Daily Drawing 449 "Quincy Center" ink & watercolor

Some time in a coffee shop while drawing, with my daughter while she knit... that was our big plan for today, the day after Christmas, Boxing Day.  We set out, explored a few neighborhoods, and wound up at Gunther Tooties Bagel and Coffee shop in Quincy center.  We frequent one of their shops in our neighborhood; food is fresh, made with care in a pleasant environment. We took some stools by the window where I could see the traffic through the newly-arranged square, and we hung out.  There was a fascinating conversation at a a nearby table, on which, by the way, we did not eavesdrop, they were loud.  We would have had to leave... was it a breakup?  Was it an analysis of a first or second date?  Was it verbal sparring for the un-fun of it?  At one point, he said, "why did we need to come out for food to have this conversation?"  By the way, she ordered the chicken noodle soup, while he asked for ice water... part of the fun of hanging out in a coffee shop.  They left abruptly, got into the same car, though about 2 minutes apart, and drove off together.  Who knows?  Could be the start of a very interesting story, and I hope the right thing happens for the two of them, whatever that is. This is my four hundred forty-ninth daily drawing.  Thank you for your continued interest in my daily efforts.

 

 

 

 

                   

November Daily Drawings - a handful

Here are a number of may daily drawings from the month of November.  It's been an interesting month, few sunny days, but I found some chances to be out in the sun when it did show.  And, I did a couple of drawings from favorite old movies, "All About Eve" and "Charade".  I didn't see "All About Eve" until I was an adult, and hadn't seen many Bette Davis movies aside from "Whatever Happend to Baby Jane?" which was super scary.  Come to think of it, I also saw the Bette Davis movie "The Nanny", so well-written and suspenseful.  Imagine a 10-yr-od boy barricaded in his room while his Nanny tries to kill him... an lots of other suspense building within the apartment prior to her going for him.  Terrifying.  Add "Rear Window" to my list and what were my parents thinking?  Who was watching my television consumption?  I am up to my 424th daily drawing.  Thank you for continuing to see my posts?

Daily Drawing 412 "MSW Studio" ink&watercolor 5 x 8 - love an open studio day

The 4th Floor Artists of Rockland, MA have been running open studios since the mid-1990s.  Their two buildings house dozens of artists' studios in all shapes and sizes.  I love visiting during the November open house.  Yesterday, I spent a while hanging out with my friend and artist Mary Sheehan-Winn.  She is such a terrific painter.  While we chatted, I did a sketch of one of her fascinating walls with paintings and a few choice objects artfully placed among the white-painted studs.  Sweet afternoon. I added some watercolor when I returned home. 
This is my four hundred twelfth daily drawing.  Thank you for looking. 

Daily Drawing 413 "Liberty in the Morning" 5 x 8 ink&watercolor

While my husband ran book group at our church this morning, I opted for some art-in-the-car time instead. This lovely antique building is The Liberty Grille, a nice pub and local restaurant.  I like its slightly crooked lines and the proportions of its windows to walls.   A little research showed me the building originated in 1722.  You can read more about the building through this Hingham Historical Society link.  There was nice, soft light this morning, and quiet streets, as a few people crossed here and there for breakfast dates.  
This is my four hundred thirteenth daily drawing.  Thank you for your continued interest.  

Daily Drawing 404 "Professional Development Day" pen & ink 3 x 5

 Today we had a full day of professional development at school while our students began a 4 day weekend.  It was a good day with my colleagues covering safety, formative assessments, grading, and providing a chance to spend a little social time with my co-workers, which is rare in our busy, busy days.  It's good for us to have time to talk about how to do the best for our students.  I had time for a few sketches during our faculty meeting this morning.  
This is my four hundred fourth daily drawing.  Thank you for your interest and attention. 

Daily Drawing 400 "OT Win!!" pen & ink 10 x 3

 Our daughter arranged a Bruins' game for us earlier this week.  We were up pretty high, where you could see all the Bruins and Celtics championship banners hanging from the rafters, as well as the plays forming on the ice below.  The people around us were great, a group of 11 year old hockey players over our right shoulders, and a group of international young-ish business people behind us, all speaking English, but with a German accent, French, English, etc... and lots of laughter.  There were a couple of young guys in front of us who began conversation with our daughter's boyfriend over game strategy.  The jumb-o-tron was a constant display of fans waving and dancing to music.  We had a blast, and I did my daily drawing from up high.  You can see several stages of my drawing here in the post. 
This is my four hundredth daily drawing.  Thank you for looking!

