October

Hats and wine in the Greenbank Farm Wine Shop. Coming soon, Betty Rayle's wine shop sketch.

Bits and pieces of colors as the food loving farm ducks came and went...No, they don't pose like this.

Finished the day at Holmes Harbor with a glass of wine, watching the bright moon rise.

Drawing and Watercolor Classes

 Kris Wiltse's art classes start November 6th. The learning never stops!

Fundamentals of Drawing  
10am – 1pm, Saturdays
Nov. 6 – Dec 11
Come learn the basics of drawing! Knowing the fundamentals gives artists a greater command of advanced painting media such as watercolors, oils and pastels, thus their own self expression. Through lectures, demonstrations, handouts and in and out of class drawing studies you'll learn the essentials such as sighting, values, composition, light and shadow, perspective, contour line, and various dry media such as pencil and charcoal. We'll also study the masters of drawing such as Rembrandt, Delacroix and Leonardo. Your natural abilities and individual voice will be recognized, nurtured and encouraged to further you down the road of artistic development. 
 $190, $175 for returning students

Register at: http://www.swparks.org/registration_faq.html 

Go to the 'Tools' page on my blog for the supply list.

Painting with Watercolor
2pm – 5pm, Saturdays
Nov. 6 – Dec 11
No other medium compares to the jewel-like qualities of watercolor and all it's variations in color and granulation characteristics. Not to mention the absolute thrill of watching colors disperse, bloom and explode on paper! All levels are welcome in this workshop, as your natural abilities and individual artistic voice will be recognized, nurtured and encouraged. We'll study color, composition, wash techniques and pigment characteristics through exercises, discussions and demonstrations all of which will help build your confidence with this beautiful medium. Come experience the joy and thrill of painting with watercolor! 
 $190, $175 for returning students

Register at: http://www.swparks.org/registration_faq.html
Go to the 'Tools' page on my blog for the supply list.

Storm day on Puget Sound

The weather was rather windy and rough this weekend and it carried over through today. So Bill and I visited Glendale where the winds were really blowing and surf was high with lots breakers on the shoreline and huge swells with breakers on the tops of them. The Glendale dock was standing strong throughout the storm. I couldn't resist the challenge and opportunity to sketch the wild scene to see how it would turnout

Sketchbook Journaling in Seattle

Took in the fabulous Picasso exhibit at Seattle Art Museum this week & enjoyed a bit of sketchbook journaling in the process. 

Yosemite

Here are a couple of pics from Yosemite where I met a man who was sketching Bridle Veil Falls in mid-air with a pen.

Birthday Greetings!

Wishing Sue a wonderful birthday from the Whidbey Island Sketcher Gang!

Have a Sketchy Birthday Sue!  ~ Lisbeth

Langley Sketching

Sure was fun sketching in Langley yesterday. Met a lot nice people as we usually do when we're out sketching. People notice us looking or the palettes in front of us. Kids really hone in. They're artists wanting to know what other artists are up to. Here's my sketches...

  

Nymbol's Puppets

 

Family Celebration

 

A not so good likeness of Sue.

 

An animated Gentleman

29th Worldwide SketchCrawl: Langley WA

I just realized that yesterday was the 29th Worldwide SketchCrawl, an international sketching event. Kris and I unknowingly represented Langley by sketch-crawling our way down First Street from Nymbol's Secret Garden to Prima Bistro. I was looking for something scary to sketch at Nymbol's for the October Sketch Challenge.  But I bit off more than I could chew with an elaborate display of leather masks in front of a puppet theater. My sketch was so dreadful, I gave up on it. 

These are my sketches from Prima. Everyone seemed to notice they were being sketched last night, so we enjoyed meeting a lot of our subjects.

Good friends, Susan and Erin, celebrate Erin's move to Whidbey. Welcome to Whidbey, Erin!

Prima Bistro couple

Ladies Night Out at Prima Bistro (with a ghost of a mask from Nymbol's)

Wednesday Sketching at Greenbank Farm

I hate drawing buildings. I hate all the tedious structural details you have to get just right or it won't fit together properly. I have 4 mistakes in this one. But I wanted to sit and chat with my buddies at the picnic table and it was either this view or the antique tractor, which looked even more complicated.

Sorry about the extra 15 years, Cathy. It's always a mistake to sit directly across from me. You're new. You'll learn. Apparently I won't, but I keep trying. I've been trying to get a flattering sketch of a fellow sketcher for almost a year!

Coupeville's Harvest Festival

Part of Rosehip Farm's Harvest Fest relay team.  Yes, those are real pumpkins on their heads.  Too funny!

