Wednesday, December 19, 2012

EUREKA!!!!!! PROBLEM SOLVED AT LAST!

iPad Mini Sketchbook Setup #1 
iPad Mini Sketchbook Setup inside view

iPad Mini Sketchbook Setup 

iPad Mini Sketchbook Setup side view
I thought the iPad would be the perfect travel sketching tool but the glare on the screen made it impossible to use outdoors in bright light.  I kept thinking about how to create a practical way to shield the light.  Nothing useful ever came to mind.  In the meantime, I have purchased an iPad Mini for outside the house because I found the iPad weighing my purse down with all the other "stuff" we women deem necessary to have at all times!  So now I have one for travel and one for the house.  Extravagant, I know, but loving it!!!

Last night I was cleaning out a box and came across a beautiful small leather zippered notebook I haven't used in years.  It was designed to hold a pad of paper, pen, calculator etc.  In a flash of insight, I realized my iPad Mini would fit in this case and I thought of a way to use it for sketching in daylight.  The same idea would work with a larger zippered notebook for the full size iPad.

Here are the few simple items needed for this idea:  Zippered notebook (the zipper keeps the iPad from slipping out of the case) a bending straw to hold the lid in place, a cleaning cloth, a few makeup sponges to create a slight angle (optional) a piece of rubber shelf lining to keep the iPad from slipping around inside the case while drawing (optional) a stylus for drawing (optional but recommended).  

I am going out today and try my new invention.  Can't wait!!!!!!


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

NEW PAINT!

LEATHER SKETCHBOOK: MANZANITA BARK
This is another addition to my beautiful leather sketchbook.  On Orcas Island it is lush with woodlands.  One of the common trees is the Manzanita which has a rich burnt sienna colored bark.  This is a little sketch of the bark peeling on the trunk.  I was fortunate to receive a prize of M Graham watercolor paints from the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual show.  The colors are rich and luminous. I decided to try them in the sketchbook fresh out of the tube.  Loved the feel and handling of the paint.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

KEEPING MY HAND IN!

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND HIKE: OAK TREES
I don't have as much time as I would like to paint, but I thought I would continue to fill up my beautiful leather sketchbook with a painting based on some photos I took over Thanksgiving.  The Oak trees have very rough bark and amazing twisting branches.  They are so much more fun to paint than the straight limbed variety of tree.  I think I will devote this sketchbook to my adventures with my children.    I can sit in my studio and relive the beauty and the fun and have a special keepsake when I have filled all the pages.  

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