Laurelines

Sketching Austin, Texas

I had just two full days and pieces of another two on my visit to my daughter this past week. I fell in love with Austin's houses this trip. I know of no other place that has the number and variety of quirky, colorful, and plain old adorable houses that Austin has. What IS in the water there, because I want some of it!

Unfortunately, I only managed one house sketch, but am dying to go back and (see my daughter, of course) and sketch more of these little jewels. That's what they are.

Austin also has good restaurants aplenty. My new favorite is Olive and June and I thank my daughter for suggesting it for our first night together!

I travel. I sketch. I sketch gardens and the things in them. This trip was no exception. We spent parts of two afternoons at the lovely estate Laguna Gloria.

Entering the Bullock Texas Museum of State History, you see quotations carved in huge scale on the marble walls flanking the entrance to the exhibits, trumpeting the wonderfulness of Texas. This kind of boisterous self love can be endearing, but it’s also a bit off-putting, given the state’s early history of exploitation and destruction of the native people by European settlers. This is true of much, if not all, of the original European settlements in the new world, of course. Still. Note to Texas... and to self, for that matter: healthy doses of humility never go amiss.  

February color!

Here's some color to brighten your February! Maybe your February doesn't need brightening. The days are appreciably longer now. Little green things are pushing through the ground. Here in the northern hemisphere, spring is next on the agenda. Cheers! 

 

Illustrations by yours truly from the February 2013 issue of Walter: Raleigh's Life & Soul. It's a  new magazine about Raleigh, NC ( you guessed that part?) and its fresh and lively spirit is reflected in the title.

To Florida and back in 36 hours

I have long wanted to see Richard Thompson perform, and preferably, perform solo. Who knew when he'd be nearish to my part of the world again? As it turns out,  he'll be HERE on March 30th! Oops.  But I didn't know that way back when I was researching the subject. Anyway, he'll be the opening act for Emmylou Harris then, so it won't be the same. Am I going to see him again on March 30th, when he'll be only 8 miles away?  Of COURSE! But that's a story for another day.

I had hoped to be able to sketch him while he performed, but the seats at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall are squished quite closely together. Plus, the woman in front of me with the Big Hair blocked all the light. So, sketches of Richard Thompon?  No.

However, here are other sketches I managed to eke out:

Waiting at the airport is fun when you have a scene like this to sketch and some new italic waterproof pens to try out!

If you ever get the chance to have a meal at Palm Valley Fish Camp in Ponte Vedra, you should seize it. We had to dash in and out quickly to make it to the concert in time, but wow, what a delicious meal.. and what friendly, attentive service! The curly, leaning wirework of this basket and the mouth-agape fish caught my eye:

Fish mounted on the wall is mandatory decor for Florida. I believe there's a state law to that effect:

So now, back to real life and to the paintings waiting for me in the studio. Plus, the forecast here for today is for "ice pellets!" (What, as a great friend of mine asked on hearing this, happened to the perfectly good word 'hail?') Anyway, all that's a far cry from 70F and grilled gator!

Vancouver BC sketches

Last week, we took a lightning-quick trip to Vancouver to use up some airline credits we had and to see that beautiful city and region we'd long wanted to see.

It was quite rainy, it being late November/early December and all, but we didn't mind. I made some sketches. 

Here they are.

 

 

My gray toned sketchbook from Iceland came in handy here, too. I have a thing for cold and wet climates, have you noticed?

The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia is one of the world's best. Do go see it, if ever you have the chance.

The Public Market on Granville Island is a great place to go on a rainy day. There are lots of enclosed areas and lots of places to sit, snack, and sketch!

You'll get an idea of the size of these monumental masks by looking at the second sketch posted above.

Happy December!

Sketching at Crook's Corner, again

Well, and eating there, too! Lucky me! Crook's is one of the premiere restaurants of the South. I had their Fresh Figs Bellevue – figs w/ country ham & a mint mustard sauce. It was surprising and delicious and fun.

It was twilight, it was August, there were, of course, pigs. 

I've sketched here often over the years. It's fun to see how the sketches vary. Below are two from several years ago. And there are several more of Crook's here on Laurelines. Could YOU resist that pig's derrière?

  Sketch from 2009

 Sketch from 2007

In the upstairs studio, woman at work

My purpose-built painting studio is small and, me being me, messy. There I fling acrylic (and rarely, oil) paint and am generally pretty scattered.

This photo shows the studio... after I'd cleaned it up for company, i.e., YOU!

