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I am still on the road (having fun in Florida, postponing the reality of fall in Michigan); so I'm a week behind in my weekly drawing challenge. This week's theme is "Somewhere Else;" so I did a drawing from here (hmmm...maybe somewhere else is really back home since I'm here). Anyway, I did two beach drawings and here they are:
I left a lot of room on the bottom because I'm actually thinking of writing there (dare I call it journaling?).
I love that I can drive through several states and visit family and friends in far away places. This is really a beautiful country and it's a pleasure to be able to drive through such diverse landscapes.
A scenic overlook in West Virginia:
The river in Melbourne, Florida
With friends at Panama City Beach (I'm the one in the white trimmed suite in the back).
While visiting family in Florida, I took photos of some of my grandnephs (my name for the children of my nieces and nephews). I played in Photoshop and came up with the two following pictures. There will be more playing with more photos.
The theme for this week's drawing challenge with Jeanie is "mismatched." I had all sorts of ideas for this theme, but ended up with the fairly ordinary concept of mismatched shoes.
Last week my friend Catherine came over and we did some eco-dyeing together. I know, you may be getting tired of these photos, but I'm still entranced with this technique. (It sort of reminds me of one of my favorite jokes: knock, knock...who's there? ...Ester...Ester who? Ester bunny: - - - knock, knock...who's there? Nadia...Nadia who?...Nadia Ester Bunny: - - - knock, knock...who's there? Stella...Stella who?...Stella a Nadia Ester Bunny: - - - - knock, knock...who's there? Yetta...Yetta who? Yetta Nadia Ester Bunny: knock, knock...who's there? Orange...Orange who? Orange you glad I'm not an Ester Bunny? I apologize for Yetta Nadia batch of Eco-dyeing photos)
Anyway, here are photos of the pieces I did.
For this week's drawing challenge, Jeanie and I are using the theme "green." As soon as she picked it, I thought of frogs and Kermit's song "It isn't Easy Being Green." I've been trying to draw from life, but this time I drew from photos. The good thing about drawing from photos is that I have a lot of photos that I think might make good drawings - and, of course, the fact that there are things that would be cool to draw that are impossible to sit and try to work in the moment with.
Instead of using my watercolor set, I used my new Inktense watercolor pencils for this. I love the intensity of the colors, but still need to work at blending.
Anyway, here are my frogs
Next week's theme is "mismatched."
This past week-end, I decided to try some ecodyeing on my own. I loved the pieces I dyed with Lorri Scott, but I was nervous about trying it on my own. Frankly, my dyeing skills are not as good when I work solo as they are when I work under Lorri's guidance.
I used rusty objects (I really want a bigger collection of rusty nails), flower petals and leaves from my backyard, and pokeberries. The flowers all turn brownish; the pokeberries go from a definite fuchsia to a muted purple; and the leaves turn a very pale light green. I used alum as a mordant and I soaked everything in baking soda and water after dying. I'm pleased with the way the rust dyeing turns out; but I'm I wish the flowers, leaves and berries wouldn't lose so much intensity.
Here are the results of my solo ecodyeing adventure, followed by closer views. I see cuffs, hearts nad collages in their future.
