Categories
Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Hydrangeas and the Last of EDiM 2014 (Fan and Remote)

Hydrangeas in Glass, ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
Hydrangeas in Glass, ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

My hydrangea bush is doing great this year, probably because it’s on the side of the house that is now a dog run and every day I empty the dog’s water bowl on the bush. Also it’s no longer competing with its two siblings that I removed because one never blossomed and the other had annoying teensy flowers that shed all over the table.

EDim 22 Remote Control, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
EDiM 22 Remote Control, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

These remotes live in the studio and operate a little combo TV/VCR, a DVD player and the stereo. There are another half-dozen that live in the house. I’m glad remotes were invented but they are ugly and annoying. I so wish I had this remote (a brilliant sketch and concept!)

EDim 23 Fan, ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
EDiM 23 Fan, ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

As I noted in my journal above, drawing a fan seemed like it would be even more boring than drawing the remotes but in fact it was really fun. I was really surprised as I sketch to discover all kinds of interesting design features I’d never noticed before when just turning it on or off (without the using the remote that came with it, which I’ve lost).

So I didn’t make it to every day in May, just 75% of them. I went away for a 3 day retreat and when I came back had lost the momentum. Oh well.

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages

EDiM 19, 20, 21: Rope, Pickle Fork, Close-Ups

EDiM 19-20: Dog Rope and Grandma's Pickle Fork, ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
EDiM 19-20: Dog Rope and Grandma’s Pickle Fork, ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

My dog’s favorite pull toy: a knotted rope for EDiM 19. The packaging asserts it’s good for their teeth, acts like dental floss. I don’t think that makes much sense, but at least it is one toy she hasn’t been able to shred, turn inside out and/or unstuff.

I think this little plastic fork for EDiM 20 was one that my grandmother used when putting out her fabulous dill pickles. It probably was a copy of a more elegant model originally made of ivory. It’s about the length of a dill pickle.

EDiM 21: Closeups, ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
EDiM 21: Closeups, ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

These close-up views of things for EDiM 21 are probably pretty easy to figure out: clockwise, a petal and leaf from a hydrangea, a spray bottle, an old pencil sharpener from the days when office products were all IBM beige, and a pliers from my toolbox.

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages Still Life

EDiM 17 and 18: Hand Soap and Needs Polish (Silver Teapot)

EDiM 18: Needs Polish (Silver Coffee Pot), ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
EDiM 18: Needs Polish (Silver Tea Pot), ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

I bought this old silver-plated teapot at my local thrift shop. I’ve drawn it before here but now that it’s really tarnished it was even more fun to paint because of the pinkish tarnish.

EDiM 17 Hand soap, ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
EDiM 17 Hand soap, ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

I love the lemony fresh scent of this soap and look forward to washing my hands. Normally I’m overly sensitive to scented products and stay away from them but this one makes me happy. I used a green Pitt Artists Brush pen to draw this and then went over it with watercolor and a little black fine point Pitt Artist pen.

 

 

Categories
Food sketch Glass Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

EDiM 14: Glass of Juice

EDiM 14 Glass of Juice. Ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
EDiM 14 Glass of Juice. Graphite, ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

I got confused and skipped over posting this glass of yummy Trader Joe’s Garden Patch juice yesterday, and numbered the two pics I did post with the wrong numbers, which I’ve now corrected. This is an odd glass, made by Bodum and meant to be used for tea as it’s double-walled for insulation.

This was more fun to draw than to use since I prefer my tea in cups with handles, even if the glass doesn’t get hot. I love painting glass!

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages Still Life

EDiM 15 and 16: Stapler (ancient) and Cookie (monster)

EDiM 16 Stapler. Ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
EDiM 16 Stapler. Ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

I’ve had this wonderful old stapler for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was my grandfathers? It’s heavy and has rusty spots but still works great. I enjoy using it every time I staple something.

EDiM 15 Cookie (Monster), ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
EDiM 15 Cookie (Monster), ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

I don’t eat cookies because I’m overly sensitive to sugar; eating one usually leads to eating the whole bag so I just don’t eat that first one. Drawing a cookie would have been too tempting so I drew a fellow friendly cookie monster.

Categories
Sketchbook Pages

EDiM 13: Cowrie Shells

EDiM 13 Shells. Ink and watercolor, 5x7 in
EDiM 13 Shells. Ink and watercolor, 5×7 in

When I was a kid I had a little shell collection and my favorites were Cowrie shells (though I misheard the name and thought they were called Molly shells. I still get confused and have to look them up. They feel so nice to hold, with their smooth, shiny surface and egg-like shape.

Since I was looking up the name anyway, I read a bit about them on Wikipedia and learned these interesting factoids:

  • The term “porcelain” derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (porcellana) due to their similar translucent appearance.
  • Shells of certain species have historically been used as currency: The Ghanaian cedi was named after cowry shells and starting over three thousand years ago, cowry shells were used as currency in China and India.
  • The Classical Chinese character for money (貝) originated as a stylized drawing of a Maldivian cowrie shell.
  • Cowry shells are used in sacred Objibway ceremonies and the Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba, Canada is named after cowries.
  • Cowry shells are also worn as jewelry or otherwise used as ornaments or charms and are viewed as symbols of womanhood, fertility, birth and wealth.
Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages Still Life

EDiM 10, 11, 12 (Cracked, Found on Internet and Shelf)

EDiM 11 Water Bottle Found on Internet, ink & watercolor, 7.5x 5 in
EDiM 11 Water Bottle Found on Internet, ink & watercolor, 7.5x 5 in

I love Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottles. I keep a tall one in my car, the one sketched above lives on my bedside table, I carry a Kid-sized bright blue one on walks and keep a jumbo 64 oz. Klean Kanteen filled with lemony water in the fridge where it surprisingly fits nicely on the door shelf. I use it to make sure I get my 8 cups of water each day. The bottles are light weight and don’t leave a taste or chemicals in the water.

