Day 535 "Still Light with Compote a la Matisse" pen, ink, marker

Tonight, I was looking through images online, as I often do... exploring, and saw a few of Matisse's paintings of fruit in still life.  I like the arrangement of this one with the compote.  This is a value study.  You can see the painting below.  I like the textures and the values, and although the placement of objects provides depth, the modelling is still quite flat, and the value shifts are strong and mostly crisp.. This was painted in 1899, when Matisse was 30 years old.  His style shifted as the decades passed, including his paper cutouts in the 1920s and 1930s.  There is a consistency in the powerful, angular shapes that is very appealing.  
This is my five hundred thirty-fifth daily drawing.  As always, I appreciate your interest and your comments.  

Day 514 "Overpass" ink & pencils

I love the angular perspective of over and underpasses along the highways.  This is a shot along the lengthy ramp in Boston that snakes its way up from the congestion of the "if you lived here you'd be home now" Leverett Circle area, to Rte 93 North or South. Once you break free, you are on a long, luxurious ramp that flows under some fascinating structures and drops you onto the highway moving north.  I love the angles under here, and the movement.  I used a brush and added some india ink to the drawing, and then dropped in a hint of warmth in the tail lights and a couple of signs.  This line drawing is my five hundred thirteenth daily drawing, and transforming the drawing with ink is my five hundred fourteenth daily drawing effort.  Though contained in the same rectangle, I'm counting these as two separate daily drawing efforts.  Again, thank you for looking, and thank you for your comments.  You know I love them.

Day 161 "High Street" 9 x 6 pen & ink

Once again, I love the contrast of old and new buildings in Boston.  High Street has beautiful old buildings with intricate details on the corner, with tall, slick, skyscrapers behind them. I love the streets, love the detail, love exploring the contours with my pen.
This is my hundred sixty-first daily drawing.  Thank you for looking.  

"From Montmartre" 9 x 6 mixed #dailydrawing

A number of years ago, I was in Paris on a trip with school.  We had a free afternoon and headed up to Montmartre. I can remember the air, even the way it kissed my face on that beautiful afternoon.  There are certain memories that stay with you... we were traveling with a friend and her 12-year-old son who was reluctant to eat anything that seemed unusual. To her credit, Mom handled it beautifully, whisked him down an alley occasionally to ply him with pizza or a hotdog, and they were back within a few minutes.  We were sitting outside eating crepes above the city.  It was luscious. 
This is my thirty-eighth daily drawing.  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.
 

"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.

"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!

"Forklift" pen & ink with watercolor 10 x 9

At 2pm, weather permitting, the Balmy Days ferry from Boothbay Harbor  offers a half hour circumnavigation-of-the-island tour, then stops to exchange tour passengers for those returning to the mainland.  I take the tour several times each week we are here.  It's a nice mid-afternoon sojourn, visually sumptuous every single time.  After the tour, I may hang around the dock area enjoying the hubbub of people returning from day's hikes to catch their ferries back to Boothbay Harbor or Port Clyde.  
Yesterday I parked myself on a rock behind a small forklift.  I loved the way it framed the people, and beautiful Manana, the small island across the harbor. And, I like the contrast of the natural beauty here, those traveling for the day to enjoy it, and the small workhorse waiting for some heavy deliveries from the mainland.  I sketched the scene and added in a touch of watercolor for the shadows. There is a nice contrast between the greens and blues (which you can't see yet) in the sky and on Manana against the industrial orange of the small Toyota forklift.  I can see a large painting here and will begin to work it up.

"Walk - Huntington and Forsyth" pen & ink

There is an outdoor cafe on the Northeastern campus where I sat for an hour the other day.  It was fascinating to watch the Green Line,  buses, and pedestrians coming and going.  Some waited by the corner to meet a date, some smiled joyfully as they bumped into a friend, others walked purposefully to a variety of destinations.  I have always been intrigued by the layering of traffic patterns; cars, trolleys, and multitudes of pedestrians.  How are the traffic lights arranged to keep everyone safe and moving?   All I know is that it works.  
It was a beautiful evening, and interesting to decide how to arrange the layers of people front to farther back.  I began with the arrangement of the lamp posts and traffic lights and then added people as they came and went, with the goal of conveying the hubbub of the afternoon.  

