Tuesday Art Skool Lesson

Today I decided to talk about the first step in beginning a drawing. I know I said I was going to talk about Italian door perspective, but I think I will tackle that topic another Tuesday when I am fully recovered from jetlag.
When you look at your drawing subject, choose "a unit of measurement". I chose the width of the top of the planter box, then I used that width to determine the sizes of everything else in my drawing. For example the watering can was almost exactly one planter box width tall. Get it? If not, email me with your questions. If you begin your drawings finding a unit of measurement and compare it to all the other sizes you will have correct proportions.
If your drawings look ok to you without this step, feel free to ignore my lesson...

Making Drawing A HABIT

Have you ever read about establishing habits? I read that it takes 21 days of doing something for it to become a habit. I have made a decision to get up earlier then I usually do, get dressed (some of you may know of my situation of getting started in my studio in my pjs and not changing out of them till 4 p.m.) and spend some time doing a drawing from observing something real. Although I draw often, I don't actually practice drawing from observation on a regular basis and I  think drawing from observation is a great way to improve your skill and have fun and stay out of trouble.
This morning I rushed into my studio, dressed and began to look for something to draw. My subject had to be a bit challenging, but not too difficult as I get easily discouraged and engage my inner critic.
I grabbed my favorite plastic cow and began to draw. I ended up finishing the cow drawing, then painting it on 90lb. watercolor paper with watered down acrylic paints. Then I could not resist scanning the cow and making it a "Purple cow".

Have YOU ever seen a purple cow?

Lessons Drawn From Italy or Don't Try to Post with Jet Lag

My demo painting

 We arrived home from Italy late last night and found the house, the dogs and our child still here. I thought about what to write on the blog today and some really great ideas came to mind, like reporting with photos on the great shoes I bought in Italy or what I learned about renaissance art or fresco painting. However, I was too jet lagged to try to impress you. So I thought I might show you the first lesson I taught at my workshop in Tuscany. I brought a drawing I had done before the trip in order to begin teaching  Tuscany travel painting concepts like textures, colors and shadows.  Everyone in the workshop picked up the concepts quickly and did a great job. I concluded they were fully trained in Basic Tuscany painting. 

For this week's Tuesday Art Skool post, I will teach you these things.

My door I painted this morning, but couldn't find my  other colors, I think they are somewhere under the souvenirs in my suitcase.

My door I painted this afternoon after eating my first burrito after  17  days  of pasta eating.

Paris Airport Shopping

We are delayed in the Paris airport for a couple of extra hours. This delay is not a problem for me as how could I have a problem with spending extra time in the Paris airport which is filled with duty-free shops and excellent people watching opportunities. After purusing the shops I have decided I don't need a ring from Cartier, a scarf from Hermes or a purse from Prada, but they are fun to look at. I did my shopping in the little shops in Tuscany.

Florence, Italy and Gelato

Today we are in Florence and have spent our day walking and visiting Gelato Shops.
Speaking of gelato, Polly asked me to report what flavors of gelato I tried. The answer is Tiramisu and coffee, Tiramisu and crema. Today my husband tried coffee and panna cotta and he reported it was very good.
This summer I will be teaching some watercolor classes at our local libraries. The subject of my paintings will be based on the summer reading theme, "Reading is Delicious" and we will paint pictures of ice cream and desserts. So actually my Italian gelato tasting was research for these classes...