Holiday Decor

Keeping it simple with a new fountain pen and Oyster Gray ink.

Santa Clause Came to Town

The Sketchers gathered for their holiday festivities and were honored by a special guest.  Just wanted to share this image for those Sketchers who missed it!   Ho ho ho!  And Happy New Years!!!

Angel Face

Cynthia's lovely daughter, Allison, was home for the holidays and joined the sketchers yesterday. I did this sketch while sitting around Cynthia's table with all the sketchers at happy hour - eating, drinking, looking at sketchbooks, making merry. So good to be back with my people!

I love discovering all the colors that make up "brown" hair. And it's always a pleasure to draw the fresh face of youth. I was very pleased that Cynthia liked the portrait so much. The original sketch will be a gift to Mom, a token of appreciation for her gracious hospitality in hosting the sketchers in her home time and time again. 

Bottles in a Bar

Plenty of opportunity to practice painting bottles and liquids provided by the row of scotch bottles at the Bookstore Bar in Seattle.  Nice late afternoon painting opportunity before heading to my birthday dinner nearby.

CHRISTMAS PARTY @ BARBARA BARRY'S HOUSE

I opened the pocket in my Sketcher's kit yesterday and instead of my watercolors, my Caran D'Ache Neocolor II's fell out. I took that as a sign and used them for this sketch. Very different feel. Very different vibe. Lesson learned - you can't ink OVER them. They sure do get bright when water is applied, though. Wowza.

 The 12 feet of tree Barbara brought indoors from the 20 foot tree she cut down!

 The "Queen of Rhinestone Bling" (or are they REAL diamonds????)

 The groaning board.

 Oh no!! Egg down!! Egg down!!!

 A lovely statue. 

 Sketchers doin' what we do.

 The art critic.

 Santa!

 And a few of his ladies.

See you next year, Jolly old Elf (or Jolly old Dave, as the case may be.)

Sketching at Susan Jensen's

Thank you Susan for a lovely afternoon and all the yummy food you prepared.  I could have stayed longer there was so much to sketch.  This is the bird's nest bouquet found on the top shelf of her studio.


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Row, row, row your boat and gently paint your oars...

Susan is a true living artist. She lives her life with creative expression and appreciates other
artists contributions. Thank you Susan for hosting a lovely sketchers party in your home studio and gallery.

Union Station Seattle

Susan's place

SKETCHING @ MOON SNAIL STUDIO

There is a little Mission style desk tucked in the corner of the kitchen area. From here you see out across the water to the mountains, under the hems of colorful, fluttering prayer flags. Just one area full of color and art in a whole house full!

A wonderful day! Thanks, Susan. Invite us back again the next time you bake a whole ham and have baklava!!! :) We'll be happy to help you eat it!

An artist home full of art

Susan's home was welcoming with the aromas of delicious food, a cosy fire and a wonderful variety of original art. The sketchers all got right to work drawing their favorite scenes. Mine is a combination of visual impressions.

Happy Holidays at the Senior Center

Barb,Randy & Pat from the FUN BAND

Fun Band, Gentle Evening

A funky day quickly turned into raucous fun and uplifted spirits with the Senior Center Fun Friday Band. There was too much action for me to sketch anything to post. Later we settled into gentle festivities with a still centerpiece and supportive people at Cynthia's.

I'm still flowing with watercolor on Yupo.

Holiday Sketching Parties Begin

What a glorious time some of us Whidbey Island Sketchers had at the Anacortes Sketchers holiday party.  Aleli's beautiful Asian statues, art and holiday decor provided enough sketching material for days and our challenge was to pack as much in as possible (while also gabbing, sipping afternoon wine and munching on holiday treats) in only a few hours. 

Happy Holidays to all my sketchy friends!

Colonial welcome=Pineapple

When I lived in Virginia, pineapple symbols were considered a sign of welcome.  So, I naturally gravitated toward these beautiful candlesticks of Cynthia's.  They are in the shape of the pineapple with metal leaves forming the overall shape to represent the diamond pattern of the pineapple.  I am tempted to add a bit of gold watercolor, but everyone said STOP!  SO, I STOPPED!  Hmph!

