Life without electricity is awful

Easter Monday was a horrid day punctuated by the fact the we were without hydro once again. This has been the worst weekend ever for this. Hydro out  for 36 hours from Thursday to Saturday, then out again for 4 hours on Easter Sunday. Spending time in my Moleskine kept me calm yesterday through this frustrating time. Thankfully the generator started up without any problems or our basement would have been flooded, our front yard is a mini lake! 

Bone sculpture exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum

I found this piece to be significant because I use to live in Goose Bay Labrador where the artist comes from -Jacko Jaruse.  This is Bowhead whale vertebra and the sculpture droicts scenes from everyday life! 

Earth Hour

I had forgotten that it was Earth Hour last night so I didn't have any portable lighting with me at my daughters house. Since the television was already off and the rest of the lighting, I turned off the computer and left one lamp on to draw and paint by!! My drawing is slightly wonky but that is okay. 

When we got home from the big city today we went for a walk. It was a crispy 0C but with the windchill it was -6C. 

I remembered someone posting a drawing of their sneakers done with crayon and watercolour.  I decided that I wanted to have a go!  Not as easy as I thought but a whole lot of fun! 

Documenting my souvenirs from Mexico

I finally got the illustrations completed of my souvenirs from Mexico. I will give these to my grand-daughter when I see her tomorrow. I can't wait to introduce Frida's art to her! She isn't allowed to watch TV yet but she can surf the net with Grammie for educational purposes! 

I tried to indicate that the little wooden toy needs to be twirled so the chickens will peek the seeds in the grass. Oops I forgot the seeds (I'll get my pen out later)! 

I have fun memories of my purchases and I can't wait t see her smiling face. 

Glass milk bottle

Just something quick drawing while (standing) at a grocery store that I seldom shop. So glad I had my handy dandy pocket sized Moleskine sketchbook with me!! I put the watercolour on later st the coffee shop. I didn't realize that Creemore is known for more than just beer! I can't recall the last time I saw a square glass bottle of milk! Very cool! 

Delicious Paint assignment

Okay here is the second part of the product assignment! I bought these last week while in Veracruz City Mexico at a convenience store down from our hotel on the beach.

I just checked the numbers on the back and they aren't good - not low fat or low sugar. So, I will have a few here and the next day a few more.  They taste yummy, like cocoa in a flatten disk and remind me of the old-fashioned malt balls in flavour. 

Glad to have it recorded in my Moleskine sketchbook.  I used a Micron, Gelly Roll, white Uniball Signo, red ballpoint and watercolour paint.  

A larger vegetable

I'm taking Tracey Fletcher King's "Delicious Paint" drawing and watercolour class on-line! 

I was suppose to put my "big girl panties" on and try a more complicated veggie or fruit. Since the Canadian dollar is still so rotten fresh food is quite expensive so I opted for this eggplant! 

I'm not overly fond of the red (permanent rose that is) that is peeking out. I should have used purple. My white gouache highlight is a bit muted but for my first go, I'm happy! 

Watercolour swatch painting

I detest the raspberries and not fond of some other aspects of this learning to paint page.  However, since this is my first crack at drawing these fruits and veggies, I'm happy! 

Watercolour and .005 Micron pen in my Moleskine sketchbook! 

I am taking Tracey Fletcher Kings on-line painting class and she recommends doing these instead of boring old swatches; I totally agree. I bought two new tubes of watercolour and I can highly recommend them! Winsor & Newton Professional watercolour in Winsor Blue Green Shade and Permanent Rose. 

Plastic food wrap and watercolour

Yesterday I wasn't feeling all that artsy after my trip but I decided to try an experiment.  I have been seeing a lot of art using gelli-print so I sploshed some watercolour on the page and laid some scrunched up food wrap over top. It was a good day for it since I had appointments to keep in town and I don't like watching paint dry! This isn't something new in watercolour but I have never tried it myself. When I got home and removed the cello wrap and looked at my sketchbook page, I thought "now what??!!?". 

This morning I drew a banana (cuz it is what I'm eating) in a mini Strathmore 400 series heavy weight drawing paper, cut it out and collaged it in my Moleskine. 

Experiment complete and I kind of like it the result. Has anyone else tried this??! I like the mix of abstract with the line drawing.

Cafe Lechero in Veracruz Mexico

I was able to hook up on wifi here at the Texas airport so thought I would post this now. When you come to Veracruz, Mexico you have to visit this cafe in the zocalo (center city square). The story goes that the partners in this business had a disagreement and one left to opened a competitive cafe closer to the pier and market. I prefer the original, the milk was hotter and I like my "cafe Lechero" in a glass. I loved the staging they did here. I drew this while there having a piece of lemon or lime pie. However, it took me three days to get the full page painted in my Moleskine. Well, I didn't know it was going to be like this exactly-love ordering and getting a nice surprise. I highly recommend this restaurant! 

Veracruz Mexico

We stopped in on this back street bar in downtown Veracruz, museum going is thirsty work after all! I drew what was on the table. We drank and drank some more....then ate dinner. I kept the owner and servers quite entertained! Cheers!