"Reflections" ink with wc pencil 9 x 5 #Inktober

The reflections in the glass-like water across this small cove caught my eye.  As often, I enjoy the juxtaposition of man-made structures among the organic tree and water shapes.  This is Back Cove, Maine, in South Bristol, a place I have visited for decades.
This is my 30th entry for #Inktober.  I am enjoying the discipline of creating art every day.  
Thank you for looking.

"In Flight" pen & ink 9 x 6 #inktober

While flying to San Francisco, I did an ink drawing of my tray table, including two water bottles and my sketch of the two water bottles.  I divided the page into three frames for a little more interest in the simple drawing.  
This is my 29th image for #Inktober.  Thank you for looking.  

"'Study Al Fresco" 6 x 9 ink with warm gray #inktober

 
This past summer I was having breakfast with some old friends in Washington DC and we found a sweet little cafe with a big open back area, grape trellises and sunshine.  It was a perfect spot to catch up after a long time apart.  This young woman was studying under the grape leaves in the sun.  As I look at the finished drawing I realize she looks a bit like she's in a Victorian wheelchair, which she isn't... it's the cafe chairs which I should have designed a little differently.  
This is my 28th entry for #Inktober.  Thank you for looking. 

"Afternoon in the Park" white conte pencil on ink 4 x 5 #Inktober

This is a black and white study of a painting I found years ago which I thought was beautifully designed and the values handled masterfully.  I can not attribute the original work, but it is not mine.   I explored the composition using a white conte pencil on an ink ground.  The ink provided some tooth for the conte pencil, which layers up very nicely.  The drawing is rendered in three values, which reinforces how powerful this design is.  Studying other artists' works can be very valuable.  My gut tells me it might be Carol Marine, but I have researched and can not verify.... mystery.  If you know the painting, please let me know and I will attribute.
This is my 27th entry into #Inktober.   As always, thank you so much for looking.

"Birches" 6 x 9 ink and watercolor #Inktober

This lovely peek through the birches caught my eye one day on Monhegan Island, ME.  Over to the left behind the shrubs, you can see a glimpse of my beloved Manana, the little island that provides Monhegan its sheltered harbor twelve miles out to sea.  I like the way the graceful birches frame the distance.  
This is my 26th entry into the #Inktober challenge.

"Shakes & Cones" ink and warm gray 6 x 9 #Inktober

Each summer  I volunteer at the Marshfield Fair, and spend time there many evenings.  I love the pageantry, lights, hubbub, activity, and the charm.  I was drawn to the contrast in this image with the backlit figures, and the light emanating from within the ice cream truck onto the family. It's one of many vignettes throughout the fairgrounds.  
This is my 25th drawing for #Inktober.  Thank you for looking at my drawings.

"Rear View" mixed 12 x 9 #Inktober

Just a glimpse of the Atlantic through the pines behind a couple of buildings on Monhegan Island.  This is pen and ink with watercolor pencil and colored pencils.  
This is my 24th drawing for #Inktober 2017.
As always, thank you for looking.

"Ruiz Market" 9 x 12 ink and wc #Inktober

The Ruiz Market caught my eye over near Ruggles one morning.  I liked the storefronts and the family waiting for the bus in the morning light.  These vintage storefronts are very appealing with their bright colors and warm welcome.  This is my 23rd image for #Inktober.  Thank you for looking.
 

"Caritas by A.H. Thayer" 9 x 6 pen, ink, warm gray #Inktober

Spent some time at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for my birthday yesterday.  I am a fan of Abbot Handerson Thayer, and spent some time studying this painting "Caritas", which the MFA purchased from Thayer in 1897.  My research tells me it may have a relationship to some of the images in a mural he was commissioned to paint at Bowdoin College.  I'll have to get up there to see that.  I love the romanticism of the figures, the clothing, and the sumptuous renaissance framing which is an art in itself.  The clothing reminds me of the "one Grecian Urn" scene from "The Music Man" with Hermione Gingold leading her women's group in a modern dance.  Here is a brief link to that iconic scene.    

