Wisconsin April Showers thundery with Snow.

 April 2022

How time does fly? What an expression.  It has been almost a whole year since my last post.  Need to keep up a little more.

A busy year indeed.

O Jays Song HOW TIME FLIES.

“Lots of changes.  Watching the World go by. Before you know it everything changes.  Year after year, it goes so fast.  Where are we going? What are we after?  Time Flies!”

 Spring has arrived once again, sashaying back and forth with Wisconsin snow, then rain.

Taking a walk by Schmeeckle Reserve today.
 

And always lots to do.

Looking forward to participating again in the 75th World Wide SketchCrawl - Apr 16 2022

Submitted a couple of art work pieces to the Center for Visual Arts (Wausau, WI) Call for Art.  “Pulp: Wood, Paper, and Print Exhibit: May 6 - July 2, 2022.”  Next week, I will find out if either were accepted for the show.

Chartres Cathedral Ink drawing.

 

Paper Collage of News of Ukraine.  So sad. So very sad and disturbing.

 

Also have three photographs in an exhibit at the Alexander House in Port Edwards, WI this Month. One is from January visit to Albuquerque, NM. The Minnesota snow one is from the travel there, and the third is from Washington Island Beach in Door County, WI.    http://alexanderhouseonline.org/event/photography/

 

 

Glad to have some work in the New York Studio School Alumni shows of the last couple of years (2020 and 2021) and listed on ARTSY website.  My last piece was also included on the school’s alumni page https://www.nyssalumni.org/landscape  Working on another to submit for the next call for art for the NYSS Alumni show. 

Had a wonderful visit with my son, Nathan, in Cleveland in March.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Writing a blog is not the easiest, since there is so much more in life going on. Looking back, I see from my first post in this Blog, I mention others that I worked on.

Wanting to travel again, fond memories come to mind of the semester in London:  former student of mine from London Semester Abroad (he wrote a POST about traveling with me there in 2013).  Memories of good times . . .   Looking forward to traveling again.  Sam Yates, my UW-O painting professor inspired my first trip to study abroad in France in 1975. Wow.

2018 Places A NEW and Experiences  LINK 

and From the first Post of this Blog: Saturday, September 5, 2015    New Start to an Old Blog  LINK

"Welcome to my redo and new start to an older blog.   I was not able to get into a Blog that I started a few years ago, so this is an update.  I would like to share thoughts on Design and Sketching, so here is another start."

This is a link to the older blog, Design Sketching.  http://designsketching.blogspot.com/
Since this one is related, I used the same name and added 2. 

The New York City Brooklyn Art Library has one of my travel sketchbooks from Italy, with a digital link online:  LINK  

May Delight

 May 2021-Enjoying walking with my sister Pam with a warm Latte at Zest coffee house. 

Also inspiring to read Carolyn’s blog as she walks the Appalachian Trail at this time :  https://carolyndaut.com/2021/05/14/first-steps/

and I always enjoy Carolyn's sketches, especially the ones that she did for my class as independent study while traveling:  https://carolyndaut.com/portfolio/travel-sketching/ 

Schmeeckle Reserve in Spring bloom.

April - Walking into Spring

 Three years ago, my sister, Pam, and I walked the 500 mile Camino Frances across northern Spain and it was during the Spring time.  Each day was a wonder as we "walked into Spring" watching the trees bud with leaves and the flowers bloom along the way, through snow, rain and shine.  It was a wonderful experience!

Now as Spring arrives and we are able to spend more time outdoors, I am enjoying the sounds of Spring in the bird calls and the fresh breeze as I sit outside to sketch in the northwoods of Wisconsin.  Need to do more.  Participated in SketchCrawl on Saturday, April 17, for the 71st World Wide SketchCrawl. 

71st WW SketchCrawl Link

I always enjoy seeing all of the other sketches from around the world on the SketchCrawl website.

 27 January 2021

Wednesday, Cold and sunny day.

 

Took a nice walk around Schmeeckle Reserve today and now I need to get down to some sketching again.

The 70th World Wide SketchCrawl was January 16, so I need to post some sketches for that!  Will do that soon.   70th World Wide SketchCrawl Link  

If you go over to the SketchCrawl link above there are some neat sketches to see from around the world that were done this Month.

And, I am excited to be sharing drawing ideas with a group of young artists/students on Monday, February 1.  Looking forward to that.  :) 

I especially liked this sketch that was done by Valerie in France.

Autumn has arrived

   Amazing frost patterns on a car hood.

TODAY we had a hard frost; a chilly walk with my sister Pam. (Sunday, October 4, 2020)

It is a reflective time and a retrospective time for me as I continue to work on some pieces of art. 