Day 379 "Arts Walk" 5 x 9 pen&ink

Today was the Hingham Arts Walk, a beautiful fall event during which artists are  on the street, and in many of the businesses and galleries, showing and/or creating their art.  My Girls Just Wanna Paint group gathered to paint in the round at the community center.  Though we paint to a theme each month, we rarely paint together as a group.  It was lots of fun, with tons of visitors.  We painted around a still life in the center of the table, lit almost from the top.  Each of us has a 
 different style so the paintings each have a different feel.  I began by washing in the shadow areas, then painted into the shadows, holding back on the light areas until the last half hour or so.  My finished painting will be posted later, after I tweak it a little bit.  
This is my three hundred seventy-ninth daily drawing. I enjoyed doing a quick sketch of today's event, and enjoyed the event immensely.  Thanks for your continued interest. 


 

Day 375 "Warm Reception" 5 x 12 mixed

Tonight I attended the reception of a friend and artist, Gail Nathanson.  She has a show of oil paintings, titled "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" at the Hingham Library.  It is a vibrant show, filled with animals with distinct personalities.  As I left, I looked back through the library window and saw this scene from the parking lot.  I love the vibrancy of the art lighting up the night as seen through the large windows.  Check out the show if you have a chance.  Worth the visit.
This is my three hundred seventy-fifth daily drawing.  Thank you for your continued interest.  

Day 369 "Dinner at Rosie's Place" pen & ink & pencil 9 x 12

 My daughter and I volunteered at Rosie's Place in Boston the other day.  We worked in the food pantry for a few hours, waiting on the clients.  Each gets a number and we escort them through the pantry one on one.  They get to choose what they want, and they leave with a couple of well-packed bags of food.  While the clients wait for their number, they eat in the dining room, where my daughter and I eventually had dinner as well.  This is my third time volunteering at Rosie's, first in the food pantry.  I plan to make it a regular gig with my daughter, perhaps every two weeks.  When I put together this drawing, I was very intentional about not including any of the clients.  Each of the red aprons indicates a volunteer.  Some volunteers have worked weekly for years, and for some it is the first time.  Wonderful organization.  
This is my three hundred sixty-ninth daily drawing.  Thank you for looking.

Day 372 "Sunday Picnic" ink & watercolor 9 x 12

Today was a lovely, warm day for first week of October.  My husband and I took a picnic out onto the Scituate jetty; just enough breeze, wonderful smell of salt and sea, and lots of people clambering over the rocks, including families, a couple in almost matching tie die shirts, an engaged couple being photographed, some people fishing, and children building a wall of rocks on the jetty with that lasts-about-15-minutes urgency on a task that eight year olds can summon at will.  
I took the time to make today's daily drawing, showing the constant stream of jetty walkers, and I added a little watercolor wash when we got home.   It was a lovely day.   As always, thank you for looking. 

Celebrating One Year of Daily Drawing with a GIVEAWAY!!!! Win this drawing!

 Yesterday I finished my first year of daily drawings!  Thank you for following my year, for your comments and thoughts.  I am celebrating by hosting a giveaway.  I will choose a winner at random for this 8 x 10 drawing.  
To enter the giveaway:

    Follow me on Instagram, @jodypaints
    Leave a comment on my Instagram GIVEAWAY post.  

    Deadline is Friday, October 5, 2018. 
    Winner will be chosen at random and notified via Instagram direct message. 

Again, thank you for following me on my daily drawing journey.  Let's see what this year brings!

"September Glory" oil 12 x 16

The Girls Just Wanna Paint Theme for September was "local".  I painted late in the day out by our local scenic river, the North River.  It was a gorgeous afternoon, and I shifted the sky from the blue when I began to the more muted, warm clouds that settled in as dusk approached.  I have not been out behind my easel for awhile, and I loved it!  There was a breeze, and boats navigating the water as they enjoyed a few last days of warmth.  Tomorrow is October!  I love this spot. 

