m. p i l g r i m (art)

I've spent the last month or so in my own self-imposed Mindfulness Meditation immersion program, via programs at the Mindful Center in Albuquerque . Mindful movement, Mindful eating, Mindfulness-based Stress reduction, etc. Can I just take a moment to tell you about my favorite tea? The Republic of Tea makes this green tea with linden flowers and honey in it . I put a few drops of coconut stevia in it and it is DEVINE.  So, I wanted to celebrate this wonderful elixir with a sketch using my Hurion drawing pad and Sketchbook .   Today, I fiddled with the fade-out on the shadow behind the cup using the "airbrush" feature. I think there's too much on the side of the cup, however.   And yes, that's a sketch of a Calamityware Mug a friend gave me. #shamelesspromotion I used to be a whiz at Photoshop, but they've changed so much about it I can't keep up. It's also ridiculously expensive and hogs the resources on my 9-year-old Mac Mini.  ...

i haven't been doing much with art since beginning my private practice in January. i've been making phone calls (oh, so many phone calls) to get approved by insurance companies... ...well, this is an art blog. so. i discovered, or rediscovered, last week that there is a bi-weekly life drawing session at the art league, and showed up about 2 hours into it.  i made many spots on my schedule so that i could do this every friday morning. just me, some other artsy types, and a model. the first session, on march 6, i squeezed into one of the few spaces left and managed to knock this out: the next week i went to las cruces for my birthday, to play golf. the next week, i was notified not after that the sessions were canceled until fall. so, no more figure drawing sessions at the league for now. Boo.

 I recently enrolled at a local community college whom, I'm told, has a decent art program.  I'm enough of a nerd that depth matters to me, so I decided to take full-on college-level art classes.  In doing so, several interesting things happened: 1.  I had to apply to go to college as an undergraduate.  I already have a college degree in fact a graduate degree, so this was fun.  It was online.  A few days later, a 19-year-old called me and welcomed me to the college. "So, like, have you scheduled your Acuplacer Test yet?" "My what?" "Your Acuplacer test.  Have you, like, scheduled it?" "Yeah . Um....I'm not going to take your test." She was flustered.  "Oh.  Um.  Well, oh..." I rescued her.  "I already have a college degree." She was happy to have been spared the inevitable confrontation and replied, happily, "you probably don't need to take the Acuplacer then." "No.  I don't think so." ...

 I spent most of December making and selling earrings and cards, and now I'm ready to go back to drawing and painting. This drawing is just one of a series of line drawings I did for a coloring book I put together.  Most of the pages are scenes from trail races, but this was a special page for a special recipient, my Patrone. This drawing is from a photograph of a man fly fishing in the Utah wilderness I chose to leave out the fisherman. This was done on cold press watercolor paper, with sepia ink pen. This started out as watercolor of a view off the La Luz trail, and sepia pen was added to make the mountainside more rugged. This is a departure for me in that I've started playing with negative space, and letting the paper be the highlights. Finally, as a first in my new resolution to do a daily as well as a journal entry: this is just watercolor on cold press. I'm really feeling that a combination of pen and ink and watercolor will be me, at least for now. For the spring I...

 It's been a while since I posted anything.   I recently visited New York, where I ran the NYC marathon.    It provided inspiration for this post election journal entry.    I did this one sitting in Liberty State Park in New Jersey.  Even though I haven't posted I have uploaded journal pages to my Instagram account (mistypilgrim) While I was away... I completed a four week class on pastels, and designed and sold some earrings. I saved the first $10 bill I got from that! Most excitedly, I'm taking a weekend workshop in steampunk  sculpture soon, and a watercolor class soon after that. 

 I debated on whether not to put this on my blog. It's not a terribly flattering picture of my day, or my coworker. She is normally a pretty pleasant person, but for the past several days she has been furious about some changes that were made where we work. Friday was a particularly difficult day.   I came to work pretty happy about the fact that it was Friday, but by the end of the day I was exhausted listening to her ranting about the new changes. I was also surprised, because usually she Rants about something and then it's over. This just went on, and on, and on… Later on, after I was done journaling about this, I remembered that earlier in the week she had had to put her dog to sleep, and then I felt bad. She's probably grieving, and that's why she was so much angrier than usual. 

   Graphite on sketchpad paper.  I drew this from a selfie I took, and asked my Patrone if this looked like me. "The jaw is too square." I showed him the picture.  He said, "Okay. It looks like the picture. But it doesn't look like you." I think the eyebrows may be a bit too dark.

 My husband took this picture in Idaho, where he did an ultra run.  I was all, GIVE ME THAT PICTURE!  So he did.    Chloe is my part pitt bull, part ridgeback animal.  She has jazz ass, and is nearly impossible to photograph because her tail constantly wags, and it wags so hard, it shakes her whole body.  To draw this, I had to do a photoburst on my iphone to find one picture I could draw. Graphite on sketchbook paper. I've been doing some online tutorials, and I think I've found my medium.  Micron Pens on Bristol.  Pen & Ink sketch, from a tutorial.  This is from a tutorial on watercolor, which I apparently suck at.  I finally gave up after two tries and did it in pen & ink.  India ink wash, micron pens, and Bristol.   This past weekend I played around with pen & ink and watercolor. I'm not sure if the watercolor should come first, or the ink. These are all on 140-lb watercolor (strathmore) with cotman waterco...

 More online tutorials.   These are both colored pencil on Bristol.  

 This was out the window.  To put this in context, I should  explain that I work in a psychiatric hospital.  These were on the table.     I made a colleague wait to eat until I was done drawing her snack. Sketching during meeting often prompts The Doctor to ask, "we're not boring you, are we?"  To which I reply, "no, I'm good--see, I've got stuff to draw." Later, I worked on stuff in my back yard.     There is a huge wall next to my house.  I think I want to paint a mural. Scenes from my back yard.   This does not show how awesome my backyard is.  My Beloved is a crazy talented gardner, and as soon as I can decently render pictures in color, you'll see. Oh yes.  You will.

I spent this week drawing people. On mother's day, I drew my mom, Linda. I also drew my youngest son, who graduated, and tried to draw my husband.   My mom, aside from being pragmatic about becoming an artist, rarely encouraged me in the direction of art.  Oh, sure, when I was little she would show me how to draw a daffodile on a rainy day, or explain to me that the reason that the little kid at the mall was so funny-looking was that his face was not in proper proportion...but aside from that, little was said in the way of art instructions.  She taught others.  She answered my questions, but never urged me or pushed me. I find that curious.  She nearly forced me to take piano, ballet, trumpet, gymnastics...but never art lessons.  When I joined the art club in jr high, she was uninterested. That which she lived and breathed 24/7, so much so that I think she was annoyed by the need to sleep.  That thing, she did not share with me. Was it becau...

graphite, charcoal stupid blog won't let me center this.

Like, literally, eyes.

assignment from "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain"

When I was 26, I went to college. That's not the age that people usually go.  But it's the age I went.  I was divorced, and had three children, ages 3 months, 3 years, and 6 years. I took Art 101, Drawing.  I had always drawn well, and when I was younger, I made little sculptures.  I won art contests in grade school.  I won a prize in an art contest at the state fair, When I talked to friends about taking the college class, I was warned that this particular teacher was a real asshole, really rigid, rarely gave out anything higher than a B.  Actually, I found him to be stern but quite reasonable, although I had to argue with him to be able to stand up to draw, instead of sitting down.  But when I was done with the class, he gave me an A, asked if he could put my drawings on display, and told me I should take more classes in the art department. I called my mom, Linda, a professional artist, and excitedly told her the news. Mom took a deep breath....