It feels so good to get back to working in a sketchbook. I am challenging myself to draw everyday, and it is helpful to have a focus. It certainly helped me to join a new local chapter of Urban Sketchers. We gather together or sketch individually, but post our work collectively as Urban Sketchers West Michigan.

I used to use a sketchbook to record ideas, to practice, and work through projects, but didn't use the sketchbook as an end result. I might have a sketch of here or there, but nothing consistently. Since meeting up with others and sketching our corner of the world, it has encouraged me to draw daily and record what I see around me. What I love about sketching is that it takes the pressure off of needing to have a 'finished' work of art. It allows me to sketch quick, and loose, and to play with the process without worrying about the end result as I would with a final piece.

What I also love about having a sketchbook is that it is a recording of a personal memory. Taking the time to sketch allows me to interact with my environment. I get to really look at what is in front of me and focus on the bits that are of interest. Then, I have that moment recorded like a scrapbook to look back on. Each and every time I sketch, regardless of the medium, I learn something new. I learn to mix colors, or how they interact with that particular paper, or I figure out a new technique or discover a way I like to work.

I had always asked other artists and professionals how to develop a style, and the answer would always be the same...just draw! It isn't until I actually draw daily and accumulate a large quantity of sketches that I am beginning to feel comfortable with the process. Where it goes from here will be fun to see.

I encourage you to pick up a pencil or pen and draw what you see. It doesn't matter the level of your ability, or if you've had formal training. And you never have to share your sketch with anyone else if you don't want. Do it for you. You may find it relaxing to explore the world with line and color. Get back to the happiness you found in coloring, as a child. It may awaken the want to 'play' with art materials. Anyone can do it.

Feel free to follow us on Facebook or join our Urban Sketchers West Michigan group. There is no cost and all levels are welcome! Upcoming meet-up events are posted. Urban sketching isn't just for outside drawing either. It is inside or out, interiors, exteriors, landscapes, people or pets in an environment. I even take those bits of urban sketching in my sketchbooks, and rework them back at home at my drawing table. Sketching leads to inspiration!

I encourage you to try to sketch. Practice. Have fun. Reach out to me if you need help or want company.

I'm working on it! How about you?

So the annual Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts has come and gone and I am still trying to interpret how I feel about it this year.

The Festival celebrated its 50th year, this year, but somehow didn’t feel as momentous as it should. 50 years is a big deal! And truthfully it feels a little anticlimactic. Maybe it is just me, but it feels like there has been a change in the way the community participates in Festival. Attendance feels down, the number of food booths has practically been halved compared to previous decades, and most of all I don’t sense any buzz or chatter about attending.

I love going to Festival and still look forward to it every year. I enjoy the crowds, and running into familiar faces. I bask in the energy and celebration of the different art forms, and being surrounded by the grilling food and music from the many stages. It all is invigorating to me. But it feels like there has been a collective shift. I sense that the people who attend are mostly families and friends of participants instead of crowds looking for something to do, or the curious observers of art or those who want to be exposed to new art and art forms. When I ask friends and co-workers if they are going, many decline or share that they aren’t interested. I grew up anticipating this once-a-year celebration and am baffled by people who don't feel the same way.

It used to be that THAT was the place to be, or at least it felt that way to me. The colors, sights, sounds, art, music AND PEOPLE!  The most people I saw in one place might be at church or a football game, but THIS was a gathering of people on the move. People laughing, and singing, and walking, and dancing. You could sit and people watch, or travel from booth to booth nibbling and sharing. It felt like the best things in life. If that all still exists, why aren't the masses drawn to the Festival?

There are always the people who 'don't like crowds' or those intimidated by parking downtown. But if the population of Grand Rapids is still growing, why aren't the festival crowds growing? If I try and analyze it, I suspect that there are other, more regular opportunities that is taking some of the 'specialness' out of this one-time-a-year event. (Like how the Wizard of Oz used to be special because it was once a year, and now you can stream it anytime or buy the DVD and it isn't so special anymore.)  Artprize now draws large crowds to downtown for free and that has the atmosphere of carnival that Festival used to have. And we now have weekly free concerts in spots around town on different days of the week for music lovers to gather. Is it marketing that isn't getting through? Is it just the fact that another generation has grown up and it doesn't hold the same appeal?

