"My Morning Starts Off from A Bowl of Fruit", Fruit, Lynn Cohen

This morning I did it! My first fruit drawing in a long time, something I eat every day of my life!
An old bowl from a flea market years ago, love the colors, two apples that need to be tossed, and the bananas that sustain my fruit smoothies each day. I used Pilot gel pens, and Tom Bows to complete this piece, that I believe qualifies for both last theme of Still Life and this new theme of Fruit! I did it!

Still Life, Gourds, Bonnie McBride

Still Life: gourds - by Bonnie McBride

Still Life, Power pole, by Elaine (jaguarish)

Not sure if this qualifies, but I really wanted to do one more in this theme!  I was thinking about a tip I read yesterday, about using your own window to "frame" a shot and draw what you see.  This is what I see right outside my window: the top of a power pole.  I've always been quite fascinated by the multiple lines on these things.

Still Life, Wine Bottle, by Joan Tavolott

This wine bottle was very still and sadly almost empty. I like sketching bottles with their reflective glass and labels.

Still Life, Lynn Cohen

There was nothing more STILL than this huge crane this weekend at the Ferry Docks in Oakland, CA. I imagine it is impressive when it is used to load cargo on ships or ferry boats; however, it was to me equally impressive standing there white-gray and huge! I like the wonderful arrangements of flowers and fruit that are being offered in still lifes here; I also like the outside the box still lifes as well. This is my rather unusual one.

I met up with seven other women this weekend who are part of a group I have joined called East Bay Urban Sketchers. Several of them are also my Sketchbook Skool klassmates! We had fun drawing at the ferry dock and farmers market on Sunday. You can see more of what I drew there on my other blog, Getting My Feet Wet.

Still life, Spring Summer Autumn Harvest, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I've had this pineapple top growing roots in an old jelly jar since spring, a pumpkin that grew unexpectedly in my garden (which I will always associate with autumn even though they seem to grow all the time here) and some new mangoes representing the start of summer.  Also, as I'm running out of steam with Inktober's "one drawing a day" my idea was to use ink other than my usual drawing pens, and get in some practise with my markers (Faber Castell Pitt brush pens).  Come to think of it my last proper drawing with these pens might have also been a pineapple top...!

Still Life, Mr Bones, Penny Lee StewArt

Still Life, or Still Death? A Skull/Skeleton Mr. Bones

5x5 Acrylic on heavy paper. Skeleton Head. Impasto style, heavy application of paint with palette knife.

Painted for the weekly challenge on Dailypaintworks.com

Still Life of a Scarecrow by Joan Tavolott

I was sketching the other day at the Suffolk County Farm Museum. They had a few scarecrows in the garden, and the wagons in the background that they use for rides when the school children visit.

Still life, flowers and babycino, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I returned to the Flower Market Expresso today, and brought my son along as he's home sick... he is not into drawing flowers, but he happily munched on a smartie cookie and a babycino.  I then used his weeny cup as a sketch subject as I found it so cute, while he drew his toy monkey and assorted knick knacks. We both found the atmosphere very relaxing and I also had a nice chat to some regulars who became interested to join the local Urban Sketchers.

Still Life and Stacks, Lynn Cohen

My still life is an old ship wreck found on the Isle of Aran in Ireland a week or so ago.  We walked all around this island after being brought there by boat from Doolin, Ireland, a very small village we fell in love with there. I loved the stone walls and rocks here by the sea side. (which could qualify for our "stacks" theme of a week ago.) 

This is Matteo from Italy we met on our walk, and who wanted to take a photo of me drawing the ship. My husband took a photo of him taking a photo of me drawing! Fun memories of the day.

Still Life - End of the gardening season, by Rob Kulas

After picking the last few veggies from the garden  I decided to do a small still life of them.

End of the gardening season. 5 X 3.5

Still life, Flower Market Expresso, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I had been to this flower shop / cafe before, without enough time to sketch properly, and felt compelled to visit again.  It smells beautiful when you walk in, and then you get to sit on some mod looking yellow chairs and have coffee or tea.  What more could you want?

Below is today's sketch, which I foolishly started as a warm up sketch (on bad quality paper) and became so wrapped up in the details that I never got around to doing a proper one (on good paper).  I guess I just have to go back again!  I did have some fun "fixing" it when I got home -- I still don't really know what to do with gouache so this was a chance to try them out.  I've shown the "before" shot (taken at the shop) just below the first.

Still Life at the Bakery by Joan Tavolott

Last night my sketch group went to a bakery to sketch...torture! Everything looked so delicious!!!

It was the perfect place to do a still life while having a nice cup of coffee instead of eating treats.

Still Life, Rockstar Nutcracker, Penny Lee StewArt

The next 30 days is all about Nutcrackers for me. I am painting 30 ACEOs with a holiday theme and I chose to do nutcrackers for my subject. Most of them will be adapted from reference photographs which inspired me that I found on the internet, but this one is REAL, and he seemed too big to put on a 3.5 x 2.5 inch card, so, here is my Nutcracker, Rockstar, 11x14 Acrylic on Canvas Board

This Still Life was done from an actual 14" nutcracker collectible figurine.

so I guess he is Life Size?