As always, thank you for looking.

Mother/Daughter Road Trip - with sketchbook

 

My daughter and I embarked on a week-long road trip the day I finished school, just over a week ago.  I packed my classroom, finished my grades and left school for the summer.  Next day, we headed off to make a loop, the bottom of which was Columbia, SC where my niece is living and attending college.  We had a wonderful time, reunited with old friends, delivered a few baby gifts in person, occasionally struggled to find radio stations we could both agree on, ate great food, but especially, lingered over many meals with people I love!  We stopped in Burlington, NJ, Petersburg, VA; Columbia, SC; Greensboro, NC, Washington DC; Briar Cliff, NY then home;  2009 miles!!  I discovered a few things, especially that my daughter is a very good driver!!!  We haven't spent a lot of time on the highway together, and if so, I usually drive.  I learned that grits are a vehicle for whatever you want to put in/on them.  I learned that Mount Vernon now has a monument commemorating all the slaves who are buried there and that they are conducting archeological digs of these grave areas, which I look forward to revisiting when the work is visible to the public.  I learned that, despite my concerns about the current political climate in DC, the city doesn't carry that pall.  It is even more vibrant, multi-cultural, exciting, and  beautiful than it was when I lived there decades ago. We were blessed with two days of uncharacteristic dry, clear weather in the mid 80s, lovely for sitting outside, walking among the monuments in the evening.  I carried a sketchbook with me, and used it a few times during the trip.  My daughter was in charge of of the Airbnb portion of the trip and she did a tremendous job!!!  More to follow as I convert a few more ideas to the sketchbook.    

Sketching From the Car 6 x 9 watercolor and ink

  My husband has recently been called as pastor at the New North Church in Hinhgam, MA.  Driving up to church with him leaves me an hour to read, sketch, walk, even grade quizzes before the service starts.  Here is a sketch from the car during my cherished hour.  As always, thanks for looking.

Rainy Day at the Coffee Shop 9 x 12 pen & ink

Another wonderful morning spent hanging in the coffee shop on Beacon & Charles Streets in Boston.  Parking is free in the city on Sunday so if you get in around 8:30, the streets are pretty open. I love watching the pedestrians, today pedestrians with umbrellas, walking in and out of the Common. It's so interesting to sit, draw, and listen to the buzz of conversations in the shop.  
I took a few reference photos of pedestrians to use in my drawing, but mostly, I like to try to grab their gesture as they wait for the traffic light.  

I think I'll add a little rainy day hint of color to the distance in this drawing.  I like to think of generations of people walking through the stone pillars at the corner of the Common.   

Rainy Day at the Coffee Shop - start

"Watchic Lake" pen & ink 6 x 5

My good friend , Tori (artist Victoria Chesley Brega) invited me to spend a night at her wonderful family camp in Maine before we jumped east to catch the ferry to Monhegan for the week.  Her family's Maine home is a lovely testament to family, history; simple living with time to think and to be and to contemplate.  It is a place to hunker down.  We arrived in the afternoon with the intent of chilling out for a bit, then heading off to the grocery to stock up for the week... but we hunkered and didn't leave until the next morning.  The camp on Lake Watchic is soooo peaceful.  I sketched this lovely birch tree from Tori's screened porch.  The sun filtered through and splashed on it low, then higher, then low again.  We watched the surface of the water change in the distance... indication of rain coming our way; which it did.  Almost consecutively, one of us said, "Ooh, we're getting misted by the rain", as the two of us jumped up and headed into the house because the "misting" became "drenching". Skies cleared, then repeated the whole process less than 2 hours later.  I love New England.   

I love Tori's sense of family, legacy, history.  I understand the importance and awareness of revering objects that family gone by have chosen, used, touched.  

