My Sewing Room Diagram

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, Pigma micron pen, colored pencils. Oct. 13, 2013.

I was just goofing off and decided to sketch out the layout of my sewing room. It is about 12' by 14' and FULL of stuff. I have shelves with boxes, clear to the ceiling, the fabric is stuffed in so tight I can't squeeze in another piece. I have bag and boxes piled in the NW & SE corners, and under the ironing board. This is a working studio, I do not waste space on cute little sitting areas, or wall space on displaying my quilts. It is organized but not neat, all the boxes are labeled, the supplies separated, the fabric sorted by color, but there is too much of it. The scanner did not pick up the light colored pencils, the green cutting mat, or the blue ironing board cover.

Unlucky Hummer

5" x 8" journal page, watercolor, dried flowers, feathers, mat medium. Oct. 12, 2013

We found a pile of feathers on our front porch this morning. A few days ago the cats brought in a dead hummingbird, Poppy has been sitting below the bush of Fuchsia Californicus, it's bright red tubular flowers bloom late into fall. I thought this was a second hummer, but now I know it was a sparrow. I used mat medium to save some of the feathers in my sketchbook, and dried a piece of the Calif. fuchsia. I used watercolor to paint the flower and a small hummer in the corner. I hope the hummers fly South for the winter soon, I did not put out a hummingbird feeder this year because of the two new cats.

Hope Soars

5" x 8" 90# watercolor loose page, Tsukineko Inks, Acrylic paints, rubber stamps, medium charcoal pencil, General's white charcoal pencil. August, 10, 2013.

I was playing with inks on watercolor paper, and a straw to blow the ink around, I ended up just painting washes of color, as a background. I used acrylic paints to print a foam curly cue stamp, and was going to add words, but my stamps I was making, would have been reversed, so I just painted the words. Rubber stamp, lace doily circle, and charcoal pencil to draw the bird and outline the lettering, I wanted a free sketchy look. I highlighted with a white charcoal pencil. Spray fixative.

Fortunes

8" x 10" double journal page, water color paints, Pigma pen, rubber stamps, collage papers. August 3, 2013.

I used watercolor paints to paint the fortune cookie before I ate it, and a red wash in the background. I added outline details with Pigma pen. I collaged a lot of my collection of fortune cookies around it, with a red chopstick paper wrapper. A business card from China Buffet, is in the top right corner. I used several rubber stamps, one of "Wisdom," the other "Hope" in Chinese characters. And a square stamp with Chinese characters, which I have no idea what it says.

Puget Sound

5" x 8" gray toned paper, watercolor paints. August 3, 2013

I painted this on gray paper, it is very monochromatic, so it was a challenge to get the subtle contrast and color changes. I kept adding more and more pigment in layers to get the darker colors, and I am surprised the white paint showed up so well. When I used the white, it just looked like wet paper, no white, until it dried. I did not paint the sky at all, the gray fit the mood, and lots of times, that is the color of the overcast sky. I used a magazine photo for inspiration.

Byron Portrait

5.5" x 7" gray toned paper, charcoal and white charcoal, loose page. May 26, 2013.

I drew this at my friend's wedding, at Camp Lane, Florence, Oregon. The tow headed Byron was sitting on the picnic table bench watching the volleyball game. He did not sit still for long! I had to finish the clothing without him. I have not been drawing for the last two months as my hands hurt, and my right hand has been getting numb, I think I pinched a nerve in my elbow. Only time will heal.

New Faces

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. April 30, 2013. Trying to draw caricatures of the new people we are meeting playing darts, so we can remember their names. Quick sketches, I'll add more, as we go more often.

Ball Caps

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. April 30, 2013. A set of four ball caps, hanging above a window in the new tavern we have been going to, to play darts. Oregon Beavers and Ducks hats.

