Generosity of Artists

Today was a treat in multiple meanings of the word. in late May I sent off a package of chocolate with one of my cards to a friend because her birthday was coming up. I had learned she didn’t have local access to Theo’s chocolate, a Seattle based chocolate company, and we had been talking about their chocolate. She reciprocated in mid-June for my birthday but unfortunately I never got the package. It seemed that it had gotten lost or perhaps was mis-delivered somewhere.

Birthday chocolates and card from an artist friend

Yesterday, I found out that she tried again and once again I hadn’t gotten it. Disappointing, and yet unlikely to have happened twice. We figured out what happened. She had sent the packages to the place I had shipped her package from. I called them this morning and yay! the boxes were there!

So I got two birthday packages to enjoy with chocolate and hand painted cards. My friend is a talented urban sketcher and watercolorist. Look for @lylopa on Instagram. Her work is beautiful. I regularly drool over it on instagram. And now I have two of her sketches to admire and look at.

I also have chocolate to draw!

One of the lovely things that happens with artists is often trading work with one another. One person likes something of another artist and often trades of work happen. It’s a great way to be generous and yet also receive.

Sharing and having more art because of it. What a great thing!

Starting is Better Than Not

Today marks the end of an amazing workshop that I’ve been part of for the past 150 days, The Creative’s Workshop. Creatives of all types and persuasions, from so many different areas of interest and parts of the world gathered daily to share parts of their process and gave us windows into their worlds. There were poets, writers, podcasters, photographers, film makers, musicians, cartoonists, and visual artists to mention a few broad groups. It was so interesting and inspiring and a bit mentally exhausting - but in a good way.

Progress made on a couple of chocolate bar wrappers

The workshop encouraged us to contribute something, anything, daily for 100 days. Many made it daily to the end. To ship something was better than not. Another way of saying that is to start before you’re ready.

I was inspired at the very end, this morning in fact, to start writing a blog and to add something here daily. I’m hoping that by doing this I will move closer to being me rather than who I think I’m supposed to be.

So here I am, starting before I’m ready. The blog page doesn’t look the way I want. I don’t have a well thought out plan for what I want to do or a specific goal by a specific time. I know, however, that saying things out loud even if no one reads this blog allows me to work off my ideas and be able to then change and edit and nudge new ideas out.

Pressing the “Save & Publish” button now!

How I begin with drawing chocolate wrappers

Here’s the start of my next chocolate wrapper from Amsterdam. I freely admit that I bought several bars of this van der Burgh chocolate because of the wonderful paper they are hand wrapped in. I start by tracing the basic outline of the wrapper. They’re a nice size to draw life-size and fit nicely into a sketchbook. I usually always do pencil first but I don’t get things “perfect". The lines are there so I can adjust with my pen if I need to. I draw with a fountain pen and often turn the pen upside down so I’m drawing with the back side of the nib which usually provides a finer line. This is a fun, complicated and yet meditative pattern to try and replicate and draw. It’ll be time to bring out my teeny tiny paintbrushes when it comes time to paint!

Chocolate Bar Wrappers!

Some people collect wine labels, but I collect chocolate bar wrappers! I've noticed that over the years, wrappers and packaging for chocolate bars are getting more and more interesting and beautiful. With more smaller, specialty chocolatiers making chocolates, there are even more lovely wrappers out there to admire and collect. I then like to draw them in my sketchbook and have them all in one place. For this chocolate bar from Trader Joe's, I used my Platinum carbon pen and ink, a green Micron Pigma 03 pen, and a Faber Castell Artist Pitt pen in addition to watercolor. It is in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook.

Chocolate Wrapper Done Two Ways

Here are two versions of the same chocolate bar wrapper. The one on the left was done at my fairly methodical pace. I challenged myself with the one on the right to limit myself to a drawing time of 10-15 minutes. Done was good. I painted them at the same time. Which do you like better?

Pomegranate Chocolate Wrapper

This is the last drawing in my food sketchbook. Done! Chocolate wrappers have gotten more like wine labels - little pieces of art work in their own right. I admit to having gotten this chocolate bar for its packaging and not necessarily for what was inside.