Do Two Fish Make A Skool?

Fishes Teapot by Jo Reimer

 

 

 

I was driving home Saturday from a round of errands when I had this crazy urge to stop at Home Goods just to see if they had something I had to have. I found this teapot! I HAD to have this teapot. It needed drawing and if I didn't buy it someone who doesn't draw might buy it and then that sweet little teapot would never be famous in that special way that teapots get when someone who loves them draws them. I'm still grinning over my find and I hope you'll smile a little, too.

Sketchbook Skool is over for the summer but I'm still drawing, not exactly like a mad woman, but lots, lots for me, at least. It's getting easier. I see the shapes more accurately and feel more confident with my marks and now I can say that I have established a drawing practice, one which I intend to keep up here on out. 

Do I plan to enroll in the next session of SBS? Yes, absolutely. It's been so good for me and for thousands of others. A new session starts in October and both of the two original sessions, Beginning and Seeing, are also available.

Sketchbook Pages, Week One

 I've drawn in one of my sketchbooks every day this week and I intend to keep it up. It's a bit embarassing to post my wonky drawings but this blog is, in my mind, a way to record my work and progress so it serves my own purpose.

I'm working in an 8" square sketchbook I made. The pages are an assortment of watercolor papers, all shapes, sewn together to make nearly full sized pages. I save all my paper scraps as well as paper samples (waste not, want not) and this seemed to be a good use for them. Some papers work better than other. This first page is 7.5" x 3.5" and is sort of the introduction page.



 


 


I did this page yesterday and am NOT happy with it. The pots are okay (I'm working on ellipses which are hard for me) but the pen I used wasn't waterproof so the minute I started adding watercolor the black ink made the page gray preventing me from painting bright colored tulips.

Perhaps you can get a better idea about the sewn together, pieced, pages in this example where the larger but shorter section on the right was zigzag stitched to the narrow piece on the left. I rather like the look.

Sketchbook Skool

I've enrolled in an online workshop series called Sketchbook Skool which was founded by Danny Gregory and Koosje Koene. So far it's great. I hesitated until the day it went online, thinking I didn't really need another drawing class, but I relented when I realized I could use the motivation, the encouragement to draw daily. I've been slacking off on my drawing, so much so that when I pick up a pen to draw it's a real challenge. I want drawing to be easier and I know that with daily practice it gets easier and easier to record what I see more accurately.

My interest is not on being able to draw photorealistically, but to be able to get my lines more or less reasonably placed and to include my emotion about the subject in a drawing. Sometimes I can do it but I'm not consistent. We'll see what comes.

So far I find the first class, taught by Danny Gregory, to be first rate. Danny's the one who got me drawing in the first place with his excellent first book, Everyday Matters, so I know I have nothing to lose by enrolling in his school. There will be other teachers in this six week long session: Roz Stendahl, Koosje Koene, Tommy Kane, Jane LaFazio, and Prashant Miranda, and others in the next sessions.  If you're interested it's not too late to join. Click HERE to learn more.

Here are my first two drawings:

From my Sketchbook ...

by Jo Reimer


Freesia

I keep a tiny metal alphabet stencil in the back pocket of my sketchbook and use it when I remember. The stenciled letters adds interest to any page. 



 

Geranium

 Cannon Beach Oregon is known for incredible flowers. There are planting beds and big pots of flowers and shrubs everywhere with blooms lasting most of the year in the mild climate. The misty ocean air is good for the plants and whoever tends the beds knows just how to keep the soil in tip top shape to stimulate growth. This September the geraniums were at their peak and gave me a good reason to sit on a bench and draw a nearby flower, noticing for the first time how the buds hang from this particular variety.

Calla Lily

 There are calla lilies everywhere, along fence lines, in big pots and beds alongside the sidewalks. In one neighborhood every yard has masses of calla lilies, leading to the suspicion that neighbors are generous with their plant starts.

Leaves

 The leaves of a vine outside the coffee shop window held their pose for me this morning.

Pink with text

 Sketching is a great activity when one is waiting for something to happen...

Red Japanese Maples

Our son planted about an acre of Japanese maples "Bloodgood" just before he left for the army right out of high school. We sold that place 21 years ago and there are still several dozen of the trees left in the field. Perhaps I should have titled this Nostalgia.  I hate to think about how many farming acres near cities, including this one, are slated to become housing developments. This is where my daughter rode horse, where our son had his first job working for a neighbor on his nursery, where we started our own nursery business, where birds sang and dogs ran free. Yep, Nostalgia. It's bittersweet.

From my sketchbook... another 5

by Jo Reimer

There's not much of interest to draw in a hospital exam room.

 I used a Pentel Pocket Brush pen for this drawing. I like the bold line but I need to warm up with writing or drawing before I tackle a drawing because my hand can be a bit shaky.

The swing on my back  deck

 I love porch swings, had one at my childhood home, one at the farm, and now one hanging from the pergola on my back deck. All my grandkids have grown up sitting on Gramma's lap in the swing or sitting beside me as we see how high we can go. I don't usually look at it from this angle.

Two drawings, two villages

 The upside down umbrellas are from among the many which hang from the ceiling in Marcos Cafe in Multnomah Village. The building is in Cannon Beach, OR.

Anniversary drawing

Using painted book page in my sketchbook

I don't remember that I'm a collage artist when I pull out my sketchbook! Now what's with that? Bits of paper ephemera such as those used here add lots of visual texture and interest to an otherwise dull page. A few years ago I bought a dozen small Japanese novels, at least I think they're novels, at a book sale. I've used them for altered books and for sketch journals, and have painted pages from one  in various colors to put in my compost.