It’s All About the Foundations: Daily Art Practice
Couch Talk
Summer is officially here and I am loving it! I have been able to squeeze in more afternoon quiet time thanks to school being out. Today was the first day in a while that my children were able to get out and play. It has been really rainy here but that is ok with me. My garden loves the rain and so do I. The top picture is of my pots right after planting. They have grown quite a bit since then but I haven’t taken a picture.
Here are a few of the hanging pots in the front of the house. I have cherry tomatoes and cabbage in these pots. They too have grown, due to all the rain.
Baking
This isn’t baking related but I wanted to share my lunch today. I made lettuce wraps using buttercrunch lettuce from my garden. I planted romaine as well but it is still itty bitty. Next year I think I may plant all buttercrunch and forego the romaine.
I tried a few new sourdough recipes this week. Below is Peanut Butter Sourdough Cookies.
Next, is Soft and Chewy Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Below are Raisin Puff Cookies. I got this recipe from a baker in our church. I have had the recipe sitting around for a few years and I found it the other day while browsing my recipe cards looking for something new to bake. My family loved them, especially my hubby so they must be good.
The last batch of cookies is my all time favorite Vegan cookie recipe. I make a batch of these every. single. week. With my current food restrictions I would go crazy if I didn’t have something to make meal time more pleasant. Since cutting out eggs and substituting flax meal, I have noticed a texture change in these cookies. Instead of being cookie-like and crunchy, they have become soft and gooey, which makes me like them all the more. I have made these with 85% chocolate but recently I am trying chocolate and raisins. Yum!
And that’s it for baking. Have you noticed I am on a cookie kick as of late? It is a good thing they freeze well because who could eat all of these?
Daily Practice Needs Foundation
This week I slacked a little when it came to daily watercolor practice. I have gotten discouraged that my portraits are muddy and lacking progress. As a result, I re-evaluated and decided that I am not going to get better until I master the foundations. So, it is back to square one. I need to re-learn perspective and how to layer colors. I need to learn the fundamentals of drawing again. It has been ages since I took art classes and even then, I am not sure I learned everything. So instead of spending so much time on daily watercolor and getting frustrated, I have decided to split my time up throughout the day and dedicate slots to learning specific skills. Here is what I did this week.
Perspective
I started reading this book, The Urban Sketching Handbook Understanding Perspective: Easy Techniques for Mastering Perspective Drawing on Location, and going through all the lessons. I think this will help me when drawing buildings. I would love to get into Urban Sketching one of these days.
I will try not to bore you but here are a few of the exercises.
This lesson is breaking down a photo/scene into 3 focused scenes.
This lesson was to draw from real life. I was sitting on my bedroom floor looking into the hallway.
The following are examples from the book that I copied, along with some note taking for future reference.
This lesson was to draw two tissue boxes at different angles in order to find the vanishing point for both. This was very hard and I didn’t do so well.
Tea Day
I am joining the Tea Day ladies hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard. My tea today is The Republic of Tea Peppermint Cuppa Chocolate tea. I enjoy this in the mornings or after dinner. The peppermint and chocolate make a great combination.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate
Your plants are looking great and I would certainly love one of those wraps along with the vegan cookies especially with a cup of that chocolate peppermint tea -mmmmm! Beautiful watercolor art, and your sketch practices are impressive. I couldn’t do that. Enjoy, and happy T day!
I grew buttercrunch lettuce this year also. It was great to have fresh lettuce, but then it got hot and started to bolt. I hope late summer I can plant some more. And your baking looks delicious. I haven’t made cookies in quite a while and I am now inspired to make a batch. Thanks for the inspiration. Nice perspective drawing too. I think you’ve got it. Enjoy your summer no school time and hope your garden keeps growing well. Happy T day. Hugs-Erika
Your plants are doing so much better than mine. Probably because the heat and humidity are brutal here right now. I’m surprised anything is surviving. You really ARE on a cookie kick. They all look good, but the peanut butter will always be my favorite.
Good to get back to basics with your drawings. Line of sight, vanishing point, and perspective are all areas I had to learn when I taught a class in altered books.
Your tea sounds wonderful. I also like peppermint and chocolate. Great sounding tea. Thanks for sharing your plants, cookies, drawings, and tea with us for T this almost Tuesday, Kate.
Wow, you have a very beautiful house and the cherries look wonderful.
Great, great sketches, too!
Your food always looks so delicious, and great that you can use your own garden produce. Your art is great, your practice really pays off! Happy T Day, have a great week, Valerie
Your garden looks so beautiful and I always enjoy the rain too, there is something so peaceful and fresh about it 😀. Wow, all those cookies look so delicious, I’d happily try one or two with my cuppa, those sourdough chocolate chopped ones are calling to me …lol! Happy T Day! Hugs, Jo x
Hi Kate, we are finally out of the cold and rain and right into hot-we have been in the 90’s with high humidity for a week now. Your veggies are looking good. and yum all those cookies-your family will enjoy them. I like to freeze most of what I bake and then bring it out later for treats.
I love your watercolors-and awesome you are learning allot-you have much patience for that I tend to just dive in haha.
Happy T and new week hugs Kathy
Now I am seriously hungry looking at all your cookies, they sound so tasty and so do those wraps, our son is trying to grow romaine lettuce, they are very slow growing. Your garden looks lovely
The watercolour of the cherries is amazing, so lifelike, you have done some lovely artwork.
Happy T day
Jan
It’s satisfying to have plants do well 🙂 You have a nice view from your balcony. Your cookies look delicious! Happy T Tuesday.
What a lot of cookies! I suppose with two children and a husband they will get eaten. I never make cookies. I must have a try one day. It’s not difficult, I just never try, as we don’t eat cookies. (But we should)
The salad looks delicious. Our lettuce has bolted as it is too hot now.
Well done for going back to basics. Perspective is quite tricky. So good on you for trying.
Peppermint and chocolate is a combination made in heaven. So I can well imagine this is your favorite.
Happy T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca
Wonderful post. Lots of nice cookies. I too baked peanut butter cookies this week. I love your art too. Have a very nice day today.
Kate, I actually baked cookies this week ; chocolate chip. They were delicious. I used the tollhouse recipe with pecans. You have a great garden. You amaze me with your art, even on the tissue boxes where you thought you didn’t do so well. Peppermint chocolate tea sounds great. Happy T Day.
Your plants look great, but the cookies! All those luscious varieties. Speaking of luscious, your watercolor cherries are fabulous. As to the drawings, I think you are too hard on yourself. Enjoy your arty me time and Happy T Day