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.
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.
Not a small thing like a rock, here’s a sketch of a little building, a flower shop with no flowers, in downtown Xwesam/Robert’s Creek.
We’re into August and I’ve been procrastinating about updating the blog because I didn’t think I’d done much that was blog-postable. However, now that I’ve sat here for a while, turns out there may be some bits that just make the grade. Just.
Ongoing: I believe I’ve moaned about trying to make my work a little more dynamic. I continue to do value studies, particularly as I hope to attempt some larger foliage-type pieces soon. Soonish. Here’s a small study and a small watercolour study of the same subject.
Urban Sketching – Made it to the local Farmer’s Market and listened to the Band!
Holidays – Had a pleasant sojourn in the Interior with family – and drew their house. 
Random Bits – I take so many photos of things that momentarily pique my interest – the sunflower garden at VanDusen was particularly fascinating last December. I did a quick watercolour and ink sketch from a photo and, although the blue wash in the background is regrettable, (mistakes are learning moments, right? ) I still like the image.
August is the fastest month of the year. This year, at least in my neck of the woods, it was the month with a bit of a reprieve. The weather cooled down, we finally got some rain, and the fires burned with a little less intensity. Covid didn’t though – it’s still burning through.
With all the turmoil, Lori and I have managed to more or less keep up our daily drawing practice. We’ll also be posting another little “gallery” of new top ten favourites at some point. Maybe.
Here are a couple of recent daily drawings by myself and also one of Lori’s that I particularly like.
An energetic watercolour sketch by Lori Fillo:
And, finally, I actually managed to finish a painting. I’ve been slowly working on it over the past several months. (That’s my mother standing there.)
Alouette Lake, Acrylic on paper, 30″ x 22.5″/76cm x 57cm
I just noticed the date on my first Daily Drawing: January 15, 2020. My, what a lot has happened. Well, not to me personally, I guess, but in the “outside world” it’s been quite a ride. And it ain’t over yet…
In the meantime, in my little world, I reached a milestone – 1 year of Daily Drawings. I don’t think I’ve done 365, but I’m pretty sure I reached 360. This is largely thanks to my Daily Drawing partner, Lori Fillo, who keeps me honest and accountable.
Daily Drawing, Year 2 begins:
Here’s New Year’s dinner (Happy New Year!):
Interesting – both food!!
Lori and I have continued the “Theme” week idea now and again. Most recently we looked at the Group of 7.
Lori worked on pastel colour studies (Can you guess the painting?):
I got a little carried away after looking at work by Lawren Harris and did four 3×3 mini-canvases that are more me than him – 1 each day. Similar palette maybe, but that’s about it. Here’s my favourite:
We’ve sometimes defaulted to animals as subjects. Expect to see more of these. Here’s “Ollie” by Lori:
And here’s a friend of a friend’s cat:
With so many little works by the two of us, I could just keep posting but I’ll stop here for now. It’s been a great practice and without it, I’m not sure how much art I would have really been doing over the past year. I’ve found it difficult sometimes to just get down to it. But I remember this (I think it’s attributable to Picasso): “Inspiration exists but it has to find you working.” Fortunately, with the daily practice, every once in a while I actually do get inspired even in these dull, disturbing times.
