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I’ve thanked blogging friends before for offering their amazing images for the Virtual Sketchwalk group to draw… but now I have little postcards with which to thank them.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
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I wanted to tell my readers that I am sorry I missed so many comments
for many weeks, and am now going back through them.
I wasn’t being lazy or busy (I was busy) — WP notifications changed!
I opened my new Nostalgie journal
on the eve of Diwali,
Hindu Festival of Lights…
Just worked out that way, but
because of what is rolling in
my head it was auspicious.
“Signs signs everywhere are signs”…
Of course they had a different
message but I heard the one
I was meant to hear!
EVERYWHERE are signs…
what is on my mind this morning.
Autumn is my favorite season,
not just because I associate it with my birthday (and now Mitchell’s),
but because good things happen
as we head into the darkness.
I am comfortable with darkness,
twinkle lights and candles cheer
more than sunset at 10pm!
Cinnamon, butter, winter squash,
garlic, mushrooms, red wine stews.
Curling before a fire or maybe
cozying in with wool socks and sweats, a pile of pillows, sketchbook in hand!
*Hygge (/ˈhjuːɡə/HEW-gə or /ˈhuːɡə/HOO-gə): a Danish/Norwegian word describing the quality of coziness, conviviality, contentment or well-being (Wiki see below)*
Autumn is also a time of looking back before moving forward,
something more of us need to do. Perhaps if more of us did this
we would not keep making the same mistakes!
The death of Tom Petty and all-those-people also was on my mind.
For some reason his death hit me harder than most, creativity-poof-gone!
M and I had many discussions on where the energy went after his death — and yes, M and I do talk about all this stuff (see zenkatwrites) but now, even more so.
So I looked back at my names/nicknames for some reason
— and I trust there is some reason for that string of names —
and finally gave one of the mementos of my childhood mentors a safe place to be:
Aunt Elsa’s card from China.
. Aunt Elsa Mae Smith was a guide in my life.
My uncle died when I was five, and she and my other Aunt,
the adventurous widow Aunt Martha (who was an official patrol for the Puget Sound
in her boat during the war when the men were all gone to fight),
decided they never wanted to be home for holidays, it was too painful.
So they traveled together for six weeks every year,
places that people in my family didn’t go,
places that women didn’t go alone.
But there is more to her story.
She was a teacher, and when her daughter was born she told
my favorite Uncle she was going back to work after several months.
She had a great nanny lined up (one that stayed with them for many years)
and she missed work, the challenges, using her brain!
He told her he would not speak to her if she went to work — forbade it!
She did, and the war of silence began. He did not speak to her for several months (understand they had a wonderful marriage except for this hiccup.)
When it was over she won. There was my model for feminism.
She taught, became VP of Girls in Watts
(yes, she took on a place that no one would go and did well
with knife fights and the sadness of that ghetto)
and taught me about bravery and being smart (the two went hand-in-hand).
When she “retired” she went on and had two more chapters.
She became a diplomat for the federal government in education.
She traveled and studied the way other countries educated their children.
She lobbied to get the USA to see the wisdom in the methods she found important.
In many countries children are tested and make choices about their futures
between the ages of 14 and 16. Not all wanted to be college bound nor were they
good candidates for college — so they were given other options to be successful.
Hands-on work, crafts, trades, still with the basics of education
(social studies/language/writing skills)
but not with the huge and demeaning divisions many experience in the USA.
It is just a choice.
They get to be successful, confident, and a higher life success rate ensues!
Then when traveling full-time became tedious,
she started the School of Gerontology at USC, our alma mater.
Yup, my Auntie Elsa started the first curriculum to study aging.
I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up.
I wanted to be like her without the losses: adventurous, feminist, making a difference.
She told me not to study teaching.
“Boring and useless,” she said, “with all you really need to know taught in about a year.” *no offense to those that studied teaching*
She advised me to find something that interested me and teach THAT.
I’ve been taking her advice ever since.
“The word hygge comes from a Norwegian word meaning “wellbeing”. But it is also speculated that hygge might originate from the word hug. Hug comes from the 1560s word hugge, which means “to embrace”. The word hugge is of unknown origin but is highly associated with an Old Norse term, hygga, which means “to comfort”, which comes from the word hugr, meaning “mood”. In turn, the word comes from the Germanic word hugyan, which relates to the Old English hycgan, meaning “to think, consider”.[1]
It first appeared in Danish writing in the 19th Century and has since evolved into the cultural idea known in Denmark and Norway today.[2]Hygge has exactly the same meaning in Norwegian as in Danish and is a widely used word in both countries (including in its derived forms, such as hyggelig). The idea behind hygge, and similar words like koselig, is an important part of the cultural identity for most Norwegian and Danish people. It is not just a word, like the English word cozy.” Wikipedia
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Braving another go at a video,
my other first try!
