Writers have their journals and artists have sketch books. Although the weather in the DC area has been very hot and at times intolerable (even in the outer Maryland suburbs) I try to spend at least part of my day outdoors in my gardens. I find it inspiring. It's hard not to be inspired when I am surrounded by beautiful flowers. This is one of the Mandevilla plants in my garden.
I love the craft projects and will always continue to do them and post them here but I wanted to get back to sketching and painting. I haven't really done this since I was in high school. When I was a teenager the walls of my room were covered with my sketches. After high school there always seemed to be a reason not to sketch. College, work and family all came first leaving precious little free time. After thinking about it for a while, last week I was prompted by a 40 % off coupon on artist paper and sketch books from Michaels to get back to sketching.
I love Afghan Hounds and had a sketch of one hanging on my wall when I was in high school. After several moves over the years my sketch has been lost. I decided that my first sketch should be an Afghan Hound. I enjoyed sketching this dog and may use him in future projects.
If you have never sketched before I encourage you to try it. Don't worry if your sketches aren't perfect. The more you draw the better your drawings will be. There are several books available for beginners and most communities offer art classes.*
*Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards and Lessons in Classical Drawing by Juliette Aristides are two excellent books for anyone seriously interested in learning to draw.
