The Lenten Triodion Has Begun

From the OrthodoxWiki:

The three weeks that commence on the fourth Sunday prior to Great Lent constitute the weeks of preparation.

This past weekend, the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee was observed. The church has begun her annual march toward Great Lent. I will shift posting over to my original blog, The Numbered Day (formerly titled first Numbering Our Days, then Life in the Slow Lane).

Patterns

Overhead at Ancient Faith Women's Conference, a couple of months ago. The words stuck with me.

Christmas comes once more

Most of my recent sketching has been in five minutes grabbed here and there.


Culver's often has a few fun seasonal decorations.
We spent time in a waiting room with three themed Christmas trees, each with a colorful topper: a snowman, a star, a crown.

Christmas mantel

I think I've sketched part of this mantel each of the past four or five Advent seasons. This time, I layered pastel pencil over parts of the drawing.

Master Penman

Today I got to meet Jake Weidmann (artist and Master Penman) and see his work at the Ohio Pen Show. His craftsmanship is amazing. Watch this (Youtube) video for glimpses of it.

I love his rendition of C. S. Lewis & the Untamed Lion.
* * * * * * *
Creators of the Apple Pencil and the ProCreate app consulted with Weidmann during their development, and made modifications based on his input. You may have seen his drawings in an Apple store, during a promotion.

Further viewing: Goulet Guest: Brian Goulet, of Goulet Pens, interviews Weidmann at the DC Pen Show, 2017.

What the eldils had told [Ransom] about the possibility of such discovery he had received, while they were with him, almost without wonder. In their eyes, the normal Tellurian modes of being—engendering and birth and death and decay—which are to us the framework of thought, were no less wonderful than the countless other patterns of being which were continually present to their unsleeping minds. To those high creatures whose activity builds what we call Nature, nothing is “natural.” From their station, the essential arbitrariness (so to call it) of every actual creation is ceaselessly visible; for them there are no basic assumptions: all springs with the willful beauty of a jest or a tune from that miraculous moment of self-limitation, wherein the Infinite, rejecting a myriad possibilities, throws out of Himself the positive and elected invention.

—C.S. Lewis, writing in That Hideous Strength, 1945

Homeward bound

Virginia rest stop, morning view on road home

Our trip was quick, and I didn't sketch as much of the architecture and landscape as I expected, since we were usually moving. The beautiful brick structures of the Virginia rest stops, geometric and symmetrical, made a striking impression. After we toured Monticello, I could see the influence, and wondered how much of the style is found throughout Virginia, and how much of it was due to Thomas Jefferson's designs of his home and the University of Virginia buildings
The last drawing was done in the early misty morning, from the window of a hotel in northwestern Virginia. A pale periwinkle bank of clouds roughly paralleled the profile of the mountain range.
I was surprised by the wide variety of people, geography, and patterns of settlement in the state. The government of such a diverse land and population must face sobering challenges.
* * * * * * *
I used colored pencil over a few areas of the watercolor in these drawings.

One short flight for man

View from the Black Pelican restaurant---sand and sea

We recently took a short trip to the mid-Atlantic coast, making pilgrimage to the North Carolina shore where Ohio’s Wright brothers performed their famous experiments. We lunched at the Black Pelican, formerly the Kitty Hawk lifesaving station, weather bureau, and telegraph office, from where Orville sent his historic telegram, December 17, 1903:

"SUCCESS FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY MORNING ALL AGAINST TWENTY ONE MILE WIND STARTED FROM LEVEL WITH ENGINE POWER ALONE AVERAGE SPEED THROUGH AIR THIRTY ONE MILES LONGEST 57 SECONDS INFORM PRESS HOME CHRISTMAS. OREVELLE WRIGHT"

Wright Brothers Memorial, Kill Devil Hill, NC

After lunch, we visited the Wright Brothers Memorial, where the brothers conducted their first flights. The little dots at the base of the monument are people. My husband walked to the top and said it was much larger than it appeared from below. A lifesize model of the glider rested near the parking lot. (The little gumby in the foreground is a water fountain.)

The brothers had a single-minded focus, the command of a wide range of relevant practical knowledge, and a willingness to toil in relative obscurity that would be rare to find in a person today.

Ohio Pen Show

The annual Ohio Pen Show has rolled around, once again. Vendor rooms will be open to the public November 2-4, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin.  The entry fee is $5/day or $10 for a weekend pass. Come for the history, the ink, the pens, and the paper; you will find many friendly people.

Deborah Basel’s Journal class ($20) will be of special interest to sketchers. Deborah usually offers calligraphy workshop for adults and children, so this is a new addition. She is a good instructor, so I’m sure it will be a worthwhile session. (She will also be offering her customary calligraphy classes.)

Women, waiting

Women, in lines

A few weeks ago, while we were waiting on pizza, I drew a few quick contours of women waiting in line for take-out. They moved just fast enough for me to do a rapid sketch and move on to the next, a good opportunity for people practice.

It is always surprising how looking back over these drawings brings back clear memories of moments in time: the loose perky bun, the vacation suntan, the crisp duckcloth tote bag, the yarn-knit hoodie, the happy leafy shorts.

