Sweet Square #5

I don't usually work in watercolor but I see such great things done with it. The MOE is the perfect place to play with it. This is a composition (3X3 inches) of things I see out my window here in Brest. The is an urban environment but you'd be surprised what you find. If you haven't joined in on the fun of Sweet Squares, it isn't too late. Check out Diandra Mae's blog.

watercolor and black Berol Prismacolor on moleskine sketch paper

Sweet Square #4

More for the Month of Experimentation. What's going on here? I'm getting to know a cow character but other than that I'm not sure. That's the experimental part of it. :-)

acrylic paint for the background; black felt tip for the cow; collage

Sweet Square #3

Black & white (marker) for today's Sweet Square. This gave me a chance to try something out in a mini format in a little bit of time. Check out the Month of Experimentation on Diandra Mae's blog if you're interested in joining in on this adventure.

Sweet Square #2

Second day of Sweet Squares. Acrylic, marker, collage. Having fun.

Sweet Squares

What better way to get into the back-to-school spirit than an online challenge? Inspired by Melissa Sweet at the SCBWI Conference in LA, Diandra Mae has started the MONTH OF EXPERIMENTATION over on her blog and it sounds like a great opportunity to me. Click over to Diandra's blog to see what it's all about. The basic idea is to start the day with play. I did my first 3X3 "Sweet Square" today.

These "Sweet Squares" offer an opportunity to do anything-- use new materials or new combinations of materials. Just try stuff out in a small format quickly. Today I used acrylics with black marker and some collage. I hope to do a ""Sweet Square" everyday in the morning to get my day started. The key is to have fun and experiment without judging or pushing oneself. Who knows where these little experiments can lead? I don't know but eliminating the pressure to produce "perfect" work for my portfolio seems like a good place to start.

Thanks so much to Diandra Mae for cooking this up.

Summer time is the right time for... sketching

Just this past June 21st, SCBWI chapters all over Europe (and beyond) participated in a Summer Stolstice Scrawlcrawl. Out here in northwestern France, Sue Porter, my daughter Gemma and I did our part. You can see our blogpost with sketches and photos here.

Now that I'm planning a visit home to New York in August, I remembered another summer sketch experience at The Frick Museum. They offered free entry for Sunday morning sketch sessions. I wanted to go and needed a sketch buddy so I nominated Gemma.

She was pretty comfortable sitting around at home but was happy to come.

Gemma warmed up a little.

Dana too. We took a quick stab at the architecture.

Then we zeroed in on the plants. I liked the leaves and light.

What I especially like about Gemma's sketch is that she found patterns right off and accentuated line.
Nice composition too!

Gemma has grown to like these very public, "in front of everybody!" outings. This year she's looking forward to it. So am I.

The Frick has free admission evenings too, complete with docents giving great tours. If you're in NYC this summer, hope to see you there.

12X12 Halfway There Party!

I’m trying to eek out an entry for the 12X12 in 2012 Halfway There Blog Party. The problem with going (almost?) last is that I’ve had a chance to see what all those other Partiers have done (great stuff!) and I’m drawing a blank.
 

Hmm. Still thinking…

Luckily, I had a little more luck coming up with picture book manuscripts. At the halfway mark, I can honestly say that I have six first drafts completed. Number Six was under the wire too— completed it on June 30th.

I’ll spare you the reasons (excuses?). Some months have been very organized and some less so. June was one of the latter (started a new job). But thanks to the 12X12, I was motivated to get something on paper. So for the first time, I wrote a first draft in bits and pieces. I usually like to write the first draft in one go but I had to write it on the fly this month and it really wasn’t so hard after all. A couple of paragraphs in the dentist's waiting room, a few more waiting at my daughter's ballet gala, recharging in my favorite café... I had time to think about my ending without stressing, do a little research, figure things out. This story, like the other five I’ve written this year (plus the seven written for NaPiBoWriWee) will need lots of revision. That’s okay. I’m looking forward to it. Once the first draft is down, the fun part is making it better and sketching out characters.

I’ve been having a great 12X12. Thanks so much to Julie Hedlund for dreaming this up and to all the 12X12ers who are such a supportive, interesting, inspiring group.

Party On!