Sharing His Song

"In spite of everything, I shall rise again; 

I will take up my pencil, which I have
forsaken in my great discouragement, 

and I will go on with my drawing."
~ Vincent van Gogh

This drawing is from my Sketching Everyday Blog. It is from a photo taken at Cedar Run, a local wildlife refuge.The owl in the scene is a beloved male barred owl named Squam.

From the CedarRunWildlife Instagram post;

cedarrunwildlife "It is with heavy hearts we share the news of the passing of our great friend, beloved teacher, and loyal ambassador, Squam. For many of the tens of thousands of people who know Cedar Run, chances are, they know Squam. Squam was a true ambassador and educator. He engaged tens of thousands of our members, neighbors, school children, visitors, volunteers, staff and community members with his sense of calm and endearing looks. It was hard not to feel love when looking upon Squam. A true teacher to the end, his lessons will continue on far into the future. Squam first came to us in 2002, when he was about two years old, he packed a lot of living in his 18 years on this earth. He lived a grand life with us, and will be missed by many. One of his favorite things to do was to share his song with us. He loved to sing in auditoriums, where his song would soar and fill the space, or he would sing to the female barred owls in the wild and try to call them to him, sometimes he would sing to the passing fire engine or to the music he heard on the radio. Sometimes it seemed he would sing simply to share his song."

This is a drawing by student and friend, Judy Scott, who worked at the wildlife center
rehabilitating birds and other animals for many years.

 Judy wrote; "  I have access to Squam and I combined two pictures. This is a sketch of Squam and a fledgling Barred Owl. In 2007 Squam was a foster parent to a young Barred Owl that came into the refuge. Although Squam is a male, he was a great surrogate, teaching the young one to eat and fly. Eventually the fledgling was released back into the wild. Thanks for all your support of Cedar Run."

“When the owl sings, the night is silent.” 
 ~ Charles de Leusse

May your spirit continue to soar dear Squamie.

Please add your own recollections about this awesome wildlife ambassador in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.

X ♥  O

 

Come Sketch With Me!

"Drawing is the only thing I've found

in which I can lose myself Completely."

~ P. Capaldi

Small objects you love, make great models for quick gesture drawings.

This sketch was done with a quick gesture *holding the pencil like a wand

and then details were added, **holding the pencil like you would to write your name.

*** See Drawing Tips Below

If you are strapped for time, just do one set of 2 minute gestures everyday.

You'll be surprised how much even that little bit will help!

The brain processes 3D objects differently than when viewing flat, 2D reference. Drawing from photos is good practice too, but there are some real benefits to to starting off the summer season with drawing from life!

Here's a photo of the nest which was drawn from life, at a slightly different angle. 

***Some Tips on Drawing two minute gestures from life.

• When drawing small objects, it helps to get the item closer to eye level, so I set them up on a box or a large coffee can.

• It also helps to isolate the subject with a solid colored background.

• Closing one eye often helps if you are having difficulty.

• When drawing, try to keep your body and head in the same position or your view will change.

• Prop your drawing pad up at an angle. Use a Beanie Baby, or something similar.

• Squint to see large shapes as you start to draw quickly.

• Hold your pencil *In Position One - like a wand (*Like you were conducting an orchestra) It's the complete opposite position from **Position Two (**the position we use to write our name).

• Block in large shapes. Use the side of the pencil. Look at negative space. Make comparisons.

• Then, if you still have time, turn the pencil to **Position Two  and add a few details.

• You can see a short video on sketching gestures and how to hold your pencil here.

Follow this link for more tips on how to go about doing quick gestures. http://www.sketchingeveryday.com/…/in-starting-gate-and-the… 

Come Sketch Everyday With Me This Summer From June 1 - August 31st!  

Join our facebook group here.

"Sometimes the very best of all summer books is a blank notebook. Get one big enough, and you can practice sketching the lemon slice in your drink, the hot lifeguard on the beach or the

vista down the hill from your cabin." 

