Doing my daily sketches last week took me in interesting directions – the subjects were so varied. Turns out that I did have to plan a few sketches in advance because the subject stumped me!

• Something found in my pocket – Thank God it’s winter and I have to wear a coat with my trusty orange leather gloves in the pockets. If it was summer, I’d be trying to draw lint! Went very loose on this drawing.

February 8 – Pocket Dwellers

• Something blue in my house – It was late at night when I approached this subject, and I wasn’t very motivated to search my house for blue things. Lo and behold, in front of me on a table was a small toy robot that was given to my husband as a stocking stuffer (because he’s a robotics teacher). The navy blue arms and legs of this very small toy qualified as “something blue”, right?

February 9 – Blue-Bot

• Something sad – I love buying flowers, especially in the winter. But I get very sad when they start to flop over, turn brown, and lose petals, which happens so much quicker in furnace-blasting houses. A very quick drawing of a white hyacinth on its way out.

February 11 – Sadness is Dying Flowers

• Something related to what I do – Wow, this prompt is open for creative interpretation! I settled on “make art”  as what I do, and sketched a photo I took in Venice last year of an art supply store, Arcobaleno, noted for its window filled with colourful pigments and some carved stone screens. I wanted to get the entire grid box of pigments in, but I started the background of the sketch too large. I’ll try again another day, but I still am pleased with how it turned out, especially the stone screens (one with an open back).

February 12 – Arcobaleno, Venice

February 12 – Arcobaleno (detailed section of the screens)

• Something forbidden – I thought of doing a tongue-in-cheek drawing with 50 real shades of grey in it, but dismissed that idea after I realized this actually SHOULD be forbidden because it would be nuts to do. Instead I went with a grid homage to Clet Abraham, the Florence artist, who converts actual street signs (forbidden) into humorous pieces of art. Taking the forbidden theme further, I focused on his conversion of “Do Not Enter” signs.

February 13 – Do Not Enter

• Something given away – And now for a story… Went out for a Valentine’s lunch of pizza with my husband, and took home our leftovers in a takeaway box. Once we got home, I told him what my drawing theme of the day was, and he suggested I draw the pizza box. But I suggested we use the pizza box to draw on – and visit our neighbour’s recycle bins, draw on their takeaway boxes, and put the drawings back on their doorsteps with a “You’re welcome” note. Ha ha! We had a good laugh for a few minutes longer as we expanded on this new art project concept.  Later on I discovered he’d done a very rough landscape sketch on our pizza box! So I grabbed my paintbrush and experimented with my new watercolour pigment, Phthalo Blue, to add some colour values to it. I was surprised at how well the box took the colour. He has since kept the drawing, and recycled the rest of the box! And after doing a web search, I find out that Pizza Box Art is a real thing – oh well, so much for our “original” idea!

February 14 – Something Given Away