October Was a Tad Too Busy!

It started with flying to Grand Rapids from Mesa, Arizona. We stayed with good friends, Eva and Joe. We didn’t know it, but he ordered wheelchairs for us. New experience and that put us on the plane first. I got to sketch as the other passengers boarded the ramp. This is surprisingly fun as they waited in line long enough to ‘grab’ a sketch. Next sketch was of a passenger on head phones. Headphone and computer people really hold still. These make very good models. That’s my tip for this blog. When bored, find the people who hold still long enough for you to practice.

PBS - MUSTANG

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Grand Rapids, Michigan

In Grand Rapids we stayed with Jan and Norm for a few days before filming. She’s the person who had me go to WGVU to film Pocket Sketching in the first place. Because I felt very rusty and the entire Season Five was to be filmed plein air, I sketched in their yard. Norm is a gardener. This was all safe and delightful. The frog’s book is ‘Good Night Moon’.  We chose his yard for the first three episodes when we filmed. ​

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Filming Day 2

The second day we filmed in the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park where we were joined by our “Mystery Donor” for a day of live shooting. She is delightful and I think she really enjoyed the experience of filming. Sketching plein air does not necessarily go as planned. With pressure and an exact time frame of 26 minutes, the sketches leave a bit to be desired. However, I talk all the way through with all the decisions. One particular location involved looking through a fence to get the sketch with a live person sitting on the fence providing my shade. Not the best sketch. I will love to hear your reactions when you see Season Five. ​

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Filming Days 3 & 4

The next day was at the lovely Franciscan Life Process Center in the country near Lowell, Michigan. It is a perfect, meditative retreat location. The last day was on the Allendale campus of GVSU. The crew was wonderful. Filming was exhausting. We had fun with friends. And on the flight home we both caught Covid. And after that was over, I taught a Teacher’s course here in Tucson for five days. I am ready for a break! ​

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Upcoming Events

As they say in the theater business, November and December will be ‘dark’.  I plan a live Basic Workshop here in our ‘home studio’ January 9, 10 and 11 and an Online Workshop January 16, 19, 22, 25 and 28.  The online sessions are each 1 ½ hours long.  They are limited in enrollment to 12 people.  They are interactive and recorded with the recordings available for review for two weeks for each class.  I have been very impressed with how well people learn from this format. In both cases, contact me to enroll.
[email protected]
520-318-9291

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Happy Sketching!