Finally - the wrap up of the January daily sketches.

Just like predicted, we have a bright, sunny, beautiful (if 5 degrees can be beautiful) day, and I was able to take photos of my last sketches from January.

Jan. 30:

So I just realized how odd that looks in the sketch (not one of my better ones). It's the horse's side from about a 3/4 rear view showing his haunches in the foreground and shoulder in the background.

Jan. 31:

And my favorite sketches from the first week of February:

Also this week, I broke out my oil paints again. I've been trying to figure out something I can do with all these odd scraps of matboard that are left over when I cut mats, and I figured I might as well paint on them for practice rather than wasting canvas. I just did a sunset-like color blend to get the feel for it again:

It felt really good to use color again. I don't know if I'll ever take my painting to the level of my drawing, but I NEED to feed my color obsession every so often.

Need a blog makeover?

I know I sure do! I can't for the life of me figure out how to get anything except just the preset templates. Justine has a giveaway going on at her blog for that very service. So, if you're feeling as helpless as I am, go check it out!

The other thing my blog needs is some posts! :) I keep waiting for a sunny day to actually fall one on one of my days off, so I can finish up taking photos of my January daily sketch challenge. Right now, the forecast for tomorrow is sunny (and frigid cold!), so hopefully, I'll be able to get some good photos and show them to you tomorrow.

Winter Storm

I've been seeing lots of storm photos, so I'm going to jump on the bandwagon (forgive the spots from shooting through the windows - I was NOT going outside!)

Our front yard - in the summer, I can walk (hunched over) under the lowest branches on that tree.

See that yellow pole on the right side - that's marking one of those gray electrical boxes that stand about 3 ft. tall - it's completely buried.

Luckily, we only use this semi during harvest time. That drift on the right is about 8 ft. deep I'd guess.

Here the sun is shining on all the blowing snow. Those piles are what my husband has pushed out of our yard in just the last couple weeks - before that, he'd hauled all the piles out into the field to make room for what's yet to come. They're taller than my pickup already.

A view across the road to our neighbors. You can kind of make their house which is only about 200 yards away.

There it is - winter in Minnesota! This is worse than what's been typical the last few years, but sad to say, this is probably closer to "normal" of 10-20 years ago.

Where did January go?!? Daily sketching summary

I remember thinking in late December, "Wow, HOW am I going to find time to sketch EVERY DAY?!?" 

Now, looking back at January, I can't believe it went so fast. 

There were days at first where I really struggled to find a decent amount of time to sketch (remember those 2-3 min. sketches the first few days?), but once I decided to commit 15 min. each day to it, somehow, it suddenly became easier to find the time, and now, I'm looking back and saying, "I did it!" :)

Did you notice I changed horses? 

I know, I said I was going to do the same horse all month in order to use my creativity in finding new perspectives.  

There was one day I'd decided I was bored and was going to just abandon the project.

Then I stopped myself and thought about why I wanted to quit, and I realized I was sick of sketching the same horse. So I picked out a new one, and my excitement for the project came right back again. 

I'm still struggling working with the artificial light on days I work and it's already dark when I get home.

But I changed my set up around, so the horse is on the edge of the table, and I just sit next to the table facing it, so the lighting is at least coming from the side a bit.

I have two more sketches I haven't photographed yet, and I'll share them soon.

I've decided to keep this project up indefinitely. Before this, there were entire days (mostly days I worked) where I did no art whatsoever. It's hard to find time to sit down and work on a drawing, but I can always find 15 min. to sketch. This project has brought art into my life each and every day. Most days, that makes me very happy; the days it doesn't, I know I'm at least growing as an artist. ;)

I won't be posting every sketch anymore, but I'll probably choose one or two each week to share with you.