Sketching Tips: Part II

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I posted some tips for sketching on the fly (scroll down to see those). Today my Travel Writing class went on a field trip to a place called Kline Creek Farms. It is a beautiful farm which has been preserved in true 1890's style. There is a house, an old smithy and sheep. It reminded me of Almanzo Wilder's home from Farmer Boy. I knew I had to do some drawing and as I was sketching I thought of several more tips for becoming a prolific sketcher.

Here are some more of my sketchy thoughts:

1. Always Carry Your Sketchbook: This seems obvious and I apologise it it seems rather simplistic. But the truth is some people don't carry their tools around! Some of the girls from the Travel Writing class asked our professor at the beginning of our field trip if they should take their notebooks or not. I rolled my eyes (inwardly). What a ridiculous question! The professor thought it was pretty silly as well, although he was more gracious. I carry my sketchbook everywhere - the library, the restaurant, the mall, Target etc.

2. Beware of Laziness: Today I knew that I technically wanted to sketch at the farm, but when we actually got there I just felt lazy. I didn't want to take the time to sit down in one spot and record what I was seeing. I felt tired and warm from the sun. I took a couple of half hearted sketches of the smithy, but when they turned out poorly I felt like giving up and wandering around like everyone else. I finally made a compromise. I took photos of some of the things that I thought looked like good drawings and then I wandered away from the group and found a great creek bank. After I was in the quiet I could focus and do a sketch that I actually liked.

3. Develop a Shorthand: This is a tip which I have discovered after years of trial and error drawing nature. Nature can seem very daunting to draw. This was me: "All those leaves! How do I draw every single one?! AHHHH!!! How do I draw all he blades of grass?!" I have discovered that the key is finding shortcuts. Experiment with finding some easy marking patterns which can stand in for certain types of nature. Clumps of "U"s can be leaves. Patches of "I"s can be grass. Stippling can be tiny flowers. Little circles can be pebbles.

4. Don't Draw Every Branch of the Tree: This one sort of echoes the above tip. Sometimes you can get daunted when you draw from life, especially in nature. We think that we have to be ultra true-to-life. This is not a bad thing, but you can definitely take it overboard. When drawing trees, for instance, focus on the trunk and some main branches, but don't burden yourself with thinking that you have to draw every curve of every branch. Sketch the general idea of the tree and go back and adjust it.

I hope these have been helpful, Guys! I hope they don't sound too condescending. May they instead compel you to sketch.

Love,
Lucy Rose

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Studying in England

Darling Readers,

I am sorry to have neglected you. I know how much you depend on reading my blog. The truth is that I have started school again! Yes. I am going to study abroad in England. Can you believe it?! I am so excited. I have already been twice for about a week or two each time, but I was pretty young. I was 12 the first time and 14 the second.

So far I am still at school doing an intensive two weeks of classes before departure. Let me paste a bit from a letter I wrote to my parents describing the program to give you a sense of what I am doing.

Dear Parents,

I just wanted to give you an update on how Wheaton in England is going so far, because I know that you have have a vested interest in the way this great sum of money is being used. Also I am your daughter and you care about me. 

It is amazing. I love it. We haven't even gotten to England yet, but I am already loving this program. Image this: 

Every morning you wake up at around 7 and bicycle for 15 minutes to get to breakfast in the Wheaton cafeteria (that in itself is pretty great...number one college dining hall in the United States...). After this you have a couple hours in which to finish up homework before the first class starts at 10:10. This class is either a reflection based chapel time or a class which focuses on the literature of the places we will be visiting in England. 

After that class is Romanticism. This class is great because Dr. Colón is a good teacher and the subject matter is interesting. It is hard to sit through an hour and a half, however, without thinking of lunch. Lunch eventually arrives and you reenter the dining hall and sit at the long table which is occupied by a collection of the other England students. You chat and eat good food (cheese and crackers are new in the cafeteria and you have been obsessed). Then you use the rest of the hour to do some quick finishing up of the homework.

The Austen class is next. This class is a joy. You sit in a room full of fellow Austenians. You all share a deep affection for the divine Jane, but you get to talk about her in academic terms. This is no "chick-lit" appreciation club, but real scholarly examination of her as an author. This is the class you have longed to take your entire life. It is full of good will and humour. We can make jokes about Mr. Hearst and Lady Catherine with great success. 

Travel Writing is next and this class is just fun, because you already tend to do travel writing in your notebook and the professor thinks your drawings are great. 

After this class you are done for the day. You work out in the gym and then have dinner with the England people again. You visit Sheldon or Joanna's apartments to do homework and chat and then cycle back to the empty town house where the cats will try to sit on your bed when you want to go to sleep. 

This is my life here. It is a beautiful thing. I am taking classes that I love about things I love with people who are all a lot like me in their interests and temperaments. A bunch of English majors!

So far this experience has felt like a wonderful use of our ----$. I can't wait till we get to London in a week and a half. 

Thank you for helping me to do this. 

