Arkansas

A while back I went on a road trip to Arkansas with my sister-in-law. I only made one drawing...Susette moves fast and I'm a slow sketcher. One day I took off to the town of Van Buren. It's a quaint little town with lots of great shops. The day I was there it was cold so I sat in my car to make this sketch. As you can see I was into it at the beginning (the top) and ran out of interest (and room!) as I moved down the page. Good practice though. I'm gearing up to take a trip pretty soon and this time we have lots of sketching time planned in, so I need to do some pre-trip drawing to get loosened up! As you can probably tell by the lack of posts, I'm probably pretty rusty!

d.price....inspiration

I was doing the laundry today when I got this in the mail....a couple of Moonlight Chronicles by Dan Price. I ordered these particular ones because they were done while he was touring the Hawaiian Islands on his trike. Perfect reading for the porch hammock this evening.

Dan is an inspiring character. Most journalers are familiar with him I think, but if you aren't, check him out on flickr and on his site. He has simplified his life to what he deems essential, gained some sponsors he can be proud of, and travels and records his adventures in his journals. Now, he has simplifed beyond where I imagine being able to, as I tend to like a few modern comforts...he has simplified to the levels I fantasize about on busy days. He lives in a hobbit house built into a meadow...let your imagination be inspired. I think I may send these on to Ted when I'm done with them, as I bet he would enjoy them too.

Every Day in May/ Queen Liliuokalani Gardens

Some days you got the mojo and some you just don't, but the idea is to draw and post every day in May so here it is.

Maybe I can make a list of things I'd love to learn to paint/draw:
water, reflections, rocks, foliage

This is a gorgeous garden in Hilo right on bay. And well used too..we saw a lot of folks out on this beautiful evening.


I sat on the bench on this little red bridge to make my sketch...such a nice way to spend the evening.

While we were walking the garden, we found several little faerie homes! What a nice surprise!
You can see what others are doing every day in may at the flickr group Every Day in May.

Sketching Pohoiki Bay

My little sketch in progress

Today we just sat by the ocean and sketched. Fun, fun, fun. There are a ton of problems in this sketch...but did I enjoy myself? Absolutely! One of these days I'm going to take a water color course from Kate Johnson and learn how to use my watercolor pencils...but for now, I'll just keep muddling along.

My mom working on her sketch.

Mom shows her progress.

All done...I think.

Puna on Dwellable

Drawing in Hawaii

A little sketch-in-progress

Chick lit and drawing in Hawaii....I'm a happy camper! I'm loving every minute of it, but I haven't had time to draw much at all. Hopefully I will remedy that before I have to go home. First I was exploring the island of Hawaii with my husband. Now my parents are here and I'm running around with them. We're having a grand time! We just decided to extend our stay, so I'm hoping to get away couple of times to do some sketching. I'm not fast, and folks naturally don't want to sit around while I do my thing.

Check out the Etsy shop of Ted Schrey

The strangest things happen on the world wide web. Many moons ago, in college, I dated a very nice young man. Now we are friends again through the amazing web that is facebook. After many years in the corporate world, Ted is living on the Big Island of Hawaii and is making beautiful stained glass pieces. He has a new Etsy shop that he (unlike me!) is keeping stocked with wonderful artwork.


I love the use of copper in the stands and frames.



I think he has something at every price point too...so you can own a small Ted Schrey piece or very large complex pieces.

Here are a few hanging in a gallery in Hawaii.

I've never seen one of these pieces in person, but Ted is pretty particular, so I'm sure the craftsmanship is beautiful. The coral and watery glass in this one...perfect.

Ted is also a painter, writer, and furniture builder. Hopefully we will see some paintings on his site soon. If we are lucky he might even start a blog one day.

If you need something special, he does custom work as well. Click here to check out his latest work...

...undoubtedly inspired by the beauty he encounters every day.

Money Matters

Seems it's all we hear on TV. Tons of jobs going. Several companies around here are laying off lots of workers. Our sales are down at the shop. I'm confident that things will turn around eventually...it's just a matter of how bad will things get before that happens.