I remember visiting Washington DC a number of years ago.  The National Art Gallery was under construction, so a subset of the work was hung, salon style, in the Renwick Gallery.  I stopped in my tracks in front of a painting of roses, and it was Abbott Handerson Thayer's work.  

 Look at it here... wow!!!!  The edges, control of values.  
So, spending part of my birthday studying paintings was a great joy.  
My 22nd entry for #Inktober is a value study of "Caritas".  Thanks for reading and for looking.

"Waterfront" pen & ink 12 x 9 #Inktober

Spent a wonderful birthday with my family today.  We began at the MFA, where we "found" my daughter in the gift shop. After looking at some sumptuous paintings, we traveled cross town, picked up some Kane's donuts for sustenance aboard the ferry up to Salem.  However, we could travel to Salem, informed the ticket salesman, but there was only room for one of us to come back.  The plan was to visit the Peabody Essex.. so, we regrouped, hung out in Columbus Park along the waterfront, with coffee, books and in my case, sketchbook.  It was a balmy 75 degrees, people everywhere... a fabulous day.  Then we wandered the North End, had an early dinner and meandered back home.  A lovely, lovely, day. This is my 21st drawing for #Inktober.
As always, thank you for looking. 

"Downtown Crossing" pen & ink 9 x 6 #Inktober

I have always been drawn to the pageantry of the flags in Boston's Downtown Crossing; whether straight out in the wind, or hanging in calm lock step.  It's an interesting, cavernous spot, again, lots of architectural detail and sun angling off the tall buildings above.  
This is my 20th drawing for the #Inktober challenge.   Thanks for looking.

"Table Top" ink and white crayon 5 x 3 #Inktober

Today my art project students began exploring value.  I gave them black paper and white crayons, and showed them how to look at a black and white image of a round object, observing the zones of light.  I showed them how to use a white crayon to reproduce the different values from 1 to 4 using various pressure with the crayon, leaving the black paper as the darkest. They produced some very interesting work and are beginning to see. 
I made a couple of sample works.  First I painted a rectangle of india ink, the use only the white crayon  to draw my subject. Below is a simple ball I drew to demonstrate the zones of light. 

This is my 19th entry into the #Inktober challenge.
As always, thank you so much for looking.  Leave a comment if you'd like.
 

"Cat Nap" mixed 3 x 6 #Inktober

Our cat Maggie loves to sleep on the cable box. It is warm, centrally located and we cuddle her every hour or so when we have to move her tail, or leg, or paw so that the remote control will work... sort of a sweet retro kind of feel.  Remember the days you had to get up to change the channel? I started with some ink with a brush, then layered up with white conte pencil, some colored pencils, just for the cable box, and some fine point pen.  The drawing doesn't look much like Maggie, but I enjoyed layering ink, pencil, more ink, and white conte. 
This is my eighteenth drawing for #Inktober 2017.  As always, thank you for looking. 

"Elegance" pen & ink with warm gray 10 x 9 #Inktober

I grew up listening to my mother admire elegant, graceful homes we saw on our road trips to the Cape and to Maine.  She connected with their lines, their details, poise, sense of history, patina, and their silent presence.  Often, as we passed a rundown beauty, she would remark, "That house just needs someone to love it.".. as she loved the house we grew up in.  This is a house in Maine I see almost every summer.  It is situated at a bend in the road, and always catches my eye, regardless of time of day.  
This is my seventeenth drawing for #Inktober.   As always, thank you for looking.
 

"Spanish Rooftops" watercolor & ink 9 x 12 #Inktober

Here are a couple of rooftops from a trip to Spain years ago.  I remember looking up at the deepening sky, and seeing their silhouettes against the blue.  Beautiful detail, casual, elegant, utilitarian.  Striking.  They remind me a bit of the tile rooftop in the Charlton Heston movie, "Ben Hur" where his sister knocks a loose tile off and it falls onto the new centurion, Ben's childhood friend Masala.  Ben takes the fall for her and becomes a galley slave... the rest is "history" as it were.  I'm not sure what town were were in, but I remember the scene vividly.