I added graphite and  pastel pencil, later.

New Chopsticks

A grid of line, color, and texture is a quick and easy way to organize impressions when you're in a hurry or don't want to reduce a drawing to one focal point. It's a good exercise for beginners who think they can't draw, because anyone who can write their name can fill in a simple grid of close-ups.

I seldom use a grid, but on this day remembered the previous one I'd sketched at New Chopsticks. It's always fun to return to places and repeat drawings, and see how your vision has changed over time, what catches your eye, how you see differently.

Art & Fear

Airborne

Solid Ground

I've not read the popular Art & Fear, which sounds as if it helps artists overcome interior mental and emotional obstacles to making art. Since my sketches are kept in an illustrated journal, as a personal record, I've not been inhibited by fear of creating them.
* * * * * *
I've been more interested in art as an aid to coping with negative emotions: fear, sadness, anger, or stress. Drawing the cabin of the airplane, above, turned my focus outward for a few minutes, during a recent plane flight. The physical movement of my eyes and hand anchored my thoughts, and pushed fears of  flying to the side.

When you're looking for a job, the people of the world are divided into two groups: employed and unemployed. When you're in great pain, people are either pain-free or they're not. When you're airborne and afraid of flying, people are either in the air or on the ground.  This post documents my grateful transition from group one to group two, in the latter case.
* * * * * *
In the lower drawing, I focused on the interesting pattern in the rock wall of the terrace overlooking Red Rocks Park in Colorado. The architects did a wonderful job allowing historical structures of the region to influence their use of local materials in creating the hardscape of the park.

I found the Colorado hills and mountains especially interesting because I have watched both Gay Kraeger and Shari Blaukopf draw them in their Craftsy classes (which I recommend).
* * * * * *
Both of these sketches ended up with several layers of different media, applied over several days. Re-working helped process connected emotions and re-live enjoyment. Enhanced memory is one of the benefits of keeping an illustrated journal. Drawing fixes experience in the mind more securely than does pressing the button of a camera.
* * * * * *
If you are interested in Craftsy classes, and are on a budget, keep your eyes open for a holiday sale over Thanksgiving weekend, on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday. You will find discounts on individual classes and on the monthly or annual Bluprint subscription (full access to all classes).

An evocation of roses

Phones and Roses

People with cell phones have become an urban sketching trope; they pose quietly, for long periods of time, everywhere you go.
* * * * * * *
I attempted to sketch these roses directly in watercolor, and added a little pastel pencil later. I remember trying to sketch a similar rosebush in front of Anna’s Greek Cuisine a few years ago. Small, intricate blossoms are difficult to depict, with a water brush.

Standing in line, Panini Opa

When a sketcher first ventures into drawing people, it is easier to draw them from the back, in a situation where they will hold still, for at least a few minutes.

Texture test

I did this line drawing early one evening, while waiting to pick up a pizza, adding watercolor pencil and watercolor later. I experimented with adding texture by scraping through it with a piece of old, cut-up credit card.

I have seen several urban sketchers use this technique--most recently, Paul Wang, from Singapore.

Re: past

Weekend repasts

One of the best parts of childhood Sundays was coming home to the smell of my mother's roast beef dinner in the oven. Nowadays, we occasionally go to Cracker Barrel for a throwback to those meals, which were—themselves—a foretaste of the Marriage Supper to come.
* * * * * * *
These sketches brought back the memory of Lyle Lovett's tribute to everyone whose stomach ever rumbled embarrassingly in a church service.
* * * * * * *
The lower Sunflower sketch was begun in watercolor pencil. Ink was added after watercolor, to give definition where needed.

In the meantime

In the past few years, I have found that, if I waken during the night, a hot drink and a drawing will center my mind and allow me to fall asleep again. The snack in the lower sketch was drawn in the wee hours. I added a little colored pencil over the watercolor, later.

The gentleman in the upper drawing was waiting for his meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was kind enough to carry our food over, when it was ready. Here, I was trying some of Anne-Laure Jacquart's techniques for drawing people.

Remedies for cabin fever

This has been a long hot summer. A few weeks ago, I dealt with a brief spell of cabin fever by sketching the telephone.

The next day, we headed west of town, to where the sky is larger. We encountered a long curving line of vehicles, waiting for a freight train to pass. Again, a quick sketch, and time sped by, at the speed of the train. Watercolor added later.

..."The birds and the beasts were there...."

I joined a few urban sketchers at the state fair—where I found it hard to focus on drawing, with so much to see.

Poultry barn

Kiddie rides



Lamb judging

Sailing the seas of Asian cuisine, Thai and Chinese

Maneki-Neko (Good luck cat)

We recently visited a couple of Asian restaurants.

Joey Chang's, a beautifully decorated, semi-formal establishment housed at Mill Run (Hilliard), serves the Thai and Chinese food of Mr. Chang's heritage. The friendly young waiter recommended the combination platter; we took his advice, and split a delicious dinner portion.

Café China, located in the Perimeter area of Dublin, seemed to be a quick week-day lunch stop. The large golden cat, beckoning from the end of  the counter, begged to be a focal point. The Lucky Cat, originating in Japan, has also become a Chinese symbol of good fortune.