Datebook 2-4 thru 9

The 4th was a very difficult day—better luck next year, Bears. Things didn't get much better on the 5th because of the deep freeze. I awoke to frozen pipes and no cable! I'm happy to report the pipes thawed and the cable is back on.



The spread for the 6th and 7th stayed blank until Friday. I put the quote on the page, and just couldn't seem to live up the the drama of the color and quote. I really wasn't in such a bad mood on Friday, but the darkness doesn't go away in the light it just hides in the shadows.



Thursday's scribble is a rescheduled lunch date. Friday's art was done from memory. Had a lovely lunch at Lalo's, and the tile art was on the wall next to our booth. The colors were much more vivid on the tiles, and the original had beautiful detail too. Still, this little watercolor brings the original fresh to my mind when I see it.

Illo Friday "Sprout"

Colored pencil in my Moleskine datebook. Scroll down a bit and you can see the full spread. I did a quick electronic cleanup to isolate the little sprouts.

Datebook Catch-Up

It's been a while, but I've still been doodling away. The quote for the 29th-30th reads, "Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen." —Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)



The quote f0r the 31st and 1st comes from a somewhat sillier source, but resonates with profundity: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye." —Miss Piggy



Finally, a word from H.D. Thoreau via his 2-Feb-1854 journal entry, "Is not January the hardest month to get through? When you have weathered that, you get into the gulfstream of winter, nearer the shores or spring."

Considering the cold streak we're experiencing, I'd have to add the February might be a little tough too, but I'd like to think we are nearer to spring.

I broke a cardinal rule with my box of tea sketch. I did the drawing in pencil, and then added colored pencil. This always makes for a "muddy" result—naughty me. Sometimes I just need to repeat the mistakes to remind myself of them. Good thing I'm not a brain surgeon.

I'm calling the trip up to dad's yesterday to finish the valances my artist date for the week. I applied a couple of coats of polyurethane to them, and I did it very artistically (if I may say so myself). Pictures of the results will be posted when I mount them above the windows.

Thanks for stopping by!