Hummingbird sightings in rhododendron, digital tablet drawing, 2019

Hummingbird sightings - they've been flitting about the rhododendron. I can't see them in people's lovely rhododendron pics, though others can.

The Earth and all its creatures keep going about its business come what may. And that is a wonder and a comfort no matter what.

Warblers - student art display, adult drawing class, 5/20/19

Warblers - student art display, adult drawing class, 5/20/19

We did four warm-up exercises before the final drawings. We used photos from CCNAB - classic collection of  North American Birds. as references.

Warm-ups are really exercises to try to see and/or think differently than we are used to. We just need to exercise the attempt to do it. The results need never appear as we think they 'should'. It is just good to have a go at it!

We did the exercises using the same bird photo for each,

# 1. Continuous line

# 2. Stencil style

# 3. Outline stencil

# 4. Outline, (like a coloring page)

After the exercises, students could draw as they wished and use the same photo or choose one of the others we had available.

....Some students had set about coloring  their practice sheets. I love that idea - to use the practice drawings and exercises as a further opportunity to color.

Cat and Pig have Devil's Food Cake, digital phone drawings, 5/19/19

Cat and Pig have Devil's Food Cake, digital phone drawings, 5/19/19

Might this be a good recipe?
Supposedly it is a vegan recipe.


Vegan Devil's Food Cake Recipe
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/245740/vegan-devilsfood-

Cat and Pig prepare walnuts, digital phone drawings, 5/17/19

Cat and Pig prepare walnuts, digital phone drawings, 5/17/19

What will Cat and Pig make with walnuts? Where did they get the walnuts?
What can they make with walnuts?
Baklava, walnut pie, bread with walnuts in it, Waldorf salad, walnut
cookies. What else  can they make? How do walnuts grow? Where do they grow walnuts?
Where do walnuts come from? Where did walnuts come from a long time
ago? How many kinds of walnuts are there?

Cat and Pig send Happy Mother's Day Greetings, digital phone drawings, 5/12/19

Cat and Pig send Happy Mother's Day Greetings, digital phone drawings,
5/12/19

Cat and Pig visit Teachers, digital phone drawings, 5/07/19

Cat and Pig visit Teachers, digital phone drawings, 5/07/19

May Baskets and flowers, adult art student display, 5/6/19

We drew these May flower baskets using broken crayons/stubs. If you press and twist a piece of crayon flat against the sheet, you can make many different marks of varying widths. We started by doing circular
marks. Then we tried wedge shapes, little blocks using the end of the crayon, straight lines using the crayons flat against the paper but with down strokes. One can also make leaf shape marks.

After practicing the marks, in one color, we did our final drawings on card stock using several colors. The crayons don't unwrap easily my nails are shredding from trying to get that paper off the crayons!.

Here's a link to my video demonstrating how to draw a rose using a broken crayon:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu2z-Pz_Bxo

Cat and Pig watch birds. Digital phone drawings, 5/4/19

Cat and Pig find a bluebird and a cardinal on Bird Day. (Digital phone drawings, 5/4/19.)

Cat and Pig Honor Montana Day, Digital phone drawings, 5/3/19

Cat and Pig celebrate Montana Day -  Digital phone drawings, 5/3/19

Where the buffalo roam, in Yellowstone Park

https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/bison-faqs

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UoLPxzwNhBc


#NationalMontanaDay

Cat and Pig try chocolate truffles, digital phone drawings, 5/2/19

Cat and pig want to try some chocolate truffles. Pigs really like underground truffles. They seem to be the only critters that can find underground truffles. They are very rare, a kind of mushroom. I have always thought truffles were the chocolate kind made with hazelnut nougat. There are different kinds of chocolate truffles. I've made fake single truffles with just butter, cocoa powder, and sugar. 

Here are some basic recipes they found:

Basic truffle recipes

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24691/basic-truffles/

And, #truffleday

Spring Flowers - daffodils and tulips, adult art class display, 4/29/19

We started with several schematic structural versions of daffodils. These are to practice the basic structure and form of the flowers. Then we worked from photo references, (found on the web), as inspiration for the final drawings. Even the simple structural drawings colored in have their own beauty.

Photo courtesy of Deb Collemer: