Susan E. J. White

Artist ~ Crafter ~ Maker

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Pen and Ink

Every Day in May #21 – 31

EDiM #21 – The spot where you regularly sit to read.
When I sit to read in the summer this is my spot – on the bench, near the edge of the house, in the shade, facing the county road and neighbor’s field with the breeze coming around the corner of the house. One day last summer, I looked left over my shoulder to discover that a deer had wandered into the nearby shade of the trees to take a break like I was. This is also the spot where I have completed many of my EDiM posts.

sketch of bench seat on porch

EDiM – #22 Something that hangs in your home.
In real life, this is a terra cotta colored, heavy clay, happy not pensive, very round face that was a gift from my mum. It hangs in our living room and I love it.

This feels like more of a painting than a sketch but I guess I can call it a watercolor sketch and move on.

sketch of suncatcher ornament

EDiM #23 – an interesting architectural feature
This is a kitchen corner in our timber framed home. The frame is entirely held together with oak pegs and only two show in this corner. There are several corners like this in the house and when I looked at this sketch from a distance, I realized that it reminds me of joyous, outstretched arms – a very favorite symbol of mine. We designed and built our home and it continues to be a source of interesting architectural details.

sketch of timber frame in kitchen

EDiM #24 Keys

sketch of keys

EDiM #25 An apron, or something you wear as a cover during messy activities
This large, old white shirt reminds me of my Mom, who wears one still for all of her messy activities and of Dad, who was a big, tall business man with worn shirts to spare. It is my favorite go-to cover-up for painting and gardening in the hot summertime.

sketch of cleaning shirt

EDiM 26 – A sign
This sign hangs on our front porch above the spot I regularly sit to read…EDiM #21.

sketch of white house sign

EDiM #27 Something furry or fuzzy
I chose to wander through the garden to see what I was ready to tackle. While I considered the Lamb’s Ear plants, the “fuzziness” and color of the chives against the hardness of the river rocks and the turquoise rock settled it for me.

sketch of chives

EDiM #28 – A yard ornament or statuary
This was an ornament in our yard for a week and left halfway thru my sketch. I was able to finish from a photo. As I worked on this, I enjoyed the memories of our youngest in DH’s lap saying “Draw dozer Dad, draw tractor Dad.” Skip the reading and get to the drawing! Sweet memories!

sketch of excavator

EDiM #29 – A faucet
Sometimes I have to dream up a challenge and sometimes it just lands on my doorstep. A box of Micron pens arrived in an order the other day and much to my dismay they were 005’s and not the 05’s I expected. I didn’t even know anything that small existed other than in the Rapidiograph line. It took me a bit but I accepted the challenge and drew our kitchen faucet using a quarter of the page size I have been doing most of the EDiM postings. This one is roughly 3.5″ tall by 4.5″ wide. The line width on the border is the size I was expecting.

Our kitchen sink is a big, old, cast iron double sink with a slanted back. In order to use a modern faucet, my clever husband crafted an angled support from wood and mounted it all in place.

sketch of kitchen faucet

EDiM #30 – A Birdfeeder
For today’s drawing I used the same fine pens, Micron 005, and searched bird feeders on Pinterest. I’m certain I haven’t done justice to the special one that caught my eye but here it is! It is small for me – about 3.5″ wide by 5″ tall.

sketch of bird feeder

EDiM #31 – Eggs
Woo Hoo! I did it! Completed the entire month. At day 24, I realized that I had the urge to sketch more, beyond the daily challenges. I’m moving on to June to see what next month brings. For some reason, my last three sketches have landed on the first page of my sketch book!

sketch of eggs

 

Every Day in May #11 – 20

EDiM – #11
A cap, a hat, or other headgear
This lovely, rusty cap sits in my garden on top of a bowling ball…just because.

sketch of bowling ball with metal crown

EDiM #12 -Some stairs or steps
Trying to capture the stairs and metalwork that DH has done.

edim122015G

EDiM #13 Last thing(s) I bought, eggs and salt

sketch of eggs and salt shaker

EDiM #14 – Something you use everyday

sketch of hands that I use everyday

EDiM #15 – Something you could throw/give away – Daffodil bulbs
They grow like crazy in my clay soil and I am always happy to share.

sketch of daffodil bulbs

EDiM #16 -Ingredients for a favorite recipe

sketch of favorite meal items

EDiM #17 – Something used for Measuring
So many ideas for measuring items…a quick brainstorm through art, crafts, and building activities in our house gave me a big list but I narrowed it down to these tools. I think the contour gauge is pretty cool. I see that I spelled gauge wrong twice! and what is it with letting the ink dry already? Slooowww learner here…
Finally a drawing with no pencil set up, used acrylic ink, dip pen, and still loving the watercolor even if it is black only.