This is my sixteenth entry for the #Inktober challenge.  Thanks for looking as I continue my exploration through my archives.

Day 15 "Lamppost, Paris" pen, ink, watercolor pencil 4 x 5 #Inktober

About a decade ago, I was in Paris on trip with school.  I need to get back to spend more time.  The city is take-your-breath-away beautiful, in scale, design, in its grandiose structures, but also in the smallest of details.  This is a study of the base of a lamppost I noticed as we waited to cross a street. 
When we slow down, spend time looking, heighten our senses, there is beauty in the details, in unexpected places.  
This is my fifteenth #Inktober entry.  Thank you for looking.

Day 14 "Quiet Harbor" pen, ink, colored pencil 9 x 9 #Inktober

I love drawing from the foreground to the back, thinking about the interplay of lines and shape and what needs to intersect what where and how.  Sounds a bit vague as I reread, but truth is, once I get going, it is very specific... maneuvering reality as I draw it to avoid unintentional geometry and misleading tangents and intersections.  Today was gray, albeit warm for mid-October, and occasionally drizzly.  The harbor is in transition from summer's bustle, to winter calm; half of the pleasure boats are in storage, many on the other side of the harbor, indicated here by the slightest suggestion of grouped masts and shrink-wrapped boats.  
This is my fourteenth entry into #Inktober 2017, and as you can see from the additional photo here... I can not take full solo credit for my work.
Again, thank you for looking.  I'm enjoying the intentionality of  making drawing time each day. 

Day 13 "Island Transport" pen, ink, watercolor 5 x 9 #Inktober

Sometimes a truck needs to visit Monhegan Island to deliver gravel and other heavy loads, or to pump the septic systems, or for a variety of other reasons.  In my many years visiting the Island, I have seen this complex operation a few times.  The "Island Transport" arrives at Fish Beach.  The tide must be at the right height, and the chop low, as the transport crosses from the mainland to Monhegan's harbor.  Fish Beach is tiny, and sheltered.  The truck-carrying barge backs in, truck disembarks, takes care of business, returns to the barge, is loaded and leaves... quickly.  I love this image of the industrial barge filling Monhegan's tiny harbor, dwarfing Manana as it pulls back out of the harbor.  The scale is disconcerting, but accurate.  The woman sketching on the foreground rocks was hardly disturbed by the incongruity of the exiting barge.  

This is my thirteenth drawing for the #Inktober challenge.  As always, thank you for looking.

Day 12 "Studying Art" pen & ink 9 x 6 #Inktober

Another drawing from my students' visit to North River Arts Society.  Again, I loved the intensity with which my students examined the art, especially the boy in the back leaning into the painting to look more closely.  Today in our project class, we had a chance to talk about the exhibit.  They had a lot to say, including that there were "tooooo many landscapes and river paintings", and that they never knew there were so many things people could make art from.  
This is my 12th entry into the Inktober art challenge.
Thank you for looking.

Day 11 "Field Trip" pen & ink 9 x 6 #Inktober

Along with teaching math to the middle school students in our charter school, I also teach an art project for several hours a week.  Today we took a field trip to the North River Arts Society's Members show. Most of my students had never been to an art gallery before.  We talked about how to look at an art show, what the labels mean, what different media are represented in the show, what the ribbons indicate, who is eligible to be in the show and how artist choose their prices.    The students then spent time looking at all of the paintings, choosing their favorites, then using a three value scale to reproduce one of the paintings. Each of my students thoughtfully engaged with the work, had great questions, and all were respectful of the space and felt privileged to be there.  I rejoiced in their intensity, enthusiasm, curiosity, and joy.  What a great day!
This is my eleventh drawing for #Inktober 2017.  Thanks for looking.

Day 10 "Kitchen Gadgets" pen & ink 3 x 4

Busy, busy day... managed a quick sketch of the kitchen gadgets on our counter.  We keep them next to an antique ironstone pitcher in which I keep paintbrushes, of course.  This is my 10th entry in the #Inktober challenge.
Thank you for looking.

