Paula Pugh's Daffodils

We braved the icy chill of an Arctic cold spell and gathered in Paula's warm home with fire, food, and baby.  She'd put a touch 'o spring on her table... beautiful daffodils.  Couldn't resist.

At Paula's House

While everyone else at Sketchers was exceptionally brave yesterday, sketching Paula's adorably beautiful blue-eyed grandbaby, I chickened out on the challenge (once again) of tackling a live subject matter. Instead "went shopping" for subject matter in her kitchen. First thing I found was a blue, metal elephant. From there my still life grew into a rosemal painted chopping block, another wooden elephant, some cinnamon sticks and a jar of Garam masala. I'm happy to draw things that don't move. Or giggle. No matter how cute.

Paula's Grandbaby, "Bunny"

What a sweet afternoon it was with Paula's family ... the star of the show being her grandbaby, "Bunny."  Bunny was born on Easter 2017.  She is the most beautiful little delightful girl.  She was a very agreeable model, all dressed up in red for the holidays.  We had quite the turnout, too .. a house filled with warmth, merriment, and quite a spread of food contributions.  OH... I should add the Christmas cake I made 'cause I'm quite proud of it's cuteness.  It's a two-layer classic carrot cake with Whidbey carrots, cinnamon, dates and walnuts - recipe from the Grayston Bakery Cookbook, a Christmas gift from fellow grad students in 1988!  If you're in need of a great carrot cake recipe, ask me!

Oh, the places we go

Recently, we created small planning groups to help schedule the sketching venues. The nice thing about this (besides that we care about Sue and how hard she was working) is that everybody knows of a unique place, person or event. We have had wonderful demos/workshops.....origami cranes, Yupo and Zen-tangle. We've been invited to artists' studios, private homes and other places you just wouldn't get to see otherwise. It's fun to spread out the workload - but even more fun to see what each group comes up with for their planning month!

a few sketches from Janet King's felting studio

a few sketches from Paula's string quartet

Musical sketching!!!

Aaaarrrrrgggghhh!!!! I have a pen in my kit with a great nib, but crappy ink that NEVER dries and ALWAYS smudges. But do I remember that? no And do I use it anyway? yes And does it smudge? Why, yes, yes it does. poop
But, had just a stellar day Friday sketching at Paula Pugh's fabulous Whidbey Island home above Saratoga Straits. She invited us to enjoy the weekly gathering of her "Stilton Quartet" - two violins (including hers), one viola, and one cello. 15 of us Sketchers were more than eager to accept!! Music, sketching and happy hour afterwards; in the woods overlooking the water and mountains - Pacific Northwest life at its most sublime!!

Stilton Quartet

John Berg

Another privileged day with the Sketchers!  Paula Pugh and the Stilton Quartet changed their usual practice venue to play for us this Friday.  I LOVE sketching musicians ... a simple tip I've discovered and will share with you is that tho they move constantly, musicians repeatedly return to the same movement yielding many opportunities to "get" that arm, hand, bow, or whatever.  I plopped on the floor behind John and loved this perspective of his concentration.  Fun painting his shirt ... I learned a ton from this sketch ... capturing patterns, shadows, folds quickly.  

Zendoodles at Claudia's

Amazingly lovely day in the rare sunshine on the deck!

Making wreaths with Paula and the Sketchers

My nose is still running from the cold, crispy air in the barn at Paula Pugh's house in Langley last Friday. Everyone had a great time and many lovely wreaths left the barn and headed to houses to brighten the scenery. I sketched, but even I got one, because dear Paula made one for me ( a candle!!) The only thing missing from the revelry was caroling, but believe me, you don't want me doing that! Sketching is much better. Happy Hour at Sherryl's was one of the best EVAH! Next week is Christmas Party! Let's see what we can do with that!

Aboard the Sophia

We had a fantastic trip sailing to LaConner on the Sophia. Thank you so very much to Paula and Jim for a perfect day. Scenery from the boat was so AWEsome that we could't settle down and sketch! Once we docked, we visited the quilting museum, ate lunch on the patio at The Pub, then sketched the quaint little town. Beautiful weather, warm people....what more could you ask for?

bird aviary

Such an amazing time to be with Susan's birds, but rather a challenge to sketch. With birds on our shoulders whispering in our ears, tugging at our earrings, landing on our heads, putting their beaks into our paints, trying to take the brushes out of our hands and moving around constantly it took some perseverance to get any sketching done.

Lefty Day with the Sketchers

One of my current goals is to sketch LOOSER.  Try using a generous-sized water color brush with your non-dominant hand.  You CAN NOT noodle!  Fabulous exercise.  Yes, I tried it in solidarity with our wing-clipped Paula (in hat).  What more fun can a sketcher have but to be amongst ourselves, in perfect PNW weather, in a beautiful garden (Thanks, Pat!), and to top it off with a challenge.  Next, we'll have to tie one hand behind our backs!

Pat's Clematis - Lefty

Paula Pugh the Wounded Bird

Natalie Olsen, "The Gnat in The Hat"