Front Entry Way

Every Day Matters #50 - Draw your home's entry way. 5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Oct. 31, 2012.

"The front of our house has a blue door, and all the soffets and window trim is blue. My husband puts the flag up every National holiday. I have pansies and primroses in the planter, and a Rhodie to the right, on the left are ferns in the shady alcove. The number is very clear, so the pizza guy can find us. My husband sits in the chair and watches the world go by and pets the neighbor's cats, Poppy and Lily. They are still kittens and we have co-adopted them with our neighbor, because both our dogs have passed away recently. I hope the entry is inviting, there is a cobblestone path to the porch, leading up from the street, with a copper arch over it, that my husband made."

Los Dos Amigos I & II

Both 5" x 7" watercolor paper, pencil sketch, colored pencils, Pigma pen. Sept 25 & 26, 2012.

Los Dos Amigos Mexican Restaurant, corner of Garden Valley & Stephens, Roseburg, Oregon. Sketched while on break on my school bus, the first pic is slow and deliberate, over several days, of sketching, coloring and inking. A ruler would have been useful, I got a few of the angels off, and wish I'd drawn it smaller so it fit on the paper better. The second, I did in about 10 minutes, color and ink, no pencil sketch, I was trying for quick and energetic, loose and fun. Again, I wish it was smaller, so I didn't have to squeeze in the flags. Not sure if I got the quick fluidity I was trying for. Being cramped up working on my steering wheel, may have contributed to the stiffness. It is an all brick building with a red metal roof. It used to be a Fire House Pizza restaurant, so that's why the architecture is the way it is.

Green Man

Journal page, 5" x 8" mechanical pencil, Sept. 8, 2012.

Sketched from my original photograph, taken in Oakland, Oregon of the historic buildings, in town. The posts framed a doorway and held up a wooden canopy over the door. I believe they are plaster, not carved wood as there are several of them on the facade. Next time I go back, I'll find out which building it was and the date it was built. All the buildings in downtown Oakland have plaques and dates on them. It was a challenge to draw the face as it was white on white, and only the shadows created the expression. I have been having fun with the Everyday Matters Challenges but I am also having fun drawing from my photographs, I'll have to print out some more for reference.

Barn & Maple Leaves

5" x 7" notebook paper, pencil sketch, colored pencil, & Pigma pen, 5-15-2012

5" x 7" notebook paper, pencil sketch, colored pencil, & Pigma pen, 5-2-2012

Sitting on my bus quickly sketching nearby maple leaves, in the morning sun, new growth, drooping, not yet spread their leaves up, but a soft new green. Melrose Barn @ Garden Valley & Cal Henry Roads. Sketching from my school bus on break, the view over an old wooden fence with teasel in front of it, to the sag roofed barn and shed across the field.