Stewart Park Map

5" x 7" page and a half, drawing pad, pencil, colored pencil. April 30, 2013. They have posted new signs with mileage around the park trail, so we wanted a reference. We like to walk from the train to the butterfly garden, and the loop down by the river by the band shell. We also walk from the cafe at the golf course to the butterfly garden or to the duck pond, our friend works at the cafe, and we get sodas or breakfast while visiting with her. The river loop is .36 miles, the largest loop returning along the freeway is 2.64 miles, and cutting thru the VA Hospital grounds is 2.35 miles. We usually only do about a half mile, but Charlie is walking much better since his surgery.

Condiments II

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil, colored pencils, Pigma pen. April 28, 2013. We went up to Glide Oregon and had breakfast on the deck of the Idllyde Restaurant, the assortment of condiments, was different with a scalloped bowl of jam and butter, and a teal sugar bowl.

Trop -A-Rocka Snapple

Every Day Matters #205 Draw a soda. 5" x 7" drawing pad, pencil sketch, colored pencil, Uniball pen. April 19, 2013 Sitting in the Tavern drinking my Trop-aRocka Snapple, it was created by rocker Bret Michaels as one of the Celebrity Apprentice projects. I love the hint of cinnamon that it has in it. But we can't figure out what fruits are in it, because it only says "Natural Flavors" The label has a mango, peach and a pear, two of those are not tropical. And of coarse I needed to add a typo, I DID NOT spell Snapple right, I think I just ran out of room on the bottle, oh well.

Feathers & Flames

6" x 8" drawing paper, watercolor background, acrylic paints, colored marker. April 13, 2013. The background is watercolor paints with a speckle over it. I was playing with a flame and feather stencil and acrylic paints. After doing the feather, I realized I used too much paint, and went to more of a dry brush effect and got lighter ghost effects at the bottom of the page. I added extra dots to the top, and outlined two feathers with a Pigma pen. I don't feel as if either of them is finished, the flames need something else. I used red, then hot pink acrylic on the flames, then put a little bit of yellow on the tips. The paint was too see thru and I did not like the effect, I went back with more red and pink, and outlined the flames with a red marker. It needs something else, but it was interesting trying the stencils.

Gears & Solar

6" x 8" drawing paper, watercolor paints, acrylic paints, Pigma pen, silver metallic paint, Flair pen. April13, 2013. Working with a new set of stencils from the quilt show, I decided to play around on paper, before using them on fabric. The backgrounds were painted with watercolor paints, then speckled with a contrasting color. Later I used acrylic paints with a foam brush to stencil the large gears in dark purple, onto the light blue background. I used a Pigma pen to outline the gears, as many of the small teeth did not show up with the paint. I stamped numerals all over in silver metallic paint, but it does not show up well on the scan. I also used the silver to texture with the silver thru sequin waste. The Solar piece was a yellow/gold/orange background watercolor, with speckles of a darker orange. I tried to use a stamp pad ink thru the stencil, but it did not show up well, so I used a gray Tombo felt pen to letter the small writing. The larger writing stencil had bigger holes for the ink, and the bright red/fuchsia ink came thru much better. I used a Flair pen to draw the sun and saguaro cactus, then stenciled over it with rust, orange and yellow to create texture with a hexagon stencil, and sequin waste. The flair pen was NOT waterproof and bled a little bit.

Hand Sketching

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. April 7, 2013. Waiting in the car for Charlie, I was really bored, there wasn't anything interesting in the parking lot, so I drew what was in front of me. I really like the perspective.

Wonky Tree House

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. April 3, 2012. From my original photo, that I took at Shasta Caverns, near Lake Shasta California. This was in the children's play area, the center of the tree was hollowed out and the house built on top. The door handle in a deer antler. All the wood and windows were skewed a bit, and the roof sagged too, giving it a real fun look. We just missed the noon boat to the cavern tour, the next wasn't until 2pm, so we did not wait to go on the tour. It looks like an amazing place to visit, we got postcards and a few goodies in the gift shop, and were on our way, returning to Oregon, from Spring Break.

Tropical Bird

8" x 10" double journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor, Pigma pen. March 18, 2013. I found this cute bird and interesting plant with berries, in an old Audubon magazine. Does anyone know what it is? Australian maybe? I made a mess, the last time I tried to paint raspberries, so I took my time and did 4 layers of color then ink to give the berries detail. I really like the way they turned out.

