Month: December 2017

2017: The Year in Sketches

Five years back I was doing a “year in photos” post (2012 // 2013) in addition to my year in books. Since 2017 was my first full year of sketching, I thought I’d bring them all together and look back on the year through the lens of my sketchbook rather than my camera.

January

Above is my first sketch with Moment Sketchers, watching “Parenthood” on Netflix while sick in bed.

While waiting for my flight to Madrid in O’hare, backpack and personal compass in hand, I decided to do my first “out in public” sketch of the trip right there at the gate. I went to a nearby coffee shop and asked for a paper cup, then filled it up at a drinking fountain. I ended up using this very cup for water while painting throughout the following three months!

One day during my week-long Madrid visit I had a lunch and “blue wine” by myself at this restaurant, sketching the whole time I was there and finishing the painting later at the apartment.

This is a card I painted for a friend at Puerta de Alcalá—one of my favorite landmarks in Madrid. It’ll be fun to go back in the future and sketch it again, now that I have a full year under my belt.

February

At the start of the month I flew from Madrid to Naples, beginning my exploration of Italy.

I want to point out that above (and below too, actually—hah!) is an example of one of the sketches in my journal that I strongly dislike—it’s just displeasing for me to look at. That said, I enjoyed the afternoon I sat out on the balcony sketching this scene, which is why I’m sketching in the first place. To slow down and appreciate my surroundings and their corresponding moments, while slowly developing a new skill. Later on I’ll point out a few that I’m particularly pleased/proud of how they turned out, though the intention is always to enjoy the time spent playing with my watercolors.

Near the end of my stay in Naples I spent a day visiting Pompeii. When the week was over I headed to Rome.

After Rome I took the train to Florence, where I spent my next week tuning into smaller moments.

Above is another sketch I really don’t like to look at—but I can still remember that afternoon and the wander walking which brought me to this grassy side of the river. Plus, it’s the action of painting “messes” like these that moved me an inch further along towards “better looking” sketches. The only way out is through. To get better at something, you have to practice where you are now and keep going, even if your results aren’t pleasing to your eye. The act of sketching this scene still gave me experience looking at something and attempting to capture it in pen and watercolor. And it’s the accumulation of such experiences which helped me to paint some sketches I’m particularly proud of later on in the year.

Inspired by paintings in a watercolor journal I’d seen in a gift shop, I tried a new style in the sketch above, skipping the pencil and pen.

When the week was up I took a train to Bologna (where I puked for the first time—but not last—on these travels).

The above sketch is one I’m particularly fond of—both because I’m pleased with the result, and also because while sketching it I met a street poet who then introduced me to some of his friends at a nearby café: Urbana Cafe.

March

From Bologna I took a local train to tiny Dozza, where I worked on a small farm via HelpX for two weeks, in exchange for room and board.

When my farming days were up I took another train to Venice, where I’d spend my final week in Italy.

And then it was off to Munich to visit my friend Max.

Here’s the full story behind the above sketch, and below are two cute swings from Max’s kitchen.

And then I returned to Montpellier where I got to soak in the home comforts at Damien’s parents’ home.

One of my first days back—another Moment Sketchers weekend—allowed me to sketch at Parc du Peyrou, the very first place I’d sketched the day I bought my watercolors the previous fall. How fun to look back and compare!

April

This little sketch above is meaningful to me because it represents an inner shift that had taken place over the past few months, putting my creative pursuits first. That day Damien had to work on his motorcycle (or something), so I decided to take a walk in the nearby garrigue and paint. Later on I reflected that when we’d been together the previous year, I never went on a walk by myself to the beautiful nearby garrigue when we were at his parents’ home. Yet here we were with only a week together this visit, and I was happy spending my afternoon there painting and he was happy to bricoler. Often it’s going back to familiar places (home) and unconsciously breaking from old routines which shows me just how much things have changed underneath the surface.

