Art Studio Assistant

Pace is fully adopted now and I’ve put him to work as my studio assistant. I am having difficulty convincing him to file my papers.  He seems to prefer to sniff my paints, lick my watercolor paper and critique my work. He feels I should paint more animals and not too many flowers. 

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Since I need marketing advice on what type of subject matter sells I am taking the beagle’s advice and painting animals.

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I am working on this boho elephant, using lots of thin glazes of watercolor + raspberry ink and white paint.   

Italian Vacation in Your Plans?

I’ve been all over the map lately planning the itinerary for the Fall Anywhere Art Tour to Italy. It will be our 31st tour! 

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We will be visiting a variety of locations around North Western, Central and Southern Tuscany with a touch of the Lazio province thrown in because we must visit the UNESCO World heritage site of Tarquinia and learn more about the Etruscans, their customs, and their fabulous murals. We’ll also taste wine in the Chianti region, visit the Festival of the Thrush (which promises dancing in the streets), dip our toes in a thermal spa, ride bikes or stroll in the wall park in Lucca, visit a shoe factory, see the Cinque Terre and spend a Sunday at an Antiques Faire in the heart of Lucca.

 

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In fact, I am so excited about the Fall Italian adventure that I got the vapors and our rescue Aussie had to revive me.

 

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Beagle Sketching

After a visit with my friend, Nancy Holtz, the pen sketching artist, I decided to use the pen she gave me to sketch my beagle of a certain age, Socks. 

Nancy effortlessly ink sketches what she sees without drawing in pencil first. The thought of not using a pencil first brings me back to my sad memories of 3rd grade when my teacher took away my pencil. The teacher said my writing was too small and that I needed to use only a crayon until I enlarged my writing. I ought to talk to someone about this as my stomach churns at this memory.

The new pen beckoned to me. Nancy received this pen a Pentel Hybrid Technica directly from Cheap Joe when she took a class from him in North Carolina. In my book, this is like receiving a gift from the guru of art supplies. 

Many of you dear blog readers know my house is filled with a pak of dogs including 2 beagles. Socks is our beagle emeritus and deserves to have his beagle poses documented for posterity. So yesterday I over came my fear of not sketching with a pencil first and sketched him with "the pen." 

The first sketched resembled chicken scrawls and I wanted to quit. However, I remembered I tell everyone that drawing requires practice. I had to keep drawing. Today's sketches were better. Then I invented the beagle project; 25 Sketches in 25 Daze to keep me going.  

Would you like to join me and find a subject you can sketch for 25 Daze?