As usual, more sketching!

Well, we're into the third month of 2015, which I declared to be the Year of Art, and so far it's going fabulously well.  What a wonderful idea, if I do say so myself.  At first,  I made special efforts to make sure I remembered to draw something or work on a painting every single day, even if it was only a 30-second pencil sketch of Truman sleeping at the end of the day.

Yesterday, though, it occurred to me that I hadn't thought about whether I'd done my art for that day, and hadn't thought about this for some time, and why?  Because it had become a habit -- drawing or painting was now so ingrained as a daily activity that I just simply did it without thinking or planning.  Hurrah!  Art is always with me now!  So cool.

Here is a sketch I did yesterday of some random plants in a landscaped area near my office building:

And here is what I sketched when I went to escort some visiting students to their next destination, but they were running 20 minutes behind schedule -- there was a waiting area with a window through which I could see the building next door, and of course I had my travel art kit with me:

I'm also trying to do more landscapes.  Last week I did this pen drawing of a view from the boat house on the UW campus:

This seemed a tad simplistic, so I added more detail and shading:

I liked this fine as a pen drawing, but couldn't help wondering what it would look like with color added -- and hey, I had this nice photo to remember the pen drawing by should I ruin it!  So I took my watercolors to it:

I like the sky, the water, and the brush; the boathouse could perhaps use more work.  I'm still pondering that.

Coming up this Sunday the 15th is the next urban sketchers outing, which will be at the Burke Museum.  Excellent choice, and I'm looking forward to it (and hoping it won't be as crowded as last month's outing!).