Pooh Watercolor

I’m also proud of the above Pooh watercolor painting, made at the request of Damien’s mother for the nursery she runs out of her home. It was a moment where I could feel I was stretching myself by saying “yes”—stepping into uncharted territories: huge canvas, characters I hadn’t drawn before, knowing it would be on display—but saying “yes” was notably easier this time. (By this point I’d said “yes” to Giovanni in Florence when she’d asked me to paint her, sketched in public every place I’d visited, and continued to nurture a growth mindset when it came to painting. All of this came into play when I stepped up to the challenge and viewed Damien’s mother’s request as an invitation to try something on the border of my comfort zone.)

The very day she asked me about it, Damien and I took the tram into Montpellier to buy a big sheet of watercolor paper at an art shop and I ended up finishing the whole thing by nightfall. To go from “I’m not sure if I can do this” to “I did this!” in such a short timeframe—thanks to taking action—was quite powerful.

May

Once back in Wisconsin at the end of April, much of my time was spent working on the Trains on Main public art project, but May’s Moment Sketchers weekend got me out painting at a nearby park.

June

As you can see, it took the June Moment Sketchers weekend to break my month-long non-sketching streak. Thank you, Moment Sketchers community! Above you can see part of my garden, which was a defining element of my summer.

On a trip to Wausau to visit my great aunt Lois, she pulled out her chalks one night and gave my sister and I an art lesson. (Lois is an amazing oil painter and all-around artist.) Above is the fox I drew—another creation I’m proud of!

July

Painting my friend Chad’s niece (above) is when I created my 100 Portraits project—though again, it was a collection of moments (painting myself way back in January, saying “yes” to Giovanni’s portrait, etc.) which got the idea into my mind and propelled me to begin.

August

I made the above painting while putting together this site, specifically my Values page. It was quite impromptu—I just had the itch and put brush to paper—so I’m glad that I simply began creating before I had time to overthink anything, and I’m also pleased with the creation.

September

A new sketchbook came with me to Flagstaff, but with square pages to mix things up.

Here we go, above is another sketch I’m particularly not fond of, but once again, it brings to mind memories of sitting in the sun that day, soaking up live music, and browsing the art stands.

I worked on this desert sketch at a bar while friends gathered there to watch a football game. I don’t like football but I wanted to socialize, so this was a no-brainer for me. Especially after bringing my tiny watercolor kit everywhere with me since January, I didn’t think twice about painting during the game.

October

Orion

Charlie

The two portraits above, Orion and Charlie, are two I’m quite pleased with. They both turned out better than I expected (based on my past work and what each of these looked like at different points throughout the process), so that’s always a good feeling!

November

This Grand Canyon sketch fell on the “quick” side for me, since I started it in my tent one night (headlight on) with watercolors working from a picture, rather than sitting on site for 3-4 hours and beginning first with pencil and pen as I usually do. So I was surprised to receive comments on Instagram from the Moment Sketchers community with such high praise for this one. It’s interesting how your view of something as the creator can be quite different from how others view it; I’m open to it all.

Emilie

December

12-Hanna-Rose

I love this girl so much, but after I shared the portrait some family joked that she looked like an old woman. She’s 19 years old! (And cute!) I wondered aloud for a moment if I should take it off Instagram, not wanting to hurt her feelings or something with a less-than-stellar portrait.

But then my growth mindset regained control. (Phew.)

Painting this one was excellent practice. I learned to take more time getting the locations of facial features correct in pencil before jumping to pen (notably the eyes—they should be lower) and I enjoyed feeling gratitude towards Hanna Rose while painting her. And although I’m not over the moon with the final result, it’s loads better than I thought it would be (again, based on what it looked like during some earlier in-progress moments), so I’m proud of what I transformed it into. Finally, this is portrait #12/100! The twelfth watercolor portrait I’ve ever painted. Ever! So looking at it from that perspective, I have no reason to be anything but proud of this!

13-Colin

As if to prove that point (that the practice is helping), I was really satisfied with my next portrait of Colin.

