Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

We’re in sunny California this week visiting our son and his family. We left Vermont with deep snow on the ground and the next morning had breakfast outdoors in warm glorious sunshine. The plane trip of course took all day but it did give me a chance to sketch.

At least when people are on their cell phones they don’t move around as much!

Cell phones, computers–what did people do in airports before?

This guy was a study in denim–I think of him as the cowboy.

A diaper change–now that’s something that technology hasn’t improved.

And finally–the perfect model…..

Today is the last day of the DrawMo! daily drawing project. It has been a good exercise but I won’t be sorry not to have homework every day! I’ll try to keep at it because I know it’s good for me but I’m sure I won’t be posting something new every day. For the last day, two drawings, neither of which I’m very happy with, but so it goes.

These are shells I found–maybe oyster? The one in front looks like some sort of creature.

I’ve been meaning all month to draw this little figure–made me smile the whole time.

And finally, an interesting quote from Cocteau:

“What the public criticizes you for, cultivate: It  is you.”

Last summer I found some marvelous huge pine cones in my son’s backyard.   I lugged them back on the plane thinking they’d made a great subject for a still life.  But last night I was tired and didn’t have the patience to draw each little segment  accurately.  So what we have here is mostly a lazy impression of a pine cone.

Here are two cows in charcoal–one a cream pitcher and the other the obligatory Vt. Holstein from my collection of farm animals.

Ellipses are tricky so I thought I’d give myself a workout with these cups.  The drawing is not entirely accurate but it was fun to use an ink wash.  I did lots of watercolor years ago and forgot how much fun it can be.

Here’s an old piece of wood with a rock stuck in it.  I marvel at natural forms and how complicated they can be.   But now my subject goes into the fireplace!

A friend recently gave me a lot of pieces of corrugated cardboard to use in art projects.  I’m not quite sure what to do with them but I thought I’d try a pastel–pencils and hard sticks.  I didn’t have a lot of colors to work with and couldn’t get the darks I wanted.  But I think the vertical element from the texture helps unify the whole composition.

We took Mason and Emma to the science museum over in Norwich, Vt.  While they ran around I sketched various stuffed animals.  This drawing is of a thrush on its nest.

Yesterday shortly after our Thanksgiving dinner the power went out–something that happens far too frequently here.  We do have a backup battery that runs a few lights for a while.  We all gathered  cozily around the fireplace with candles but were soon back in the kitchen where we could read.  This is a quick sketch of Emma reading “Calvin and Hobbes.”  I think children’s gestures are wonderful but they move so constantly!  The was the only pose that lasted long enough for me to get anything down.