Every Day in May 2016, #31 - THE LAST DAY! - The VIEW OUT MY WINDOW

Every Day in May #31, "A View Out My Window"
The LAST ONE!! This time I did them all! And I am finished before midnight of the last day. Not my best work, but I am tired. And I am done. Very fun month!
Until next year at this time . . . .
Keep sketching!

Every Day in May 2016, #30 - Draw a FEATHER

EDiM#30 - Draw a Feather
So many choices on this island - eagle, heron, Stellar jay, seagull, crow, hummers, owl, garden birds . Hmmm.
Fantasy feather. Yeah. Fantasy feather.
30 down, one to go. . . .

Every Day in May 2016, #29 - a CONDIMENT

EDiM #29 - "Condiment"
Aaaannnddd, I am caught up. Two to go. 

So the questions are - paper or plastic? Burger or dog? Coke or Pepsi? Catsup or mustard? Plastic, burger, neither and MUSTARD only, please! Preferably Inglehoffer Stone Ground. I discovered and fell in love with it when I was a USMC recruiter working in Portland and living in Beaverton, Oregon. Then it was made by Beaverton Foods and came in little, squat jars of wonderfulness. Now it is still made by Beaverton Foods, but is called Inglehoffer, and comes in several kinds of jars. It is still so good I eat it straight from the jar with a spoon.

Every Day in May 2016, #28 - Draw something seen on a NATURE WALK

EDiM #28 - Draw Something From a Nature Walk
Here he is, folks, the unofficial State Animal of Western Washington; Ariolimax columbianus, the Pacific Banana Slug. Just TRY to take a nature walk, or sit on a bench, turn over a log, walk barefoot anywhere or sleep outside in a sleeping bag and not find him! Or his slime trail (which, incidentally, you can't get off). Wanna get rid of them? Get yourself some nice Ancona or white Peking ducks!

Every Day in May 2016, #27 - Tea

EDiM #27 - "Tea"
I love that the big overgrown bush outside my living room window, which is covered with huge, beautiful Alizarin Crimson blooms in the spring, is related to TEA! My bush is a decorative camellia, with those flashy blooms and dark green foliage. Tea is brewed from the dried leaves of Camillia Seninsis, grown on the cool moist slopes of Japan and China and in the rich soils of India.

Every Day in May 2016, #25, 26 - Draw something in a JAR, and INSECTS

EDiM #25 - Something in a Glass Jar, and #26 - Insects
Summer in the Midwest - catching fireflies at dusk in a glass jar. I miss that about Michigan. No fireflies in the great Pacific Northwest (that I have found . . .)

Every Day in May 2016, #24 - Draw my favorite FRUIT, or VEGETABLES

Every Day in May 2016, #23 - Draw a beloved PET

EDiM #23 - Draw a Pet
Here is "my" (well, Genna and Chad's) gentle, sweet, geriatric dog, Toblerone the Swissie Mix - part Swiss Mountain Dog and part something else tall and rangy. He is THE. BEST. DOG. IN. THE. WORLD. We all love him.

Every Day in May 2016, #22 -

EDiM #22 - "Bowls"
My Pyrex mixing bowl obsession. I have my set of Primary Colors, (purchased at a farm auction in Michigan) and, now, my mother's set, of course. I also have an avocado green set from 1970, a wedding gift. And 3 extra blue bowls. No extra red bowls, however. They are scarce as hen's teeth.

Every Day in May 2016, #21 - STREET LIGHTS

EDiM #21 - "Streetlights"
When am I HAPPY with a two ferry wait to get home from Amerika on Friday night? When I can kill two birds with one stone - waiting AND be in a perfect spot to get almost a whole sketch done for EDiM while sitting in my car. Score! 

Every Day in May 2016, #20 - draw a MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

EDiM 20 - "Musical Instrument"
I don't play anything (except on people's sympathies), so musical instruments are in short supply around my house. I DO have this little Raku-fired clay Ocarina on a leather cord that I bought years ago from an artist at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. I used to wear it with my shiny little silver orb with the interior chimes. Both of these are maximumly cool and speak directly to my inner gypsy.