EDim 10 Cracked Cup, Ink and watercolor, 7x5 in
EDim 10 Cracked Cup, Ink and watercolor, 7×5 in

This drawing is just as cracked as the cup! This was my favorite coffee cup for a long time. Now it’s on my still life shelf waiting to pose for a painting.

EDiM 12 Shelf and stuff on it by studio sink, ink & watercolor 5x7 in
EDiM 12 Shelf and stuff on it by studio sink, ink & watercolor 5×7 in

I shouldn’t have even started this sketch as I was way too tired and it shows. This is a shelf next to the sink in my studio. I drew quickly and directly with ink and painted just as quickly. Sloppy but it’s done.

Categories
Gouache Ink and watercolor wash Rose Sketchbook Pages

EDiM 8 and 9: Mirror Image (me in pitcher) and Shadow

EDiM 8 Mirror Image in Copper Pitcher, ink and watercolor, 7.5x 5 inches
EDiM 8 Mirror Image in Copper Pitcher, ink and watercolor, 7.5x 5 inches

This one was really fun to draw. It was a surprise to see that I was reflected twice, right-side-up and upside-down. I had to stack the pitcher on top of a box of kleenex on top of a box of rubber stamps.

EDiM 9 Mirror Image in Copper Pitcher, ink, watercolor, gouache, 7.5x5 in
EDiM 9 Mirror Image in Copper Pitcher, ink, watercolor, gouache, 7.5×5 in

I drew this in pencil sitting outdoors at a little round table in the sun.  I sketched in the shadow of the flower and painted everything with watercolor. By then the sun had moved and there were more shadows so I painted them in too. I didn’t like the way it messed up the composition so I brought the sketchbook into the studio and painted over table and extra shadows with gouache. It only partially hid the “mistake” but I decided I liked the way there’s a shadow of a shadow showing through.

I used rubber stamps for text on the page but got that wrong too (9, not 8) so just used the X stamp to cross out the 8. I love work that is fresh and just right on the first pass. This isn’t that, and shows a bit of the struggle. Sometimes that just makes things more interesting.

Categories
Animals Ink and watercolor wash Sketchbook Pages Studio

EDiM 5 and 7 (Hobby: Millie and Microwave)

EDiM 5 Hobby (Millie), ink on Stonehenge brown paper glued in Moleskine, 5x7 in
EDiM 5 Hobby (Millie), black ink and white Sharpie on Stonehenge brown paper glued in Moleskine, 5×7 in

I filled pages of my sketchbook trying to draw Millie from life but never got more than 1/3 a dog before she moved. So I pasted some brown Stonehenge paper over a couple of the dog scribble pages and then drew this one from a photo. She’s extra elegantly long in my drawing and seems to be prancing through the air (I forgot to add some shadows or a part of her bed so you could tell she was relaxing lying down.

EDiM7-Microwave in the studio beside the sink, ink and watercolor 5x7 in
EDiM7-Microwave in the studio beside the sink, ink and watercolor 5×7 in

I inherited this microwave from my son, left behind when I converted the grease monkey garage into my studio. When I use it to heat water for tea in the winter I just have to remember that if I have both electric heaters on, all the lights and the stereo going and a hair dryer blow-drying a watercolor, there’s a good chance I will shortly be sitting in the dark until I visit the circuit breaker box and flip the switch.

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Rose Sketchbook Pages Still Life

EDiM 6: Hand-Me-Downs from Mom and Grandma (3 tries)

EDiM 6-Relic: From Ma and Grandma's Kitchen, ink and watercolor 5x7"
EDiM 6-Relic: From Ma and Grandma’s Kitchen, ink and watercolor 5×7″

I wasn’t happy with the first two tries (posted below) for the prompt “a relic or something handed down from family” so started over with the simpler subjects pictured above: my grandmother’s yellow mixing bowl; a serving spoon with part of its pink handle broken off and my favorite spoon that I eat with all the time, both remnants of my mother’s 50s kitchen with their pre-plastic Bakelite handles. And last, my grandmother’s beat up old jar opener that she used to pop open her homemade dill pickle jars. I use it all the time to open jars and think of her each time I do.

EDiM 6-Relic: 3-hole vase and roses #2, ink and watercolor 7x5 in
EDiM 6-Relic: 3-hole vase and roses #2, ink and watercolor 7×5 in’

Above is my second attempt, some roses from my garden in a little vase my mother gave me. It’s really complicated with “arms” reaching around and circling three round-bellied vessels, all connected.

Below is the first attempt, sketched outdoors in blinding sun that messed with my judgment of color and value. Also below is an attempt at drawing what the vase looks like from a different perspective. Also a fail.

EDiM 6-Relic: 3-hole vase and roses #1, ink and watercolor 7x5 in
EDiM 6-Relic: 3-hole vase and roses #1, ink and watercolor 7×5 in

The color of the roses was so pretty…much nicer than anything I could paint.

Photo of vase and flowers I sketched from life
Photo of vase and flowers I sketched from life