In His Own Words

I drew this several days ago and added lots of quotes from President Trump since the virus came to the USA. Or at least since we've known it's here. I try to always listen to him whenever he speaks, hard as it is with his rambling style, because I can decide what I think instead of relying on a recap by the news.  As much as he complains about the press, all of the press actually makes him sound more concise in their effort to distill the main points of his speech.

When I draw political or religious or social leaders, I like to put their words around them rather than my opinion, though on some pages when I'm trying to sort something out, I might journal in written form about what's going on in the news.

This is not a political blog, but journaling is about recording life, and politics is part of that, for better and for worse. So, even if you don't agree with my take on something, it's no matter....do pages with your take. That's what journaling is all about.

Masks in my Covid19 Journal

I have been spending a lot of time at my sewing machine making masks. I stated out making them for my SO's daughter who is a nurse, and it's taken on a life of it's own since then. Today I ran out of elastic again, but I have a spool that is supposed to arrive tomorrow, so I can continue filling orders. I drew this tonight, from a photo I took of myself when I was trying one on and figuring out how to make them. I tweaked it so it was comfortable and easy to breathe through. The original pattern is free at https://www.craftpassion.com/ , but now I make them a little bit differently even though I still use her pattern.

And here is a gem by Shel Silverstein...about a different kind of mask:

Route 66

Here's another peek at a project for a Route 66 event coming up soon. This project will be all pen and ink...oh well...so far anyway. You never know...a bit of collage may creep in, but it's going to have a black and white them going on.

Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference

I've been working on a fun project for the Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference, which is in Joliet this year. You know what that means.....The Blues Brothers, the old prison, the Rialto Theater, and other cool things to draw! I'll show you some teaser photos this week as I work on pulling the drawings together into journal type pages for this project. I'm heading to the lake with my art supplies and drawings to concentrate on finishing this project up so it can be printed.

Route Beer and Left Field Louie

 May 3rd's Every Day in May prompt was "draw a hammer," so I drew a jackhammer. Left Field Louie is a muffler man who used to sit at Silver Cross Field on Route 66 in Joliet. Every time the Jackhammer's hit a home run, he would emit the sounds and smoke of a jackhammer, complete with strobe lights. I think it sounds like a fun addition to the game! The team was sold though, and renamed "The Slammers."  Left Field Louie was not part of the deal, so he is in storage somewhere in Illinois.

This is a delicious root beer I sell in my shop, Home Again on Route 66. It's made with cane sugar and perfect on a hot road trip.  May 25th's prompt was to draw something in a glass container. This empty Route (66) Beer bottle sits on my cash register with a plant cutting in it.

All of these are drawn on old index cards that I got in an auction box in the Route 66 town of Odell. I painted the cards up with gelli prints, and the drawings are made on the paper bags I use at the shop...many of them are drawn at the shop, if I have time.

Get Your Kicks On Route 66

 May 12th's prompt was to draw a leaf. I really didn't want to draw a leaf, because that day a friend posted a pic of a VW bus that gave me an idea. So I drew the VW bus, and made a leaf joke.

Friday the 13th's prompt was to draw a suitcase. I got a little lost drawing it, but pushed though to the end, and now I'm calling it done. I wrote a bit of info about the "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" song by Bobby Troop on the back of the card.

Every Day in May Route 66 Style

 

 The Every Day in May prompt for May 9 was to draw someone you love. I drew my dad. He often helps me at the shop, so he fits in with the Route 66 theme I've set too! This doesn't looks just like him, but it looks a little like him, and that makes me happy, since not long ago, the people I drew hardly even looked human. This was inspired by a road trip we took to Arkansas. Along the way we went on Route 66 for a bit and stopped at the Pink Elephant Antique Mall, where they have lots of roadside kitsch sitting outside the building.

May 11's prompt was to draw a bucket or pail. Many of the people I meet in the shop are doing Route 66 because it's on their bucket list.

Rockabilly on Route 66

I'm playing catch up for a few days, doing two a day to catch the Every Day in May prompts that I missed in by starting late. This was May 2: draw something with folds. There's a great festival in Tucumcari, NM called Rockabilly on the Route. This is my little homage to this festival I hope to attend one day.