~ MM. Dirda

Happy Creating My Friends!

X ♥  O

 

Sketch With Me For FREE!

“The more you express your skills,
the more experienced you become and
the closer you get to excellence.”

~ Israelmore Ayivor

~~~~~~~~~~

 

FUN & FREE!...!http://www.sketchingeveryday.com

Come hone your drawing, sketching and watercolor skills with me this summer as I indulge in my 8th Summer of Drawing Everyday from June 1st - August 31st!

Check it out here!

Happy Creating My Friends!

X ♥  O

 

Butterfly Bliss and Hummingbird Magic

Butterfly Bliss
See painting price and specifications here.

Hummingbird Magic
See painting price and specifications here.

These hummingbird and butterfly sketches were traced

onto synthetic, nonabsorbent Yupo paper with a black pencil

then painted in transparent watercolor.

The Butterfly Bushes have been attracting some interesting species lately and I estimate that we have around 100 hummingbirds here now. We go through a gallon and a half of nectar everyday. A lot of time is spent caring for the hummingbirds, watering their flowers, making nectar, filling and cleaning feeders. There are also plenty of sweet, soothing, quiet times though. It's a relaxing meditation; watching them and listening, just enjoying their presence and entertaining aerial displays. The male hummingbirds will be leaving us soon and the females and youngsters are starting to pair up and go into training for their biannual migration. They are such magical creatures; it is no wonder that they symbolize happiness, love and joy! Do you have butterflies and hummingbirds where you live? What types do you see?

♥

Keep Moving BEAR!

I've been obsessed with bears since there's been several sightings in this area last week. I've been drawing them the past few days for my Summer Sketching Series and today I did this painting. I did it from a blurry shot of one of the actual bears someone had in their backyard. His gesture in the photo made me feel sorry for him. He must hear the words; "Keep moving, bear!", all too often. To me, he looked scared and lonely. The reference for the facial features came from a public domain photo on Wikipedia that I posted on my sketching blog. This bear painting didn't come out how I had planned or hoped. It is what it is, though. There's always next time and another chance to get it right. If you've got any suggestions for my next attempt, I'd be grateful for your input. Check out today's bear drawings on www.SketchingEverday.com. 

Sparkling Spring Weather After the Rain

Using a couple of Have-A-Heart traps, Jerry caught one cat last night (not the ones we were after), and two raccoons! He dropped the nice little orange and white kitty off at ACE OF SPAYS this morning. They just called and said that after putting her under, they saw that she had just had kittens and is probably only six months old herself!! If they spay her now, the milk will dry up and the kittens will die. He is on his way now to pick her up. Hopefully we can catch her (and her kittens) in about 5 weeks. Anyone want a cute, young, friendly, neutered ginger and white cat after we get her fixed? She let Jerry pet her, is really sweet and is cute as a button. I'll try to take a picture of her when Jerry gets home. I guess the love birds were off somewhere on their honeymoon! We will try again to trap them on Monday for Tuesday's Spay and Neuter Clinic. We had our family goodbye dinner last night with the smell of male cat spray wafting from the deck and permeating the house. EWWW! ERRRR!

Jerry's been bringing plants home to brighten up the yard and has started his garden with an assortment of veggies. We get a heavy coating of pine and oak pollen at this time every spring, but with lots of rain last night, everything sparkles in the sunlight today. Here are some views from the studio porch this morning.

The Butterfly bushes have leafed out but as far as I can tell from afar, they have no real signs of buds yet.

I like the polychromatic baskets with petunias and daisies and other interesting flower combinations that Jerry has purchased. 

Along with the hanging baskets, we've got plenty of hummingbird feeders out. So far the action at them has been sporadic and slow, but it seems like it's this way every year. I start to get concerned, then I get a hummingbird explosion around mid June.