At a dinner party in December, a friend asked if I would do a watercolor of his dog—my first commissioned piece, if you will. This was my first attempt, but I’m in the process of painting a second. My great aunt Lois helped me see that the right eye is in the wrong place, which is what throws it off. We spent the night before New Year’s Eve sketching this dog in pencil at her kitchen table, so that’ll be one of my first paintings of the new year.


Sketching has certainly been an integral part of this year, and I’m looking forward to painting even more in 2018!

What was integral to your year? Have you done any sketching/creating lately?

2017: The Year in Books

I read 63 books this year. My original goal was 42, so the final number looks high to me, too. This is, however, thanks to the fact that I was unemployed a majority of the year and spent the summer at my parents’ home, a 15-minute walk from the local library.

Some of the books I read this year were poetry collections and children’s books, so I’m always interested to see how my “pages read” stats compare year to year. Fifteen thousand seven hundred forty-one pages in 2017. (Thanks Goodreads!)

2017 Pages Read

I’ll list them all this year—here’s what I read, beginning in January and ending in December:

Books Read in 2017

  • “The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember” by Fred Rogers
  • “Modern Calligraphy: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started in Script Calligraphy” by Molly Suber Thorpe
  • “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within” by Natalie Goldberg
  • “Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas, Advice, and Projects from 50 Successful Artist” by Danielle Krysa
  • “Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message” by Tara Mohr
  • “Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life” by Jon Kabat-Zinn
  • “Living Color: Painting, Writing, and the Bones of Seeing” by Natalie Goldberg
  • “Milk & Honey: A Love Story” by Alexandra Franzen
  • “So This Is the End” by Alexandra Franzen
  • “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith
  • “The Postmistress” by Sarah Blake
  • “Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It” by Gabriel Wyner
  • “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr
  • “Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder” by Arianna Huffington
  • “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur
  • “The Yellow Envelope: One Gift, Three Rules, and a Life-Changing Journey Around the World” by Kim Dinan
  • “The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)” by Hal Elrod
  • “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead” by Brené Brown
  • “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*uck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” by Mark Manson
  • “Love Warrior” by Glennon Doyle Melton
  • “Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed” by Glennon Doyle Melton
  • “Forward: A Memoir” by Abby Wambach
  • “Rising Strong” by Brené Brown
  • “The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking” by Mike Rohde
  • “Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams” by Barbara Sher
  • “Brave Enough” by Cheryl Strayed
  • “Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own” by Kate Bolick
  • “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar” by Cheryl Strayed
  • “Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between” by Lauren Graham
  • “This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage” by Ann Patchett
  • “All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft” by Geraldine DeRuiter
  • “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles” by Steven Pressfield
  • “Janesville: An American Story” by Amy Goldstein
  • “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life” by Anne Lamott
  • “This Is How It Always Is” by Laurie Frankel
  • “The Last Unicorn” by Peter Beagle
  • “Ariel” by Sylvia Plath
  • “Dog Songs” by Mary Oliver
  • “Felicity” by Mary Oliver
  • “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov
  • “Ladies Drawing Night: Make Art, Get Inspired, Join the Party” by Julia Rothman
  • “The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures” by Dan Roam
  • “Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort” by J.K. Rowling
  • “Our World” by Mary Oliver
  • “Upstream: Selected Essays” by Mary Oliver
  • “Blue Horses” by Mary Oliver
  • “A Poetry Handbook” by Mary Oliver
  • “Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person” by Shonda Rhimes
  • “Worm Loves Worm” by J.J. Austrian
  • “The Great Failure: A Bartender, a Monk, and My Unlikely Path to Truth” by Natalie Goldberg
  • “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask” by Anton Treuer
  • “Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time” by Andrew Forsthoefel
  • “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon
  • “Just Diagnosed: The Five Keys to Living with MS from the Driver’s Seat” by Laura Sowinski
  • “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith
  • “Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture” by Shannon Hayes
  • “Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith” by Martha Beck
  • “Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone” by Brené Brown
  • “The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America” by Timothy Egan
  • “The Zero-Waste Lifestyle: Live Well by Throwing Away Less” by Amy Korst
  • “The Colorado Kid” by Stephen King
  • “The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir” by Dee Williams
  • “The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life with Language” by Natalie Goldberg