There's not room in this downstairs studio to make paintings AND to make more precise work, work on paper, work with ink or watercolor, without endangering their surfaces. So I have another room, an upstairs room ...one advantage of an empty nest...where I can work on illustrations and, in more contemplative moods, paint in my journal.

I'm in the middle of an illustration project that calls for pristine surfaces and rather quiet imagery.

I'm, in short, upstairs. At work.

I'll show you the illustrations when the job is done. 

For now, here is a page from my journal... where I can still channel the chi (see post just below), albeit within the constraints of a journal page. My black and white, quieter work isn't threatened a bit.

 

 

And here are some glimpses of the upstairs studio. I like to start work there very early in the morning.

In less than two weeks, I leave for Tuscany and Umbria, where I will attend the wedding of my dearest, oldest friend's son, and where I will FINALLY get to meet up with fellow artist and blogger Robyn Sinclair, a cyber-buddy of many years' standing and a true kindred spirit. Joy, celebration, food, wine, gorgeous countryside and sketches will ensue!

Rome again, Rome again

For this trip, I limited my art supplies to:

3 waterbrush pens filled with Payne's Gray, sepia, and cerulean ink

1 Pigma brush pen in burnt sienna

My blue Portuguese laundry pencil

2 Cretacolor oil pencils in sepia and soft black

a  lightweight plastic travel palette with manganese blue, burnt sienna, transparent pyrole orange

1 travel watercolor brush

A big Pitt Artist pen in warm gray

Then I bought a box of cheap colored pencils for children at Poggi's. I used the orange one a lot!

I left my Stillman and Birn sketchbook at home (!) in my packing haste and had to buy a Daler and Rowny Ebony one, also at Poggi's. 

Here are more of what I did with these:

Here's my stepson Lee, at lunch with my daughter Cecelia and me. I put that orange pencil to work!

As a reminder, here's an earlier scene of that same cafe

I have a few more sketches from Rome. Soon!

Cold and snowy Rome???

Yes, cold AND snowy Rome is right. That meant, except for the first day, all monuments and museums were closed the entire time I was there.  A lot of restaurants and businesses were, too, but, as you'll see, I found a few places to eat and drink. I mean, what else was there to do??

I did brave the cold with my daughter Cecelia the first day (pre-snow) and the last day (after snow) to make some outdoor sketches. I'll post them in a couple of days.

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I met dear Concetta Flore early on the day it snowed. We got some sketching done and here is one of mine from that day. More to come.

Copenhagen sketches, part one

I'll be eking these out in smallish doses... only because, as was predestined to be the case, the life we returned to has been busy to the nth degree!

Copenhagen was the perfect choice for a short, celebratory trip. It's not too large, and it's not too small. It's pretty and lively. The food---and  I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you, France-- is the best in the world now. There's a whole new and brilliant way of thinking about food and preparing and presenting it in the Nordic countries these days and we were lucky enough to be able to experience a tiny bit of it while we were there.

And though I always say this, there really IS more to come. It was indeed a short trip, but it was a sketched one.

I made this sketch on the grounds of Rosenborg Castle on our last day. It was the most tranquil time of our visit. Copenhagen is not the countryside, though one could be forgiven for thinking it is, while seated on a bench in the Rosenborg gardens.

I asked the bartender at the Nimb Hotel where this was sketched, what was the meaning of the mural featuring women and birds. 'Something to do with the history of Denmark,' said he. Oh, really? Wasn't that helpful.

A gorgeous covered food hall opened in Copenhagen this past winter. It's called Torvehallerne and I couldn't wait to see it. We went, we saw, we ate, and I sketched. Bicycles and good food... this is Copenhagen.

Sketching at Sugarland with Sue

My great friend Sue Smith and I have joined a fledgling local sketching group. Yesterday it was so fledgling that we two and the group creator were IT for the April sketchcrawl.

We met at that den of delicious iniquity, Sugarland Bakery, to draw. And eat gelato, but never mind. Sugarland's offerings are various and sinful: espresso and fancy coffee drinks, pastries, cakes, gelato, and martinis! I call that One Stop Shopping with a vengeance! 

Here are my sketches for the day. I did not realize how contemplative everyone I drew looked until I got home and looked at what I had done.  Apparently, there's a lot of soul searching going on amidst all that imbibing.

I, however, ate and sketched and departed with my soul, on this particular outing, blissfully ignored.

Please click on Sue's name above and see what she has to say and show for our afternoon together!