Welcome to the Christmas Holiday

Dancing at the Senior Center

Wow! That was a trip! Loved the Friday Fun Band and watching everyone party and have a good time at the Senior Center. They start early at this place! It was difficult sketching moving people, so I just worked at trying to get down the gestures. Here's my Senior Center sketches. I added some color at home:

Later we headed for cynthia's for wine. I tried to capture Faye and Cynthia sitting across the table from me. Unfortunately I did not get Cynthia at all!

We sere talking ornaments and I told the story of mine being stolen, which discouraged me from continuing to collect, so Cynthia gave me a beautiful Santa ornament to get me started again. I did a goofy little sketch of it:

Sketching People This Week

Friday Fun Band at the Senior Center

We always meet at 1pm on Fridays, but not today. Today we made an exception in order to sketch the fabulous Friday Fun Band at the South Whidbey Senior Center. They don't call them the Fun Band for nothing. It WAS really, really fun. Whidbey Island Sketchers love a party and it was our kind of crowd - live music, dancing, laughing, singing - all before noon! We even heard our first sketching joke. Bob, who plays the trombone, asked, "Have you ever drawn a conclusion??" What a hoot.

Waif Cat Cottage

I met the king of cats this last week at the Freeland Cat Cottage.  He truly was king of the jungle with a great personality but also an automatic self defense response.  I discovered you could approach him from the back and give him a back massage, but please don't try petting this "little kitty" from the front if you value your skin.  He is not mean, just automatically defensive, a response to being cooped up day after day.
Robby is a Norwegian Forest Cat (the Maine coon cat has tufts in his ears).  This guy would be a wonderful, interesting companion, once he settled into your home.  Don't you need a King in your house?  I'll come visit him as he is very cool!

On the other hand we had a tuxedo cat named Rocky.  I think their names should be reversed.  Rocky is a little? chubby from his confinement, but beautiful, curious and mellow all at the same time.

Sherryl found a lovely gray tabby that spent the afternoon warming her up and Sue was all over the place testing all the cats, except Robby, for placement in her home and on her lap.  Just purr baby!  She will take you home.

Robby, hanging out on the floor

Robby on his roost!  He has beautiful eyes.

Rocky on the flannel pillow

Sketchy Ornaments

This rainy Sunday afternoon was spent in a new sketching adventure - making two ornaments for the Whidbey Artists tree at Oak Harbor's 15th annual Festival of Trees.  After a couple of hours, two watercolor sketches on Aquabord + silver wire + beads... voila!  Two ornaments for the tree! 

This was fun, plus the proceeds from the festival benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Island County.

  



And here's the tree!





 

Robbie and his alter

Trying to catch these guys in a pose was a real challenge. This was all I found publishable. I used water-brushes  and walnut ink and thanks to Pat, paper to put it on.

...and a view of Holmes Harbor also.

I give the Roaming Radish 5 stars.

Freeland Cat Cottage

Hardly anyone showed up to sketch kitties at the Freeland Cat Cottage yesterday. Just Sherryl, Pat, Julie and me. Well, the boys showed up but they sat outside in the cold to draw buildings. After a couple of hours of playing with cats and getting nowhere trying to sketch them, this shy kitten finally curled up and fell asleep in his hammock, allowing me to get one creditable sketch to show for the afternoon. These cat hammocks are really cozy. The cats love them.

 This sweet little guy was found alone and abandoned in Coupeville. He was very young and didn't get to spend enough time with his mom and litter mates before being cast out on his own. He will need extra tlc to get socialized. He is unfortunately the only kitten at the Cat Cottage so doesn't have feline playmates.

charming cottages with bird houses

Roaming Radish

I wonder how Jess came up with that name?  Its so whimsical, the food is delicious and the move to Holmes Harbor makes for a warm inviting place to sit, sketch and enjoy food and view.

I likes the squashes!