Every Day in May 2016, #21 - Your CHOICE

EDiM #19 - CHOICE
Since I was here painting with the Whidbey Island Sketchers, this was a natural choice for "choice". 

Every Day in May 2016 #18, Draw a PAINT TUBE

EDiM #18 - Draw a Paint Tube
Okay. Here is a paint tube.

Every Day in May 2016, #17 - DRAWER PULLS

EDiM #17 - "Drawer Pulls"
I now live in my parents house - they are in assisted living. All the things around me are their things, because that is easy and I love the things which surround me. 
My mother is a woman riddled with insecurity. She has always described herself as "not smart", "not talented or creative". And yet, anyone who has seen her life's creative work in the form of this house, knows differently. The 71 year marriage/collaboration that is my parent's life has always been "Mom dreams it up, Dad engineers it into reality". 

Here is just a tiny sampling - Drawer Pulls.

Every Day in May 2016, #16 - Draw some CUTLERY

EDiM#16 - "Cutlery"
A holdover from from the Michigan episode of my life, particularly local farm auctions, and driving down to Shipshewana, Indiana, in the early '80's to crash the BIG Amish auctions to buy "country junque" for my house. And wandering through the flea market and craft fair for stuff like this. Good times.
Also, this is a chance to try my new souvenir-of-Philadelphia-Art-Museum SILVER graphite pencil with my Ebony black and white Prismacolor pencils.

Every Day in May 2016, #15 - Draw some JEWELRY

EDiM #15 - “Jewelry”
Along the lines of odd coincidences, last night I received an email from my long time dear friend Trudy in California, who is a jewelry maker and artist who loves, loves metal craft and gemstones. Because she knows how much I love all things Art nouveau, she was excitedly pointing me to a Pinterest page of photos of antique jewelry from that period that she thought I would enjoy. Not only did I enjoy the beauty of the sensual, organic designs and the luscious, glowing materials, but they were just screaming to be painted. So here is a fantastic gold, turquoise and pearl brooch. Not MINE, unfortunately, but I sure wish it were.

Every Day in May 2016, #14 - SANDWICH

EDiM # 14 - "Sandwich"
Return with me now to those brave and thrilling days of yesteryear when a sandwich was Miracle Whip and mustard from clunky glass jars on bread with probably no nutritive value whatsoever, but was soft and white and squishy delicious with every bit of whole bran removed and was cut into two halves (across or diagonal? - the argument rages on) but maybe had the crusts cut off. It was filled with silky golden Velvet cheese sliced right off the end of the brick with a rolly-wire slicer, or maybe a couple of smooth fragrant rounds of braunschweiger liverwurst. Vegetable of the day? Leaves of iceberg lettuce added in for sweet crunch. Sides on the plate? Bread and butter pickles and potato chips. Served with a glass of cold milk, or maybe, if you were lucky, a hand-sized glass bottle of Coca Cola (the kind with ALL the sugar left in.
THOSE were lunch sandwiches, children. And it is noon. I want one NOW!!!!

Every Day in May 2016, #11, 12 - Draw a BUCKET and some LEAVES

EDiM Threefer - #11, "Bucket", and #12, "Leaves"
It was a "Three for One" day for me yesterday at Meerkerk Gardens in Greenbank on Whidbey Island.
#1 - sketching and laughing and enjoying shared company again with my Whidbey Island Sketcher Buddies on our weekly Friday sketch/meet (after two weeks "off" in DC), deep in the woods in spangled sunshine among fragrant rhodies and azaleas in all their blooming glory.
#2 - catching up on Every Day in May with #11, "Bucket" (a bucket of rhodies) and
#3 - EDiM #12, "Leaves"
Voilá!! A Bucket of Rhodies and Leaves, surrounded by Whidbey Island Sketchers!!

