How to use this Page

I heard of an experiment that someone was doing in San Fransisco which they dubbed a "sketchcrawl". The idea is to go out and draw for an entire day everything that you do or things that you see as you go along. I was inspired and intrigued by the idea so I decided to plan one myself! I urge other illustration readers to plan one in their city. It's a great way to meet other aritsts in their community.

EDMONTON SKETCH CRAWL
(18th international)
SAT, MARCH 29th
11am
STANLEY A MILNER LIBRARY, Down town
(in the entrance if it's terrible outside, outside if it's glorious!)

Here's what the founder had to say:

"The basic idea: to record nonstop everything I could around me with my pencil and watercolors. A drawn journal filled with details ranging from the all the coffee I drank to the different buses I took. After a whole day of drawing and walking around the city the name seemed quite fitting: “SketchCrawl” - a drawing marathon. The crawl was more tiring than I imagined but also more fun and exciting than I had thought. Giving yourself this kind of mandate for a full day changes the way you look around you. It makes you stop and see things just a tad longer, just a bit deeper … needless to say I loved it.

I soon figured out it was much more interesting to do the marathon with a group of artists instead of all by myself! And so SketchCrawl turned communal. After a whole day of drawing it proved to be amazingly interesting and inspiring to share and compare other people’s drawings and thoughts. Different takes on our surroundings, different details, different sensibilities.
The next step was making the SketchCrawl a World Wide event: having people from different corners of the world join in a day of sketching and journaling and then, thanks to the Internet, having everyone share the results on an online forum.

I've got the flu this week, so I'm just resting and doing what can't wait--like feeding children. Luckily, they're more self-sufficient than they used to be. We just received our Pitt Artist Pens from Cheap Joe's. I've had the black set with various points for years now. Last year, Kiyon, begged for the landscape set. I thought it was a waste of money, but relented. Thank goodness I did! It has 6 landscape specific colors. He could suddenly create beautiful landscape sketches in color! These pens are amazing! Well, ever since then they've both been begging for additional sets. I finally gave in and bought us each a set which we will share. Josh has the basic colors, Kiyon got the grays, and I got the terra cotta set.

Here is my quick sketch using these three sets. What fun! Instant results in color.

No! That's Wrong! by Zhaohua Ji and Cui Xu.

Oh my...Kane/Miller has brought us a delightful book from China!

A pair of ruffly red underpants blows off a clothes line and lands near a little white rabbit who immediately places them on his head. "It's a hat," he says. The text at bottom corrects him, "No, that's wrong. It's not a hat." But the rabbit doesn't seem to listen and goes about placing the underpants on the heads of other animals. It takes a donkey to set him straight and let him know he's wearing underpants on his head.

But, if the donkey is right, and they really ARE underpants, where does his tail go?

Along the way, the story introduces a number of adjectives and opposites. For example, the "hat" is too small for an elephant, but too big for a fox, and it's simply amazing, magnificent, incredible...you get the drift.

I really can't think of anything that's much funnier than a bunch of animals with hilarious facial expressions wearing underpants on their heads, and children will laugh out loud at this book and its illustrations. I can just imagine them yelling, "No! That's Wrong," as they turn the pages. Even the back end papers will elicit giggles as readers see a number of animals incorrectly wearing articles of clothing and other objects on their bodies.

If you're looking for a funny book that will make your child (and you) laugh and also introduce some new vocabulary words along the way, this would make an excellent choice.

Release date: March 1, 2008 (available now!)

Sketching has been so much fun. Why didn't I start this sooner? The secret for me is to let myself off the "perfection" hook. I'm using a small freebie notebook from my husband. It's not at all precious. Also, I've given myself permission to draw a French fry if I want. My hubby's at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), so I took the kids out for lunch. As usual, I finished first and had to wait for them. This time, I had my trusty sketchbook and started to draw their lunch. It was fun and they loved it. They've each started their own book. Yippee!

-----------

One of my favorite blogs is DaniDraws. She's compiled a list of her favorite blogs. I'm really excited about quite a few blogs. It's very addicting. I enjoy seeing what others are up to. It's a wonderful thing for one with a solo career.

Here's my list:
Holli Conger, DaniDraws, Genine's Art Blog, Claudine Helmuth, Paige Keiser, Elizabeth Dulemba, Scott Franson, Paula Becker,and last but not least, Paula Pertile. I add more all the time. Check these out and enjoy!

A bright new day and a bright new year ahead. Here you see one of my New Year's resolutions--to sketch from life everyday. I'm not a big fan of this and have avoided it like the plague. Yes, I know it's good for me. I love seeing other people's sketches. I really admire it. It's just not something I feel comfortable with. So, anyway, I'm starting out small. I have Creative License by Danny Gregory (which I've never finished) and I was browsing Keri Smith's website and felt I should finally jump in. I visit Paula Becker's blog regularly and really enjoy her landscapes. Maybe I'll do that someday, for now just small things. Baby steps. I'm also inspired by Paula Pertile's intimate close-ups. I won't post my efforts often. It's too scary now.

We've been enjoying this vacation time more than ever before. As I've said in a previous post, fifth grade is tough on all of us. It's so nice to have a break from, "Do Your Homework!!!!" We've all been sick and sticking close to home. My husband even had 11 days off. What a treat to have him around so much! We're so relaxed, I don't know how we'll get back into the swing when this is over. Luckily, the kids have only 2 1/2 days of school then a 4 day weekend! Teacher's in-service--I love those!

Watercolors and Niji Waterbrush on Aqvarelle Arches Hot Pressed paper

I did this while trying out my new Niji Waterbrush for the first time. It's a very nifty tool that was better than I thought it was going to be. I recommend it.

This may inspire me to go sketching at the zoo next week if I can find a nice day to go.