I don't know about you, but we've been keeping very busy with grandkids, trips, friends and, of course, artsy adventures, like visiting the Summer of Love exhibit (light show, above) at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco! It's on until August 20, highly recommended, if you know what I mean. :-) Good to see both older and younger hippies there, and everyone having a fun time. Here are a few pics of some of the hundreds of gorgeous clothes, photos, posters and album covers they have on display:
I also made it over to the Legion of Honor on this trip to see Monet: the Early Years, and viewed all of these paintings for the first time in person. Sadly, this beautiful exhibit has moved on.
The other reason for this particular trip to the city by the bay was a sketch group activity at the Palace of Fine Arts - my first time ever seeing this magnificent structure! I made a journal page of the whole weekend experience.
In addition to traveling, I've been working a lot on building my skills, especially on sketching faces. Here are 10 of my attempts that were part of a #Oneweek100people challenge on Instagram. It's so fun to have a (virtual) community of like-minded people doing the same thing at the same time (and very humbling, too, in a good way).
And here are a couple of sketches (John Muir and Chuck Berry) I did after this challenge - I think the forced practice really did help, though I still have my disasters. :-)
I've also been taking a lot of classes, including one with Katherine Lemke Waste (https://lemkewaste.com), an amazing artist who got me started watercoloring about seven years ago. We did a fun little workshop on flowers, a lot, like these, on postcards.
Most recently, I took an "Exploring" class via the online https://SketchbookSkool.com. This is a platform I would recommend to anyone, no matter your skill level. They even have a "klass" called "How to Draw without Talent!" :-) It's a lot of fun, and I would say their programs have been the most helpful of all avenues for my skill-building. Here is one of the projects I did for the klass, a little concertina book I made and took to our local Folsom Public Library to sketch the beautiful interior:
Believe it or not, a peacock strolled by while I was sketching the entryway!
The librarian at the information desk was even kind enough to finish off my book with a stamp. :-)
Even more fun than traveling and art are these guys - Julie (8), Spencer (6) and Noah (19 months). We are very lucky ducks to have the older ones close by, and to travel two hours every week to watch Noah!
They are the lights of our lives!
Now, as a reward for getting all of the way to the end of this lengthy post, here you go!
GIVEAWAY:
IF YOU'D LIKE ME TO MAIL YOU ONE OF THE LITTLE FLORAL POSTCARDS THAT YOU SAW ABOVE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW WITH A COMMENT BY JUNE 24 WHICH ONE YOU WANT:
KALANCHOE, APPLE BLOSSOM, OR MARIGOLD.
IF THERE'S MORE THAN ONE TAKER PER PIECE, I'LL DRAW NAMES, AND EMAIL WINNERS TO GET ADDRESSES.
I hope you're all enjoying life in general. I'd love to hear in the comments how you're doing and what you're looking forward to this summer. I'd also appreciate hearing what you like and what you'd like to see more or less of in these posts. Thanks so much for stopping by!
And with that, here's a parting thought:
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
- Mary Oliver
Until next time...
Kathleen