Rose

5" x 8" journal page. Watercolor paints, Pigma pen. March 17, 2013. Just trying out the new watercolor paints, the rose color seemed especially colorful, the scanner did not pick up the pale blue in the background. I did not like it, before I added the Pigma pen, it defined the leaf detail and the edge of the rose petals, and made the center more interesting.

Bird in Tree

8" x 10" double journal page, B & S watercolor paints. March 16, 2013. A practice landscape from my imagination, using the Binney & Smith watercolor set. I tried to get good variety of dark green on the pine trees, and do something with the foreground, It is ok for just playing around.

Water Color Test

8" x 10" double journal page. Watercolor paints, Prang and Binney & Smith. Mar. 16, 2013. I found two sets of professional watercolor paints at two different garage sales. Each for $1, the Prang set was brand new. I like the variety of colors in the 16 piece Binney & Smith, but it seems the colors are more intense in the basic Prang set. Especially the dark black and cobalt blue.

Two Frogs

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, colored pencil. Feb. 24, 2013. A pair of frogs, from a section of a painting done by my favorite artist Lary McKee, he comes to our local arts festival every year. We have been buying his work for quiet a few years now, first his desert pictures, florals with blue and white china for the kitchen and now his frogs. I love the playfulness and bright colors. My colored pencils did not do the colors justice, trying to get enough contrast and outlines was difficult.

Day 2 of class

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil, colored pencil. Feb. 28, 2013. Today I drew some of the objects in First Aide and CPR class, the plastic dummy was gray, with a translucent blue chest plate. The class was presented by the American Heart Association, different from the Red Cross classes we have taken in the past. We got to learn infant and child CPR also, which we all think is a good thing, since we drive school bus, with lots of kids. Most of the people in class were sitting behind me, so I drew the dish rack full of plastic dishes and the BUNN Coffee maker, as class was getting boring and repetitive.

Bob #29, Jeff, and Paula

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil, colored pencil. Feb. 27, 2013. Sitting in class, drawing Bob in front of me, this is a typical Bob pose, as he sits and reads at the lunch table. As I sit through CPR and 1st Aide class, rather bored, I sketch the people around me, they are staring to the front of the class, not moving much, so I have the opportunity to sketch them before they move. Jeff didn't have to take the class, so he and another driver sat and played cards.

Yellow Warbler?

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints. Feb. 10, 2013.

With the dreary winter weather, I am painting from a bunch of photos I cut out of an old Audubon Magazine. They have bright colorful birds and scenery. I'm not sure what type of bird this is, I'll have to go look it up in my Audubon bird field guide. When I rubbed the masking fluid off, the gray rubbed in from the black paint. I also can't seem to get a really dark black from my little set of kids watercolor paints. I think the texture of the old wood fence post came out well.

Toucan

8" x 10" double journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, colored pens, Pigma pen. Feb. 10, 2013.

Painted from a magazine photograph. "When I first met Charlie, we saw a baby toucan in a pet store. It was adorable, it would rub it's beak on you and had the most beautiful violet eyes. We would have taken it in a flash if we had two grand! It was love at first sight, but I can't imagine having something like that in the house, it should be in a jungle. And I would have felt terrible guilt if it died and I felt it was my fault for having something wild in my home, and that I could not care for it properly. But I still remember the violet eyes! Amy Vetter, 2-10-2013"

Scissors and Threads

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma Pen, rubber stamps, purple ink. Feb. 2, 2012.

I was trying to draw a negative image, with just the outline, but I did not like it, and filled it in. When I added the thread, then it needed watercolor paints. I also tried out my new rubber stamp alphabet set, it is a good medium height., and the ink was intense.

Robin Red Breast

5.5" x 7" gray Strathmore paper, Schaefer cartridge pen, watercolor paints, white colored pencil. Jan. 21, 2013.

I copied this from an artist on Nature Sketchbook blog, hers was much prettier, I liked her background better. It looked simple enough to try, yea right! I put mine on gray Strathmore paper, and used watercolor paints. The ink was NOT waterproof and ran when I got it wet, but it added nice gray shading to the wings and branch. I do like the gray paper though.

