Sketching

New Year Sketch hike

| maggiebird


To kick off the New Year in the right way, I always try to go hiking on January 1. So I convinced my other half (the patient, easy-to-get-along-with half) to go out to Hidden Villa for an easy jaunt on the “Bunny loop.”

But I must admit, I had ulterior motives; there are farm animals at Hidden Villa, and Roz Stendahl’s New Year’s Day post lit a fire under my lazy rear end to get out and draw. She said, “set an intention this year to live your life applying your energy to your passions.” This is something I try to do anyway, but it’s always great to have a reminder, especially when I get tired.

As we were leaving the house, The Man spied the sketchbook under my arm, and, rolling his eyes at me,  he grabbed one of his mathematics books. “To keep me company,” he muttered. We all have our own strange passions. Right now, his is linear algebra. Go figure.

After we’d clambered over the Bunny Trail (a trail that turned out to be not an easy hike, but a trail for rabbits who think they are mountain goats), he sprawled in the front seat of the car to admire hieroglyphic equations while I hiked back up the trail and sketched until dusk.

These silly cows decided they didn't want to be drawn and headed into their stall. All I could see were their tail ends!

Gloves

| maggiebird

glovedladyThis summer I attended a costume party where one of the guests wore elbow length opera gloves. I don’t recall the rest of her outfit, but the image of the gloves stuck in my mind. I don’t think they were expensive leather gloves, but it didn’t matter. They still gave her fascinating aura; in gloves, her hands spoke more eloquently, more elegantly than the rest of her body.  It was like her hands were wearing masks.

I’m in the habit of drawing every evening right before going to sleep. It’s my way of processing the day and working through things that have bobbled around in my noggin for the last 24 hours. After the party that night, I drew a picture from memory of the woman and her gloves. It’ one of my favorite drawings.

Amazingly enough, gloves are some of the few things you can still buy that are made in America! Sullivan Glove Company makes work gloves, including riding gloves that look lovely. Linda Lorraine Gloves is based in San Francisco. La Crasia gloves are supposedly made in New York; they’re fabulously expensive, but really beautiful.

I say, let’s go back to wearing gloves!