A little rain must fall....

As we enjoyed our view of the ocean from our perch on the beach we could see a squall line forming a few miles offshore.  Eventually, we had to relocate to the porch, then indoors as the rain splashes started to threaten our electronics. (LOL) It is a lovely sort of torpor that has formed over us:  the feeling you encounter when you are completely, utterly relaxed.  So, what's a little rain?
This year, we have decided to be more selective about our activities.  We have been to this area a number of times so we don't feel quite the pull to see and do everything as we have in the past.  Rather, we are more interested in "just breathing", reading, and such.  Tomorrow we will go to Xil Xa, a sheltered lagoon where we can snorkel.  I'm content to read and draw.

A quick gestural sketch of two women playing beach volleyball.

This was done with graphite pencil (as was the one below), but i forgot my sharpener so 

these are probably the only pencil drawings of the trip :-(

the lifeguard station, and the outer edge of my palm umbrella

palm tree and sailboat.

It rained before I had a chance to work into any of these with watercolor!

I'm fascinated with the symmetry of things on this property:

This is an open-air bar in the resort.  Why so many posts?

I love the rows of palm trees beyond the archway

our towel sculpture for the night:  a peacock!

Drawing 5

Again, technical issues with the watered-down paint.  Still, it was fun!

Day 4-Ruched Ribbon clusters

The Sketchbook Challenge!

So, you want to start keeping a sketchbook but every time you sit down with your book in front of you and pencil in hand you freeze up and just can't seem to get started.  Wouldn't it be helpful to get a glimpse inside another artist's sketchbook and see how they use theirs?  Well, you are in luck because help is on the way!  I'm excited to tell you that I have been invited to join an amazing group of artists in The Sketchbook Challenge.  The Sketchbook Challenge is a new project launching on 1/1/11.  Follow along with us as we fill our sketchbooks based on a monthly theme that will be announced on the first of each month.
You will be sketching alongside:
Jill Berry
Sue Bleiweiss
Laura Cater-Woods
Jane Davies
Jamie Fingal
Judi Hurwitt
myself
Lyric Kinard
Jane LaFazio
Kelli Perkins
Carol Sloan
Carla Sonheim
Susan Sorrell
Melanie Testa
Diana Trout
Violette

Each month we'll announce a new theme on the blog and will be showing images from our sketchbooks
and talking about the intention/inspiration behind them.  We hope to inspire our followers to keep sketchbooks of your own.  Please visit the blog for more details, as well as to pick up a badge for your own blog.  We hope our followers will post comments on our blog, as well as images on your blogs of your pages.  Along the way we will be doing some giveaways and special offers!  I hope you will join us!

Drawing #3

This one actually took almost 30 minutes.  I had some technical issues with my ruling pen today.

crosscut mesquite wood embedded in pebbles

Line Drawing Day 2

This one was done in about 16 minutes.  I decided to quit because I was just going to mess it up if I tried to put more lines in it.  Again, I worked by visualizing something on my table:  in this case, the face of a Catrina on my oil cloth over the table!  My goal with this drawing was to keep the lines as long as possible, all horizontal.  It got tricky around certain contours.  Also, the pen ran out of thinned paint before I ran out of real estate going all the way across the cloth.  I decided to put a small number in the corner to track them.

she has lower jaw issues.....

Ruling Pen Drawing on Cloth-Day 1

I'm late out of the gate in starting my ruling pen drawing challenge, but I intend to do it, starting today!
Melly Testa started a challenge:  Create a line drawing in 30 minutes, one per day for 30 days, using a ruling pen, (paint, dye, or ink) on a 5.5 inch square piece of cloth.
I wisely decided to wait until I finished teaching my workshop.  I had too many looming deadlines.  I still have deadlines, but some of the pressure is off.  Plus, I had to order a ruling pen.
Now, armed with my shiny new (cheap) ruling pen, squares of cut bleached muslin, and some weirdly thinned acrylic paint (maybe I need to switch to ink, we'll see), I used painter's tape and set to work.

I have not been drawing for the sake of drawing in quite awhile.  This upsets me because I know that drawing opens up so many other things for me.

I have never used a ruling pen before this project.  I had to play with it a bit to figure out how to get marks, especially on cloth.

Using my iphone timer, I set out to draw the first thing I laid eyes on:  a plastic bottle.  Why pick the hardest thing to draw?  I guess I'm a masochist.  I think drawing clear plastic or drawing/painting a clear anything is very difficult.  I wanted to maintain a very small line, one-half inch or less, throughout the drawing.  I allowed myself some very small, almost dot-size lines to create the condensation at the top of the bottle neck.  I don't think this drawing is excellent, but it was a good exercise to open up my brain.

I encourage you to try it and follow along!  Melly is on Day 24 now.  Please stop by her blog and take a look at her progression, which is very inspiring.  Her blog will inspire you in many other ways, too.

watered-down acrylic textile paint, ruling pen, drawing of water bottle (partially crumpled)