May 6th's prompt was to draw a timepiece. My timepiece is the Livingston County Courthouse in Pontiac, IL. This is just a block from where I work, and I really do often look at it for the time. It's been beautifully restored and the public may come in and view it. It's the centerpiece of our town.

Documented Life...Self Portrait

Here is my self portrait for The Documented Life Project. I like how it turned out, though it doesn't look just like me, and looked less like me before a little surgery to the drawing. But hey, it's more practice!

Here is the picture I worked with, and my sketch. Now when I step back I can see that my eyes in the photo are rounder and my face fuller...and the mouth is way off. Little things can change the whole expression on a face.

After I painted it I covered the mouth and thought I liked the top half of the picture. So I ripped off the bottom part, and collaged the part I like with some underpaper (the paper that catches my drips and all when I'm working) and tape and bits of the border.

I'll have another go at this someday. I'm pinched for time these days, so this works for me for now. Another day, another drawing! Today I'll be working on a drawing of Lou Mitchell's Restaurant in Chicago.

Traveling....

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.   ~Joshua 1:9

A few years ago, I got divorced after almost 30 years of marriage. I sometimes went on trips by myself or with the kids when I was married, but found that I felt leery of traveling by myself after the divorce...like I was truly out there on my own, without a safety net. But of course my net is God, and also the good sense and skills he gave me. So, I'm continuing to travel when I can....trying to be brave like the verse says.
That is me, and my dog, and the little camper I hope to have one day. Part of what makes this fun and meaningful for me is to personalize it....with sketches of things from my home and life and dreams.

Now I have traveled many miles in my car to the lake, to see Jeff in Arkansas, to my cousin's house in Florida. I've even traveled by plane a few times. Many times I'm by myself, and other times I'm with a friend or one of my sisters, or my mother.  I'm making progress!

Shake -n- Shine!

Another sketch in my Bible. I'm also going to try and incorporate things around me such as the salt shaker, which is like one my grandmother had. It reminds me of her every day. This is Matthew 5:13-16.

This is also the middle of the Route 66 tourist season. I'm working on some buttons and magnets that I will hopefully be able to show you tomorrow. I've got a little button factory going on!

Chicago..where Route 66 begins!

Almost every day I work on some kind of Route 66 drawing, featuring some place in Illinois. They are going to be used in a future project and I'm excited about getting them all done. I'm working down the list of great 66 spots in Illinois.

Uh-oh. Draw what you see.

Here's what happens when you start listening to your brain instead of your eyes. I had a rough outline of the building down, but I quit looking so much and started to draw what I thought was there, and messed up the roof line of the Rich and Creamy ice cream shop in Joliet. Soooo I'll have to fix that, which means pretty much starting over, and paying attention this time!

Update:
Decided to try and fix it with my sharpie white paint pen, which I can draw over. I think it worked pretty well...the test will be when I go get it copied to see if it shows. I've left this fairly simple as far as lines and shading because it's going to get reduced quite a bit.  After I get the copies made I want to try and add some color to this.

Documented Life ....using underpaper

 What is underpaper, you say? Well, it's the paper you keep on under your journal when you are painting, to keep the table clean. I've gotten to where I will empty the brush out on that paper before I clean it out in a glass of water to change colors. You end up with a nice colorful paper that can be used in other projects. This turtle was sketched on one of those papers.

The ocean is also made from underpapers. I found some Hawaiian proverbs online, and since I love Hawaii, I decided to make a page from one of those. The theme for the week was "What lies beneath" and Hawaii has a lot "beneath" with volcanoes and the ocean all around.

Originally I had a page facing this one that included a volcano and lava underground, but it was too bold for this page, and I wanted the turtle to be the focus. So, I cut this page out and glued it to another page to stand alone. Sometimes, you just have to edit a little. When we were in Hawaii, we saw green sea turtles many times, and one swam up to us one day when we were swimming in a lagoon. It was a rather magical moment!

 Gorgeous black cliffs and the prettiest blues ever.

A fisherman and his son with their nets, while turtles sleep nearby.

