Late night blogger

My usual every other Tuesday infusion of Herceptin was scheduled for today because of the New Year's holiday. For me, it was almost a drive-through experience -- some set-up time, a 30-minute drip, finishing up and I'm out of there. Beulie was with me. Each time I got her settled and quiet another staffer would walk by, stoop down and pet her furry head, offer a treat and wind her up again. She is so loved there! There was also a little boy, about six years old, who was as bored as Beulie was, so I handed him the leash and pointed to all the walking areas where he and Beulie could parade through and visit anyone who looked up. Beulie was thrilled to finally have some action and the kid was proud as punch.

All this is by way of saying that I didn't have much time to draw, but got something started and brought it home to complete. I used watercolor pencils again in my Moleskine.

The whole world is watching....

I hope your 2008 has begun as warmly and gently as mine. The one thing I noticed, immediately, is that if you blog your New Year's resolutions it feels as though the entire universe is aware of how well or poorly you're keeping them .... I asked for that, didn't I?

The truth is, I jumped right into it. The poinsettia above is the first of the 300 sketches I promised myself this year. I used watercolor pencils on 75# drawing paper. I LOVE watercolor pencils. I like the way you don't even have to use watercolor paper, just don't mix with too much water.

What else? Well, when I was looking for my many anthologies of short stories, the first one I came across was actually for children. "The Minotaur, " in Nathaniel Hawthorne's TANGLEWOOD TALES, is filled with plum words that today's children wouldn't understand. I hope that's true given that I had to consult a dictionary myself.

Steve and I walked Brix and Beulie for an hour. My resolution is to walk 3-1/2 hours a week, however I add it up. It looked as though much of the community had made the same commitment, there were dogs everywhere. Ours don't bark and nobody forged, good doggies, those.

We ended this wonderful day with a family game of gin rummy. I won two out of three, yes, the year is starting well!

Shadows and folds

I'm still working on shadows and folds -- and plan to keep working on this for quite a while (read, forever!). I once had an art teacher who believed that was the really big secret to being able to draw, learning how to execute folds. She didn't think much of my work but I put forth quite a bit of effort and would have appreciated more direction. Now I'm working more on my own and will practice, practice, practice.

It's a chilly, drizzly wet day here in northern California but the weekend is expected to be back in the 80s. That's disconcerting. In the past, we have had early rainy seasons that absolutely dried up by November and left us in near drought conditions. So, while the early fall has been most welcome to everyone but the grape growers, I hope the warm lull is just that, a lull.

Church doodles

I'm trying to develop the habit of drawing/doodling everywhere I go, including in church this morning. I travel with an assistance puppy in training so I sketched Beulie in too, the one time she wasn't moving (asleep) so I had half a chance. I found that I was much more alert, more focused during the service since I was taking in everything on multiple levels. Another way of saying, I hope no one is offended. (Click for enlargement)

Trying

I'm trying to incorporate drawing/sketching in my daily life. I would like to see major improvement by the end of the summer. This afternoon I took myself outside to our back deck and drew a grid of several objects within my view. It was tedious work but at least I got in another day of practice. (Click on the photo for more detail.)