The grass in the pasture is so green, I'm afraid to let the horses out there for more than forty minutes. They could quickly eat a large quantity of the rich grass and colic. Then I'd really be in trouble.

My parents pulled out of here this morning after a teary goodbye. The time went by so fast, even with my infirmity. They stayed with us here for three full weeks and were a huge help with me, the house and the horses. And of course, they were also great company. I am so truly blessed.

Mom and I did calligraphy, origami, watercolor paintings and embossing. We watched a lot of YouTude craft videos. I tried to help both Mom and Dad enhance their computer skills a little while they were here with me.

Dad held down the ranch and was in charge of taking care of the horses when Jerry was working.  He lunged Rudy for me almost everyday and being a greenhorn, did a darn good job of it. Boy, I sure am going to miss them!! The backyard looks so bare without the motor home out there.

Ziggy (the orange tabby) and Leah (the dark calico) are our two outside resident ferals, pictured here on the roof. They are staying away from the house and protecting their turf (penthouse suite above the shed) from all the wild interlopers that are up here, causing havoc on the deck.

During my recovery, I've been getting back into sketching almost everyday. Soon it will be time to start up my summer SketchingEveryday blog, if I decide to do it again this year. 

"And the seasons, they go round and round;" ~ Joni Mitchell

Snowflake the Mother Raccoon is Alive!

About eight to ten years ago, Snowflake the raccoon came into our lives. She was out in broad daylight, up in a tree on the edge of the yard. Jerry thought she was sick, but I knew she wasn't. Just looking at her, you could tell she was the picture of health. She most likely had young ones to feed and was out scouting around for a meal.

A couple of weeks ago, we sadly found a dead momma raccoon on the side of the road, by our driveway. Not wishing to think that it was our own long time resident, Snowflake, we kept hoping for a glimpse of her. She had moved this years' litter out from under the hay shed several weeks ago. We hadn't seen her and the three babies since.

Jerry was working in the yard today when he saw a raccoon out around noon. He called her name several times and each time she paused and looked up, obviously unafraid. We are certain it was her. She is the only raccoon we ever saw out in the middle of the day here. YAY Snowflake! We are both relieved and happy.

Monday's Child

 Is  Fair  Of  Face . . 

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."  ~ William Shakespeare

This sketch is from today in my sketchbook on regular drawing paper.

Flower Paintings

My Summer Sketching Series, 2011, is now into the second month. I am trying to expand my audience by delving a little deeper into composition and design.

Our current weekly sketching challenge involves using a bit more insight and creativity.

Participants will be encouraged to sketch flowers and make a pleasing composition using the Momma, Poppa, Baby Theory and the Rule of Thirds.

Here are some of my flower paintings from my archives to help demonstrate what I'm looking for.

SandyLand Is Now HummerLand!!

Another day of hummingbird happiness here in HummerLand! We had a discussion on facebook yesterday about the name and one friend suggested I could call it HummerLand in the summer and SandyLand the rest of the year. I like that. Welcome to Sandy's world. Here the critters rule!!

Today I sketched a hummingbird in flight (with feet). I've been noticing their feet a lot lately. (So tiny and yet powerful! :-D) Here's a little watercolor I did from my sketch of the day. 

I Got "Lens Of The Day" Today! YAY!

"Every day (or nearly that) Squidoo's Community & Charity Organizer, Kimberly Dawn Wells, highlights a lens that stands out from the crowd, a lens that is unique in topic, approach, personality, tools or timing. Or, you know, just a lens that made her day." ~ Lens Of The Day

Today Kimberly wrote in my guestbook; "Congratulations on your LOTD! Thanks for teaching us how to make such great art with such simple directions."

WOW! SketchingEveryday is my top rated lens and this really made my day. My Summer Sketching Series is now in full swing . . . and I am truly thrilled to see that my Six Steps To Sensational Sketches got "Lens of the Day"! Thanks Kimberly!

Too Much To Share And T.M.I. !

I started looking at my Squidoo Lenses this past weekend and realized most of them had way T. M. I. - TOO MUCH INFORMATION ! So I decided to break them down into more digestible chunks.

I've got two new lenses so far. I hope you find them interesting, helpful and worth your time.

An Obsession With Hummingbirds was inspired by a comment left recently here on my web log.


Simple Sketching Steps contains a new drawing demo.

In Simple Sketching Steps, I also explain my materials and make supply recommendations. My SketchingEveryday Blog starts in one week, so if you plan on following along and doing my sketching challenges this year, make sure you read this short lens and pick up any materials you may need.

An Obsession With Hummingbirds

I will be traveling and giving s few drawing demonstrations next week, so I thought I'd better practice a little today. Not drawing as regularly as I would like, my session started off slow and a little rusty. After a short time however, it became much easier. Here's a few steps of one of today's sketches. No hummers have been spotted here yet, so drawing some will just have to quench my thirst for now. Last year the first one showed up here on April 19th, so it shouldn't be too long of a wait now!

Wash Drawing Of Butterfly Bush Flowers

I've posted almost 60 drawings everyday so far this summer. I can't believe that it is almost August! For all you folks who haven't checked out my blog, www.sketchingeveryday.com yet, you may want to take a look. Here's today's finished sketch of the cut Butterfly Bush flowers that I posted yesterday. I decided to break out my watercolors and really try to bring these babies to life for you.

A couple More Animals From Wild Safari Park

An ostrich shot by sister, Denise Bush.


This guy was lookin' for a lift or possibly a handout.... I drew from this photo today while my photographer buddy, Nancy Louie, sat on my back studio porch shooting hummingbirds. You can see my daily drawing attempt on my Sketching Everyday Blog today

Tomorrow, I'm posting the human animal family here, then I'll be done with My Great Adventure Family Reunion 2009. :-D

New Drawing Challenge

Here's a new shot to sketch from this week. This is a herb garden that my friend Dorrie brought to me yesterday, along with three beautiful patio tomato plants and fertilizer! This little pot shown here has chives, oregano and rosemary in it. It has a wonderful variety of textures, directional thrusts and shapes. This one is super easy!! You should be able to get the overall shape down on this in under a minute.

Each week I'll post my interpretation and any other drawings that people submit. See my 12 minute drawing of last week's photograph here.

2009 Sketching Demo Now On Line!

Learn Sandy's 6 Step Technique Here!

Red Tail Hawk Sketch And Demo

This is the reference photo for today's "SketchingEveryday" post. I documented the process and will be putting together another sketching tutorial in the next day or two.

Attn.: Artists - Sketching Everyday Challenge

My sketching everyday blog has just started up again for the 4th summer in a row! It feels great to be "back in the saddle again"! This year, I'm posting a photo at the beginning of each week. If anyone chooses to sketch it and send in your results, I'll post them on my sketching blog the following Sunday with my interpretation of the image. Here's this week's photo of Squamie, the Barred Owl at the Cedar Run Refuge.

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it." ~ Margaret Thatcher

Squidoo Lens Reviews By Mimi

I got several mysterious emails today about my Sketching Lens on Squidoo. The first one from Jimmie said; "I'm amazed. You make it look easy! Beautiful and instructive lens. (I'm visiting from Mimi's blog where she reviewed your lens.)". Hugh, I thought, I wonder who Mimi is. Then I got another couple and this email from Joan Adams. She wrote; "I'm visiting from Squidoo Lens Reviews too! Congratulations on a great review and feature." So I emailed Joan and asked her "What's up?" She told me that Mimi had reviewed my "Six Steps To Sensational Sketches"on her blog, Squidoo Lens Reviews. Wow, Thanks Mimi! Thanks Joan and Jimmie and all you other great folks who take the time time to send me your thoughts and encouragement! I am honored. I swear, I meet the nicest peeps online!! :-D See Mimi's review of my lens here.