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Monday, June 20, 2016

Peace and quiet at the library.

Peace and quiet is what I needed after a busy week. Thank God for sketching that takes my mind away from everything. After the short but heavy rain and high winds we had, I went to the library and found falling trees and branches on the floor on my way there. This is the crazy weather here in the Midwest. Inside the library the subject of my sketch was a man who was talking to himself quietly, he was wearing eyeglasses but that didn't seem to be enough. He also was using a magnifier to read. I'm finding myself reaching that point in need for more x in my reading glasses. Ha! But that is not going to stop me from sketching. Amen.

Little Venice


This part of Wilmington, Illinois, next to the Kankakee River has always fascinated me. The channels around the houses reminds me of Florida or Venice. The channels are owned by residents, so only residents and or their guests can use them to access the river by boat. On Father's day, I had chance to sit down by a window and sketch this view. The red/brown area in the bottom of the sketch may look like brick paving but it is the roof of a detached garage. Trying to stay true to what I see may make my sketches a little confusing, but I'm confident I can improve that with practice.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

About yachts.

The Urban Sketchers of Chicago met at the Jackson Park Yacht Club today, one of the oldest yacht clubs in Chicago, it was founded on 1896. We met at the entrance and the club house was right in front of us. The windows on the roof and the chimney caught my attention so I gave these a try while I listened to the cooks in the kitchen talking to each other, there, at the open door on the right of the second floor. 



Many sailboats were at our disposal to choose from for sketching. My first attempt this afternoon was this sailboat. There was a couple of persons doing some cleaning on it. I started to sketch the shirt of the man with a hose when I realized that the proportion wasn't right since I wanted to include the whole boat in the sketch, so I started again by turning my sketchbook from horizontal to vertical position so the mast would fit in the page.  



Wonderful day we had, perfect weather and nice and talented people. Thanks to Joel Berman who set this meet-up. Fantastic, I can't wait for the next one, the big one! The 3rd Annual Chicago Sketch Seminar 2016 on July 9th and 10th!

Friday, June 10, 2016

Complimentary colors revealed.



A visit to my father-in-law's this evening gave me the opportunity to sketch. While Bob and his dad were watching golf, I sat on the sofa and gave life to this corner of the house. If it wasn't for the sketching I wouldn't noticed the several pairs of the same complimentary colors that happened to be on my view. Pinks/purples and greens where everywhere. First the green chair and the purple pillow; the green of the golf course and the pink sweater of the golf player on the television; the green tree and the pink lamp shade, and even the candle holder edges where green and purple! The power of observation through sketching makes you really see the world!

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Strawberries for three days.


Two days ago my friends and I ended up walking 35 minutes more that our goal. We were so tired that one of them mentioned she would like to eat strawberries at that moment. We didn’t have any with us, of course. Next day, yesterday, Bob and I went to the opening of Downtown Joliet Farmers Market and we saw the most perfect strawberries in a stand. We bought some, fresh, probably picked up the same day, who knows, after all it is a fresh market right? They were so beautiful and perfect that when I arrived at home I sketched them before we ate them that evening. I ate the first strawberry and it was blend. I ate another one and it was blend as well, we continued until we finished the whole container. It turned out these strawberries were the juiciest I’ve ever eaten in a long time but also the most flavorless ones! This sketch I did will be remembered as a big disappointment. Today, after another walk with my friends, the friend who was craving for strawberries was kind to bring some strawberries she shared with us after our walk. The taste was better than the ones I bought. I asked her where she bought them -at the grocery store -she said. Can you believe this? All I have to say about my beautiful strawberries is that all that glitters is not gold.