Sunday Sketches

Speaking of a quick sketch for today's blog.......

I dashed this one off after my morning walk. The sun was just popping through the trees causing a lovely silhouette.

Anthurium

This little beauty of a plant lives center stage in my living room window which faces southwest. It amazes me and everyone who see this Anthurium that she thrives so happily for she prefers the tropics, not Washington.

Need I say, I love the shapes and colors?!

After doing a watercolor sketch, I knew that it would be fun to create an image of the colorful Anthurium with water-based oil paint. I am falling in love with this medium.

Sunday Sketches

Every morning when I look out the window of the sliding glass door near my bed, I see an out of focus version of a forest of trees (without my glasses). The sky holes between the branches look like sparkling gems, the needles of the cedar trees are various size blobs of green, and the tall tree trunks look ominous.

I attempted to put this vision on paper starting first with quick brush strokes of watercolor. Everything ran together and there was no definition of shapes, so I decided the tree and branches would have inked outlines. Lastly, I got the sponge out to give the green blogs texture.

It does NOT look like my vision, but I had fun doing it.

AT LAST, FINISHED!

One of my favorite images taken by Katherine when we were visiting the Quechua children at their school in the high altitudes of Peru has been waiting patiently at my easel.

I absolutely love the faces and close gathering of the children which makes for a delightful composition. They are such sweeties! The textile colors of their clothing adds pizzazz.

The medium is water-based oil paint on a 20" X 16" canvas.

Quechua Children
Joanne Osband

Sunday Sketches

Always a Merlyn fan, recently I have been re-reading books about him and King Arthur. Mary Stewart has a trilogy of the Arthurian Legends, and T.H. White wrote The Once and Future King with an unpublished conclusion, The Book of Merlyn. This last book has become my favorite with the fabulous illustrations by Trevor Stubley and the analogies of man and animal especially when Merlyn turns Arthur into an ant and a goose.

I admit to taking Trevor's illustration of Merlyn and Archimedes (his owl) and adding color and my spin to the characters.

First Art Class

Yesterday I visited an art class for two year olds at Gymboree in the Bellevue Mall, Washington.

Can you believe the class lasted an hour!?


My grandson, Haeden, will be two next month. I have shared his artistic experience finger painting, but this was his FIRST art class.

There were five children in Haeden's class. The first project was painting and he eagerly engaged. Look at the joy on his face!



Keeping an eye on what else is going on.....


Haeden started moving around the room painting with others. As he traveled with paint brush in hand, many of the adults moved away in defense of getting painted.


Next project was chalk on black paper. After a few scribbles, with hands full of chalk, Haeden started running laps around the room while the others were seriously creating chalk masterpieces. Haeden decided to find out what was in the cabinets. He helped himself to musical instruments and danced to the music that was playing.

Story time was next. The children were asked to sit on rugs to listen. Haeden, on the other hand, had to help turn pages and be up close and personal with the teacher. When she asked what sounds the animals made he was very animated. But the best part was when she asked what sound the pig makes. Well, my son has taught Haeden to snort. Of course, this made everyone laugh and Haeden continued to snort throughout the reading of the book.

More art! Tin foil, crayons, and paper were provided for each child. Haeden took off with the tin foil. Then, with crayons in each hand he ran laps around the room. He did stop when the teacher provided foam brayers and paint. This kept his attention for a little while. Last came the play dough. Haeden enjoyed squishing this through his fingers and was not satisfied with a small amount. He dumped the entire bucket and played.

Needless to say, I was exhausted keeping up with his enthusiasm and curiosity. He truly exhibits the joy of life.

I did recommend to Mom that he might enjoy the music class which would give him more physical self-expression. Haeden and I will continue to create art together.

Sunday Sketches

Getting excited to see color and spring flowers after the doldrums of winter!

I am intrigued by the unique looking Hellebore flowers. They come in various colors of purple, pink, green and also white. They are a wonderful delight this time of year and bloom for a long time. They have been a subject matter of several of my paintings and sketches.



Visit other artists........Sunday Sketchers