All the farmers had the most wonderful produce, but I especially loved this colorful chard.

Sketching Maxwelton Valley scenes on A.M. walk

The air smelled fresh and clean and the sun was inviting me out for a cool walk this a.m. So I headed out with my favorite sketching pen and pad to the Maxwelton watershed and French Road to take advantage of the light/shadows for some sketching of the area.

Old Kinskie Barn off French Road

Quiet shaded resting area along the creek in Maxwelton watershed

Old gnarly fruit tree on Erickson's farm

Maxwelton watershed viewing platform near the bend of the creek

Erickson's old barn with fruit trees in foreground

Living in the Heart of Ebey's Reserve

Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve:  17,500 acres, 18 working farms, 400 historical structures, native prairies, two state parks, miles of shoreline, a network of trails and the second oldest town in Washington (Coupeville).

Sherman cow

Even if you don't live in the heart of Ebey's Reserve like I do, a must visit this time of year is the Sherman Farm on Ebey's Prairie.  There you'll find the best deal around on pumpkins and you'll be greated by a few friendly, vocal cows as well. 

Sherman pumpkin & fresh beets



Whidbey Nature Sketches

Sadly, I haven't been able to participate in the sketching outings lately plus sketching on my own. So today with some free time, I enjoyed a neighborhood walk and found plenty of items from nature to sketch which can be my favorite subjects for sketching. I collected them and brought them home for some quick sketches that I'm sharing with you all.

The red hawthorne berry trees grow freely along the Wildes road adding color against the browns, yellows and sage colors of fall.

I like the warm colors of the yellow leaves, stem and dried out blossoms on the fire weed stem. The puffy soft remains from the blossom are still intact from the purplish red blooms of summer. The wild daisy stems are absolutely dried out and blackened but still beautiful and then the remains of the tall grass with it's seeds are ready to spread with the winds.

The mushrooms this past summer were plentiful offering several different varieties which I wouldn't dare try to eat. They grow along the roadside or in the yard and have beautiful soft, moist texture to them. I also found a split piece of alder in the back yard with interesting fungi growth starting. I added the fir branch with the cone of it. Some little squirrel cut it from the tree and forgot to retrieve it for his winter storage.

China City reader & 1904

I loved this guy sitting in the late afternoon sun reading a Catherine Coulter book.

The big barn at Greenbank painted while sitting in the back of my truck.

A Really Big Shew!

I couldn't resist sketching a bit of our show on the walls of  Whidbey Pies Cafe this Wednesday. It looks great! We were excited to learn we had our first sale on Wednesday morning before we arrived! Congrats to Sherryl on the sale of  "Beach Cuddle."

The Greenbank Farm ducks seemed pretty excited, too!

The China City bar patrons, not so much.

On Wednesday we all got together at the Whidbey Pie Cafe. We had several interesting and enjoyable guests while drinking coffee and drooling over the pie! Here is the result of my afternoon.

Camano Sketcher Pays a Visit

After reading the news of our Whidbey Island Sketchers Group Show, Camano Island sketcher Lori Brown jumped the Saratoga Passage (well, of course given our crazy Island County geography, it actually took her an hour and 45 minutes to drive around) to see the show and sketch with us this week.

Three of us met Lori this summer at the 1st International Urban Sketching Symposium.  We were thrilled to meet another Island County sketcher.

Here's Lori's cool sketch of the cafe. 

After sketching with us, she was off to drive back home to Camano but not before saying:  "Congratulations to the Whidbey Island Sketchers for your exhibit at Whidbey Pies Cafe.  I just had to drive over from Camano Island to see it, and it was great to time my visit with your weekly sketch meetup.  I am a regular with Urban Sketchers Seattle, but it was fun to meet a whole new group of sketchers on Whidbey.  Thanks again for making me feel at home."

Thank YOU Lori and come on over anytime!!  Click here to see more of Lori's sketches on flickr.

Saturday in Seattle with the Silver Mime

A few of the sketchers ended up at Pike Place Market on Saturday after our class at Seattle Architecture Foundation was canceled. As we were leaving the market, I spotted a guy with animal balloons all over his head and wanted to sketch him. Then I saw the silver mime across the street! Three of us sketched him as a crowd gathered round. Unlike Kris and Wendy, I didn't try to add color to my sketch while standing there with the whole world looking on. I don't even know how to balance a sketchbook and a palette in one hand while holding a brush with the other. Here are 2 of my 3 tries.

On the way home, I sat in the front seat and drew Barbara, our carpool driver, as we chatted. I love to draw curls.