Hoping to spend more time with Tori basking in layers of relaxation.

Take a few minutes (or more) to breathe this summer.  Thank you for looking.
 

"Road trip to North Shore Arts Association" pen & ink & watercolor 6 x 9

The very generous and hospitable North Shore Arts Association    invited the artists from the South Shore of Boston to visit them this week.  Thirty-two of us rented a bus and took a road trip up to Gloucester to paint on Rocky Neck.  We had a wonderful time.  The event was well-organized, the bus ride was great fun, and we painted between rain showers and downpours; then met back at NSAA for a reception and a chance to view everyone's work.  
I'll post my oil painting later, but had a chance to do some sketching back on the NSAA grounds.  Here's the beautiful Association galleries with our bus out front.  What a great day.

July 11th update:  Nice to see my image on the NSAA blog today.
 

Thanks for looking.

"City Street - Boston" pen & ink 9 x 6

I have spent a lot more time driving around Boston this year, and am frequently in traffic, but usually don't mind for a while, as the shapes are so interesting.  Here's a street... somewhere in the financial district, with the usual hubbub of double parked cars and pedestrians and horns honking.. I try to get into town when I have no deadline, nor urgency; makes all the difference.  Turns out I have a few photographs of this same intersection from different times of year... must be a very congested traffic light.  Lots of time for observation.

Thanks for looking!

"Commercial St, Provincetown" pen & ink 12 x 7

I love the hustle and bustle of the streets of Provincetown, crowded and friendly and relaxed and visually fascinating.  Here's a line drawing from a photo I took there a few years ago.  Interesting intersections and roof lines and movement and great energy... 
 I love drawing in pen, requires a level of thinking that I like.. you can see that on this drawing, I planned to be shorter, but didn't plan my space appropriately... live and learn.

Thanks for looking.

"Harbor Sketch" pen & ink 9 x 12

I like the "skyline" presented by the boats lined up in the local harbor... so many layers, so much detail, which I can choose to delve into or not.  Nice place to spend some time.  Thanks for looking.

 

Childe Hassam silhouette - Nocturne, Railway Crossing

My classroom has no windows, although I can see light from across the hall through my doorway.... small consolation some days.  I have filled my classroom with visual interest, posters the students have made, art posters, a word wall, etc, etc... and my Smartboard which arrived this year.  Everyday, I choose an image or two to grace the Smartboard when I am not using it for academics.  It has great resolution.  I have displayed Calder wire faces, Eric Carle's joy, Homer, Sargent, Sorolla, today a Paul Rand, illustration... vivid, powerful, deceptively simple genius.   

Seems this winter, now spring, we have seldom seen the sun, and in fact, this mid-week of April, it was dreary and cold and drizzly, and enough is enough.  So, I called on Childe Hassam for a "wow the rain is beautiful" image, and here's what I got.  "Nocturne, Railway Crossing Chicago" from 1892.  Suddenly, the gray day that merges into a gray night, is not so dreary...  I am mesmerized by the silhouettes and tonalism in this quiet watercolor, and spent a little bit of time studying its gracious lines... what a masterpiece.   And, hey, the sun is coming out tomorrow!!

"Breakfast on Boylston" pen & ink 9 x 10

 Today was "deliver daughter back to college after her spring break" day in Boston.  I spent the morning in a Boylston St coffee shop with a  bag of schoolwork and my sketchbook. I enjoy people watching, and sketching Boston architecture.  People were out and about, many hustling off to the T to get to the St. Patrick's Day parade, and the rest enjoying the recently reclaimed-from-snow sidewalks.  What an enjoyable morning!

Thanks for looking. 

"Overlooking Eiffel" 6 x 9 pen and ink

Continuing to explore some old photographs as potential painting subjects.  Back in 2009 we took a school trip to Amsterdam, Lucerne and Paris.  It was wonderful... every minute.  It's fun reminiscing.  I'm enjoying the subject matter, and the drawing.  Thanks for looking.