In which I mourn my lost sketch book

I keep thinking it will pop up - I'll look in the same place I've looked four times already and there it will be.  But I'm beginning to realize that it's really, actually gone.

The little sketch book I carry around in my purse is missing missing missing.  And I was just thinking that it was past time to photograph the good bits and update here.  boo.

The most annoying part is - my name and email and phone number is right in the front!  Call me!!  Surely somebody would open such a thing before they toss it into the trash.  Surely somebody would realize that this is the equivalent of a found camera and, crappy though those drawings may be they are my little memories that I wanted to keep of the last month.  Right?  Call me!  Give it back!

Grumble pout crank.

And I wasn't planning on loosing it, so I don't have a back-up of the right size.  So now I need to hit the art store.

Grumble.

So updates this month will be thin.  While I recreate all the lovely wheels that I lost.

Boo.

Waiting

A good portion of my sketching happens while I'm waiting for something else to happen.

Waiting in the car for Jesse to come out from his office so we can go to lunch.

Waiting at Jiffy Lube for an oil change.

The night before a huge snowstorm and I had to hit the grocery store for basics.  The lines were crazy and the atmosphere was stressful.  So waiting in line, I sketched the contents of my basket and felt more relaxed.

At the Parkville Nature Sanctuary. I want to let the kids explore and play, but I get bored :)  So sketching helps me wait them out so they can have the outdoor time they need.

A dead tree.  Loved the patterns and textures.  Smooth and cleared of bark.

The appetizer arrived and Jesse went off to wash his hands.  Waiting for him to come back to start eating.

Waiting at the Living Room for the play to begin.  I began drawing the crazy pattern on the sofa, but then Jesse wanted to snuggle, so I drew him with my left hand.

Faces

A few watercolor faces.  My watercolor technique may never be by-the-book, but it's fun to play.

Jesse

Toby

Pinball

My boys and my husband have found a new hobby playing pinball in bars.  I like to play a bit, but there are only so many quarters I can drop in a machine before it feels to weird to me, so I've been drawing a lot of pinball players and people in bars lately.

Playing with Watercolor

I've got a large sketch book that I use to work out painting ideas - but I also have been doing some quick all-in-one-go-no-we-won't-wait-for-things-to-dry watercolor paintings in there.  I find these infinitely fun.  I love playing and not worrying if the end product will be crap.  I'm going to do more of these for sure.  I usually just have a magazine photo or black and white computer print out that I use as a reference photo.

Owls are always fun.  After I did this one this guy popped up later in an acrylic painting that I made.

The oldest tree in the world.  This is also coming around into a larger painting.  I'll post links when those are completed.

Sketch Catch-up

A month has passed - and I have not updated!  All my ZERO regular readers must be so terribly disappointed!  But really, I find if I don't dump images here often, my sketching practice suffers.  I need a bit of pressure to keep up producing.  If it's just going to live in a book forever and have no hope of ever being seen by *anybody* I just don't do it.
Which is why I have a separate blog from my "real" art (stephtothkates.com) and I can dump the practice stuff here and keep on practicing :)

But why the long delay?  My camera broke.  My camera I have had for forever.  And my ancient phone takes crap photos.  I kept thinking I'd borrow my husbands iPhone eventually, but he's always got it :)  So I finally decided to just use our (also ancient) iPod, which takes pretty bad photos - but really, how great do photos of sketch books need to be?  Onward!

Jesse Reading

A Variety of Jonas.  

I always start drawing with eyes or noses, and often don't even get to mouths before someone has moved and I can't finish the sketch, so I was feeling like I needed some extra practice with mouths.  We were are the children's museum at the water table, so I drew a bunch of different kids - mouths only.

Jonas in pencil at the train table.  I like pencil so much more than fine-point sharpie.  But it's so much easier to carry the pen.  I need to find a better carry solution for art supplies so I can use what I want.

Toby practicing violin

The end of the crappy sketchbook. - Basketball

This is a glorious moment.

