Days 101 and 102

Two more food related sketches.

The first asparagus of the season bought at a farm stand on our way back from southern New Jersey. Their growing season is a few weeks ahead of ours.

asparagus sketch

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketchbook

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

And another cupcake also not baked by me. This one was baked by the local grocery store.

cupcake sketch

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

And in case you are wondering, despite what it looks like in the last two posts, we almost never have cupcakes in the house. But this was a birthday week so everyday rules did not apply.

Days 99 and 100

The irony of this sketch is that I was watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution while I was sketching.

cupcake sketch

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

For those of you not familiar with Jamie Oliver, he is celebrity chef who is urging people to eat healthy and to make the change from eating processed foods to fresh foods. I whole heartedly agree and have been cutting back on the processed food that passes through my kitchen. We shop at the local farmers' market from May through November and I have even started a series of paintings showcasing my locally grown purchases.

Of course no one is perfect, so I'll admit that this cupcake did come from a package. And yes I did eat it when I was done. I would have preferred a homemade one, but unfortunately no one in this house bakes. Namely because if I bake them I eat them!

My Day 100 sketch was inspired by Laura Frankstone. One of her goals this year is to sketch faster. One of the things she is doing to work toward that goal is sketching traffic around her. Thankfully she only sketches when she is a passenger!

Her sketches are so energetic and fun I decided to give it a try too. (And yes, thankfully I was a passenger at the time!)

sketch of cars and truck

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

Days 97 and 98

This angel sits on my studio shelf reminding me to be kind to myself even if the painting, drawing or sketch I am producing is heading toward the trash bin. It is only paper after all.

angel sketch

sepia ink in cahier sketchbook

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Warm weather came upon us very quickly in early April. As a result many of our spring blooming plants got their blossoms at the same time. I decided for my sketch of the day to stroll around the yard with my sketchbook and pen and capture all of the buds and blooms I saw.

sketch of flowers and buds

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

 copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Day 96 - Ceramic Turtles

There is an interesting story behind this sketch. This set of ceramic turtles belongs to my neighbors. But somehow they ended up on our welcome mat. They weren't there when we turned off the porch light the night before. But when the kids left for school the next morning there they sat. Thank goodness the kids were the first out the front door, because had it been me I would have probably stepped right on the turtles and broken them.

turtle sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

No one is claiming responsibility for relocating the turtles, so they must have come to life and walked themselves over to our porch. The incident is now officially known as "The Great Turtle Mystery".

Day 95 - Flip Flop

It may have been early April when I did this sketch, but the weather felt more like June which is why I pulled out my favorite flip flops both to sketch and to wear.

flip flop sketch

sepia pen in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

Days 93 and 94

Day 93 was one of those days where I realized upon going to bed that I hadn't done my sketch yet. I looked for something in the room that would be quick and easy to sketch. This tape dispenser seemed to fit the bill.

tape dispenser sketch

graphite in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Day 94 was Easter Sunday. My mother-in-law had some Easter tulips on her table which I chose for my sketching subject.

tulip sketch

graphite in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Days 91 and 92

When the daffodils in my yard bloomed I couldn't resist using them as subjects for my sketch of the day. The first one didn't go so well, but I was quite happy with the other three.

sketches of daffodils

sepia pen in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

I typically drive past this large, circular window at least once a week. On this day I finally had the opportunity to sketch it.

sketch of circular window

graphite in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

The window is part of a beautiful stone chapel at a local college. The chapel was built in 1893.

Days 89 and 90

On Day 89 I was signed up as a chaperone for my children's school trip. We left before the start of the school day and weren't scheduled to return until dinner time. I knew it was going to be a long day so I decided to try and complete my sketch on the bus. I hadn't accounted for it being such a bumpy ride!

interior of bus sketch

graphite in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

As you may remember, Day 90's sketch was of a wilted tulip. If you missed it, it can be found here with the other tulip sketches.

Days 87 and 88

I cut all of my own mats. Matting appeals to the analytical, detail-oriented part of me. Plus it is good to flex my brain by adding and subtracting fractions once in a while. I bet a lot of people would never think that an artist would need to know about fractions.

Day 87 I was in my framing area (known by other members of my family as the kitchen) doing some matting, so I decided to sketch the bevel cutter. It actually turned out to be an interesting object to sketch.

bevel cutter sketch

graphite in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

I've thought about writing a post on matting tips. Please let me know if you would be interested and I'll see what I can put together.

Day 88 was a Monday. Monday nights I have a standing date with my husband. At 10pm we sit down together and watch the TV show "Castle". It is one of the few shows that we watch, plus spending that hour together is a nice end to the first work day of the week.

The only issue with our date is that Mondays tend to be very full days. So I often find myself hurriedly looking for an easy subject to sketch as 10 o'clock rapidly approaches.

This evening I found a small glass fish that looked like it would make for a quick sketch.

glass fish sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Day 86 - Neighbor's House

This is the only one of my daily sketches that I don't still have in my possession. A neighborhood friend recently moved a few hours and a few states away. I matted this sketch and gave it to her as a going away gift.

House sketch

graphite in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

____________________________________________

I don't know why the background of this sketch and some of my other recent sketches look so yellow-ish. The sketches are done on the light cream colored Moleskine paper despite how they look. Please accept my apologies for the bad coloring. Also be prepared, there are a few more that were cropped and adjusted with this batch. Hopefully the next batch is better.