Around this time of year, I usually think up a little drawing for a few holiday cards. I couldn’t think of anything in particular for 2023 so I started playing around with bits of coloured paper. Four ideas emerged:
One of my sisters liked the “warm woolen mittens” design the best so I made a bunch of those. (I’m pretty sure the idea came from the last K1 art lesson where we drew mittens together.) The first thing I did was paint random red/green watercolour strokes on a piece of watercolour paper and when it was dry, cut it up into squares. Then I drew little mittens on each square (each card is “bespoke” haha), pasted them on coloured card stock and added a piece of wool (ok, acrylic yarn). Here’s one of the finished cards:
This is a quick watercolour of Amanita Muscaria Mushrooms growing among a pile of fallen leaves – so fascinating and all over the place these days. They’re very poisonous – and apparently hallucinogenic. One reference noted that for thousands of years they have been used for Spiritual Questing. I guess knowing how to prepare them properly would be important.
I took my sketch pad to the Britannia Shipyards last week and saw an old boat that looked pretty interesting. I found a shady perch that gave me a view of the hull from an odd angle and started in on a little sketch. Now, if you’re an architect or a drafter, please don’t scoff; I’m just an ordinary doodler and sometimes I just can’t get the angles right. Two bad sketches later, it was time to go. Besides, it was hot.
I’d taken a photo of the boat and later on did a sketch from that which was a bit easier. It’s not that I’m into perfection (I’m trying to concentrate on light and shadows) but I like a drawing to be a bit recognizable.
pen, watercolour wash
Here’s something that is recognizable from a weekend visit to Burnaby Village Museum with 35 or so Vancouver Urban Sketchers.
Sometimes I like to draw little items that have interesting details or colours. Like rocks. Or shells. Or pieces of driftwood. A visit to the beaches along the sunshine coast provided the perfect opportunity to pick up some excellent subject matter.
The whine is about Langley City – the WORST place if you’re a pedestrian. Shopping is by car; you park at a store, buy stuff, drive to another parking lot and park, buy more stuff, drive to another parking lot, park, buy more stuff and so on. None of this “take your cart and walk from store to store” business. That would just be weird. Admittedly you need a car if you plan to buy a TON of stuff and hopefully it would be just a trip to a parking lot of one of the Big Box stores. Or maybe the Mall. Or maybe two stops – from the Parking lot at the Big Box store to the Parking lot at the Mall.
Fortunately, throughout the rapidly expanding Langley City and Township neighbourhoods, there are a lot of greenways. One of these places is Yorkson Pond (both a nature preserve and resevoir) and trail in the newish Willoughby Community in Langley Township (here’s a link to the Community Plan). I took a few photos of the pond and did a couple of quick sketches of the view from the bridge.
Watercolour wash and Pen(Oops, I used watercolour in my new sketchbook that’s for dry media only…)
Speaking of walkable – two more sketches; one of Craig Bay near Parksville (I was there for a couple of days) and also one of the very walkable Granville Island/False Creek walk/bike path.
Craig Bay looking toward Madrona PointAn old lady and flowers, Granville Island Walkway
One of my sisters liked the “warm woolen mittens” design the best so I made a bunch of those. (I’m pretty sure the idea came from the last K1 art lesson where we drew mittens together.) The first thing I did was paint random red/green watercolour strokes on a piece of watercolour paper and when it was dry, cut it up into squares. Then I drew little mittens on each square (each card is “bespoke” haha), pasted them on coloured card stock and added a piece of wool (ok, acrylic yarn). Here’s one of the finished cards:
