At Melissa Lebo's lovely, art-filled home today, the group painted, talked, laughed and enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow artists. It's so inspiring to see what everyone creates!

Sketching at the home of Patti and Jeff White in Clinton

Another fabulous art filled Island home, (of course!) tucked into the woods, this one belonging to watercolor artist and instructor Patti White. So much to see and sketch inside Patti and Jeff's home (western art! Navajo style blankets! Birch bark and Tramp Art picture frames!), but I was caught before I even got inside, by the view of the house itself and of Maxwelton marsh glimpsed beyond from the top of a winding brick path. I plunked myself down to catch the hues and textures of the shakes, the varieties and colors of plants, and the stones and brickwork. This is to say nothing of the collections of bright blown glass bubbles and forms in vessels, various rusted metal art pieces, trickle and drip water features, and a Georgia Gerber bronze madonna and child otter sculpture. It was a very pleasant day made more so by the great turnout we had from the Sketchers who were not off to Europe and Mexico!
Sketched onsite outside, then added color at home after throw-down, and checking out Paula's awesome cards!!

One is Silver and the other Gold

Being a sketcher has another advantage, the ability to connect with other like souls. I've been to a few outings with the downtown Austin group and a north suburbs group called Hill Country sketchers. Fun thing is that all feel like they know you/us just a little bit from the places and things we did together. I love the shared language!

Unchain My Heart: 60's Night at Bloom's

I probably did a dozen sketches at Bloom's Friday night, but this one of David Gregor is my favorite. I find sketching on cheap paper very liberating. Fountain pen and brush pen on recycled rough brown butcher paper.

 

David Gregor

 I'm including this one below just to share process. Just look at all those crazy lines searching for the shapes in the folds of his clothes, fingers and the guitar! I like the way his left hand seems to be in motion. Nearly blind contour.

What a Doll!

We sketched in the Bayview Cash Store yesterday. I scoured the building and settled on these charming handmade dolls hanging on the walls in Side Market. I also met the artist, Valerie Johnson, who happened to be working there yesterday.  An interesting factoid: her dolls are dressed in garments made from artist Peggy Juve's fabric scraps.  Valerie also makes costumes for local theater, including Island Shakespeare productions. I'm looking forward to sketching more of her creations. I love art that makes me smile.

Glass Making with Katrina and Althea

We sketched at the Greenbank glass studio of Katrina Hude and Althea Holden last week. Katrina had the furnaces going and helper Brian on site to help with creating the magic. We got 2 hours of demos, and our hostesses were the mostest. It was a smokin hot sketcher venue and very happy hour!

Brian on one end of a long glass rod

Katrina

Katrina

A bowl of floating hellebore blossoms on the kitchen counter

The World on Your Shoulders

At last month's C.R.A.P. (Creative Recycled Art Projects) show at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, I sketched Janet Pheifer's wonderful "The World on Your Shoulders". This piece is made from a mannequin, an old globe, wine foils, buttons and chains. It is a magnificent thing to behold and always steals the show. (I see I dated it 3/9/2017, but it was really 3/9/2018.)

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. 

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.

Mary and Big Joe's New Home

A wonderful gathering at Mary Cahoy's beautiful new home.  Thank you for opening your hearth & kitchen to us! 
2/16/18

SKETCHING AT MARY AND BIG JOE'S NEW HOUSE

Mary Cahoy and giant puppy Big Joe have moved into their new house, and it is STUNNING! Her bedroom and bathrooms alone make it worth the price of admission! And if I had this view I would never, ever, EVER, get anything done. The Olympic mountains in the background, the BIG SKY, the eagles, the blueberry fields and forests, Gordon's Restaurant, and Nichol's Boat Works (with the construction of that seagoing "push" tug and its fascinating superstructure tower). To say nothing of the whole view of the bay at the bottom of Holmes Harbor. Can't wait to crash her fireworks party on July 3rd!!