Stilling Life
Daily Note and May Doodle
Every day, a photograph, a poem. Today, another “three in one:” A Daily Create, a poem, a MayDoodle.
Today was the first of three workshops from artist Peggy Dean of The Pigeon Letters based on her book, Mindful Sketching. For the homework from page 30 of the book, I drew the above picture in ink of granddaughters’ art: Ashlyn’s vase and Allison’s doily both of which sit on my kitchen table.
You will see the error in the picture– perspective is not my strength, but I drew over the error and added detail and water color brush penning to improve it slightly. The whole point of the process is to be mindful of our work, be aware of the moment and the place, and embrace the imperfections as we draw in ink. There will be many imperfections, and I’m OK with that.
I’ve gathered my book, pens, and sketchbook– something I’ve neglected because of my wiggly jiggly old hands which can’t draw an intentional straight line. But if I just do a “whoosh,” I’m ok. So I thought I’d give the nondigital sketching another try.
Today’s test for myself was to get to the basics of drawing from a horizon line starting with basic shapes and then filling in the shading and details. I used a former Daily Create I made from a photo of the Mukilteo Lighthouse to ink part of the photo. Here’s my result:


Obviously I have a long way to go, but I’m actually proud of it, considering I can’t “undo.” LOL.
Daily Create
Today’s Daily Create #ds106 @ds106dc #tdc3792 is
Fame at Last— and hats off to something. How serendipitous to have this when I’m feeling pretty good about my lighthouse ink sketch. I chose to use the sketch with a little poem of explanation of this “Hats Off“ to something I can do.
Another little serendipity is the word in the last line: stilling. It was supposed to say “still learning life and staying bold,” but I did not even notice that spell check changed it to — is it even a word? I decided it is: a still life sketch, a slice of life, and “stilling”– making still– the busy life I once had as a teacher while now retired. I’m also “stilling” the chaos. So I did not spend the time to correct the error I missed– because even in my writing, I’m trying for less perfection and more of just flow. So the poem:
Hats off for wiggly jiggly artistic lines
Imperfections in ink but that’s just fine
A line of two written in rhyme
Or maybe not- a choice each time
So hats off for growing old
Stilling life and staying bold.Go boldly and scatter seeds of kindness.
@grammasheri
#clmooc #mukilteolighthouse #maydoodle #warmup4art #mindfulsketching #peggydean @thepigeonletters #imperfections
Categories
art, Art Techniques, CLMOOC, Community Local, Family, Photography, Poetry, Prompts, Remember the Moments, Slice of Life
Sheri Edwards View All
Geeky Gramma ~~
Retired Middle School Language Arts/Media Teacher ~~
Writer and Thinker~~
Art from the Heart
Beautiful sketches ♥