Ideas come and they all take time along with questioning to put together into art pieces.  Working on one at the moment for submission to Center for Visual Arts in Wausau exhibit on Up Rooted, I had flashbacks to many Up Rooted times for me in New York City, in Greensboro, in North Dakota, in Minnesota, in DeKalb, in Madison, and here in Stevens Point.  In being Up Rooted in New York City (moving there in the 70s from the Midwest - a bit of a culture shock),  I felt displaced and trying to settle in an unsettled place that was always alive 24 hours a day.  So I decided to create a watercolor of the place I lived in for two years in Greenwich village, a half block from Washington Square Park.  I spent many hours working by the window on the third floor looking out watching the street life that passed by.  We'll see if it gets selected for the exhibit.  

Enjoying teaching with the art faculty at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, I am in their adjunct pool as a retired professor emerita and listed on their website.  It was an unusual time for me teaching this last spring with the COVID shut down, mostly online, but all of my students made it through the course fine.

I did get a piece of art accepted into the New York Studio School Alumni Show this summer, and it brought back memories of being an "artist" in New York City at one time.  Now I have some art in a show in New York City (over 40 years later . . . . .  oh my).  Artsy website also posted the alumni show art piece for the Burgos Cathedral Window.

 Also I have some work selected for the Riverfront Arts Center in Stevens Point for the September/Ocober Black, White & Gray exhibit.  These were two more art pieces inspired by my 500 mile walk across Spain on the Camino Frances.  The arts center FaceBook site posted one of my works, Sculpture on the Medieval Church in Portomarin, Spain.

During this time of staying in place, we have had more slow time to spend with the natural world around us, and the color and images never stop to amaze me.  I have also enjoyed very much the Farmers CSA boxes this summer and fall.  The vegetables and fruit are full of their care, and one of the farmer's is a former student of mine from London Semester Abroad (he wrote a POST about traveling with me there in 2013).  Memories of good times.

So back to sketching. . . . . .   Looking forward to the next World Wide Sketchcrawl on October 24. SketchCrawl LINK (It is neat to see work from around the world that is sketched on that day).

 

Mistaken Reality can be Deadly (window reflections)

Up Rooted times, working in art during  the time of COVID.

   

Trying to Settle in an Unsettled Place NYC 10011

Reflections on an Up Rooted moment in the past.

67th World Wide SketchCrawl at a Social Distance

67th World Wide SketchCrawl at a Social Distance

With the Spring weather arriving in April, Jo and I were able to get out, at a social distance, and do a bit of the SketchCrawl out at Lake Helen.  It was great to sketch out in nature.   LINK to Stevens Point SketchCrawl Post.
I am looking forward to the Summer World Wide Sketch Crawl and more sharing with sketchers of life across the world LINK

And a SIDE NOTE today.  Out of the blue, I received an email from a friend, Bill Kirby, with an old photo attached from 2005.  In October that year, we both participated in an Outdoor Survival weekend at UWSP Treehaven natural resources education center. It was taught by a staff member from Teaching Drum Outdoor School.  We had to make our own shelters for the night, out of a tarp and what ever else we found in the forest - leaves and pine needles for a mattress, sleeping bag on top and then large branches to form the shelter, with the tarp stretched over.  Yes, in October, we did have frost that night.  It was a very good learning experience. But, oh my, that was 15 years ago now!
In looking over my past links, it is always confusing to see how they change sometimes.  The link to my digital sketchbook online at the Brooklyn Art Library is now https://www.sketchbookproject.com/library/S71251

Strange Times we are in - Kent State Commemoration of May 4, 1970 and Learning about Art in the Time of CoVID19.

Strange Times we are in .......
Kent State Commemoration of May 4, 1970 and Learning about Art in the Time of CoVID19.
May 4, 2020   MONDAY in north central Wisconsin

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State Tragic Event.

Kent State 50^th Anniversary Link https://www.kent.edu/may4kentstate50

Attended online View a Virtual May 4 Commemoration that honors and remembers those who lost their lives on May 4, 1970, and recounts the events of that day. It was a good commemoration program at noon for an hour - they also had it on YouTube LINK.
It ended with a song by Crosby.

Wikipedia Note:  "Ohio" is a protest song and counterculture anthem written and composed by Neil Young in reaction to the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. ... of horror, outrage, and shock in the wake of the shootings, especially the line "four dead in Ohio," repeated throughout the song. 

And the “Stay at Home” Time has definitely changed our lives and routines.  
 I finished my online Art History Survey class with the students and now I miss them.  It was great to be interacting and sharing what many museums have online for learning and experiencing art during this time.  Some of my favorites have been:  The Metropolitan Museum of New York and The Museum of Modern Art In New York City.

There are lectures free and available online for continued learning such as at MOMA (https://www.moma.org/audio/).

The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History pairs essays and works  of art with chronologies, telling the story of art and global culture

through the Museum’s collection. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/chronology/#!?geo=eu

MoMA Learning    https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/

Browse by Artists or Themes.  And MoMA Courses online – FREE and at your own pace

https://www.moma.org/research-and-learning/classes
and this is a good program with updates on current artists: https://art21.org/