Top 10 Books Read in 2017

I usually select five or so which I highlight as favorites, but this year I couldn’t get that number any lower than ten (plus some honorable mentions, below). In alphabetical order, I recommend:

“All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr

I started this historical fiction book when I was visiting my friend Max in Munich and finished it on the train into France—which happened to be so fitting because it takes place in both countries during World War II. (I hadn’t known what the book was about when I began reading.) There’s a reason this won the Pulitzer Prize and spent over two years on the New York Times bestseller list; I enjoyed getting lost in the story.


“The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America” by Timothy Egan

A friend in ACE recommended this one to me, and it was an interesting, educative read. I hadn’t read anything by Egan before, but he has the gift of bringing the past to life, so the retelling of these historical events was lively and engaging.

 

 


“Janesville: An American Story” by Amy Goldstein

This story takes place in Janesville, Wisconsin—which lies just an hour southeast of where I’m from. The book follows several families/politicians/teachers before, during, and after the GM plant closing / recession of 2008. Although informative and well-researched, this book—like “Evicted”—is far from dry, filled with approachable and engrossing stories.

 


“Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith” by Martha Beck

This memoir was incredible. I’ll definitely be reading more of Martha Beck this year.

 

 

 


“Love Warrior” by Glennon Doyle Melton

Another incredible memoir. What a treat to read! I also read her other book, “Carry On, Warrior” this year, which I enjoyed and recommend as well.

 

 

 


“Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead” by Tara Mohr

In case anyone missed my ooh-ing and aah-ing over this one last year, I’m including it again because I reread it at the start of the year. If you were a “good student” in school, this book is full of practical ways to break from good-student habits we women are taught at a young age—in order to lead, create, and speak up in our communities.

 


“Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture” by Shannon Hayes

This book articulated so well many ideas I’d partially uncovered on my own. How refreshing to see a fuller picture, though, and to consider ideas I hadn’t yet stopped to consider. For example: What does a country’s GDP really indicate? It’s not a measure of personal well-being, so why does society care so much about a “healthy” GDP? Here’s a snippet from the Goodreads summary:

Radical Homemakers nationwide speak about empowerment, transformation, happiness, and casting aside the pressures of a consumer culture to live in a world where money loses its power to relationships, independent thought, and creativity. If you ever considered quitting a job to plant tomatoes, read to a child, pursue creative work, can green beans and heal the planet, this is your book.”


“Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar” by Cheryl Strayed

Incredibly beautiful writing and a joy to read. Definitely a book I’ll reread in the future, as well as gift to high school / college graduates.

 

 

 


“Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time” by Andrew Forsthoefel

This memoir particularly gripped me because walking the country is something I’d thought of doing years ago—though I hadn’t had an idea for a “reason”/name/project and never moved an inch forward. Andrew Forsthoefel did, however, and five years later he wrote a book about his experiences. Not only is the story compelling and a neat way to get an up-close-and-personal tour of various regions of the USA, but the writing is beautiful to boot.


“Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within” by Natalie Goldberg

Oh, Natalie. This was the first book I read by Natalie Goldberg, and I couldn’t believe it had taken 28 years for us to meet! After this one I read several others by Natalie throughout the year, and there are plenty more of hers I’d like to read. I’m happy to have gained another role model this year.

