Here's my contribution to myself for today. Looking at my sketches and paintings, I see how much I have to learn. I have a tough time with shading unless the light is so strongly on the subject that you can't miss where the shadows fall. Oh well, that is part of what I am trying to learn, and the only way to learn is to do, right.

Simple cork screw, found at the bottom of the drawer while looking for something quick to draw. It seemed fitting since I took a short drive out by the vineyards this morning. Seems interesting to me that when one buys land and puts in a vineyard, one MUST build a massive home and winery... humm, does the word pretentious fit anywhere here???

This is what happens when I take my dogs
out with the camera. If I kneel down to shoot something on the ground, they have to find out what I am doing. I think it is part of the pack thing that they do, I see them do it with one another but it doesn't do anything for helping me out. I did get a good laugh out of it though.

I told myself that I would draw something every day after visiting Elizabeth's blog @ woolgathering. I can see the difference in what it has done with her work. It is hard to push myself past the million excuses, the primary one being "nothing interesting to draw" second one being "lighting isn't good enough this late in the evening", then IC (Inner Critic) tried, "I drew three things yesterday, that should count for today too", but I made myself draw anyway. I wanted to go out to the marsh and draw from real life but time just wouldn't allow for such frivolous entertainment today. So I drew from memory and imagination. It was gray and cloudy today with bouts of rain. I tried to capture a little of the wind in the lines at the top. I haven't worked at all with using dotting for shading so I thought I would try it.

Did I mention that I have a fascination with fungi? Well, I do.
I take pictures of them often especially the ones I haven't seen before. I liked these they were so bright and clean after the rain.

Well I have been thinking about starting up a blog for awhile now, so here we go. I had originally thought that I would wait until I moved up to Northern California when I hopefully have more of my time for my own meanderings. But I like blogs and I feel like a voyeur reading and not sharing.

I want to use this to post my drawings, painting and my photography. My own little slices of life.