Good Friday Tablescape with Rebecca's PYSANKY EGGS

Here's a sketch of an Easter still life on a purple tablecloth, done between mouthfuls of Brussel sprout/walnut salad, artichoke dip and crackers, chocolate eggs, salami and WINE. Do we know how to have fun, or what?

Our Sketch-Out yesterday was at the home of member Rebecca Alden Rickabaugh in Freeland. It was a fine turnout of artists to sketch the labor and love intensive work Rebecca has done creating colorful and intricate Easter eggs, using the very old Ukrainian/Polish/Czechoslovakian art of Pysanky. She starts with a raw egg, uses a special tool to draw intricate designs on the egg with wax, then dipping them in dyes between each layer of design. In the end, when the wax is removed, the egg and all its magnificent colors of dye and line designs (where the wax was) is revealed. Thanks, Rebecca, for this peak into a fascinating old artform, and also for your hospitality in your art-filled home.

Great day at Rebecca's home!

We enjoyed spending Friday afternoon at Rebecca's lovely art-filled home enjoying stories, good wine and lots of food. Thanks for having all the sketchers there!
Here's a selection of photos from the throw down. Love to see everyone's creations!

St Paddy's Day Sketching at Bayview Farm and Garden Center

With the Whidbey Island Sketchers yesterday at Bayview Farm and Garden in Bayview with the focused intention of SKETCHING SHAMROCKS. I found a little corner for me and my chair, pulled plants and "stuff" from all over the greenhouse, built a little still life, and had "foine toime of it" for the day. Erin Go Braugh
I wondered why I was the only person sketching, then finished up, went outside, and found them all in the garden of the Flowerhouse Cafe, having a party without me!

Sketching CRAP

It was an absolutely fabulous day of sketching at the Creative Recycled Art Projects show at WICA yesterday! So MUCH to sketch that it was almost overwhelming. I chose by color (of course) even though there were many things just as interesting which were less so. Anyway, here are projects done by Sara Saltee (a collage box), Janet C. Lewis (a costume mannequin  ), Sarah Dial Primrose (a collage of "dead" CRAP), Liesel Lund (a collage necklace), Natalie Olsen (a woven apron), Janet Phiefer (a recycled metal and button sculpture), and Deborah Eimers (a gourd and crow skull bowl). Many, many other equally exciting pieces, too!

"THREE TEAPOTS OUTSIDE FREELAND, WA" . . .

. . .  and INSIDE the Senior Thrift Store. Or Island Thrift. Or whatever it is called now. At any rate, the place is wonderfully restored since the fire in their attic, and the upstairs is full of new little cubby rooms and nooks and crannies filled with kitschy stuff. I took these colorful ceramic teapots off their shelf in the "tea room" and hauled them out to the furniture section, set them up as a still life arrangement on a table, sat in a comfortable chair, and sketched the day away. And listened to the birds and water sounds coming from a nearby "painting". And to a random guy who sat down at the old upright piano and proceeded to play jazz, and ragtime, and classical and rock. It was a terrific visit to a favorite sketch venue.