Aside from an all-out war with the gophers, it's been an amazing spring out on the Hill.

We have babies chirping:



Tomatoes are flowering:


Garlic is curing:


Artichokes are artichoking:


Veggies are sprouting:


And my bees are happily foraging:


My little slice of heaven.

Whoops, where'd the last 2 months go? Before I ramble on, here's my very overdue homework assignment, of a still life emphasizing white, or all the colors in white as the case may be. Done in pastel, 18x22.



The long story is that I've been struggling with an acrylic version of it for months now. Even with the special mediums that keep acrylic from drying so fast, it's still nearly impossible to get smooth transitions. At a certain point I had already invested so much time in it that I didn't want to just quit so I kept trudging away, getting more discouraged by the minute. When I decided to quit art altogether, I knew it was time to quit that painting and give this still life one more shot in my favorite medium. I once had an art instructor tell me that a real artist can create a beautiful artwork from any medium, no matter how ill-suited to the subject. I think this little jar of persimmon jam shows just how much I disagree.

I haven't just been struggling over this still life for the last 2 months - I've also been doing a fair number of plein air drawings. They've been challenging, and although I see progress, I definitely need more practice. The drawing trips themselves have been amazing. Just me and my dog, out in the woods, not noticing as the hours pass by. It's enough to make me want to keep trying.

It was a rather nice feeling, being able to take 2 months on an assignment. I think that's the way this pretend class is going to go from now on. My dog and I have mountains to climb.

In about a month I'll be too old to join the CHP, which up until this point was one of my many fantasy career goals. I have plenty of others, like I5 Tomato Trucker, Professional Creator of Pretty Things, and Frye Building and Renovation Business Manager (the latter only applies if it involves working from our deck in my bikini with a margarita, otherwise he's on his own). Some type of farming has always been on the agenda as well, and it's taken a few different forms over the years. Sheep and alpacas perhaps. Maybe a Farm Tourism B&B. When I was young and impressionable I wanted to go into Viticulture until I was told that "women don't go into Viticulture" and by the time I found out that was laughably untrue I was already well on my way to LibraryLand.

It's good timing to be kicked out of the CHP before I ever joined. Having just attended the California Small Farm Conference, my future fantasy career as a farmer is much more clear. I met people from all walks of life with all different kinds of educational backgrounds who have somehow found land in California, somehow maneuvered through all the ridiculous regulations, and somehow managed to make a living at it. And there were plenty of people there who dispelled the notion that you must be young and able-bodied (and male) to be successful. It gave me hope of a future in almonds and bees and diversified farming and hell maybe I'll throw a few alpacas in there, and an art studio, and a Class A, and some business management too. It's my fantasy, I can ride my tractor in my bikini if I want to.

There are two things I used to leave out of my still lifes because I found them too challenging to draw: glass and fabric. And while I can't claim mastery of either of them yet, forcing myself to practice has made a huge difference in my confidence with both.

This week's pretend homework - still life emphasizing drapery, in charcoal on 18x24:



Sometimes I can hear certain teachers in my head, and I know exactly what the critique would be of this. The fabric in the basket looks too "crunchy," almost like aluminum foil, and there's not enough contrast throughout. But I'm happy with it, because it feels like another barrier broken down. I can't wait to get back out to my studio for next week's pretend assignment, and finally some color after all these weeks of black and white.

My pretend homework assignment this week was supposed to be a line drawing of a landscape subject, but I changed it just a bit to a pen and ink drawing. Subtle difference I suppose, depending on how one works with the medium, but I need more practice in that regard. Practice is what I got, as this took me HOURS. Still not sure I have this pen and ink business down, but it's been fun.




In other news around the farm, I finally planted the "winter" garden.




It'll be a battle to get all of this to sprout, what with my ongoing war with all the various pests. But I'm ready. I've got my Sluggo and gopher gas and Sevin and I'm not afraid to use them. If nothing else we'll have a bumper crop of cats this year.




And speaking of sprouting things, I'm not sure if I should be happy that we haven't had a winter, or concerned that global warming is moving along a little faster than expected. I love the warm weather, and it's certainly good for the vegetable crops. But I can't help but be a little freaked out that our Banksian roses are blooming, which isn't supposed to happen until April, and our elms are budding, which isn't supposed to happen until May. I'm used to an early spring in SoCal, but early as in WEEKS not MONTHS.

Oh well, still holding out hope for rain. And praying there won't be a hard freeze at this point. At least the warm, dry weather has been kind to the bees.

My pretend assignment this week:



Done entirely in india ink with a brush and dip pen. It was a little like watercolor except for the intensity and permanence of the ink. Getting a smooth transition between values was difficult, but the enduring brush strokes are actually perfectly charming. For some reason I'm still tickled by all things black and white.

I think I should pause for a moment to say that I don't just pick up new tools and new mediums and know exactly what I'm doing right off the bat. I read about art technique OBSESSIVELY. If I'm not creating art, I'm reading about it. Here's my current ready-reference shelf - just the stuff I'm studying right now:



And then, after reading obsessively before starting any new medium, I do practice runs in my sketchbook just to be sure I have it down before tackling a bigger format. This was my practice pumpkin in india ink:



Still loving my pretend class. It's giving me all the focus I wanted, with none of the commute or rules or disagreeable instructors or SMC hipsters. Just me and my studio and the sunshine and bees. Heaven.