Watercolor Seed

5" x 8" journal page, watercolor paints. Jan. 18, 2013.

Just playing with my watercolor paints, I drew half circles of color, until I filled the width of the page, and added a few details, and flares on the outside. Then I added the green sprout and the roots to fill the page. A little bit of calligraphy on the facing page in brush and paints. It inspired me to carve in linoleum block a series of 4 seed and sprout stamps for printing on my fabric.

I stamped the four linoleum carvings onto the calligraphy page, I had to double stamp the black images, they were too light, the green shows up well. It will be fun to play with the stamps.

Pen Trial

5" x 8" journal page, various pens. Jan. 10, 2013.

Trial of several different pens that I bought at Dick Blic in Portland. The light gray did not even scan, and lots of tweaking in Photoshop would hardy bring it out. I used a Tombo ABT #947 Sepia which has a heavier line then the Prisma Color Premier, brush tip "B" the Prisma is also a more golden color. The Tombo #N75 in light gray, is very smooth and silvery gray with out having a metallic sheen. I got it to shade my pen drawings. The double ended calligraphy pen by "ZIG" has a black 5mm end and a 2mm tip at the other. I think the 5mm is too big, and the 2mm too small, but my husband wants to learn calligraphy, so we got it for him. I did the little coffee sketch off to the side to try the gray shading.

Clematis

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paint. Jan. 11, 2013.

Painted from my original photograph, of my neighbor Betsy's purple clematis. I kept trying to get deep dark colors in the background and shadows, but they dried a lot lighter than they looked when wet. I can see where good paints would make a real difference with this.

Fuchsia

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Jan 10-2013.

Painted from two of my original photographs, the delicate colors do not pick up very well, on the digital scanner. The border in the lower right corner is washed out.

Garden Cherub

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Dec 27, 2012.

Drawn and painted from my original photograph, wandering the neighborhood on my morning walks. He was just tucked back in the shrubs, peaking out at me.

Portland Trip

My Portland trip was not very productive, drawing wise. I had planned on doing a lot more, but life got in the way. Staying at the hospital with Charlie for a week was a draining experience. The first few days I was able to sneak off while he was sleeping, but downtown Portland did not encourage parking. I did find Chinatown, but it was quiet run down and I did not like the idea of walking around by myself. It was not alive and vibrant like San Francisco Chinatown, which I would take the subway and cable car to by myself. It rained the last few days and was COLD, so I did not go to the Zoo, and the Japanese Gardens like I had planned on, it was not conductive to being outdoors drawing. I did find Powell's book, a huge warehouse of new and used books, and I wanted Danny Gregory's book "Everyday Matters" but they did not have it :( So instead I got his, "Creative License")

Breakfast

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil, colored pencils. Jan. 4, 2013.

I don't think I am finished with this one. I was going to add color to the wood grain table and write H2O on the bottle, and finish coloring the coffee cup. I may even go over it with ink. I mistakenly scanned it in black and white mode, so I am showing both versions. My hospital breakfast of cottage cheese, banana and coffee.

Man Eating Yogurt

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. Jan. 2, 2013.

This man sitting on a bench having yogurt for breakfast, at OHSU Hospital in Portland Oregon. He sat still long enough, that I got a rough sketch and was able to refine it, and add details, so I am very happy with it.

Through the Mirror

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. Jan. 1, 2013.

This started as a picture of the faucet, but I made it too small. So then it included the mirror, the towel dispenser and the bed and window blinds on the "Other side"

Sky Tram

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. Dec. 31, 2012.

A pencil sketch from the "Sky Bridge" between the VA Hospital, and OHSU Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Looking out at the building holding the "Sky Tram" there were NO straight angles on the buildings. The building on the left leans out at a curve, and the sky tram tower was strange angles as well, with curved roads and freeways, the view over downtown Portland across the river and neighborhoods fading into snow capped mountains in the far distance. It was a challenge to sketch.