Since my last post – far too long ago – I’ve become an Art Instructor with Young Rembrandts, an after school Art program for children from K – Grade 6. It’s always been at the back of my mind to teach art and now I am! Here’s some bits and pieces I’ve culled from all the fascinating and glorious work of the kids (and I did get permission to use portions of their work for this post):
My own work? Well…not so productive but I’ve done some quick sketches here and there – very quick, I might add, just to keep me going:
An old garage in a back alley
A lovely old door – the Carnarvon Apartments on Broadway
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.
Hunkered down like everyone else, I’ve found comfort in doing art – I’ve kept up with my Daily Drawings and am online with the Vancouver Urban Sketchers who have started to gather together virtually. We’ve pushed the rules a bit – we’re not necessarily outside drawing the urban landscape but we’re still drawing stuff!
I’ve also been drawing my anxiety. We’re all anxious, right? And we have to find ways to deal with it like keeping in touch with friends, meditating (not enough, but anyway…), beer, (did I say beer?) and silly cartoons:
This is today’s daily drawing, by the way. And, really, I haven’t reached the official retirement age. I also know of people older than me** who appear to have the energy and vitality of people much younger.
This was also my Daily Drawing. I had the time, so I spent a couple of hours on it for a change. I think I mentioned that I’m accountable to another artist for the Daily Drawing so I asked if I could include one of her Dailies in my blog. The artist is Lori Fillo and this is one of my favourites:
Stay hunkered and take care!
*This is also a good time to read and here’s a suggestion: “Love in the time of Cholera”, by Gabriel García Márquez.
By golly, this daily sketch thing is very – pleasant. I feel more energized about my practice even on the days when I get home from work, it’s dark and the last thing I feel like doing is drawing. I do it anyway. Because I’m accountable. To another artist who’s doing the same. While I’m still in Officeland, this kind of practice keeps me sane (or reasonably close to it, anyway).
Today, I met up with the Urban Sketchers in Mount Pleasant and did two fast sketches. For the first one I went outside. It was wet-ish, chilly and slightly rainy and water drops kept diluting the ink in my pen. Then, while trying to erase some weak pencil lines, my drawing went a little smudgy. What a mess! I’m posting it anyway. For the 2nd one I was on the third floor at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre. This one is also a wee bit messy, but – who cares! The urban sketchers who got together today have posted their work here if you want to take a look. It’s such an interesting neighbourhood but it’s under threat from development now that the subway is going in. I hope that it retains its character and its old buildings – some of them anyway.
I’ve just started a daily sketch exchange with another artist. There are no rules, no judgement, and you can take 5 minutes or 5 hours. You just sketch and exchange – every day. I love it. I have done a sketch every day and just not cared about being perfect, drawing well, judging my work or worrying about how much time I should spend on it to make it “better”. I just do a sketch. I did one at the office last week because I knew I had no time later. 5 minutes – that’s it. I grabbed an old piece of cardboard and a felt pen and drew the plant on the counter while I waited for my ride. One day I drew someone on the skytrain (very quickly before they noticed and became uncomfortable!) Today, at my first Urban Sketchers gathering in a while, I did three sketches! Normally, I go to one of these sessions and fret about what to draw, worry the lines and feel anxious about the result. But now – I don’t care! I just draw. I posted two of my sketches on the urban sketchers site (here’s the link). Below is a smattering of the dailies, including one of Aunt Cyn – a “sketch” after my first Tai Chi class of 2020…
