I love to sketch people. Anywhere. Anytime. So when I was on a train for 11+ hours on each leg of a recent trip, I had plenty of models. Here are a few!

In a couple weeks about 20  of my small paintings will be hung at the McGuffey Art Center.

The ideas for my paintings come from watching the people around me. Some compositions start as sketches, while others start as photos, but all start from my observations. They are not unique portraits, but rather iconic experiences of our collective existence. The paintings celebrate the liminal places, and the seemingly mundane activities of our lives. They are a gentle nod of appreciation for the historical tradition of genre art, and reflections of my many musings of life as we know it!

Also shown will be this large fiber art piece. It has been on a tour with the International Quilt Festival for the past year, and just got home. Its origins are the same as the paintings, so it seemed like a good place to show it locally.

On a recent trip, I found that not only is my phone great for photos and communication, but also for when I can't break out the sketchbook. I can pull out the stylus, and sketchaway  with almost no one noticing!  These drawings of my fellow travelers are from the various airports we spent time in.

On the longer train trips, I was able to break out the sketchbook. So here are a few of them:

We moved from Wisconsin about ten years ago.   As the saying goes "you can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but...".
I have always loved barns, and there was one particular barn by our home that intrigued me. It was situated so perfectly to catch the sun and reflect the seasons. I took so many pictures of it.

The barn became my muse for a series in which I could stretch my wings with acrylic paints. I have used oil paints in the past, and so love the smooth sensual glide of the paint. The smells take me right back to the days of academia and smoke-filled (olden days, huh!) studios. But times, conditions and things change, so now I want to use acrylics instead. The problem has always been a fast-drying palette. But armed with a new "stay-wet" palette, I have rallied on.

Then they were done. Practiced ground. Practiced skies. Practiced shading. All and all a fruitful and fun adventure.

One of my latest projects started out from a sketch that I did of myself. I did several sketches that day, and didn't think too much more about it. Then I started watching untold hours of the British show "Portrait artist of the Year" and decided to try painting again! I liked the pose in the sketch, but I needed a color reference and a more interesting set up. I noticed the great shadows from our blinds and decided they would make for an interesting "texture" for a painting, so I took a reference photo

I then broke out my acrylic paints - be still my soul and quit your yearning for the smell and smoothness of oil paints. I do not want to fill our home with turpentine and oil smells, or chance the ruination of the rental property that is our abode. I also work fairly quickly, so acrylics help me not to over work as much. Finding a "Stay Wet" palette has also been a real life changer. So I began to paint. It was fun, and here is the result.

Finally got some sketch time in today. It has been over a week, I think It was a good day at Cville coffee - even though someone caught me! This young man grin as he said "you drawing me??"  when I said yes, he said I better make him look good! He had the best smile as he was texting his friends, so it wasn't hard to make him look friendly

I have now continued to sketch out in the wild... I love sketching people. Here are some more of my recent sketches. the captions record the locations.

 the captions say where it was done.After my 100 day project (click if you want to see them all!) I reviewed what I had done, and realized my favorites were those drawn while out in the "wild"; the waiting room, the coffee shops, etc. People are so very busy with their cell phones, or engrossed in conversation that they don't pay a lot of attention to what I am doing.

I now have a sketchbook that goes from June 10 through July 10 of sketches like this... Here are a few of my favorites from that sketchbook: They are captioned with the location where I sketched them.

Drawing from life is as old as drawing itself. A way to train the eye, and to observe the human body, a most unique, ever-changing and expressive subject. McGuffey Art Center has weekly Sessions available, so this is where I go to explore and sketch in a formal setting.