All I know is that the things that make Festival great, are the things that make LIFE itself great: art, music, family, fun, and food! We can all search out ways to get our regular dose of art to enhance our lives. If you haven't attended Festival in a while, make it a point to visit next year. It is always the first full weekend in June. Mark it on your calendar! I'll be there!

As for the future of Festival, I have a couple of suggestions.

1.  Since eating whole-food, plant based, (a vegan diet) there aren't choices for me to eat down there. I used to be able to buy a walking salad, or veggie noodles, but those booths aren't participating anymore. I'd like to see more healthy choices available that aren't dripping in butter or oil (most cultures have vegan dishes, I'd like to see them participating).

2.  I'd also like to go back to a ban on bringing pets to the Festival. I may be a party pooper, but I was disheartened to see all the animals (even though on leashes) with owners not being responsible. All the noises and crowds really freaked out a lot of pets. I saw terror in their faces, and owners handling them roughly when they were having normal reactions to people and noises. I saw innocent pedestrians being tripped by leashes of distracted owners. I witnessed owners not paying attention as their dogs ran right up to the faces of babies of people they don't know, and the dogs licked the babies, since they were at the same level, and the owners laughed it off. I'd be infuriated, in fact I was and it wasn't even my child. Some people aren't responsible and endanger others, so we should have rules to protect others. No pets at the Festival, please. 

If you go, what draws you in? If not, why do you think people refrain from visiting the Festival?

I look forward to going. Maybe one of these years, my art will be accepted into the Festival Competition. That'd be a dream come true.

I'm working on it.

This is a chalk pastel drawing of the Calder Plaza at the Festival. I tried to loosely capture the COLOR of the moment.





​

It's that time of year again...the first full weekend in June. I look forward to the Festival of the Arts all year. The smoke from the grills, and scents of spicy concoctions make my mouth water and my spirit soar. I love walking through the crowds of people and hearing snippets of conversations. The music for each of the stages is as varied as people and food. I enjoy finding a spot to sit, nibbling on a treat, and watching the people go by. This year, I already got an elephant ear slathered in cherry pie filling, and something new called a Polish Burrito. It had kielbasa, kapusta and mashed potatoes all rolled in a flour tortilla. It was MUCH better than it sounded. Yummy.

This Friday night visit, I remembered my sketchbook (but forgot my camera). So here is one sketch I did. I was trying to capture the light and shadow of the skyline view from one stage.

I look forward to my visit today....we're heading back downtown!

There is just something so HAPPY about Carrot Cake! It brings joy to me. It is currently the cake of choice on my birthday or on special occasions. I have Ruth and Diane Hogan to thank for giving me my first taste, as well as the recipe, for Carrot Cake. 

It makes me even happier when on the day after my birthday, when back to reality and the little bit of the 'specialness' has worn off,  I can walk into the kitchen and see that there is STILL enough birthday cake left for breakfast. 

So Happy Day-After-My-Birthday to me….it's a happy day…there is still Carrot Cake!

Seeing my dark green Collards growing a little more each day, makes me so happy.

On my journey to live with LESS, I am trying to have less processed food in my/our diets. It is not easy to give up old ways (bacon), and it REALLY is difficult to get everyone in the family on the same page (bacon). We are taking baby steps by trying to add in a few more greens. We planted Kale and Broccoli, too. What's nice is that it doesn't take a green thumb to grow them. I purchased a little plant (three to container actually), planted them in a sunny spot in the garden, and water them when they are thirsty.  They just need occasional weeding (once a week or so)  to keep the weeds from competing with them, and you just let them grow. They look lush and a deep colored green. They make me feel like I am doing something good, for the earth, and for us. They look beautiful and makes me feel like I accomplished something.

The Collards and Kale aren't even a foot tall yet, but already have leaves that we harvest. It makes me feel connected to the planet, to go out the postage stamp sized garden an pluck a few leaves to cook for dinner. Even though we in city-suburbs, and the sidewalk is a few feet away, and we can hear the traffic from busy streets around us, I still feel a sense of wellness and contentment when I look at that little garden.

I was given some great Collard Recipes, most have grease (bacon) and/or butter, and are heavily cooked (heavily delicious, too, did I mention bacon?) But we are trying to integrate them into healthier dishes. We love Kale Mashed Potatoes (recipe from Rick and Pamm). We started adding the chopped up Collard leaves to stir-frys and Herb-Linguine (just like you would spinach). So we're taking baby steps. Planning to add more 'good stuff' and buy less of the 'bad stuff' (BBQ potato chips which are my weakness). Here is a site that tells the benefits of Collard Greens.

