It’s A Sketch Date: Daily Art Practice
Couch Talk
Happy Monday! Here is an updated picture of my garden. Somethings are still pretty small but others have taken off. This week I have been collecting raspberries and chamomile flowers.
I missed posting last week due to our 4th of July holiday. Hubby and I had a date and spent July 3rd at an re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg (Civil War). The re-enactment took place at the Daniel Lady Farm.
The story is very interesting but I will give you the brief version. The Lady family packed up and left their farm at the first sound of gunfire. While they were gone, the Confederates took over their house, consumed their food stores and used their barn (painting above) and house for a field hospital. One of the barn walls had been blown out by cannon fire and a remnant of the cannon shell still remains. The battle took place on and around their property and when the family came home, they found dead soldiers and animals littered around their farm, dead soldiers in their house and the surgical table setup in their house, along with discarded limbs from performed amputations. Can you imagine?
We saw two military re-enactments while we were there, complete with gunfire and cannons. They first one lasted an hour and it was LOUD. We were 50 feet from two cannons and when they went off they shook the ground. Seeing as it was the 4th of July, I came away feeling proud to be an American but also with a sobering reminder of what was sacrificed so that I could be free. Freedom is not free.
Here is a quick sketch I did while I was standing in the crowd waiting for the re-enactment to begin. The barn (above) was sketched while my hubby and I sat at a picnic table. We both sat and sketched for a whole hour. He used to sketch in high school but he recently told me he would try it again since I was interested in urban sketching. Isn’t that sweet of him? If he lets me, I may share his sketch’s some time as he is very good.
Baking
The only new bake this week was these Date Bars from the book, Duff Bakes . It is due back at the library this week so I decided I better try another recipe. Hubby and the boys loved the bars and they were fairly easy to make. This was the first time I made anything with dates and I was surprised at how sweet they were.
I made this Sourdough Banana Bread recipe this week but instead of using all bananas, I added half peaches, making it Sourdough Banana Peach bread. It was a great way to use up ripe peaches and is perfect for breakfast for the children.
Daily Art Practice
Just because I haven’t been around blogging doesn’t mean I haven’t been creating. In fact, I have been painting a lot over the past month. I am not the greatest at keeping up with social media. I think it is a huge waste of time to browse my feed all the time. But I also gain a lot of inspiration from other peoples challenges and art so I don’t want to give it up completely. But I would rather use my time to BE creative instead of DREAMING creativity.
Here are a few things I did this recently.
I am inspired by the Art Nouveau movement so I decided to give it a try. The lady is a photo from Pinterest and the rest is just something I thought would be pretty together. I have never had to do composition so this was good practice. I am struggling with watercolor and skin tones so I gave the lady another try (below). It may require a lot more attempts but I’ll just have to keep practicing.
I did this page in my sketchbook (above) to practice faces and skin tones.
Urban Sketching
I took a few classes (Craftsy) on Urban Sketching and I really would love to give it a try. For those of you that do not know what this is, it is sketching on location. That is what my hubby and I did in Gettysburg when we sketched the barn. We did so in real life. Of course, you don’t have to complete the piece on location but the idea is to see, hear and smell the things going on around you and to remember every time you see the sketch. It is like a vivid memory.
The sketch below was one of the sketches I did from class. The instructor was on location at a historic library somewhere in Colorado.
Below is a sketch of Union Station in Denver, Colorado. It was also done in one of the Urban sketching classes. I think I enjoyed this style of sketching more than the library above because it uses pen/line drawing.
Lastly, I did this sketch from a photo on Pinterest. I do not recall the location but I just enjoyed the architectural features of the building. This one is done solely in watercolor.
Well, that’s it for art today. I have a lot more to share but it will have to wait.
Tea Day
I am joining the T Ladies hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard. Today my choice of drink is Teavana Lemon Ginger Bliss, Herbal Tea With Citrus & Strawberry, Caffeine Free. I don’t drink a lot of bagged tea but these are perfect for the morning when I don’t want to put a lot of effort into anything. I love the ginger in this tea as it gives it a big punch of spice. Seeing as I can’t have cinnamon, I need to get my spice fix somewhere. This is a very soothing tea, especially for anyone with digestive issues.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate
Oh Kate I can’t tell you how much I love all your watercolor/ pen art- from the urban sketching to the portraits, to the art deco gal!!! You are continually blossoming and getting better and better at it. And how nice your hubby is taking a renewed interest in it himself. Would love to see his work too. Your garden looks great! Happy T day!
Hi Kate, your art is amazing I love all of your pieces. Yes freedom is not free-so many have died keeping us free. that would be neat to see a re enactment in person.
