Getting Out of Bed Each Day

Some days making sketches feels very trivial. The past couple of weeks, I’ve been filled with so much sorrow, rage, frustration and disgust that it has been hard to get up in the morning, knowing that the day’s news would likely bring even more. But drawing is something that does get me out of bed each day. And the most therapeutic part about it is that my brain has no room for any other kind of thinking while I’m doing it. 

My personal message to the President of the United States

A Somber Donut Day

6/5/20 Top Pot Doughnuts, Wedgwood neighborhood

A few weeks ago when Mike Daikubara invited sketchers to sketch a celebration as the #USkTalksChallenge, I immediately thought I’d do mine on National Donut Day, which I look forward to observing every year. I even thought it would be fun to honor Mike by emulating his style of sketching both the food and the location on the same page.

By yesterday when the big day rolled around, however, the nation was mourning George Floyd’s death, and I was in no mood to celebrate. It no longer felt right to celebrate anything. But I’ve been feeling so much sadness and anger lately that I knew donuts would make me feel better . . . so I decided to partake anyway. 

Sketching Top Pot Doughnuts from my mobile studio, I noted that the Wedgwood shop (my favorite, with the funky giant donut on the roof and palm trees in front) was somber compared to most years – no banners, no festive balloons, hardly even a promotion. Still, it was busier than the previous day, when I had stopped in to pick up my donuts (I figured the big day would be too crowded for my comfort). Misery loves sugar and deep-fried fat.

An Opening in the Hedge

6/1/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Last fall I suddenly discovered the beauty of backlighting from a couple of sketchers whose work I had been observing. I tried sketching it a few times, but then the rainy season settled in, and there went my opportunities for more study. Last week my interest was rekindled when I came upon some striking backlit views early in the morning.

Now I’m on a mission to find as many backlit scenes in my neighborhood as I can. Here’s one from earlier this week: A tall laurel hedge surrounds this property, and I was enchanted by the slim strip of light marking the entry in the center.

Female Flicker

5/17 - 5/29/20 female flicker

Our feeders are still up. Usually we take them down in the spring when the birds get better (probably more nutritious) offers elsewhere, but the occasional visitors are still entertaining us during these stay-at-home days, so we’ve left them up. We had heard that nesting females in spring need more fat, and indeed, our suet feeder is more popular than the seed feeder lately.

Last year I caught a male flicker’s bright red chevron on the back of its neck as it struggled to eat from the seed feeder, which is intended for much smaller birds. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been watching a female flicker dining from the suet feeder, which is much larger and more accommodating. Luckily for me, she tends to hang from the same side each time, so I was able to work on this sketch over the course of three days, often weeks apart, refining the gesture and adding details each time.

A first for us was observing a family of Bewick’s wrens several times. Mom and her four chicks (I say “chicks,” but they are nearly as large as she is) stand on the fence near the feeders. Mom flies up to the suet, grabs a beakful, then stuffs the gaping mouths of the four youngsters. We didn’t know that wrens feed their young outside their nest, so we’ve been delighted to watch this scene. I’m not sure I’ll be able to catch them with my sketchbook; they are so tiny and quick. But I’m happy that our feeders are still up.

Happy Trees

5/27/20 Across the street

Even as I walk daily through my ‘hood, looking for fresh ways to sketch familiar scenes, I admit that I often overlook the views that are closest. It was a beautiful, warm afternoon. Although I usually make most of my on-location sketches while standing, the sunshine seemed to invite a more leisurely stance. I dragged a kitchen chair out to our front porch landing and decided I would sketch whatever I could see from that spot. Across the street, our neighbors have a few small trees that looked as happy as I felt to be sketching in the sunshine.

A leisurely sketch on the porch landing.

Technical note: I rarely use traditional (wax- or oil-based) colored pencils on location because my favorite water-soluble ones seem faster and more efficient. But I was working on a review for the Well-Appointed Desk, so this leisurely sketch was a good opportunity to use Tombow Irojiten colored pencils. I was surprised to find that this sketch didn’t take much longer than my usual watercolor pencil approach. Maybe I’ve become more efficient myself in whatever colored pencils I use.

Stay tuned for my review at the Desk of this lovely Irojiten pencil case. I’ll update this post with a link when it’s live.

Edited 7/3/20: See the review now!

My Thumbnail Walks

5/26/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood

5/28/20

I walk for about an hour through my neighborhood each morning – sometimes with Greg, sometimes without. Bordered by major arterials and the freeway, the residential area is about 10 blocks long and four blocks wide. During the past 11 weeks of our lockdown, I’ve grown familiar with those blocks.  

As you’ve seen, I’ve found plenty to sketch, even in a series, though usually not. To keep it fresh so I won’t get bored (the biggest challenge in sketching the familiar), I’ve been trying different formats and approaches. Lately I’ve been making thumbnails. I stop wherever I feel safe, look around, and sketch whatever I see. Each of these took no more than five minutes. There’s nothing very exciting here, and yet each is a lesson in composition. Nothing is a waste if I learn from it.

Backlit

5/27/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Now that mornings are warmer and start so early, I’ve been going out for my walk earlier, too. One day I headed out even before breakfast. The sun was still below many of the houses and trees, casting long shadows.

This is the kind of sketch (above) that would have gone better if I’d kept it as a values study. The backlit tree had a few spots of sunlight coming through the branches, but I lost most of that light trying to juggle two shades of green. A large rhododendron bush was mostly in shade except for a few blossoms on top. I lost the light on those, too, because I was distracted by their bright magenta hue (and I was tickled that I had the right colored pencil in my bag).

A couple of days later I found another backlit scene (below). Recalling my brief study of backlighting last fall, I was determined this time not to lose the light in the distant trees. I’d forgotten the fun challenge of these types of scenes . . . I’m going to be looking for more of them.

5/29/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood