ORDINARY LIFE

LOCAL WISDOM CARDS 

                                                                   "MORE THAN KISSES, LETTERS MINGLE SOULS"   - JOHN DONNE

SHARING OUR STORIES

I'm into my third week of online "sketchbook skool". The first week Danny Gregory motivated and inspired us by encouraging us to just dive in, and to make drawing a daily habit. His opening assignment was to tell about ourselves and why we are taking this course, what we want from making art, and what's been getting in our way, and then finally what lies on the otherside for us. He says that our stories are his stories and everyone else's too.

Our second week was directed by Koosje Koene from Amsterdam who is extremely gifted with colored pencils and watercolors. She demonstrated making sketches and adding watercolor,  and she talked about our inner critics, but i really loved a video she made on drawing with colored pencils, and the importance of having patience and layering colors to achieve depth and richness.

Our new teacher this week is a wonderful and soulful Indian man named Prashant Miranda. So far he has shared his beautiful travel journals, parts of his family history, and detailed videos on the techniques of how to use watercolors. An early assignment was to draw an image to catch the essence of our day. I sketched mine yesterday in church, while listening to a wonderful sermon, which said much of the beauty in our world is hidden from us, such as the flowers inside their bulbs all winter long. If we limit what we see, we limit what we receive.

PORTRAITS

ANNA

FISHING PALS

OAXACA MARKET

TISBURY FARMERS MARKET

FANNY

 I met a photographer name Porter Gifford. We were bowling in Boston. I don't even know how we talked over the loud music. He inspired me to not wait for an exotic adventure, but to just start photographing strangers in my own backyard. He said it's very difficult, but excellent practice.  He did a project called Portarits @ noon. I decided to look through some of my old portarits to see which ones I like and why. 

MORNING CATCH

ISABELLE

KIDS

A LIGHT EXISTS IN SPRING

A light exists in Spring

Not present on the year

A color stands abroad 

On solitary hills

It waits upon the lawn;

It shows the furthest tree

Then, as horizons step,

Or noons report away,

At any other period.

When March is scarcely here.

That science cannot overtake,

But human nature feels.

Upon the furthest slope we know;

It almost speaks to me.

Without the formula of sound,

It passes, and we stay: 

A quality of loss Affecting our content, As trade had suddenly encroached Upon a sacrament.  

                                                                                                                                  -EMILY DICKINSON