Every Day in May 2016, #13 - Draw a SUITCASE

Every Day in May, for May 11
I went rogue and moved the prompt for May 13 ("Suitcase") up to May 11. Both because I CAN, and because it was so perfect for the day. Yesterday I had to pack up my suitcase to leave Washington, DC, after a most wonderful (extended) two week stay with my daughter Genna, her hubby Chad, my grandkids Gracie Mae and Charlie, Toby the granddog, and all the friends and neighbors in Dominion Hills, Arlington, NoVA.
A trip so eagerly anticipated, and so soon over. Sad, sad, sad.
But, on the bright side, I now can resume my full time occupation of plotting the murder of my neighbor's rooster.

Every Day in May 2016, #10 - CANDY

EDiM #10 "Candy"
Do not EVER (trust me on this) be seduced into thinking that your grandson will not know if you take a tiny bite off the top of the remains of the chocolate easter bunny on a motor bike sitting next to you while you labor alone over his illustrated book of knights. He will know. HE WILL KNOW! And he will kick up a fuss of epic proportions over it, even it it WAS his beloved Nana who took the last surreptitious taste. And he even knew I was not the only Ninja Nibbler (his sister's name came up in Big Red Letters). But for Nana to have done this dastardly deed? Holy Crap. The whole kerfuffle ended Genna and I ending our trip to Philadelphia with a fast return back to Shane's in Olde Philly (where the original bunny came from) for a replacement. No Easter bunnies left, but the chocolate tyrannosaurus rex filled the bill nicely.

Every Day in May 2016, #9 - Someone BELOVED

EDiM #9 - My beloved Gracie Mae - star of stage and screen, and maybe Hamilton one day soon. She knows all the words to all the songs- she could step right in to any part!

And my Beloved Charlie - golden locks flying, he is a knight errant!

Every Day in May 2016, #8 - BOOTS

EDiM #8 - "Boots"
Saturday on the artificial turf of Barcroft soccer field in Arlington, where Gracie could actually play after ten straight days of Washington DC rain. Soggy and wet athletic fields mean lots of mud, so it was a day of soccer moms in wellies!! Rubbah boots!!

Every Day in May 2016, #7 - A GADGET used for CLEANING

EDiM # 7 - a Gadget Used for Cleaning . . .
. . . like cleaning up GIANT typos from a giant typewriter. "Typewriter Eraser Scale X", by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, on the Mall in Washington, D. C.
Still rainy and cold here, so thank goodness for the huge stockpile of photo files on my phone taken around town over the years.

Every Day in May 2016, #6 - Draw a TIME PIECE.

EDiM #6 - Magnificent old clock tower in downtown DC. One of those things that you don't see unless you are looking up!! 

My fine plans for today, to return downtown to stand across the street and sketch it from life, thwarted by this ongoing beastly weather. Not even a dedicated Seattle mossyback such as myself wants to get THAT cold and wet. Or to be seen in public admiring the architectural grandeur of this beautiful old Gothic building now the property and hotel conversion project of the Devil Whose Name Must Never Be Spoken.

Every Day in May 2016, #5 - Something SEEN IN A PARK

EDiM #5 - I LOVE this dragon. I visit him almost every time I am in DC. If the weather is good enough to walk all the way down to where he is!

Every Day in May, 2016, #4 - GAME

EDiM #4 - Draw a Game
If you are from Michigan, you know that this is THE game. Or maybe hockey.

Every Day in May, 2016, #3 - HAMMER

"A Velvet Hammer is a woman who can manage with grace and eloquence and still get things done."

- Elaine Allison

Every Day in May, 2016, #2 - Something which FOLDS

EDiM - # 2 "Something with Folds" 
I misread the prompt, and drew something WHICH folds - my sketching chair. S'okay.

Every Day in May 2016, #1 - A TOY

Hooray! Hooray! The first of May! Every day sketching begins today!!
On the D concourse in SeaTac airport in Seattle there is an automaton, a mechanical music machine, made from an assortment of stuff - wheels and gears, flashing lights, levers, bells, drums - including old toys; a marionette, a rolling Mickey Mouse, a cymbal-playing monkey. I killed an hour sketching, then painted it on the plane. Good use of vacation travel time from Seattle to DC.