Lighting is better…
About ink painting, shown on a Hahnemühle Post Card.
Tips: I pin my postcards on a stiff board (I use the mailing envelopes from Redbubble). I can store extra cards inside for middle-of-the-night painting or on-the-go travel!
All tools and materials should be listed below!
Note: two different blue inks… and I can’t remember
the first, a sample I never reordered.
Showing both the first and
the reproduction created for the video.
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As my Patreon supporter, you will have
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sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
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Okay I’ve hung on to this long enough and need to get over it all.
I will share my first test teaching vlog with my fellow artist peeps.
It is about ink+ watercolor painting, shown on a Hahnemühle Post Card,
my middle-of-the-night go-to! My foray into teaching begins!
*AAAACK squeaky high voice why can’t I have a low throaty sexy voice? Lighting lighting get your lighting right!!! Be quiet critic! Glad I got all that out because I don’t want to apologize every time…*
Be kind, peeps.
Showing both the first and
the reproduction created for the video.
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sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
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I had the opportunity to repair the finish on these lovely legs from a family table,
and now I paint them. They were stacked in my finish studio for a long time
in this manner and reminded me of ancient ruins.
You might have noticed I stopped #inktober2017…
I love this particular challenge, and will do it again… it is a wonderful drawing tune-up and to do it with so many others and see the stream of images in Instagram and FB is fun.
BUT,
A challenge is only as good as it is for you at the time.
I am swamped with work — swamped — and have a creative inspiration that is taking me in a different direction, and so, I ended Inktober.
You won’t see my inspiration until it is ready, and in the meantime
I will post from time to time as I get the chance to sketch….
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I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
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Happy Diwali, of course done the eve of not today!
Auspiciously, I filled the last available page in my journal on Diwali Eve
with this prayer for Diwali; I opened my next journal the next morning.
We light the candles, make offerings, thank the deities for the light!
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This is a detail from a Berkey & Gay chair, once part of the historic Hahn House.
My challenge was to paint the chair detail in ink only — for Inktober —
and I did, using two of my favorites, Diamine Ancient Copper and De Atramentis Tobacco.
The background is painted in DS Primateks (watercolor).
I’m not completely happy with it but painting with ink is hard!
Sadly, a couple bought the home which others had painstakingly restored, where the Pittock’s dined, deals pertinent to Portland’s future were made, and gutted it,
turning it into IKEA. They removed or painted the wood, removed the fixtures,
removed stairwells. MANY in Portland cried.
It is now the Hahn House from the outside only.
I will never understand it — why not just buy property and build?
They moved the newly conserved historic set into the damp autumn garage,
undermining quite a lot of the painstaking treatment. Shellac needs to cure.
I had to fight with the Oregon Historical Society to take the historic furniture.
I told them how to store it so the shellac cured properly.
I asked them to contact me so we, the conservators, could deliver the
information to the society. They never did… I have no idea how it was stored,
if they followed out instructions, etc. Again, crying….
The furniture was manufactured by Berkey & Gay in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
in the style of the Aesthetics movements and High Renaissance Revival at the
turn of the century. For the post on moving day up the steep hillside
with a cabinet as heavy as a small elephant, click here.
To see the furniture before and after, go here.
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I’ve been remiss about the Cherished Blogfest this year but it must have been in the air because I have company! It has been extended, and so, here is my entry… AND YOU HAVE TIME TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE OBJECTS TOO! For info, go here, pick an object, write, link-up! Make friends! Lift yourself up!
The first time I heard a lojong teaching, I took a few notes, scribbled in my journal alongside some architectural building schematic. I was under twenty-five.
In my late twenties I bought “Training the Mind” by Chogyam Trungpa
at the Bodhi Tree (RIP best bookstore ever).
His book literally fell on my head, and I buy all books that fall on my head.
I skimmed it but did not resonate with it, and found some wording to be so CATHOLIC (I was a recovering Catholic at the time),
so I tucked it into a stack that would become several shelves.
Then I read Ani Pema Chodron’s Book “Start Where You Are” in 1994, twenty years later, and as are all her books, it was excellent. She referred to this little blue book,
the “real thing” by her teacher, Trungpa. It took you through the slogans in depth.
I tried to find it in bookstores, but by now I was living in a provincial
little town with a small New Age bookstore. No luck.
Of course, you know it was the book I’d barely cracked!
As I have always done when learning anything, I kept a journal.
I can’t really learn any other way. Copying the slogans and teaching comments, adding my thoughts, and committing them into my journal puts them into body, heart and mind.
I used one of my red Okina journals and began, in 1994, writing notes from the two books, Trungpa’s and Pema Chodron’s, a very good book for beginning steps.
