My hat choice at HATS at PAT'S

The days we dress up to sketch each other are just the BEST. We gathered at Sketcher Pat's house, and brought with us many and varied hats, which we sketched and wore. This is a vintage Coal Miner's hat with a brass, coal oil lamp, with its own flint and steel striker. FANTASTIC!!!

Freeland Library

We met at the Freeland Library today ... they graciously gave us a wonderful conference room with lots of tables, a sink, and natural light.  Works for us!  I chose a book from the library ... animal lover that I am ... by Traer Scott, Finding Home - Shelter Dogs & Their Stories.  The book was a series of photos of shelter dogs, all shot with black backgrounds.  ALL of the animals had soulful eyes.  So, I took on the challenge of doing a water color sketch with a black background.  Fell in love with Gabriel.

Hats! Hats! Hats!

 

What fun it was to gather at Pat's with all sort of hats, and to sketch each other in our outfits.  There was a bit of Halloween in the air, as well as residual energy from Phyllis' 80th birthday.  Looking at my sketch of Phyllis as a witch, it kinda looks like she grew a beard!  I guess witches will do that.  And Judi ... her flowery hat and flowery outfit looked like Monet to me... and Marilyn .. I love her Annie Hall glasses and her cool vest.  What artist does that remind me of?  Hmmmm....

Walnut Ink - Hats at Pats

Guess who!

Witch Phyllis

I finally got around to sketching Ted's collection of hats.  We can now clear the evidence away!

I split the display to keep it all on one page.

Jerry Wennstrom Studio

A Sketch from the Whidbey Island Sketcher's visit to the secluded studio of sculptor and artist Jerry Wennstrom by sketcher Rindy. An exercise in drawing all of the tons of curly red hair. on the life-sized wooden totem/sculpture.

Sketching at Jerry Wennstrom's Studio

A Sketch from the Whidbey Island Sketcher's visit to the secluded studio of sculptor and artist Jerry Wennstrom. 

Sculpture within and without..

I love going to Jerry's  display studio, his work is so unique!  Open the door and you have a totally different sculpture. A sculpture within and the one you see on the outside.
This time I tried concentrating on the faces within and planned to just sketch with the Walnut ink.  So much for that idea.  The pen decided to say it was low and the temptation to add a bit of color overwhelming.  I tried to concentrate on the details without worrying about exact measurements.

Kemble peeking out

I called this Moonface

JERRY WENNSTROM'S STUDIO

Another terrific trip to Whidbey Island artist JERRY WENNSTROM'S studio in the deep woods in Clinton. There is just no way to describe the beautiful, eerie, moving sculptures and art he creates. These interactive totems just blow the viewer right away with their artistry, their strangeness, their storytelling power. Amazing art. These are masks high on a wall, and totally in keeping with the "spirit" of the season, I think. 

Fall color at BAYVIEW FARM AND GARDEN

YIKES! I didn't date this one and can't for the life of me remember when we were there. The 6th? The 13? I am obviously a little behind on my "bookkeeping". Anyway, it was a lovely day there, as always. Pumpkins and cornstalks and chrysanthemums all around. 

  

The Colors of October

I am dazzled by the luscious colors of October.

Autumn bouquet from the yard

Bouquet at Flying Bear Flower Farm

Still life on the purple bench by my kitchen door

A blaze of glory in my backyard

Chapala

A few sketches from my latest trip to visit Phyllis in Lake Chapala, Mexico, earlier this month.

Bougainvillea in the QQ gardens

In the gardens at the QQ

Palm tree with carved initials

One of the privately owned homes in the QQ compound

On the Malecon

Bougainvillea

 

Christiana Park, Lake Chapala

Djammin' 2017

Django Fest is the very BEST of all Whidbey festivals, of which there are many. It's the only one I never miss. Sitting outside in the sunshine, listening to music, and drawing is my passion. It was a bonus that so many musicians this year had great hair for sketching.  BTW, the Double Bluff Brewery turned out to be the best venue in town for drawing musicians. And the warm pretzel with 3 dipping sauces is not to be missed.

words

Sketching Djangofest 2017

A beautiful day for sketching the musicians playing in Langley at the Commons and at Useless Bay Coffee. All three of these were finished in a rush as the musicians broke up and left before I was done. The music was fantastic!

I'll miss you!

Despite early rain, it turned out to be an amazingly nice day at Cap Sante Marina. We had a great turnout, and it's always so much fun to join with the Anacortes sketchers too.

Thank you all for coming up to Anacortes and for adding Buddy Art to the last page to my boat journal. Never goodbye, just see y'all later!

Buddy Art created as we ate dinner at Anthony's

Paula and I went shopping yesterday and got masking fluid and a few new Daniel Smith colors

SKETCHING IN A RETRO "JAPANESE MODERN" HOME

We met at Sketcher Annette's unique and lovely early era Japanese Modern style home overlooking the Sound at Mutiny Bay. The view is extraordinary from her decks, and we all settled in comfortably in cozy deck chairs at tables. The spectacular, the view didn't appeal to me as much as did the exotic decorative pieces around the home. This golden rooster, one of a pair of handsome fighting roosters, especially caught my eye. I paired it up with a gilded imari bowl from a different room. Perfect together!
Fellow sketcher Judith lent me use of her neat set of gold watercolors, which made this guy really crow!