I have used the last page in the crappy $2 sketch book that I've been carrying around in my purse.  I took it to my son's basketball game.  The last time I sketched at his game I got the kids sitting on the bench and the court - but I didn't draw any action at all - so this time I focused on nothing but action.  It was fun - and lent itself to using lots and lots of pages and then the crappy book was done and there was much rejoicing.

Now I have added a new- much better - sketch book to my bag.  And I have yet to draw anything beyond my name in it.  I find the quality somewhat intimidating.  God help me if I ever get a moleskin.  

Weekly Sketches

Kids at Science City, geese at the park and of course - my own children.

Brush pen on the left (which I'm still getting the hang of - and sketch&wash pencil on the right)

In my endless quest to read all the books about making art (and thus avoid actually making any art) I picked up a copy of The Complete Watercolorist's Essential Notebook from the library.  Above are a few pages of me practicing techniques from the book.  One of my favorite bits from the book so far is the advice, "Life is too short to paint on bad paper."  I am ignoring that advice above.  That paper is only slightly better than painting on a thick paper towel.  I hate it.  But I am way too cheap to just throw it out, no matter how much I hate it.  So it stays around.

Zoo Trip

My mom gave us a Zoo Membership for Christmas!  So I will be drawing lots and lots of animals :)  (and people looking at animals) It's nice to see that I'm already better at it than I was over a year ago when I did the first zoo drawing lab.

Waiting for the sea lion show

My boys on the Tram

Drawing Lab 45: Drawing out your Passions

I very nearly just skipped this lab.  I feel like at least every single year of my childhood some well meaning teacher or other would have us do this.  Tear up a magazine and make a collage about yourself.  And I don't know - but somehow pictures from 'This Summer's Best Cheesecakes!' never really did much to help me express the inner-most workings of my soul.

But - then I was having a shitty day. And I was stressing out about this huge life transition I'm facing (my baby is growing up, and soon I must go out in the world to seek my fortune (i.e. get a job (ack!))) and I thought - what the hell, I clearly need to process this all somehow - so I may as well do this lab at the same time.  So I wrote about it for the proscribed amount of time and I cut up magazines and glued them and even though I still feel like it's a crappy collage with no artistic merit whatsoever (even though I added paint!) It did help me process my feelings and I was able to do some productive work with the rest of my studio morning, which otherwise would have been wasted in stress and anxiety and cookies.

This was supposed to be about "discovering my passions"  But ya, I feel pretty confidant that I already know what my passions are - and I also feel pretty confidant that even if I didn't - I'm not likely to discover them in a couple of kid's nature magazines and comic books.  There's a Vegetarian Times in there too that someone gifted a pile of to me - but really, I don't subscribe to magazines for my self.  My passions are not lying around the house in a disposable format waiting to be cut up and glued down.

Weekly sketches

While I still need piles and tons of work on my faces - they are getting slightly better.

At my son's basketball game.  I got all the kids on the benches, but didn't draw in the ones running around and playing.  Which makes this a really strange picture.  But I did enjoy using my new travel watercolor box.

At the same game - my younger son watching.  This painting makes him look crazy crazy.

Freezing cold day at the park[

Other people's children at the children's museum.  I don't feel so self-conscious drawing children's faces.  I don't worry about them getting weird about being stared at.  They are used to having random adults watching them for unknown reasons :)

A lizard who lives at the children's museum.  Watercolor box!

The picnic area at the children's museum.  I went back over the watercolor with some pen lines.  

Jonas with a cookie at D'Bronx Pizza.

Jonas at the coffee shop.  I don't know why I keep making his eyes enormous.  I'm blaming this crappy sketch book that I keep in my purse for when I don't have my nicer sketch book.  I will be so happy when this thing is full.  I'm going to buy a moleskin or something, because this paper is just terrible.  counter-intuitively though - I probably draw in it *more* often because I'm so eager to use it up and get a new one.