My sketchbooks are a place of pure play for me. Sketching is a way to experience where I am, a way of relating to where I live, what I’m doing, and where I’m going. With a sketchbook available, I always have entertainment – sketching people while waiting in line at Costco or the back of a pickup truck when stuck in traffic.

My sketchbox has traveled to Japan, Central America and Europe, and I can look at these and I’m immediately drawn back to what it was like to be there. I can remember exactly what was going on around me, even though it was years ago.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Back on Track

     Life has far too many choices. It can be called the "Whidbey Dilemma". Family, friends, Whidbey Sketchers!  events, and of course just daily maintenance .
 Lately, Studio 106 in Langley has been at the top of the list, I wake up ready to be there. 
However,  Here are a few very cool happenings since my last post.

Music for the Eyes, an oasis of color and warmth in winter Langley. A favorite place
to walk through any time of year.

During Langley's Django Fest the cafes and wine bars fill with spontaneous jamming.
These musicians just happened to be at the Useless Bay Wine Bar at the same time, and started playing together.  Lucky us to be there too, with sketchbooks!




These Next two little images were from a trip to La Push with good friends. 
The weather was definitely spotty, and it became a light show of
constantly changing color! I love sketching!






MORE BEACH, DIFFERENT COAST
  Our family gathered for Christmas in Houston, Texas. This little sketch is from Galveston Bay State Park, a long, spacious stretch of beach. It was overcast here too, but warm. Different colors!

Family beach fun with 5 grandchildren.....all under age 5.





  A Fredericksburg side street. I packed just a small landscape sketchbook and found I  enjoyed the long format.
       


Enchanted Rock State Park is just a few miles out of Fredericksburg. It is a mountain of smooth
solid granite with sculptural outcroppings and a fascinating hike up to a spectacular viewpoint.
This formation was near the top. 



    Back on Whidbey, found these little guys  during a sketch gathering at the Senior Thrift store.





Studio 106!
Round Red Things! It must be winter. Plums, persimmon and pomegranates.
Three little 6 x 6 oil sketches.  Sold!


 I was asked to do a pastel of...plums.  There are none available in January, so I worked from a composite of images and came up with this. I did love getting back into pastel, it is so direct, and really, almost pure pigment. Think I'll stay with them for awhile. I I have accumulated a mixture of favorite pastel brands over the years. 
  

                                                              Another winter subject