Friday, March 7, 2008

. . . a slow start







So I have been asking myself, why did I decide to finally start this blog? Heard about them for years and had never visited a blog site . . . on purpose.


But I have always had a fascination for art. I suppose at times more the idea of creating art, than the actual making of it. I'd like to say I'm passionate about it, but that isn't true. I have tons of supplies in various media. I love buying new supplies, but never seem to make the time to sit down and do a project, let alone feel I am driven to do it.


Well, last fall I finally got going into an oils class I had been trying to get into. And I have enjoyed that. I kept going long enough to produce four paintings, all of which have found homes on my family member's walls. None of them great, but decent efforts; or at least not embarrassing.


But since Christmas, I hadn't started any new ones, and I needed a kick start. I went to this demonstration/workshop at a local art supply store. Karen Sandstrom was doing a workshop on the sketchbook journal. What she was creating, and the reasons she gave for starting a few years ago really clicked for me. She has a great blog called Pen In Hand that is one of my favorites to visit. Anyway, after attending, I got hooked on the idea of doing something like that.


I have often kept journals, and have fantasized about creating these awesome vacation travel journals like some I have seen through the years. I guess this is a way for me to "have time" to create these little snippets of art that won't take too long to create. I think posting them here gives me a way to feel they are "finished", if that makes any sense.


Anyway, today's sketch is one I did a couple of days before I went to Karen's workshop. I hadn't added the watercolor until after, and I like the way it turned out. As I look at trying to write regularly, I know it will be a challenge and I am off to . . . a slow start. Stay Tuned.






2 comments:

Karen Sandstrom said...

Excellent eagle sketch. It looks like you used brown ink for the actual sketch, did you? I love eagles, but I find them difficult to draw for some reason. Well, welcome to the blog world. I hope it feeds your creativity well, as it has mine.

ZooMan55 said...

Thank you Karen. I think I am going to enjoy this. Oh, and no, it isn't brown ink. It is a Micron .005 in a very nice leather bound journal. The paper isn't particularly suited to watercolor, but I like the effects.