…catching up ….sketching in my art journal
I haven’t posted my art pages in over a week. It’s not that I haven’t been making art but I have been reading a lot, playing bridge, going to a birthday party for 1 year old twins, participating in Book Club, attending an afternoon concert and shopping for mats so I can frame some of my art.
The following two pieces are all sketches
Days 50, 51 and 53 are coming tomorrow.
…taking a break from my Fantasy Illustrations
On day 45 I needed a less time consuming drawing so I did some sketches of the Flowers that are in the bouquet that Kevin bought for me.
…days 8 and 9
Making art has always brought me joy. I can’t believe that I hadn’t played with my art tools in almost a year.
….an art event sponsored by the Toronto Historical Museums
Last weekend I was surrounded by art. On Saturday I spent the day at WAAC downtown, selling used books from our library. It rained off and on so we decided to hold the sale inside the gallery where a beautiful show was on display. It is called ‘Artists Choice’. My only regret is that I didn’t take any photos to share with you.
On Sunday I volunteered to man the chalk mural outside of Montgomery’s Inn. It was only one of many art activities that was taking place at the Inn. Some of the rooms were set up with paper and pencils for patrons to sketch the still life arrangement that had been created for the event and other rooms had brown paper on the tables with crayons for anyone to draw on. One of the highlights at the Inn took place in the Briarly Room where an artist was supervising the painting of the windows to look like stained glass. Adults and children alike enjoyed painting this very large piece.
All in all the Big Draw was a big success at the Inn. On Saturday they had about 80 people show up and on Sunday close to 140 took part in the activities. I spent a good six hours there creating art with chalk on the walls around the patio. Sadly the rain in recent days has washed much of it away but we knew that would happen going into it.
Inside the Inn there were plenty of activities for those who didn’t want to brave the cooler temperatures outside.
….day 95 of the 365 Days of Art
I’ve started my day by drawing in my new art journal 500 Drawing Prompts. Today the prompts are flags, tattoos and family crest. I drew the flag from memory, the crest I made up and the tattoo I referenced from Google. Unfortunately you can see how the pen from the previous drawing has bled through. I’ve switched to Micron pens and that seems to help.
….day 93
My new art journal has 500 drawing prompts. Right now I’m starting from the beginning and doing them in order. Not sure why, it’s just a thing that I do. My daughter also gave me a package of Micro-line pens but I discovered that they bleed through to the other side so I have to either use a lighter hand or switch to pencil.
Back to sketching with ink. I love drawing. I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to sketch. This time I sketched a daffodil plant that I received at Easter and the remnants of the bouquet that my father gave me.
….an assignment from one of my many on-line classes
One of the classes that I’ve taken this year is from Sketch Book Skool. We had 6 different instructors who all assigned different sketching and painting projects. One that especially intrigued me involved getting a young child to draw in my sketch book and then work a drawing around the child’s original piece.
At school I have a couple of students who like to come to the library after school and help me put books away. When I was given this assignment I asked J in grade one if he would like to draw in my book and then allow me to draw around his work and create a new piece. He was more than happy to do that and he took my book and very carefully and thoughtfully began drawing his picture. I thought he might draw the typical house and tree with him and his family standing in front but to my surprise he drew six flower pots with a flower in each.
Here is J’s work and then what I created from it. I used watercolour and ink around the pencil crayon drawings.
….. I didn’t do much else but I did fill up one sketch book and am pretty close to filling a second one
Please don’t think that I filled up two new sketchbooks. My goal is to go back to older books and fill in the empty pages. The first book that I filled up was a small book to begin with and had only 8 pages left in it. On three of those pages I made journal notes.
In my second sketchbook, I’ve done more doodles, line drawings and portrait sketches.
Even though I’m on holidays my mind is never far from my next lesson at school. Before the break I started teaching the children how to make a simple 3D house out of paper. After folding the paper the children were encouraged to draw windows, doors, lights, numbers and any other details they wanted on their house. The last step is to apply watercolour and add more black line detail. While home I decided to finish the front and two sides of my sample.
So that was pretty much my week. Today we’re going to see the travel agent and book our flights to Italy this summer. So exciting!!!!!!!!
….it was a good day
This afternoon I took the subway downtown to attend a Music in the Afternoon concert at the Edward Johnson Building. I was hoping to hear the pre-show lecture but I arrived too late and sat in the lobby and ate my lunch. 
The concert was very enjoyable. The Daedalus Quartet performed Jean Sibelius’ String Quartet in D Minor, Voces Intimae, Op 56. and then they were joined by Romie de Guise-Langlois on Clarinet. Together they performed James MacMillan’s Tuireadh for clarinet and string quartet. The piece was long and haunting and I quite enjoyed it but many of the older members of the audience were clearly not enjoying it.. After the intermission, the group played Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B Minor. For many this final number brought the audience back in their favour.
On my way to the concert I pulled out my sketchbook and started to draw the woman who was sitting in front of me. It was the first time that I have attempted to sketch people on location. I usually use photographs or use my imagination but I’m determined to stretch my skills and try new things. At the concert hall, I arrived early so I also attempted to sketch the podium on the stage. It’s not a bad start but I have a ways to go and lots to learn.
After the concert I walked along the Philosopher’s Walk and took photos of the snow and surrounding buildings. We finally got a really good snowfall but by next week the temperatures are suppose to rise to double digits and it will all melt and we’ll be left with slush and puddles.
When I got off the subway I had a fair distance to walk to get to my car. I drove over to the Junction and parked the car again and did a little shopping in the area. All in all it was a good walking day and I recorded 11 000 steps by the end of the day. A good day all round!
Mama Cormier 