A Moment to Relax

sketch of mug

markers on paper

©2012 Stacy L. Rowan

I made myself hot chocolate tonight. Which is kind of ironic since the 60 degree, sunny weather we had today felt more like spring than winter. But there is something about a warm drink that gives me permission to sit and relax while I slowly sip my treat. And tonight I felt the need to relax.

I suppose I could, and maybe should, give myself that permission without the crutch of a warm, sweet concoction, but I never do.

Do you have a special treat that you indulge in when you want to relax? Or a ritual you follow that signals the start of your relaxation time? Feel free to share the details in the comments section.
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While I was relaxing I decided to play with some markers I found recently while cleaning my studio.

The mug was drawn using a set of cool gray markers. There are 12 dual tipped markers in the set. I really enjoyed the wide range of values. The sketch below is a marker from this set, but was drawn with a markers from a different set.

sketch of a marker

markers on paper

©2012 Stacy L. Rowan

The second set of markers is made up of six brush tipped markers - 3 cool grays and 3 warm grays. I like the brush tips, but found myself wishing I had more intermediate values.

Decorah Eagles

I am sure if you spend any time on the internet or if you watch the news you have already heard about the Decorah eagles webcam that was set up by the Raptor Resource Project. If you don't know what I am talking about, you can read about the project here.

Earlier today I decided to check in on the eagles and see how their cute little eaglets are doing. When I clicked over to the live feed there was the mama bird sitting on the nest keeping her babies warm. Or maybe it was daddy? I have no idea how to tell them apart.

Anyway, I was watching the adult eagle sitting on the nest and quickly found myself getting impatient, waiting for a glimpse of those cute, fuzzy eaglets. Yes, I realize this is a sad commentary on our society and how we constantly need to be entertained. What can I say... I was supposed to be in my studio and I might have been procrastinating and I might have been feeling guilt. Guilt doesn't feel so good so I shifted it to impatience instead and felt better about myself.

But I digress.

As I watched the streaming video, I realized how incredible it was to be viewing nature up close from the safety of my desk chair. And I realized that I shouldn't be impatient because the whole thing is really pretty amazing.

So I started thinking about how I could pass the time while I waited for mama bird to move. And that's when I decided to sketch while I was watching. (Good-bye guilt. Please don't come back anytime soon.)

sketch of eagle on nest

marker on paper

©2011 Stacy Rowan

But all kidding aside, when else in life am I going to have the opportunity to be this "close" to an eagle? Why not take the opportunity to sketch it from "life".

I couldn't find a pencil anywhere in the desk, so I went with the materials I had at hand, which happened to be a fine line brown Crayola marker and printer paper.  It was a challenging sketch because mama eagle is very serious about her job and is constantly moving her head to keep an eye on everything going on around her.

Just a few minutes into my sketch the adult eagle shifted and two little grey, fluffy heads peeked out from under her. One quickly turned it's face back out of the wind, but the other was more curious and checked out the surroundings a bit.

Drawing Day 2008

In honor of Drawing Day, the kids and I sat down and did some drawings together. I had visions of heading out and drawing from nature, but the over 90 degree temperature with a heat index near 100 quickly put an end to that plan. So instead, our inspiration came from items in our kitchen. Here is each of their drawings followed by my sketch of the same item.

Child #2 did the bananas and the napkin basket in Crayola marker on regular copy paper.

My bananas are also done in Crayola marker on copy paper. (It was so much fun working with those bold colors!)

My napkin basket was done in my watercolor Moleskine using an Eberhard Faber Ebony pencil.

(Please see the next post down -- Drawing Day 2008 (continued) -- for the drawing from Child #1 and the rest of my images. Thank you!)