SKETCHING...... ARCHITECTURALLY SPEAKING

Hi Everyone,

Happy Sketchbook Tuesday!  

I've been running around like crazy-busy this week getting ready for a visit from my VBFF.  Yes! She's coming for a whole week to visit me and we have such grand plans of drawing and painting wherever we go.  

Of course our drawing and painting en plein air totally depends on the weather and whether or not it will be raining cats and dogs in the afternoon. 

Keep your fingers crossed for sunny days!! I'm pretty excited about being able to spend time with my BFF so even if the weather doesn't co-operate we will find plenty to do and talk about for hours.

And since this is Sketchbook Tuesday I've dug a few Architectural sketches out for you today!

I love the architecture of old buildings, Spanish tile roofs, balustrades, arches and stairways all speak to my romantic heart.  Below I am practicing how to draw these types of architectural details. 

 A five minute sketch of downtown store fronts in an older section of town. 

 Throw in a quick sketch of palm trees here and there.

Another favorite architectural delight is the Cupola. According to Wikipedia: in architecture, a cupola is a small, often dome-like structure on top of a building. Well the ones I've seen and refer to as cupola(s) are rather square and usually have a nice weathervane on top. Whatever they are called, I love the look of it on a house or building. 

This building was a challenge with the arches and complicated roof lines. 

Next week I'll have new sketches to share with you and more adventures from Bonnie and Suzy. Hope you will join me again soon. Meanwhile, pull out your sketch pads and get busy!! 

Happy Sketching!
Suzy 

A CHANGE IN THE PLAN

Hi Everyone!

Over the last month we been on an adventure exploring The Neighborhood and The Parks near my home. I've been sharing my sketches and paintings of the areas. I do hope you've enjoyed visiting and getting closer to my home destination. 

When I began this series it was originally planned to go for four weeks but soon discovered when it came to A Walk in The Park, it just wasn't complete without sharing the special places where I love to paint.  A slight detour in the plan but isn't that what you do when you are out and about? Sometimes it pays to take a turn down an unfamiliar street or path to discover hidden delights. Anyhoo, that is what we did when we veared off the path and explored my favorite painting places. Last week we ended up in my Backyard, and this week a final destination post was planned for Inside The Studio.  Sorry that just didn't happen this week! BUT......

I have some GOOD news!  Let's just say there has been a change of plan and the Inside The Studio post will now be expanded into a mini series!!!  Ohhh, I'm SO excited to share these posts with you!! So please bear with me while I gather my wits and photos and join me next week for the Intro to Inside The Studio.   

Remember, I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl!  :-) Some days that is a good thing, other days not so much.  I'm finding in bloggerland, there is a definite need for pre-planning. ;-)

Thanks for being patient while this series is under construction! See you all next week!

xoxo
Suzy

SKETCH BOOK MOJO RETURNING

Hi Everyone!

The weather this summer has just been so weird, really. Sweltering heat up north and cooler temps and lots of rain here where I live! That means the water in the pool is cooler than the usual bath water we get this time of year.  So, I've been inside sewing and painting this summer, which is okay with me because I love to be in my studio.  

Yesterday I was cleaning up the "art cart", which is a portable kitchen island on wheels that is used to hold supplies and kiddie craft stuff. The top has a great piece of marble to use for printing paper with the Gelli Plate (sticks to it) and space to spread out your painting supplies.  But I digress, I was cleaning out the cart and found a few old newsprint sketch pads.  Don't you love it when you find stuff like that? I do. It is like a trip down memory lane getting to see the forgotten sketches from a class. I'd like to share a few with you.  

As you might know, I've been participating in a few challenges with multi-media and haven't spent a great deal of time painting or drawing. 

Drawing/sketching is something I'd like to get back into the habit of doing on a regular basis and to be truthful, practice is the only way my skills will improve. 

 I did most of these sketches during a class I took one summer at the local high school, the instructor is a well know artist in our area and she teaches the adult education course in drawing.  She would demo a drawing technique and then we were on our own to find a subject from her pile of magazine pages and draw it.  Then she would critique our drawings individually. 