Love,

Lucy Rose

So now you know what I have been up to. I hope to do some serious blogging about my travels. Hopefully lots of pictures! 

I'll stop in soon to keep you posted. 

God Bless! 

Lucy Rose

Arkansas Adventure Day Eight

Arkansas Adventure Day Seven Part II

This evening Joanna and I planned a meal and cooked it together. It is one of those things that we have always said we wanted to do together, but it is just another thing for which we never have time at school.

Here's a short list of some of those things:
- Cook Together (Check!)
- Watch Episodes of Miranda Hart's Show
- Go Hiking
- Make Macaroons 
- Take a Martial Arts Class
- Go For a Joy Ride While Blasting Music

Yesterday Joanna got out her big Julia Child cookbooks and a couple others. She sat down in a big chair and began to map out our plans for our dinner. We decided on this menu:

I am currently digesting this gourmet meal and Joanna just slipped away to change into a looser fitting garment in order to accommodate the recentness expansion of her waistline. She toiled for four hours on this meal. I helped a lot, but she really did the bulk of the work. We shared it with two of her six sisters, her mother and a special family friend. 

It was like Babette's Feast, in the amount of work it took to prepare, the artistry and in the special fellowship of friends it provided. That film is actually the first one Sheldon and I ever watched together. I even think it was before we were officially dating. 

Babette, AKA Joanna

Arkansas Adventure Day Seven Part I

Dear Friends,

I have been in Arkansas for a week now. I brought a big suitcase along. I will be going to England for six weeks soon and I consider Arkansas to be my packing trial-run. I don't want to bring anything excess to England, so I need to streamline what I bring and what stays behind. This week I have used some items a lot and other not at all.

I hope this proves helpful for your summer travels!

Love,
Lucy Rose

Some Packing Mistakes

Number One: Too Many Socks
My Friend Joanna was making fun of me for having brought 15 pairs (does anybody out there say "pair" for the plural of Pairs? Sheldon does and for some reason I really don't like it...) of socks for my short stay. She was right. So far I have defy lately not needed this many socks. I love my socks and I don't like to leave any of my lovely heavy duty hiking socks behind, but I think I only need one pair a day. Sometimes I only need one pair for two days! Shhhh...

Number Two: No Jewellery 
I brought a small bag with some jewellery in it. It was just a few pairs of earrings and a bracelet or two, but I have not been motivated to wear any of it. I will not be bringing much jewellery to England. In one of my favourite films called Rear Window, Grace Kelly says that no woman ever travels without all her jewels. Wrong.

Number Three: Not Enough Shirts
I am sitting here writing this in one of Joanna's T-shirts. I did not bring enough tops that I genuinely wanted to wear. You have to be very selective about what clothes to bring on a trip. Some of it you will just plain not want to wear. Only bring what you really like. If you never really wear it at home there is not way you will wear it abroad.

Number Four: No Medium Bag
As you may know from a previous post about travelling, I like to carry a tiny purse when I travel for all my documents and wallet and gum. I also had my suitcase, of course. But I have found that while I have been here I have been using my sketchbook and books a lot. I take them everywhere we go in case there is a free moment for some doodling. But I have to carry them around in an old T.J. Max bag because I didn't bring a purse big wrought for them. I will bring some sort of canvas bag to England. It will be compact and a little cooler than a plastic shopping bag.

Arkansas Adventure Day Six Part II

Jo an I spent the day in Nature (Yes, with a capital "N", because it was extra buggy). 

I made some illustrations to accompany it. 

Arkansas Adventure Day Six Part I

This is an illustration I made this morning of my time with Joanna yesterday by the pond. We took a long ramble around their property and she let me sit by the pond and sketch for a long time. We chatted and she watched all the tiny living things move around. The funny thing is how when you sit still for a long time you begin to notice how much movement is happening. There are actually tons of tiny creatures moving in the water and by the bank. There are Spring Peepers, inchworms, water beetles, worms and dragon flies, not to mention ticks and tiny spiders crawling over your body. 

Things I Learned About Arkansas

Arkansas Adventure Day Five

Dear People,

Here are some sketches that I made today. The first is of my friend Joanna sitting on the porch this afternoon. She was wearing her yoga pants and a giant comfy sweatshirt fro her boyfriend. That is why she looks so bunchy. 

The second is an odd sketch I made when we walked down to a beautiful, frog-infested pond on Joanna's property. Apparently the frogs are called "Spring Peepers". This is because they make a loud noise with their throats. It is a surprisingly loud noise for frogs the size of quarters. I like to call them "Spring Loud Raspy Croakers". 

The last sketch is the dogs. They move around a lot, so their faces are not great. 

I'll see you all tomorrow, my friends. 

Goodnight,

Lucy Rose

Arkansas Adventure Day Four

Arkansas Adventure Day Three

Arkansas Adventure Day Two

We stayed in a hotel last night and I experienced a new side to friendship with Joanna. It was rough. I still love her though!

Arkansas Adventure Day One

School is finished at last and I am on a trip to visit my dear friend Joannna's home in Arkansas.