Sketching Squirrel

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You see them everyday. They're funny, annoying, and they're everywhere. One of my New Year's rituals is to be aware of the first animal I see on New Year's Day, (other than my pets) and take that animal as my totem, or guide animal for the year.

This year it was a common gray squirrel. I was frankly a little disappointed.  Other year's I've seen a red tailed hawk, a black horse, a white tailed deer, but this year just a squirrel.

Then  I do what I always do, and that is look up the symbolic meaning of the animal and boy did I get a surprise! The squirrel is a power animal, with many, many lesson to teach us!

I will have much to think about and learn from this year with Squirrel as my guide. You can read about Squirrels symbolic meaning HERE.

My new sketchbook to start 2015 is a Stillman & Birn, 5.5 x 8.5 Zeta, with beautiful smooth, heavy weight, mixed media paper. It's such a great sketchbook to work in because it really does handle all media. It's not the same as good watercolor paper, but it does take watercolors remarkably well.Plus its smooth surface is beautiful for all kinds of pens and markers. My new favorite watercolors (and maybe my all time favorite from now on) are the new QoR watercolors from Golden.  I like them for their radiant, clarity and juicy pigment saturation. They also have an excellent "flow". I'm not really sure how else to describe that but the paints move and flow in such a beautiful way on  practically every surface I've used them on.

My new pen of choice (and again I *might* have found the ONE) is a Platinum Carbon fountain pen, using Platinum Carbon ink.  This is not an expensive pen. I think I paid $12 for it, bought the converter ($10) so I can fill it from an ink bottle and not have to buy expensive cartridges, and bought a bottle of carbon ink ($20).

I m so surprised at this pen's versatility. It's really quite elegant, especially so for a $12 pen!  The body is long and tapered, similar to a paint brush, which allows yo to hold it further back and loosely which helps loosen up your mark making and allows for lots of expressive qualities.  The nib, is also very responsive (though not a flex nib it actually has a lot of movement to it) and you can turn the pen over and draw easily with the other side of the nib for very thin lines.

The carbon ink is very waterproof and dries very quickly a big plus when you want to put watercolors over your ink work. The only thing I don't like is the plastic cap which does not post the the end of the pen. I always have to be sure I don't drop it and lose it. Other than that I'm really loving this pen!

Sketching for Spiritual Growth

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This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but some of you may enjoy this.  I believe we're all spiritual beings, I happen to be very much in touch with that aspect of myself and like to always be nurturing growth in that area.  I just finished an on line Advent retreat with Jan Richardson which brought a richness to my Christmas season that I've not felt in a long while.

Not wanting to lose that sense of connection to the Divine and desiring to continue deepening and ripening spiritually I signed up for another on line retreat at another favorite place The Abbey of the Arts. This one is called the MidWinter God, and challenges you to delve into the dark mystery of difficult circumstances that is sometimes our lives, and encourages us to stay fully awake in the dark and difficult times, emerging wiser and more resilient.  

I usually sketch my way through a retreat, I find that along with written journal entries, sketches seem to help me crystallize thoughts and create images that are personally meaningful and stay with me for a long time. 

The image above is bold. In a very graphic and powerful way I think it illustrated the tension between light and darkness. Yet, I sense that even in this image the light edges out the dark for sheer power. and that the dark is a safe place to be if the light is still nearby.  The retreat is keeping me ruminating on all kinds of interesting, challenging questions and that will be reflected in my sketches over the next six weeks no doubt. 

Below are some sketches from previous Advent retreats that I actually went to, not on line ones. These retreats provide some wonderful opportunities to fully immerse yourself in words and images. 

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I also,at certain times, have made Sunday a day to specifically use sketching as a form of prayer and meditation. Here are a few examples...

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Sketching and journaling are powerful tools and whatever your beliefs I encourage you to use these wonderful gifts of images and words to delve deep and become all that you can be in joy, love, peace and compassion.