Market Sunflowers and other adventures

Market Sunflowers

watercolor

11 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

This painting was truly an adventure to paint. It is an image that I had wanted to try for some time yet I needed to be well prepared to tackle this complex subject. And it really was a puzzle of shapes and color that I enjoyed working out on paper. I captured this scene at our local farmers' market last summer and managed to paint it in time for the start of another farmers' market season, and just before we left for our annual trip to Edisto Beach.

Our Edisto adventure was glorious this year. Fantastic weather and a great cottage rental led to many hours of inspiration and art making. This was our screened porch where much creativity happened.

It was a wonderful spot to sit and do daily sketches. There was always something available as subject for a sketchbook page.

As the days wore on that large picnic table accumulated more and more objects, collected from our beach walks and found in local shops, produce for our next meal creation, and art supplies as well.

While at Edisto I also left several new art works at With These Hands Gallery. And here I am sketching the view of the marsh from Jungle Road Park. I will post some of the sketches made on this trip as soon as I can get them scanned and ready. Stay tuned...

Painting #16 - Breaking Through

Breaking Through
oil on canvas
8 x 10 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky
For purchase information click here

A new day at the beach always feels so open for possibility. Maybe because of the space and the light that grows bigger with each passing moment.

I have been busy these past few days cleaning and organizing my work space, with the professor's help, of course. Some of you may remember this view of my little work corner.
What you can't see here are the piles of stuff that were under each table. Or the other side of the room that had shelving units stacked with toys. Or the other computer desk behind mine. It was a very crowded and cluttered room.
So we packed away the precious toys that are no longer played with by 11 year old Kiddo. Many more were dropped at the thrift store. We purchased a real desk (with drawers, yay!) for my computer and did away with the door supported by shelves that was my desk. We de-cluttered. And de-cluttered some more.

The professor's desk is on the opposite wall in this view. The two closets on that wall are cleaned out, re-organized, one for Kiddo's remaining toys, craft kits, and stuff, the other for my crafty things. No more crawling around under a table in order to find something. We found a floor in the center of this room!
Ahhhhh. . . .

January Print of the Month

Here is a new feature I am adding for this new year of 2010. Each month I will highlight one of my works that is available as a fine art print through Imagekind. This piece is titled Stratus and the original is colored pencil on pastel board at 11 x 14 inches. The image is from Edisto Island off the South Carolina coast, one of our favorite get-away destinations. This art work is available as note cards and fine art prints.

While I was away

I filled one spread in my watercolor Moleskine by recording a little slice of the ocean and sky colors for each day we were at Edisto Beach. I had such a great view from my spot at the dining table in our rental cottage that I couldn't let it go to waste.

I also couldn't help thinking of this song, especially on our rainy Wednesday, when the fishing boats disappeared on the horizon.



And when we returned from our trip I was greeted by Abner! I had the good fortune of winning Abner in a drawing over on Diahn's blog, and he's gorgeous! I really couldn't believe this was a print, it is so beautifully done on such quality paper. A wonderful surprise to come home to after our stay at the beach. Now that we are back in our mountains life is crazy busy around here. I have a design project that needs finishing and we have guests coming for the weekend. If you could see the state of my house right now you would wonder why I am even sitting here typing this with so much that needs doing. At least I have Abner to keep me smiling! Thanks Diahn!

Away

I was away from the computer last week. But I kept myself busy here.
Of course, I had this view for inspiration.
And plenty of reasons to play.

Loose ends

Sunrise II
colored pencil on pastel board
5 x 7 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky
Click here to buy

I have had this little work on my drawing board forever. This past weekend I decided it was time to get it finished. It was begun with Neocolor II crayons, washed with water, then Derwent's Coloursofts colored pencil over top. I am still working on my assignments for the last week of watercolor pencil class and then there's lots of new stuff I want to try. So I needed to finish up these loose ends. Besides, I though you all might need a break from all my efforts with watercolor pencil! I put this piece, along with three other recent colored pencil works, in my Etsy store and on my sales blog.

Little treasures

If it seemed a little quiet around here this past week it is because we took the week off to go to our favorite destination, Edisto Island, South Carolina. We had an absolutely magical five days of warm sunshine and frolicking on the beach with kiddo and the dogs. We packed an outrageous amount of art supplies and brought home way to many seashells. We saw brilliant sunrises, enjoyed excellent meals and the good company of a dear friend. And I took hundreds of photographs which I am hoping will be inspiration for months to come.






I also managed to do a few sketches. Now I am not at all sure of what I am doing when it comes to watercolor, so these were really just for play. They are a sampling of pages from my Aquabee sketchbook. This first is a few shells done with pen and watercolor washes.

Next, I tried sketching a few beach finds with my new set of Graphitints. This was a little easier for me to handle.

This little fish was a knick-knack in the beach house we rented. I tried using watercolor pencils for this one. This charming beach cottage was filled with all sorts of delightful accessories. It was a beach cottage we hated to leave. With its play of light through the palmettos it held a magical feeling.

The beach scene was begun with watercolor and then continued with watercolor pencils. I didn't finish it the way I had planned though. It seemed we were somewhat of a spectacle on the beach and interrupted by passers by, curious to see what hubby, friend, and I were doing with all our art supplies. One curious beach walker even took our photograph!

All in all we had a very pleasant time and I am quite satisfied with my new abundance of reference photos. Clearly, though, I need much more practice with water media if I intend to record more images this way in my sketchbooks! But it was fun. And I do have the study of watercolor on my list of things to do!

Nothing Could Be Finer

No, I haven't disappeared entirely. We just took a quick trip to the beautiful South Carolina coast for a few days. The weather was gloriously stunning, the water was warm and we all had such a wonderful time even though our time there was much too short.






We stayed at the enchanted Edisto Beach, on Edisto Island, South Carolina. This is a charming little beach community that has not given way to the commercialism that seem to plague so many other east coast beaches. As much as I wanted to, I didn't take time for sketches (a little hard to do with a kiddo and two dogs running around). I did, however, take tons of photos and spent some time thinking about future projects. The break from my usual routine was very welcome and good for recharging my energy for art. And of course we all, dogs included, greatly enjoyed ourselves.

And although I came home wishing we could still be at Edisto, I am trying to remember what was important to me during our short stay at the beach and carry those things with me through my routines here at home. Here is my list of what really matters when on vacation and otherwise:

~Always eat a big breakfast
~Take lots of walks
~Set aside a little time each day to sit and do nothing
~Pay attention to the details and little moments that make up your day
~Take plenty of photos to help with those memories


*All photographs copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky and may not be reproduced without permission