 It was a fun class with lots of people with various talents from beginners (like me) to advanced.

 Lots of different mediums were used so we had a chance to experiment and learn what medium we liked using the most. I loved pen and ink, charcoal and pastels. 
All the drawings here were done with Ritmo charcoal pencils. 

Finding this sketch pad gave me the boost needed to make me me want to grab the nearest pencil and spend time with my sketch pad.  Quiet time working out a drawing.

I've promised myself to start drawing or sketching something every day. I'll let you know how that works out. 

Happy Sketching and Drawing! 
Suzy

INDEX CARD A DAY WEEK 7

Hi Everyone!

Time is just flying by this summer with all the activities around here. Can't believe I've finished another week of ICAD, in the final stretches now, here we are at Day 50. 

I'd love it if you would take a few minutes to click on the ICAD tab on the right side bar and view the daily index cards from Week 7, Day 43-49.

Hope you enjoy the individual creations on each card. Drop me a comment and let me know if you have a favorite.

BEE CREATIVE!
Suzy

BACKYARD VIEWS

Hi Everyone! 

Welcome back for our next adventure! Over the last several weeks we have been getting closer to my home on our park adventures, today we have arrived! Yup, we are visiting in my own backyard.  

My backyard is a jungle of tropical plants and trees and right here and now, I'll just say I'm not a gardener.  My husband is the outdoorsy person, doing all of the yard work himself, which takes approximately 3 hours per week just to keep the bushes and vines from overtaking us!  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE plants and flowers but do NOT like dirt on my hands or sweat in my eyes. 

You may have seen the photos of my orchids in bloom....in the kitchen window and on the front porch, and yes there are several in the trees that bloom off and on. 

Mostly the flowers in our yard belong to my neighbor, Capt. and Ms. Louie. Now both of them have gone to their heavenly reward but their legacy still lives on in their yard.  

 This is  a little painting I did of Ms. Louie's flowers, they hang over our fence and are quite colorful. Once my husband made the mistake of thinking they were weeds and "trimmed" them and boy did we hear about that.

Our small patio is where we spend our time when the weather is nice.  We don't have a screened in porch or pool like many people do in Florida for obvious reasons (bugs).  We enjoy having the pool in the sunshine and the occasional visitor of a frog or snake or other small animals. We once had a pair of ducks land in our pool! When they tired of paddling around they flew away. 

I like to take my sketch pad out and draw.  This particular day it was the Christmas Cactus (which I've managed to kill) and some sea shells picked up on our visit to the West Coast (of FL) on Sanibel Island. 

There are many plants that I don't know the names of, this one seems to be in the bromiliade family (I'm guessing here). It has the most delectable pink flowers. 


And this one climbs the fence on the side of the house with its tiny pink flowers, it might be a weed of some sort but it is so pretty.

And of course our marker of autumn is when the Croatians turn from green and yellow to the most lovely shades of orange, red, and burgundy.

That's my backyard and some of the tropical plants you'll see growing there.  I hope you have enjoyed the visit and will come back next week as we go inside to the studio! 

Until then, 
Suzy

ICAD WEEK SIX

HI Everyone!

Gosh it's been six weeks of creating a index card every day!  I've enjoyed the challenge and at times I really thought I might quit due to other things going on here but decided to stick it out until the end.  

You can see this weeks work by clicking on the INDEX CARD A DAY (ICAD) link on the right side bar.

Hope you will take time to peek at the cards and leave me your comments. I love hearing what you think about them.

Happy Painting and Doodling!
Suzy

THE SECRET COVE

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back! Moving closer to my home we're visiting another one of my favorite parks where I go to sketch and paint.  I take my sketch pad and practice the roof angles on the boathouse, or the window shapes and roof shingles or the intricate patterns of the palm trees.

 This tiny park is well hidden within the neighborhood and I love to go here on a lazy afternoon and watch the boats going in and out and try to capture the little boathouse across the creek. This painting was done before the hurricanes came and blew away the shaker shingles on the boathouse.