I love seeing your bakes, I love Duff I need to check out that cookbook. Happy T day wishes Kathy
Your sketches of the farm and the reenactment are wonderful Kate. And the story you told is very interesting. I can’t image what these people thought and felt when they returned to the chaos. And your date bars look delicious. Date bars are really yummy, Did that recipe have you soak the date sin orange juice first? If not try it. It is very good that way. And I am impressed with how weed free your garden is. Is that bark mulch around your bed? Have a wonderful T day Kate. hugs-Erika
Ohhhh Kate your art is simply wonderful. You are so creative and talented. Love all the of the faces. Your garden is coming along nicely. The wind blew through my green house and I lost quite a few veggie plants. To answer your questions on dehydrating veggies. Yes, I have done squash, peas, bananas, and I will be doing blueberries this weekend. Also I mad squash chips with seasoning. Soooo good. Have a great Tuesday.
What an amazing Independence weekend you must have had. It sounds incredible. and I love the drawings you created while you were there.
You got a lot of art practice this week. Great baking, too.
Your Teavana tea sounds wonderful, even though I’m not a fan of strawberry. Thanks for sharing your art, your baking, your garden, and your tea with us for this 8th T Tuesday celebration.
Your drawing is… awwww!
Guess.. My brother is a musketeer!
He´s the one in front. Not the quickest one, obviously. I had to “watch” him often eating S.L.O.W…. He´s be happy at this farm of yours. He lives in a village with his wife and two daughters.
Sad story of this house. No. Freedom is not for free… Adn too many do not know what it means they have it…
A quick scetch?! I´d need hours for that! Looked for water-colors, btw, but only found some for first-graders…. start with that?
WOW to your art!!
I maybe will show some old stuff when I still could do it (I so not dare to try again and fail!)
Happy T-day to you
P.S. Try these for Pizza?
Sorry it´s in German but the video explains it well.
Sorry, your blog does not allow links in HTML, so here goes:
https://www.facebook.com/SehusaMusketierevon1981ev/
and
https://abnehmtricks-und-abnehmtipps.de/low-carb-rezepte-ohne-kohlenhydrate/leckere-low-carb-pizzamuffins
Your garden looks good, and your paintings and baked goods look fabulous, as always. You really get a lot done each week. Happy T day, hugs, Valerie
Kate, happy T-day. OM Gosh, I totally love your post. Your sketches are fabulous – really well done and so professional. I a so impressed. The food is equally impressive and looks so yummy! Wow.
Kate your paintings are so beautiful and I love the painting of the soldiers , a gruesome story, those poor people finding all that when they went home.
Your garden looks lovely, very tidy, ours is getting very full as everything is growing like mad and we don’t ant to cut anything back until winter
Delicious looking baking, too
Happy T Day
Jan
Happy 8th T on Tuesday Anniversay! Your veggy garden looks great, very tidy! We have tomatoes growing but don’t have the room for anything esle otherthan course, flowers with the bees love. Baking looks great, all this food everyone is posting is making me hungry!
Have a great crafty week ((Lyn))
Your garden is a delight to the eye. Beautifully designed! and your green thumb is also on display 🙂 I went to a small Civil War re-enactment once, and it was a fascinating experience. Your baked goods look tasty. Yummm. There’s an urban sketchers group here in Memphis, and I’m always impressed when I see their work. I’m glad your husband has been inspired to join you and that you are open to showing your work. Nice! I really like your lovely watercolors. I can never get watercolors to work right lol
Happy T Anniversary!
Glad your garden is doing well, everything looks like it’s growing so well! Fabulous bakes and Wow, such beautiful sketches and paintings and they all look so amazing – love them 😁. Happy T Day Anniversary wishes! Hugs, Jo x
Your sketches are wonderful. Combining the visit to the Civil War Reenactment with sketching looks like fun.
You mentioned that dates are very sweet. Did you know that in the Bible the promise of “milk and honey” probably refers to honey made from dates rather than honey gathered from bees? Dates have been a source of sweeteners for a long time.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Oh Wow! Your art is absolutely wonderful! Love that you and hubby are sketching together! We have been so busy lately that we haven’t caught up on our Wanderlust classes for a while. I used to make oaty date slices ages ago. Yours look good!
Happy T day, Chrisx
Thank you for sharing the story of that house. Like you I cannot imagine coming home to such carnage. War is not pretty. But I love my country, and am thankful for the the ones who fought for my freedom. Your baking always makes me hungry. 🙂 Kate, all your art work is amazing! Oh, I almost forgot, your garden looks wonderfully done. Happy T Day!
Those water colors are amazing! You are so good! How wonderful that your hubby joined you in sketching. I hope that one day he will let you show us.
Interesting that story about the farm that had been used as a hospital. The Lady family must have had the shock of their lives when they saw the horrible remnants of the war.
Happy T-Day-Blog-a-versary,
Hugs,
Lisca
PS Your garden looks great!
Your watercolor sketches are fabulous. Nice that you and hubby have a shared interest. That will be fun urban sketching together. I think your sourdough banana peach bread would make a great breakfast for adults, too. Happy T Day