Last Saturday, I was able to get out of the house and attend a free Beethoven concert at the Fargo Public Library. If I have my materials handy, I can sketch and listen to beautiful music at the same time. I use a thin Sharpie marker because it is quiet and doesn’t bother my neighbors as the sound of lead might do. I mostly scribble what I see and I don’t worry about accuracy….Do I need to know the exact number of strings on a cello? Is it important? Not to me. What I noticed mostly is how this cellist bent his fingers in bizarre, strange ways to press the strings. I did about a dozen quick sketches then took them home and splashed some paint on them. This is what I love about sketching-free, easy, and it gives comfort to my inner being….Listening to Beethoven tunes at the same time…priceless.
Do I need to count the strings?
Combining my loves of nature, art, golf, and teaching
The past month and a half has been an amazing time starting with a visit to Grassy Butte, ND filled with wonderful friendship and hiking in Theodore Roosevelt Park….I took hundreds of photos of bison and birds, such as the red-tailed hawk on the left, and have enough material to last me a few months! I rode in a hot air balloon over the Badlands and took a few more hundred photos. In early October, I had a wonderful and successful Studio Crawl and met so many new friends! The icing on the cake happened last week when I went to the golf destination spot named Streamsong, Florida to teach art lessons to corporate types and their spouses. They were there for a Board retreat and art lessons were a part of the many activities they could select. I was so blessed to work with these fabulous people! I also got to play two rounds of golf there, as the company, Mosaic, owns the golf resort and its thousands of acres of reclaimed mining lands in central Florida. The Mosaic people are exceptional people-so appreciative and willing to learn about sketching and watercolor. The food was amazing, too, and I became a big fan of Chef Mike…so much that I asked him if I could be a , “Mouse in the corner”, and take photos of him and his staff as they prepared for their third banquet that week…he welcomed me and I spent an hour in the kitchen, observing and photographing the “plating” process…I was floored by the stunning focus shown by the three chefs and three cooks…I will most likely be doing a “Chef Mike” series, as I loved watching his team work like a well-oiled machine…there was no yelling or pressuring one another…it was so quiet this mouse had to be careful not to squeak and distract them. So, the painting continues…….Tomorrow I go to Wahpeton to teach basic watercolor mixing, sketching, and then on Wednesday, I will teach an all day workshop in Mixed Media collage through the Red Door Art Gallery. If you want to get in to one of these classes, it is not too late! Call the Red Door Art Gallery at 701) 591-1010 or email me on my website and I will make sure I save a spot for you! 