Face 5/100

Here is face #5. I kind of like how she turned out, but I some how lost some of her head tilt while I was painting her. Her tilted head was so sassy in the reference photo, and I wish I'd managed to keep that, but maybe next time. What attracted me to this girl was her gorgeous hair, and I definitely had fun making her curls.

 

 I used a banking envelope with a security pattern on the inside, and then put on the polka dots using some punchanella and fingerpainting. Kind of messy, but it's all good! I sketched her, but then of course I had to use some gesso to make base for all the skin tones.

I've been painting on my dining room table...which is where I usually do. Late night painting and watching CNN. I chose purples because the documented life project had a prompt for using colors you usually don't use. I rarely use purple or lavender. There is also the second prompt from another week of polka-dots!

Face 3/100

 I started this page using a beautiful envelope sent to me by artist Shawn Parks-Penn. It's so rich! I love it. I veered away from drawing another self portrait, because I found a photograph of a lovely Navajo woman. The link is to the article where I found the photo, and is about several Native American women who are working to preserve their heritage. This drawing ends up not looking just like her, but it gave me a place to start.

 

 I started with the measurements I've learned from websites and books about dividing up the head for features, and then I used acrylic paints to block in some shadows and highlights. This worked pretty well. Before I was sketching in features right away, but of course lost them when I painted and had to do them all over again after painting.

Next I added her features. I added some whites back into her eyes with a white Sharpie water based pen, and also used it to highlight her lips and the feather and beads. A little bit of final shading was added to her neck and jaw using a water soluble graphite pencil. I think I managed to keep her serious expression.

I paint this on a summer page on a week I went to the lake. The Native Americans in that area are Potawatomi Tribe, not Navajo, but it still seemed the best place to place her in my planner. I'll post a bit more when I finish up that week's pages.

Face 2/100

Here is my second face. If you'd like to join the fun of drawing faces check out the facebook group: studio7ARTacademy. This one is another one drawn from a photo of me in my new hat taken last year.

I've been looking online, finding youtube videos that show how to divide up the head so that the features fall in approximately the right spots. That helps. I am nervous and freeze up when trying to draw the nose, especially.  Laura Frankstone draws wonderful faces. She had a post once in which she reminded us that the nose has shape and architecture. I'm working towards capturing that. Maybe by face 100, I'll get a hold of that idea and be braver!

This is drawn on a piece of map that I'd taped into my Moleskine pocket planner. I put some thinned out gesso over it to knock it back a bit before I drew and painted the face.

Face 1/100

So, they say to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Tracy Scott started a group of us drawing faces. That is totally beyond my comfort zone. I figure I will draw myself for a while and see how that goes. This is from a photo of me dressed to go on a motorcycle ride. I cheated a bit, by choosing a photo where I don't have to draw the eyes.  I've looked up how to draw faces before, so I tried to use the little I remember about it, but I think I'll refresh my memory by looking it up on Youtube.

The drawing under this was all ink. I was not going to color it, but I found that when I tried to add shading to my face with ink, it looks very much like a beard!! Also, the gelli print I was drawing on had a big green splotch in the middle of my face. That's when I broke out the paints.

This is my first one. The gelli prints make a wonderful way to add interest and color, and also avoid having to start with a blank page!  It will be interesting to see how the faces change as I go along.

I want to ride my bicycle....Documented Life planner cover

 

 Tonight I started to work on my planner by closing the cover, which I had collaged and painted while it laid flat. That was a mistake. When I closed it it ripped in several place. I  know from last year, that the spine is important, and so I went the most functional way I could think of: DUCT TAPE.

 I had some colorful duct tape from when I was making hula hoops, so I chose some yellow and put it on while the cover was closed. I hope that works!

I've done a bit of doodling too, and a packing tape transfer of some red glasses. If you want to know how to do a packing tape transfer, I have a tutorial here.

 I sketched a bicycle on, and painted it in with some acrylic paints.

I used the Scarlet Lime pen to outline, and the Sharpie white acrylic marker to highlight. I did the same to the little glasses, to make them pop a bit.

 This is the back of the planner. Kind of simple, but that's ok.

I like this bike! The pink is a bit more Barbie than I usually go for, but it's bright and fun. I think I want to stamp some words on still, and maybe do a bit more doodling, but I think that's enough for tonight.