Dell Rhea Chicken Basket

Added the famous Dell Rhea Chicken Basket sign to the car. Tonight, instead of tracing an old drawing from my journal, I free handed this right on the car...so much more fun! And it results in a wonkier drawing that I actually like better. I'm also diluting the acrylics down to look more like the watercolors I use in my journaling. Next up, the Gemini Giant!

Adding a little color...

to my car tonight. And some journaling. I've got a lot of hours to go on this baby. Lately I've been kind of swamped and haven't had a chance to work on it. Maybe in the next couple of days, I'll get a chance to hit it pretty hard and make a big dent in the work yet to do. I found some photos of great old signs that I want to make sketches of and work into the car. The signage along Route 66 was/is amazing.

At the Opening of the Walldogs Museum of Murals and Signpainting

Visiting with tourists to Pontiac

Today, Pontiac opened a new museum showcasing the history and art of mural and sign painting. Many of the Walldogs who painted our town's murals last year came back for the opening.

Between the new museum, the Red Carpet Corridor Festival, the carnival, unveiling the "Crusin' the Square" cars, and regular Route 66 traffic, Pontiac was a hopping place today!

Catching up with friends, Sarah and Steve

Lots of folks stopped and watched my "car in progress." Many of the other cars were unveiled today, and I have them posted on my other blog if you'd like to take a peek. So fun to see what everyone came up with!

I did make a little progress on the car today, but I'm going to have to generate many more sketches of various places along Route 66! I wanted the car to have a bold look from a distance, but plenty to look at up close....I hope it's going to work out using both the detailed and the simple things together. We'll see.

I so wanted to make the headlights into eyes, because I think kids would get a kick out of it....but if I can't make him look happy instead of ticked off, those babys are going back to straight headlights! I've tried the eyes several different ways, and so far, no luck. I think part of the problem may also be that I've got the road going down between his eyes and it looks like a furrowed brow. Maybe I'll try changing that too. Any ideas?

Here's a little start on Chicago stuff at the beginning of the route.

The Livingston County courthouse in Pontiac. As you can see, I've had it easy with the first few sketches, because I lifted them right out of my sketchbooks.

Moleskine Car?

My car is going be covered with paintings and line drawings, as if I used it as a giant travel journal on my imaginary trip west on Route 66. So when I was trying to decide on a color, I gravitated to the warm cream color of the pages in my Moleskine sketchbooks. It's a little more interesting than white, but still easy to paint other colors over. If you like to peek in the sketchbooks of different artists (I do!) there are lots to look through at their flickr group Moleskinerie.

Here's a look at the inside of the windshield.

Grouting

Whenever I grout something, I wonder if I've ruined it with this huge mess...but never more than this time with black grout. Yikes! Looks like my car needs some mentos for his dirty mouth!

But when I clean the grout off it's kind of like magic....it looks so different! I especially like the rims on the tires. Time to get the paints back out and get busy.

Rolling along....

Slowly coming along....just doing big surfaces and still have a looong way to go, before I'm doing something interesting to watch for Red Carpet weekend.
I'm liking the windshield, though I might be a little high from the adhesive. Yikes!

Art Car....

Pontiac will be have a public art event called "Crusin' the Square" this summer. There will be cars and pick-up trucks created by local artists all around the square. They are just the right size for a photo op for the kids. You can come down May 1st and 2nd for the Red Carpet Corridor Festival and see everybody's cars. And you can watch me work on mine at the new Walldogs Museum on the square. I'm nervous about working in front of people, so be really, really nice to me :)

I'm just getting started, but hopefully by May I will have something a little more interesting for you to watch. Here I'm multi-tasking...painting and talking to my future daughter-in-law about the upcoming wedding.

My back is already appreciating this little cart Joe made to get the car off the ground a little!

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau

And in the spirit of getting off my duff and doing more artwork, here's a page from my sketchbook. I'm working from some of my vacation photos from Hawaii. The mark in the middle is a postmark that I got while I was on the trip. In the future, I'll be sure to tell them I want it over on the edge of the page.

Inspiration...

Did you ever paint on rocks as a child? I did. My sisters and I had a fabulous time collecting rocks from the lake and painting them up. I think there are still a few of those rocks floating around the cottage and my parents' house. Last summer we painted rocks with my niece and nephews and the magic is still there.

I've been thinking about inspiration a lot lately. What did I like to do as a child? As a girl I was drawing on everything all the time...not just paper. I knew I'd be in trouble for drawing on say, the furniture, but I knew it was all right to draw on other things....so my mom would open the fridge and see all the eggs had faces, or all the chalk in the junk drawer had little drawings on them, or you might find yourself in the bathroom using TP that had words doodled on the squares.

Painted Rocks by McCabe

Recently I ran across McCabe's wonderful blog, Dancing Mermaid. I had to smile when I saw that this woman is still painting on rocks and rockin' her whole world with inspiration.

