Nov. 22 November 22, 2007

I have a 16-lb. turkey and all the trimmings to do so I got my granddaughter Emma and my grandson Mason to collaborate for today’s drawing. Emma says the turkey didn’t have enough detail so she added “rainbow slippers” for its feet and a Pilgrim hat. Mason has just started studying Chinese at his public (!) middle school so I asked him to add a few characters to give the whole thing a classy touch. It says “Hello China”—something he knows how to write. I added the sun, hills and trees. Happy Thanksgiving!

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along I5 north November 21, 2007

Late start getting on the road today and way too much traffic! I finally decided to sketch while my husband drove. I made a stab at assorted trees. Cell phone towers are everywhere!

Jacqui 11/18 – From a photo November 19, 2007

A weird pair November 14, 2007

First, a scene inspired by hearing the Carter Family yesterday on my iPod:

Second, another oddly colored face, based on a photo:

Nov. 5 November 5, 2007

I was so impressed with the ink drawings people have been done I thought I’d try it. I’m not thrilled with the result; I think I overworked it. But no experience is wasted, right? This is the forested slope behind our house.

Painting a Month – April Update May 1, 2007

Finished the fourth painting yesterday, while it was still April.

An imagined window with an imagined view.

Painting a Month – March update March 22, 2007

The first day of spring, and I’m thinking about the brighter and warmer days to come. This morning I imagined I would paint a view of a salt marsh, but as I began working the painting evolved away from literal (littoral) representation and into something more abstracted.

Painting a Month in 2007 – January Update January 16, 2007

The materials from my Curbly prize arrived last week: canvases, brushes, easel, sketchbook, etc. – everything needed to create a painting for every month in 2007.

Twelve blank canvases.

I decided to hang them all on the wall in our bedroom for the time being – as a large-scale calendar and reminder of the painting-a-month project. Each canvas is 12″ x 12″, so after I figured out where I wanted to put the bottom left one, I measured in 15″ increments from the first nail. (Nothing in our house is plumb or square, so I just eyeballed them, rather than going down to the basement for the level.)

After sketching and brainstorming and note-making, I have decided that my theme for the year-long project will be landscapes from memory – real or imagined.

Today I painted the first one:

Decided that it would be more fun to fill in the grid in a random way, so I did.

Here’s a close-up of the painting, a seascape:

I had no certain idea of what I wanted to do until I sat down at the easel. This landscape is based on memories of Ipswich Bay, near Gloucester, Massachusets.

I felt a great feeling of escape as I painted – it was like a little vacation to think about the wind and water and the smell of salt.

Thanks again to all of you for the opportunity to do this!

I’ll post the next painting in mid-February, and keep drawing every day in the meantime.

San Diego December 1, 2006

11/30/06, downtown San Diego.

View from Little Italy November 23, 2006

11/23/06: I climbed to the top of a parking garage for this view of the San Diego skyline.