There isn't anything to do at this park other than enjoy the water view and the tropical plants and trees, but that's ok with me. It is very peaceful here, usually a nice afternoon breeze and shady places to sit and draw or paint. I call this place the Secret Cove.

Here I am writing about the new roof on the boathouse, the old shaker shingled roof has been replaced with a shiny new aluminum roof. Doesn't have the character of the old roof but it looks pretty good.

 I take my paints and a little folding chair, kick back under the mango trees and enjoy the afternoon sketching or painting.

Thanks for taking a walk in the park with me again today.  I hope you will come back next week when we will be even closer to home.....in my back yard.  Come join me! Until then keep your pencils sharp and your paint brushes loaded with color and ready for the next adventure.

Happy Painting and Sketching!
Suzy

PLAYTIME SKETCHBOOK

Hi Everyone!

Nothing better than PLAY TIME in a sketchbook or journal!  I love to spend time with my glue stick, stamps and watercolors.  It is good to spend time creating without any purpose whatsoever! You never know where it will lead you creatively.  I don't feel the need to finish a page or make it pretty. In my sketch books and design journals you'll find lots of unfinished pages, some with stamping and nothing else. Like this page below created when trying out new stamps and deciding between black or brown ink. Personally I like the look of both on this page. 

Whenever I purchase a new stamp(s) I always try them out in a sketchbook first! Stamping the designs over and over again helps me visualize other ways in which they can be used. Using different color ways also is a wonderful way to see how color effects the design. I enjoy doodling around designs and writing any ideas down next to the stamped images. 

I use watercolor pencils, ink, craft paint, scribbles, crayons, etc. Nothing is off limits.  

Mixing stamps designs is fun! Here's a page where I was experimenting with houses, drawing trees, stamping with feathers and even a birdcage. Yep, I know it's upside down! Who knows what THAT'S about. 

Being a quilter, I love pattern and fabrics and they sneak their way into my sketch books too!  Here's a little pattern for a bug quilt I made for my great-nephew. The fabrics are glued into the book with a glue stick and the curly cue antenna was a practice applique piece cut out and glued on to the page.

As you can see, anything and everything goes into the design sketchbooks. I so enjoy looking through these pages and getting new ideas and using some of the old ones too! 

Hope you are having a wonderful week!  Go glue or stamp something in your sketchbook!  WHAT??? NO! You don't have a sketchbook?  Well head over to the nearest Joanne's or Michael's and pick out an inexpensive sketchbook! Get your glue stick out and glue down a random piece of fabric or paper, add color or a nice doodle....get started now! Have fun!

Happy stamping & glue sticking!
Suzy

INDEX CARD A DAY WEEK 5

Hi Everyone!

It has been another busy week around here, working and caring for a little one! Wow, I'm finding it difficult to find a little block of time to create each daily index card. Each night after everyone is asleep I am trying to catch up with email and blog posts. 

Well, other than the time crunch this month, I've also joined an online class with Mary Ann Moss called SEWN. There will be more details coming! Check out the little video over on the left side of this page, if you are interested in the class, please tell Mary Ann I sent you! 

Ok, the Index Card A Day Challenge (ICAD) from this week can been seen by clicking on ICAD tab on the right side bar.  

Hope you will enjoy this weeks collection and be inspired to make your own little mini art works!

Happy Painting and Doodling!
Suzy

GOD BLESS AMERICA

 Happy Independence Day!

 God Bless America!

KEEPING A JOURNAL OF IDEAS

Hi Everyone! 

Some days I like to doodle and stamp random designs on my journal pages.  I dabble with watercolors in different color combinations and often the results sparks more creative activities, like the one below I used to make a birthday card.  

 I used book text to create a twisted stem and a leaf on the flower below.

 Another flower made with book text for the center of a hand drawn flower. 

 Gluing punched circles onto the page with a few squares and then some doodling.

 See how the design doodles above morphed into another design which in turn was used on a greeting card. 

 I jot down ideas to the side of the designs for future consideration. 

How do you process your ideas for different projects? Do you keep a journal or sketchbook to record them?  

Busy Bee-ing Creative!
Suzy