First of all, I want to thank everyone for their outpouring of support at the news of my mothers’ death. I was so touched by all of your comments here and on Facebook, you are a very special group of people. It’s been a series of highs and lows as time has passed. I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the things I did as a treat for myself was taking a drawing class sponsored by the Hawaii Museum of Art. I’d tried my hand at drawing and painting years ago, but lacked the confidence that I could really create something worthwhile. And I am a big fan of the WANA Momma, Kristen Lamb. In all of her posts she kept saying, “we are artists” when talking about writers and it always kinda nagged at me, that I’d like to be a more well-rounded artist and go back to paper, pencil, paints and get my hands dirty again. An epiphany during my time in this class was that it doesn’t matter if I think the piece is “good” or “bad,” what is important is to keep doing it. As with writing, create art is all about practice, practice, practice.

Thus I am planning an ambitious endeavor for 2014 — a drawing a day. I came across a book of the same title produced by the members of Studio 1482, a group of illustrators. My goal is to produce one small finished drawing a day, or to log work done on a larger drawing or painting. I’ve created my mobile sketching kit and plan to post the weeks drawings here every Sunday. I offer them up to other bloggers to use in their posts, just as long as you please add a link back to this site.

And of course I discovered that when you sit and look at something while you draw it, you are much more engaged with the subject, the light, the space, and how I am feeling, that I always end up grabbing my journal and dash off a few sentences about the process. This will be my electronic art journal. I hope you will enjoy it.

I’ve also signed up for another semester of drawing with the same instructor, Anthony Lee, who has been an inspiration on so many levels. Not only in how he works, how he sees value in everyone’s efforts and always encourages his students to try something new. Here are a few of the homework assignments we were given during the last class.

 

a contour drawing, your hand follows what your eyes gaze at.
a contour drawing, your hand follows what your eyes gaze at.
I loved how the flower seemed to be pointing itself to the sun.
I loved how the flower seemed to be pointing itself to the sun.

 

pen, ink, and graphite, with a little wax resist.
pen, ink, and graphite, with a little wax resist.

 

we moved to colored pencil and did a close up of one of the masters. In this case my favorite, Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night."
we moved to colored pencil and did a close up of one of the masters. In this case my favorite, Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.”

When the class was winding down Mr. Lee asked each of us to take one of our works and have it matted and then we posted them on the wall in the school’s main hallway. It was a treat to see my study of Johan Jongkind’s “The Towpath” 1864 on the wall with the work of my fellow students.

the artiste

So to all of you, I wish you peace and a year full of blessings, creativity, pursuing your passions, fun and lots of laughter. Thank you for coming to my little space in the electronic ether, please come back soon.