These days I find myself drawing on paper more, but sometimes I get the chance to paint a mural on a wall, and of course there is plenty of old furniture in my life as an antique dealer and I sometimes take advantage of that. I'm also working on a piece for a local public art project (you'll see more of that soon). The main thing I'm realizing is that I just don't do enough drawing and painting.........lately it's mostly when I have a deadline that I get something done. And since I'm not making a living as an artist, I have very few deadlines! I used to paint when I was happy, when I was sad, when I was goofy, when I was serious, when I was madly in love, and when I was royally ticked off.

So I'm on a mission. More paint, more lines, more chalk, maybe even more eggs with faces.

We did draw!

Ok...so maybe this drawing doesn't count! I did love this little toy I found in a Hilo shop though, and I bought one. I'm weak. It's called a Buddha Board....paint on it using just water, and as it dries, it disappears...and you are ready to start over! Great way to learn to enjoy the process and not obsess. Or so I hear.

We did find that sometimes, despite our determination to slow down and draw, we got carried away with experiencing the island and didn't leave enough time. So, we'd finish up in the evenings or sometimes work from photos we took. The drawing I was working on above is almost done in the pic below:

Jennifer saved bits and pieces of wrappers, napkins and tickets to make postcards to send home. It's a fun way to use all those great little scraps, and would work in your sketchbook too. Here's one all done:

Of course, you already heard about our attempts to draw this waterfall.

We took tons of photos to work from in the evenings and after returning home. I've started working from some since I've been back. We tried to take close ups of buildings and foliage, as well as broad views, and this has helped quite a bit. I did this watercolor from a photo we took earlier in the day.

Big Island on Dwellable

Just a Little Card...

I did a wonky little drawing of the house where we stayed while we were in Hawaii. I used several photos from different angles...and that's probably part of the reason it looks a little off kilter. Couldn't possibly be my rusty drawing skills, right? I still kind of like it though, so I used it to make a thank you card for the owners. I hope they like it.

Drawing on the Big Island

Somehow, I haven't managed all the blogging I intended to do, but I have been doing a little drawing. This little drawing is from the north end of the Big Island. We stopped for treats in Hawi and discovered the Kava Kafe run by some free spirited folks. I had a great time making this sketch. There are also lots of galleries and neat little places to shop and eat there. Plus, on the way home we parked by the ocean and watched the whales playing. There were so many of them!

And this one is of the lush vegetation, which is one if the things I love about the Hilo side of the island.
One day, my sister, Jennifer and I hiked down to this little waterfall and pool (just outside Hilo) and spent the afternoon trying to capture it on paper. I guess I just didn't have the knack that day, because as hard as I tried I just couldn't capture it....so I pitched the drawing and ....
swam in the little pool instead. Nice deep clear water...and cold!
Jennifer decided she had to have a swim in that pool too. Who can blame us? It's a daydream come true...swimming in a pool at the base of a waterfall in the rain-forest! So I not only ended up with a bad drawing (at least I can count it as practice!), I also ended up with a wonderful memory.

Ninole on Dwellable

On Travel...

I'm just working on using up more of the pages I filled with written journaling. I usually like to work my own drawing into the pages somehow, but tonight I was just in a cut and paste kind of mood. I think I'm not finished with this yet....

Silver Moon's Sparkling....

Wilderness...

is the theme for this week's Illustration Friday.

This is india ink, sharpie marker, water color pencils and several journal pages collaged together. I'm just making other things out of pages I've written on.

Big Sketchcrawl to Hawaii

So this is what the river two blocks from our house looks like today. Brrrrr! I like snow, but I love the warmth. So this is what I'm planning now:
Yup, I'm going back. When we were there last year, I knew that someday I wanted to go back to Hawaii and have plenty of time to draw. I know I'm no great artist, but when I draw something, it gets burned into my memory in an entirely different way. Later when I look at that drawing in my sketchbook the moment comes back to me in full. Drawing forces you to slow down and really see what you are looking at, as well as fill your senses with the local sounds, smells, feel the breeze and the sun on your back....or hear the rain, feel the chill....whatever is happening around you.

Jennifer working on an art project at the lake.

When I got home I immediately started saving and planning to go back...but I needed the perfect traveling companion....one who liked to draw too and wouldn't get bored with a slower pace. So of course I thought of my sister Jennifer who also loves to draw. I actually tried to get both of my sisters to go, but Holly has to work, so it will just be me and Jennifer traveling at the end of the month.

We have been planning lots of things to draw, time to visit with friends , maybe meet up with another sketcher, and time to go exploring. We have always wanted to travel together and do some artsy kind of trips, so this is like a dream.

Now I'm starting to consider what art supplies to take. I'm thinking the watercolor Moleskine and the sketchbook Moleskine, watercolor pencils, niji brushes, pitt pens, a few stamps, maybe some little pan watercolors. I like to work small, so I don't think I'm even going to try to bring any large paper. I can pick some up there if I need some. Laura has a good post about some supplies she has loved this year...all of which would travel well. They have to to make it with Laura I think!