sketch of tools in black and white

EDIM ‪#‎18‬ – Lipstick or lip gloss
I don’t own any lipstick but if I did I would want it to have a nice case like this. My apologies to the poem author for the spelling error – no undo button with ink. If you want to read the rest of the poem, just web search the title. Pen, ink, and Tombow markers.

sketch of lipstick

EDiM #19 – A Cupcake
A Learning-full day – yes, it may be a new word. Today’s subject is cupcake but here are the challenges for the day. Start with a gessoed paper, acrylic ink and do it all left handed, no pre-drawing with pencil. Was going along as expected until the watercolor hit the ink on gesso – not so permanent and it all ran together. So, I started again – no prep, left handed, dip pen, acrylic ink, accidental splotches, watercolor, and some fortuitous splatters. Almost forgot the wind and bugs…surprised the cats didn’t come by!

BTW, I made these cupcakes a few years ago with homemade marshmallow and a special cutter my DH made for the snout shape.

sketch of cupcakes

EDiM – #20, Your wallet/billfold…
or in my case the next best thing since I don’t use a wallet or a billfold. This is a funky, fun little bag that just jumped off the rack at a rock and mineral show.

sketch of a small handbag

 

Every Day in May #4 – 10

EDM #4 – Spice Jars

sketch of spice jars

EDM #5 – Something Hot
It’s hot in the winter for sure, not so much now. The question is – is it White’s black woodstove or is it a black White woodstove?

I discovered too late that the De Atramentis black ink doesn’t seem to want to be permanent on this watercolor paper although it has been fine for me on other papers.

sketch of wood stove

EDM #6 – Something with Bristles
Wouldn’t it be fun to have paint brushes with fancy ferrules like these? Credit for the inspiration goes to Valentina Harper from her book “Creative Coloring Inspirations”.

sketch of paint brushes

EDM #7 – Envelopes
I decided to make them up…some that I would enjoy giving or receiving.

sketch of envelopes

EDM #8 – Something with a Handle
Changing it up this time, taking less time and learning to be sure the ink is dry first! Pencil, dip pen, acrylic ink, watercolor. Door handle found on Pinterest.

sketch of door handle

EDM #9 – Something with an Interesting Label

sketch of apple and hard cider bottle

EDM  #10 – Something you can turn on and off
This is an attempt to capture a small portion of a water feature that one of my sons created for me. My DH later wired an on/off switch at the house for me. I love it.

I often think these days should be called “An Experimental Drawing Every Day in May” since every one of these posts feels that way! I never really know how or where to start or stop, so at some point I just do.

Also, I accidentally discovered that the thin paper between the watercolor pages in the sketchbook could be painted/sketched on with watercolor. I was tired and didn’t realize I had done the initial sketch on it…too tired to change it so I went forward and it all worked itself out…just right.

watercolor sketch of rocks
 

Every Day in May Drawings 1-3

Time to play catch-up. I’ve been participating on Facebook in the Every Day in May Sketch or Draw Challenge group. There is an item listed for each day of the month and the idea is to sketch or draw the item and post it for members to see. So far I have been able to keep up. For this post, we’ll look at days 1, 2, and 3. The text with each post is what I posted with my drawing/sketch/painting.

EDiM #1 -Your Favorite Food
I’m inconsistent with sketching but I want it to be a habit so I’m going to give EDiM a try. Really, pumpkin pie is my favorite but its May and I’d rather sketch than bake right now. Since I can eat these fruits without reservation, they are my new favorites. Tomorrow I’ll set a timer for sketching to speed and loosen things up.

edim012015r

EDiM #2 – A Tree
This is a tree with tire swing that I see every morning and have for over twenty years. It’s clear to me that the scale of the pine needles is off. Oh well! Here’s what’s good about it.
It’s done…second consecutive day.
I sat outside in the sun on a beautiful 68 degree afternoon and finally did something arty with this view.
I finally tried a fan brush and scraping into the paint.
I can do this experiment again any time I want or not…there are so many more experiments to be tried.

edim022015r

EDiM #3 – A Curtain. This was a challenge for sure. Today I played with a little masking fluid. I’m learning about what to leave out and in what order I should sketch and paint things.

Sketch of a shower curtain

Plenty more to post…stay tuned.