2017 Books Read: Honorable Mentions

  • “Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone” by Brené Brown — I read two of Brené’s other big ones this year as well (“Daring Greatly” and “Rising Strong”), and wanted to highlight at least one of hers somewhere in this post. Her latest book nicely summarizes many concepts I’ve learned over the years—so nothing breakthrough for me, but she’s certainly a helpful voice to have a stage, especially during this political climate.
  • “Felicity” by Mary Oliver — If anyone’s new to poetry like I am, this Mary Oliver collection was an enjoyable read. (Additional shoutout to Oliver’s “Upstream: Selected Essays”)
  • “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov — I read this book because Regina Spektor mentioned it in an interview somewhere. I was also curious to read a Russian author and a fiction book (I usually find myself reading within the non-fiction genre). It was sure interesting! I didn’t understand the deeper metaphors that must have been going on, but the story itself kept my interest the whole time.
  • “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith — This was my first Zadie Smith book, found on the bookshelf while I was HelpXing on the farm in Italy, and I enjoyed getting lost in her story.
  • “The Postmistress” by Sarah Blake — This is another one from the bookshelf on the farm in Dozza, and it was also an enjoyable fiction read.
  • “Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life” by Jon Kabat-Zinn — I finished reading this at the start of 2017 and wanted to mention it somewhere, as it was a peaceful read which nurtured mindfulness.

Finally, if you’d like to see five more years of past year-end book reviews, they are below.

>>Past years in books: 2012 // 2013 // 2014 // 2015 // 2016


Your turn! What were your favorite reads of the year? What do you recommend I read in 2018? I’d love to hear what you have to say—the space below is yours to comment your heart out!

Christmas Poetry Project (+ Bamboo Toothbrushes)

My family typically doesn’t buy each other Christmas gifts—except for my parents, who would get stuff for us four kids—but this year we decided to start doing no gifts from anyone. We all have what we need and would rather spend time together playing games (or watching “The Office”) than to unwrap things our parents spent money on.

That said, since I had the two weeks before Christmas at home and the itch to create, I gave myself a mini-poetry project. I’d select a poem for each member of my family and gift it to them for Christmas.

This way, I’d be exposed to a greater number of poems during the selection process, helping me along on my poetry journey, while also spending $0 on homemade gifts. It was realistic and thus approachable.

I checked out a poetry anthology from the library and borrowed three other poetry collections from my grandma’s bookshelf:

Then I spent a few days browsing through all of them, looking for anything that reminded me of any of my five family members. I got most of my poems from “The Family Book of Best Loved Poems” (edited by David L. George), though I had some honorable mentions from all of the books.

After I had selected a poem for each family member, I wrote it out by hand on white card stock and then painted a watercolor border on watercolor paper. A little snip, snip, glue, glue, and they were done!

Here are the final poems:

Little Things

Life's Tests

Life

A Book by Emily Dickinson

A Prayer for Every Day

Everyone got a bamboo toothbrush from Mother’s Vault along with their poem, since I’d bought two 4-packs back in August before I moved to Arizona (specifically to give the extras out at Christmas).

For anyone who’s new to this idea, by the way, plastic toothbrushes will never biodegrade. Rather, they will fill our landfills and pollute our oceans. Here’s why bamboo is a fantastic alternative (from Mother’s Vault’s website):

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant with natural antimicrobial properties, making it the perfect material to use.  Our mao bamboo toothbrush is made from 100% real biodegradable bamboo, features BPA-free bristles and plastic free compostable packing. This means no plastic waste, no chemicals in your body and no waiting for trees to regrow.

That was the first time I’d ever bought a bamboo toothbrush, and after using it for the past three months, I’m definitely on board to stay bamboo!

Finally, I wrote out a poem for myself as well (while I was at it), featuring Mary Oliver’s “Moments.”

Moments by Mary Oliver

 

Have you given handmade gifts before? Are any of these poems familiar to you? Do any particularly resonate with you?

It’s Up to You…

My dad has been going through the file cabinets downstairs and today he handed me a file to toss or keep up in my room. They’re my old dental records—mostly bills and letters from my root canal and later orthodontics treatment.

I found a gem in that folder, though:

It’s a large booklet from my old orthodontist, which we probably received circa 2001. I don’t recall ever seeing it before, but the illustrations and text were entertaining enough that I wanted to share it here. Enjoy!

Finally, here’s the back cover:

And now that it’s documented here, I’ll be cutting up the illustrations for snail mail fun!