight, health, the ability to have children, the delight of grandchildren.  The economic challenges have caused many people to prize their dwelling place, the ability to have electricity and water, the prize of health insurance.  Along with these thoughts, it would be easy to say all the right Christian things but I don't want to do that.  For now, I'm just making a list, and being thankful for what I have.  I'm sure the inspiration will come.  Its good to give thanks at the beginning of the new year, actually its always good to give thanks each day.  Puts so many things into the right perspective.

These pictures are just some of my doodlings from this past week that brought pleasure to both Jim and Joanie.  I'm so thankful for them.