So bring on the summer and sunshine, and let it feed my little green plants, and they can feed us! And keep away the little green worm that is trying to turn the leaves to lacework. I'm working on it.

The start of summer brings back good memories. Talking about books in a recent blog post reminded me of a childhood treasure….the BOOKMOBILE.

When I think of my summers when I was little, a few of my clearest memories are: waking up and putting on my swimsuit (in hopes of running through a sprinkler or a kiddie pool), waiting by the mailbox and checking it everyday until I got my report card in the mail saying I passed and could move on to the next grade, and waiting until Thursday so we could ride our bikes one mile to where the bookmobile was parked.

Ahhhhh I love that thing. We would park our bikes on a scorching, sunny, day, and step up into the narrow, dark, rolling library that smelled of old books. Not the musty kind, but the old polished kind and those with cloth covers and stitched bindings. It was floor to ceiling bookshelves, and the aisle was so narrow you would hardly fit through. I loved browsing the picture books and choosing a favorite, and filling out the little card in the back. Every book was a new adventure and the different drawing styles drew me right in.

When we were really young, our Mom would drive us, but as we got older, we could ride our bikes to where it was parked in our neighborhood.  We would sit on the little step stools and page through the books to get a favorite or two. We had to keep our voices down, because being in there had a certain reverence (policed by a strict librarian). It was such a great feeling being in there. I liked to imagine having a bed in there, and moving in so that could be my bedroom.

That bookmobile is such a fond, treasured memory. Did you have a visit by a bookmobile in your neighborhood?

Here are two sketches from my sketchbook done June 1999 on our family trip to Mackinac Island. 

I had glued some dark paper in my sketchbook so I could use chalk pastel. This location is the view from Mission Point beach on Mackinac Island. [Go to the navigation bar at the top of the page 'About. . .' to see more information about Mackinac Island.]

My process: I've used this technique in other drawings on this blog.  I use a medium value of paper, then I can add a dark line, and lighter color for highlights, and it hits the whole range of values and makes it feel complete.

Here's my boy!  This is a sketch from the same sketchbook, that I didn't complete in color. It is of our son, who was 4 at the time resting in the umbrella stroller, when we were on the same vacation on Mackinac Island. You can see the horse and carriage, and a bike in the background. It must have been at Arch Rock. 

There is something about this sketch I like (besides the subject matter), I think it is the varied lines weights on the darker paper. The tone reminds me of old master's drawings.  

Just for fun. This is a sketch that makes me laugh. I drew it from memory of posing for a photo at my Mom and Dad's house on their deck in front of a tree. I was just trying to work out shapes and proportions. I was trying to work out traits recognizable. If you know us, maybe you can recognize my husband, son, and me….not flattering in the least of any of us.  It's just a sketch, but something about it I like.

Showing this is my way of opening up and building confidence. Ordinarily, I'd NEVER show something like this to anyone. It is just a personal exercise. But I am realizing that I like drawing more when I don't have to be so exact and critical.  I like the gestural quality of sketching. So, maybe I'll explore THAT direction. Come along for the journey!

From my sketchbook:  Basking in the warmth of memories of the summer, here is a quick sketch I did of my sister Linda as she was chatting on the phone with her daughters. We were visiting a quaint little nook at an artist's store on Loon Lake while taking advantage of some wi-fi. Linda is currently busy, busy, working on a benefit for her husband. More on that later!

I did this sketch on the shore of Loon Lake, northern Lower Michigan, at Linda and Brian's Cottage. 

Over the last few days I've been thinking about the impressive conditions we witnessed when we visited the ice covered pier at Grand Haven, MI. I thought I might do some drawings of that, but couldn't bring myself to work on them. I've had enough of this relentless string of snow, ice, and frigid temperatures. I wanted some GREEN to warm the soul. I thought this was fitting to share because we are currently planning a benefit for my Brother-in-Law Brian. Because of his illness he hasn't been able to get up to their cottage. 

This is my way of spreading hope and looking forward to the warm days ahead when he'll feel well enough to get back to Loon Lake.