I sat in silence at the Blue Mountain coffee shop every morning and read and contemplated and wrote about each slogan, sometimes spending days on
commentary by Trungpa, and turning the coffee shop into a sacred place!
I’ve worked through the blue book a half-dozen times like this,
adding post-its and adding a sketching Okina,
and adding a couple of other commentaries.
I can read my early thoughts about the slogans as well as maturing thoughts.
Now it is a thoroughly messy and cherished journal!
If I had to grab just one book now it would be the two books together as one.
If not two, then my red journal, my notes on the lojong.
Of course, the slogans are only part of this.
It is a breathing practice.
I see dharma (literally, “truth”) — in my case these teachings — as a lifeline to sanity,
a path to mental health. Studying the teachings is a path to lightheartedness, to basic happiness or joy, and a salve in these awful times in which we live.
Pema Chodron spoke once about the moment when you realize the teachings are about yourself in the world; that connection, once made, I think, is hard to turn from. Teachings, whatever kind are a lifeline for you, illuminates a path to
know yourself intimately, to stop running away in addictive behavior
which ultimately causes you and yours more pain (drink, drugs, shopping,
surfing Instagram endlessly to avoid — my newest),
and to put your foot on a path which brings more joy even in trying circumstances.
For my most recent study, which was stopped for reasons I can’t discuss, here.
For information on the breathing practice, look here — and get a teacher, ultimately!
Sunflowers make me sooo happy.
They follow the sun, turning their faces upward and twisting to watch it.
They are strong, never needing man-made support, a testimony to evolution.
Their colors are brilliant and clear.
Strength, clarity, ever hopeful, focusing on the heavens, planted in the ground.
Last of the year, these went into three cobalt blue vases.
I keep meaning to paint them but I am so low on time.
Someday…
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
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sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
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I have one regret… I didn’t find these before Inktober!
I know why… I’m not an official zen-tangle person so I would not be looking.
But I doodle, and these are great for that!
These are perfect for Inktober — 9 x 9 cm/3.5 x 3.5 inch
(310 gsm) cards made for ink, small enough that you can easily do a drawing a day!
Except, 25 cards to a tin… dang, have to buy TWO. *i would so hate to have to find a use for two tins… sarcasm, see bottom*
They are lovely for use with fountain pens, shown here in a sketch yesterday at PSU.
The smooth bright white paper shows off pen and ink!
Day 15 Inktober sketches — actually, all of these!
I tried watercolor over a second sketch of carrots…
The traditional watercolor didn’t love the paper, and what might be bright paints
ended up a bit washed out because the paper absorbed the paint. *nix wet watercolor…. oh well, I didn’t think that would work!*
Then I tried liquid watercolors and inks in a waterbrush.
This worked better — maybe the even delivery of saturated color?
This is one way I might color them if I am doing middle-of-the-night drawings.
Markers, in this case Pitt pens and Tombow, worked wonderfully on the paper.
With rounded edges, acid free and age resistant paper, it has no printing on the back so both sides can be used for mark-making. And, the surfaces appear identical front to back.
*i can imagine using the tiles to make love-notes for mitchell, stashing them in a book he is reading or on his keyboard or in his guitar strings… hearts and a salutation on one side, image on the other!*
Lastly, I tried a children’s crayon product on the paper…
IF the dang thing had a point I would have liked how this one turned out.
I clip them at the edges so they stay flat when I am
using wet materials — then they dry flat!.
*oooooh, then there is the tin… i popped 15 full pans in the tin… did i say i loved to make home-made tin palettes?*
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
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sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
Dancing light started this watercolor on
top of the inked drawing on this page of sketches.
I had to add lavender for her.
This little stack of pennies on the edge of a stoop I could not get out of my mind.
What happened to them? Who put them there?
(Answer at the bottom…)
De Noble Farms has the carrots and the snow peas and artichokes
and green beans and bell peppers, which I never buy, and the yummo
romanesco broccoli — a cross between cauliflower and broccoli in flavor —
great for curries. Certified organic…
This is a first… Did not use one Daniel Smith watercolor!
I have some new Holbein watercolors, Da Vinci’s (I want more of them) and
Matteo Grilli’s which accounts for the slight graininess of the earthy colors.
Answer: I put them there on the way in…
I wanted to see how long they would last.
They were still there when we came back.
No one wants a stack of pennies.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
People are not my forte, but I keep doing them.
Years of doing the graphic people in architectural drawings!
I’ve taken to sketching buskers in the park.
This is a student out to make a buck on the weekend.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
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I teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
My first entry is the lovely god/dess Quan Yin, aka Kannon, or Kwan Yin.
Line drawing, and you can see the statue of her…
Lovely Primateks with touches of MG’s Cobalt Teal and DS Terre Green.
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