Day 365 "September Dusk" ink, watercolor, pencil 6 x 9

It's day 365!!  I have completed a drawing each day for a year.  It's a reminder how fast a year passes, and I have enjoyed looking back through the 365 days this afternoon.  As a review, last October 1st, I committed to participating in Inktober, a drawing using ink every day of October.  Thank you to my friend Sally Dean for suggesting the endeavor.  I completed a drawing every day of October, and knew right away on November 1st, that I was not finished... so I continued on.  Each of my drawings was completed that day, including the two days in May I spent in the hospital having my knee replaced.  Each drawing took between 1/2 hour to about 3 hours to complete.  There were a few days when it was a stretch to get the drawing completed. I have drawn waiting for trains, planes, appointments, at restaurants, coffee shops, school meetings, movie theaters.  I carry a sketchbook with me everywhere I go, and have set up a "cave" of easily-reached supplies next to my seat in the living room.  Many of the drawings include watercolor, pastel, markers, pencils, watercolor pencils, or a combination of them.  
I have enjoyed the year, and will continue tomorrow with day 366.  
Thank you so much for following along!   
This is  drawing of our beautiful North River late in the day.  

Day 349 "Happy 23rd Birthday" 12 x 9 pen & ink

Today is our daughter's 23 birthday.  She loved the drawing I did of our porch a few weeks ago, and said she loved it without the paint in it.  So... not a sentence I recommend saying to an artist, but she knows my work, and knows what she likes and I found no offense.  Today I drew our porch for her 23rd birthday and gave it to her tonight at dinner.  She was thrilled, and it will hang in her new apartment.  So nice to have original art!!  Flattered to be in on the ground floor of her collection. We went to dinner tonight, embarrassed her with a small cake and had a wonderful evening. 

Here is the original image with color to the right, the one she liked without color.  Both have her collection of succulents which will move from the porch to her apartment in the next few weeks.  

This is my 349th daily drawing.  Thanks for looking.

Day 329 "Morning Space" 12 x 9 pen, ink, watercolor, pastel

This summer, we spent time every morning on our farmer's porch, drinking coffee, watching the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels move from feeder to feeder in the yard.  It is a wonderful space.  Now that school has begun, I am finding about 10 minutes each morning to sit on the porch and collect my thoughts before heading off to my day.  I made sure to grab some time out there this weekend despite it being moving weekend for our daughter into Boston.  I love the reflections of the yard into the vintage mirror hanging on the wall above our daughter's succulent collection, which will follow her into town within the month.  
This is my three hundred twenty-ninth daily drawing.  Thank you so much for your continued interest.  I began a brand new sketchbook with this drawing, and labeled the inside cover with my name, and "September - ".  Both my husband and daughter wondered aloud about the year, and the rest of the date.  I will fill it in when I finish the book.  It has 60 pages.  Sometimes I put more than one drawing on a page, so we'll see how long this book lasts.  

Day 323 "Birds' Eye View" or "Birds Watch Tourists" 6 x 9 pen&ink

This year began what might be a new tradition.  The night before school starts for me, we went out to a movie and dinner.  My room was ready, my plans ready, my head back in the game... if we stayed home, I would keep reviewing plans for the days and weeks ahead.  Instead, we headed out.  We went to Plimouth Plantation, which has a nice art movie house and saw "Puzzle", a quiet, interesting movie about a woman who changes her life, prompted by a birthday gift of a jigsaw puzzle.  I liked it.  Then we headed to downtown Plymouth and ate dinner on the second floor of a restaurant.  When I looked over my shoulder out the window, I saw a pair of birds, sitting on the ledge, looking down upon the passing tourists.  I'm sure they were interested in any crumbs or more that hit the street, but I loved the point of view.
This is my three hundred twenty-third daily drawing.  Thank you for looking.  

Days 320 and 321 Marshfield Fair Drawings pen & ink and pencils

 More quick sketches from the Marshfield Fair.  We go almost every night to walk around, look at the festivities, visit with friends and perhaps have a meal.  I decided to leave the sketchbook home and just brought a folded piece of sketch paper in my pocket.  The first drawing is from the stools at the Fair clam shack, and the second through the door down in the Horticulture area of the Agricultural Hall.
These are days 320 and 321 

of my daily drawings.  Thank you for your continued interest. 

Day 319 "Quilters at the Fair" 9 x 9 pen & ink

I love the Marshfield Fair, and volunteer there frequently each August.  It is enjoyable to watch the activity increase and the buildings fill during the weeks and days ahead. In the Agricultural Hall, country arts and crafts are submitted upstairs, and quilts are hung from wires strung among the rafters.  Each year, a table of quilters works during the fair, piecing together quilts from squares entered to the annual themed contest.  I love the dimensions built by these beautiful hand made treasures hanging throughout the building.
This is my three hundred nineteenth daily drawing.  Thank you for your continued interest. 

