Laurelines

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.

<

 

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!

Blue crabs, sketches

The first blue crabs of the season at Tom Robinson's... they're great excuses to play with ink and watercolor!

Sketches from Normandy and Paris

Well, it WAS even better than I thought it would be, this trip. And it's the last for a good long time, so it's nice to have such fond memories. Here are some sketches from the trip, but I made LOTS and I used all sorts of materials to do so. Except for the large sketch of Jardin Agapanthe, these are from my small Maruman accordion sketchbook, pictured on the bed in the last post.   Finally, here is a sketch made in Paris, during an afternoon with Flickr buddy, wonderful artist and great guy Rick Tulka. I love it when I get a chance to meet in person one of the loose group of about 100 sketchers and artists from all over the world who, like me, have been blogging or Flickring for years. You can tell a lot about a person by looking at her/his artwork and reading his/her stories and comments. And, without exception, those I've met have been the real thing----warm, talented, good people. Rick is all that and more.

Turkey sketches, part one!

I LOVED my week in Turkey!  I had a sense of breathlessness the entire time, in awe and delight at this beautiful, historically and culturally rich country, and charmed by the nicest people, collectively, I've ever met. They're magnificent looking, too, by the way. WHAT an adventure it was! 

I was SO lucky to have adorable and gracious hosts who did everything they could for Casey and me. I'll always be grateful for their kindness.

Okay, but here are some sketches. More to come!