Day 9 "Huntington Ave" ink and wc 9 x 5 #Inktober and Childe Hassam

The city is so beautiful, all day long, but especially at dusk. I loved this dusk view along Huntington Avenue, and will use it as a study for a larger painting.  The one point perspective reminded me of so many Childe Hassam paintings of Boston.  See a couple below.  

This is my ninth drawing in the #Inktober challenge.  As always, thanks for looking.

Day 8 "Main Street, Rockland, Maine" pen & ink 9 x 12 #Inktober 8

Rockland, Maine is a favorite destination of mine.  The sumptuous Farnsworth Museum there with its beautiful collection of American art including the 3-generation Wyeth family.  The main drag is just right for walking, browsing, eating... just a nice place to be.
This is my eighth #Inktober entry, a pen and ink drawing.  I used my 40% gray Prismacolor marker to indicate the shadow areas.  The Prismacolor markers are double-ended, and can be purchased in warm or cool grays, and different percentages of gray.  They are great for a two-tone value study as above, or for adding more values.  

As always, thanks for looking.

"Honey Bear" pen & ink 6 x 4 #Inktober 7

I pulled out a bottle of ink and a brush today to add to my pen and ink drawing of this honey bear.  I have noticed in the stores that the pointed caps are more rare, I'm sure it has to do with maximizing packing space in the crates of honey bears.  I happen to think a honey bear with a flat top is nowhere near as charming, and they seem to look a little disappointed with their lot in life.  
This is my 7th drawing for the #Inktober  challenge.
As always, thanks for looking.

"New Harbor" pen & ink 9 x 6 #Inktober 6

This is a drawing of a subset of the activity in busy and beautiful New Harbor, ME.  Each summer, we catch the ferry to Monhegan from this beautiful space.  Prior to our traveling over to Monhegan, I spent years visiting the New Harbor area.  As a result, I have photos of this harbor from about thirty-five years of visiting. This is my 6th drawing for the Inktober challenge.
As always, thanks for looking.

"Modern Pastry" pen & ink 8 x 9 #Inktober 5

A busy night at Boston's North End icon, Modern Pastry.  I love evening in the city.  The line of people forming on the street, patiently waiting their cannoli, or pizzelle, or ricotta pie, or those deliciously over sweet pistachio vibrant green cookies.... yum.   

"Above it All" ink and watercolor 6 x 4 #Inktober 4

Each summer we visit Monhegan Island in Maine, no surprise if you read my blog.  This brazen gull spent a lot of time on the railing of our deck, keeping an eye out for a possible crumb or nugget of food.  
My #Inktober 4 drawing of an image from the deck, above Monhegan's village and Manana.  The mainland is 12 miles distant.

As always, thank you for looking.

"Early Train" ink & watercolor 6 x 9 #Inktober 3

From a photo of train tracks in the early AM. I added some Sharpie, and watercolor crayon over an ink drawing.   I liked the silhouettes of the  industrial track shapes over the clouds. #Inktober 3.

"Night Crane" pen & ink & watercolor 6 x 4 #Inktober 2

This is a study for nocturne painting I am considering.  During the record-setting snowpocalypse a couple of years ago, we lost power for a couple of days.  My husband and I spent an afternoon at the local coffee shop, having warm beverages, charging our phones and enjoying the warmth.  We  headed home to find this truck in front of our house, full of light and hope... and very hard working electrical employees. I remember offering to go on a coffee run for them, but they declined.  An hour later, the lights returned.  This is the second in my #Inktober challenge. 

"North Street" pen and ink 6 x 9 #Inktober 1

Thanks to my friend, Sally Dean, for encouraging me to embark on a 31 day challenge, #Inktober.  You can read about it at Inktober. I am looking forward to making the time each day for a quick, or longer, ink drawing, perhaps embellished with some watercolor as here. As always, thank you for looking!