"At the Fair" oil 10 x 8

The August theme for Girls Just Wanna Paint theme was "edges".  Here is my take on the theme.  Each year I paint at the Marshfield Fair.  This year, I painted inside the Agricultural Hall, where the quilts and other art are displayed.  I was drawn to the doorway, through which people entered from the heat into the darker, cooler space in the Hall.  I needed to concentrate on softening the edges of the figures in the doorway, the trees against the sky, and all the outdoor shapes to keep the light consistent.  

Day 317 "The Moon and Mars" pen & ink 5 x 5

 This has been an interesting week, as it is each summer.  The new school year is upon us, begins next week, and teachers went back for a couple of days of PD this week.  There is a lot of physical and mental energy that goes into the week.  And, the Marshfield Fair is in town.  I volunteer at the Fair and spend time there more than half of its ten days in town.  I use all the visual stimulation as a distraction and a counterpoint to all the school energy.  The other night, we arrived home after a day at school and a few hours in the glitz of the Fair to this scene.  Across the street, Mars and the moon hung together in the azure sky, the moon shyly behind a pine while Mars shone its red glow best as it could from 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers) away.  Our moon is 238,900 miles from Earth.  (btw, as I typed "Earth" with a capital "E", I suddenly remembered an argument with my 3rd grade teacher who insisted the planets were NOT capitalized.  I was relatively new to this reading/writing thing, but took a stand, and was adamant that our solar system's planets were proper nouns and important enough to be capitalized.  After all, aren't they the proper names of places as in "persons, places, and things"?  He insisted, and I deferred to his authority in that moment, but not for a minute longer than 3rd grade lasted.)   

I was entranced by these two celestial bodies hanging together.  I captured it in pastel on a field of black ink in my blog for Day 316.  For today's drawing, I saw the scene as five values, and constructed them with two width black markers and line density.  Someone commented that it has and Edward Gorey quality... which brought to mind "The Gashlycrumb Tinies", an alphabet book in which each child meets a Victorian demise.   Click the link to see the Gorey video.

This is my three hundred seventeenth drawing.  Again, thank you for your continued interest.  

Day 316 "Mars and the Moon" 9 x 9 pastel over ink

Tonight my daughter and I strolled about the Marshfield Fair, laughing, looking at animals, people-watching and riding the Tilt-a-Whirl, our annual tradition.  We had a joyful night.  When we got home, we looked up at the church across the street and saw this... the moon peeking through the trees, while Mars sparkled at us over the "shoulder" of the church.  
I painted an odd shaped space in black ink in this partial sketchbook page, then added pastel and the tiniest hint of the sparkling red-tinted Mars. I like the effect of the black left behind.  This is my three hundred-sixteenth daily drawing.  Thank you for your continued interest. 

Day 314 "Quiet Harbor" 6 x 9 ink, marker, pencils

We are home from Mohegan Island, but still feeling the quiet and peace of mind.  It is hot and sticky here at home.  I long for the breeze and cool of Monhegan's climate.  So, here is a drawing of the harbor at dusk one quiet evening.  The boat in the foreground is from an Outward Bound type of outing, and sleeps a surprising number of people, sardine-style, under a tarp within its hull.  The harbor is lovely in the evening as the sun sets below Manana, and dark descends.  
This is my three hundred fourteenth daily drawing.  Thank you for your continued interest.  

Day 309 "South River" 6 x 9 pastel over ink

Our beautiful town has many gorgeous vistas, views of the South River included.  The river and its tributaries create silvery ribbons that narrow in the distance.  In this drawing, I laid down a field of black ink, and applied layers of pastel over it.  I like some of the effect.  This is my three hundred ninth daily drawing.  Thank you for your continued interest and comments. 

Day 306 "Family Lunch" ink & watercolor 6 x 9

We spent a perfect vacation day, driving to Cape Cod to visit friends visiting from New Jersey for the week.  Great to spend time with them and their exuberant 15 month old grandson.  Then we went to lunch at Marshland, a favorite spot in Sandwich.  It is a small bakery, restaurant with a serpentine counter and about six booths.  While waiting for our food, I drew the crowd in the restaurant, and later added watercolor from my memory. One detail worth mentioning is the navy blue menu I added in front of the woman in the foreground.  I chose the dark color for the opportunity to cut in and define her neck and hand, for contrast, and to grab the eye.  I enjoy sketching public scenes, and deciding where to layer up the people from front to back.  I snagged a photo at the very end, just before the children in front of me collapsed onto the floor, looking for their dropped toy.  It's a good reminder that drawing in public provides a moving target. 
This is my three hundred sixth daily drawing.  Thank you for your attention.