I changed this week's assignment just a tad, after reading some very good advice against crosshatching, in this wonderful little book called "Sketching Without a Master," written in the 20's or so. The author suggests that we almost never crosshatch at all in pen and ink drawings, and do so sparingly when it's absolutely necessary. So my drawing this week is basically just pen and ink, and I used crosshatching only to fix mistakes which were a result of my being really bad at pen and ink.

The finished drawering:



Pen and ink is really way harder than it seems. At least it was for me anyway. There's parts of the drawing that I like but overall I need a lot more practice, especially in shading. But I'm absolutely in love with the medium, and with these little beauties, which I used for my entire drawing:

I decided not to take a class this semester. Not in-person, not online. But I don't want to lose the main benefit of taking a class, which is the weekly assignments that keep me focused and driven, so I created my own. I tried to focus on things I haven't learned in classes yet, or things I need to practice, or things I wouldn't necessarily push myself to do without the pressure of homework. I have a few select friends and lovers who will keep me on track and give me honest critiques, and I know that telling lots of people about my plan is the best way to stick to it. So here it is.

All assignments are due each Tuesday at 9pm. I might not post them here til later in the week, but Greg has agreed to keep me on deadline. Extensions will be granted only if the work is significantly in progress. The assignments:

1. Pointillism in pen. 3+ object still life. Background optional. Approximately 9x12.

2. Crosshatching in pen. 3+ object still life. Background optional. Approximately 9x12.

3. Drawing in brush and ink. Any subject (still life or photo reference). Half-sheet (12x19) or larger.

4. Landscape line drawing in pen. From a photo reference of either an urban or wilderness subject. Approximately 9x12.

5. Fabric study in charcoal, with 1-2 other objects. Half-sheet (12x19) or larger.

6. White fabric study in color, any medium, any size. With 1-2 other objects.

7. Landscape in charcoal, urban subject. Half-sheet (12x19) or larger.

8. Still life in conte crayon (monochrome). 3+ objects. Half-sheet (12 x 19) or larger.

9. Figure drawing practice in pencil, charcoal, and pastel, from photo references. 3-4 vignettes on approx 9x12.

10. Depth study in charcoal or pastel. 5+ still life, objects receding in space. Exaggerate atmospheric perspective. Half-sheet.

11. Perspective study in charcoal or pastel. Draw the studio looking toward one corner (two-point perspective). Half-sheet or larger.

12. Ellipse exercise in charcoal or pastel. 5+ elliptical objects, drawn from an eye level slightly above the tallest object. Half-sheet.

13. Texture study in any medium. Draw something which contrasts two very different textures, intensifying the effects as necessary. Half-sheet or larger.

14. Triadic color scheme study in pastel or acrylic. Still life, one object in detail. Half sheet/board.

15. Animal studies in any medium. 3-4 vignettes if drawn. 1 study if painted. Approx 9x12.

16. Portrait studies in any medium. Emphasis on texture. 3-4 vignettes on approx. 9x12.


My pretend class is already doing its job. I'm only on assignment #1, and already I spent my weekend procrastinating on chores by fiddling around in my sketchbook while procrastinating on my pretend homework. I spent the entire day today watching a Downton Abbey marathon and playing with dots and nobody yelled at me about the "rules" of art or told me to get off my phone. Pretty much a perfect day. I love my pretend class already.

My first ever pointillism drawering:



My pretend homework, assignment #1:



Next up, crosshatching and Battlestar Galactica!

"...like a lost chicken..." our old friend Charles used to say in his hillbilly twang when somebody was wandering or wondering. And that's me right now. I'm not quite sure where January went, although I'm not sorry to see it leave. It's always such a dark month, even though it's been just like summer all month long.

Me and my dog and Thoreau went on vacation to a cabin in the woods.



A little piece of my heart stayed there, and my dog was sad and confused when we came home and stopped going on 3 hikes a day. Thoreau came with me to a conference in Atlanta, where I visited a mall for the first time in years. The irony amused me.

Somewhere along the way I drew some clouds.

Another great art class is over. I know I say this at the end of every class, but this time it really is the end of an era. My favorite art-class partner-in-crime who has been on this journey with me since we first learned how to draw in 2009 has moved across the country, and I'm thinking of taking a break from studio art classes to squeeze in some art history. Apparently all this goofing around with art has brought me within a few classes of an AA so I might as well, even if that means having to write a few papers and memorize a few dates.

The final for this class was the seven deadly sins. We could incorporate one or several or all. The process was long and I grumped about it A LOT but the teacher was ultimately right that it helped make the final piece stronger. We had to do a whole bunch of thumbnails, then some composition studies, then a line drawing, then some value studies, then some color studies, then a large black and white, and then the final. Here's some of that jazz:








My sin is gluttony via lust. It's about all of the horrible things our lust for corn has brought about. It's in everything we eat and everything our livestock eats despite causing all kinds of health problems for all of us, the corn lobby has pushed it as biofuel even though there are more efficient crops we could make that with, it's a massive drain on soil health, especially with modern farming practices exacerbating the problem, and blah, blah, blah I could go on forever about the evils of corn. Love the stuff though. It's one of my favorite summer vegetables.

Well that was fun and I'm not even tired of pastels. Teach said I should do a whole series of landscapes. I think I'll take his advice and spend some time on some mountaintops with my sketchbook.