Hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

Forgotten, but not gone!

Here are several sketches I completed in Italy earlier this year. They were forgotten in my post-trip blues!  Or maybe because I was so busy riding my new scooter during the summer!
Anyway, I'm posting them together - there may be more, but they will be sketched from photos, which, as you may know, are not as much fun as sketching in person. Some of the "joie de vie" may be missing.
There is so much beauty in this tiny little corner of Italy - I'm sure I need to return as soon as possible!
Oh, I just noticed - the art quote for today is:
"Every picture shows a spot with which the artist has fallen in love. "-Alfred Sisley
How true is that for this post? Hmm?

Capri doorway

Capri view

Hotel Margherita as seen from my balcony

Boat docked during our lunch at La Siren

Positano abandoned church

Positano beach cabanas

Positano mountains as viewed from my balcony

Just in time for the holidays!

I picked these up at the printers yesterday - I had decent success with my tote bags, they are now sold out!! (See them here: http://artbybernadette.blogspot.com/2013/08/get-fresh-calendars-tote-bags.html )
A friend suggested flour sack tea towels with my art, and here they are!  I'm so grateful to our local printer (www.calleousa.com) for the quality and the fact that they rushed these to get done for our local farmer's market.  (Winter is coming, so our farmer's market goes indoors to the Binghamton Metrocenter the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of November and December.)
ALERT - Blatant sales pitch:
These towels are so soft, 26"x26", and each one has a screen print of my original ink and watercolor sketch..
They make great gifts for the holidays!
Buy one (or two, and $ave) here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/artbybernadette

Snowman Family

Christmas Tree

Wine corks

I messed up, Part 2 (Synchronicity)

Synchronicity = When everything flows smoothly. When amazing coincidences occur.  When you're thinking of someone and the phone rings and it's that person!


Well, maybe it wasn't so bad.  After thinking about it, I guess I like the results!
So, I covered up 2 more pages that I wasn't fond of, and here is the first:

I would say the colors are a little muddy (time to clean my palette?), but I had fun making this one.  All those swirly lines going absolutely nowhere.
I've got one more page to play with - I do love words, I was a library nerd, well, I still am.
That did pose a challenge for me to actually TEAR OUT a page from a perfectly good book.
Maybe because it's in French, and I'm not 100% understanding the meaning.
Well, we will see.

I messed up!

  

I filled 2 pages in my small moleskine, and wasn't happy with the results. So I covered them with pages from an old French book, and tried something new. I'm not crazy about these results either, but it was fun to experiment!

Despair

Sketched from a photo my friend took during his recent motorcycle trip down the east coast.

This young man seems to fit the title perfectly.

Rear view

Vespa = Fun! Even after getting stuck in a short thunderstorm yesterday, and I didn't get completely soaked. I've ridden 500 miles on it so far, and look forward to many more.

Get Fresh! Calendars & Tote bags

Since many have asked, I've decided to order multiple copies of these items, and have opened shop on Etsy. www.etsy.com/shop/artbybernadette 

The calendar is made with top quality paper, and is a convenient 5x11" size to hang on the wall.

The cotton tote bag is a generous 15x15, with a full color print of my corn sketch. 

I'm so happy with the quality of these!

UPDATE Sept. 26, 2013: I'm happy to say the bags are nearly gone (only 2 left to sell!) and the calendars are down to 10.

I lost...

...all track of time!  These were another purchase from the Farmer's Market yesterday.  I got after eating the dragon fruit (another post on that), I knew I wanted these for dinner, but also wanted to sketch them.  So, when I was finally done sketching, it was 9 pm! A late dinner, but surely worth the wait.

I confess!

It's true, I love garlic, and having it fresh from our local farmer's market is the best!

This is from LaRue's farm, bought today at the Otsiningo Farmer's Market.

Notice I've used both my dollar brush and my wonderful Black Gold Dynasty brush.

They work well side by side.

Dragon Fruit

I'm looking forward to tasting this unusual, sketchable fruit! It's a fruit, right?

I added spatters, it looked boring without!

Before spatters

Robin

A little sketch to make a gift of notecards.  

Ah, if only everyone's name was so easy to sketch!

Red Twig Dogwood (dwarf species)

Purchased online, this shrub could be the answer to my dreams! 

I had another shrub planted here (in front of my house) that was NOT red twig, 

and NOT a dwarf, so it quickly grew out of control. 

This one should be better behaved AND 

have those stunning red twigs in the winter. I hope!

Wish me luck!

Downtown...

I took my new scooter to work on Wednesday, and got a lot of comments.
"You just rose to the best vehicle in the parking lot."
"After seeing you on that, I think of you in a whole new way." (Not sure if that's a good thing, hehe.)

So I stopped at Zona's in downtown Binghamton after work, they had a "Yappy Hour" to benefit the Humane Society, and got a few more:
"I LOVE YOUR SCOOTER!!" (Shouted by a young lady walking down the street.)

Even later, when it was settled comfortably into its temporary foster home, a guy from up the
street came down to ask about it.
My conclusion- Binghamton must be 'scooter-starved'!!

When in Rome...

My second and last night in Rome (last month) was at the Hotel Forum.  If you're there, be sure to stop at the American bar on the rooftop for fantastic views of nearby buildings and ruins. Also, the roses were blooming so I couldn't resist sketching them too!

Picked it up today!

It's definitely for me!
First look at the new ride.

Bringing it home!

A new (to me) 2006 Vespa 200L Granturismo in Positano Green! It's actually another Italian city green, but I just returned from a trip to Positano, so there! My awesome neighbor will change the oil and putz with it to make sure it runs good.

Foster home for now
(Until I clean out a spot in my garage!)

I look forward to sketching & scooting!
I will also be more involved with some online biking sites, ADV Riders being one of them:  ADV Riders 
And soon: ModernVespa.com

2013 Italy - Rome

Now on a dream vacation - Rome for two nights, then off to Positano!  I stayed at the Hotel Forum, which is just down the street from the coliseum.  The next day was a short train ride to Orvieto, a lovely hill town. More art to follow, I need to add color to other sketches.

View from the Hotel Forum in Rome

Quick sketch of a scenic view seen from my train ride to Orvieto

'Designer' colored pencils!

Ok - I'm officially a brat.  I received Coach colored pencils for my birthday last month. 

I said, "Who even HAS Coach pencils? Oh, me!"

It's a gorgeous leather case and I look forward to using them!

Dominican Republic trip April 2013

A simple palm tree

The gorgeous beach!

Setting up tables on the beach

Lovely flowers at the resort

Misc sketches

Sand dune

What are you creating today?

Surprisingly, in the middle of recent travels, I found myself uninspired. It only lasted a short while, but here is the result. I guess I was nagging myself to get sketching!

Let's Pretend...

Let's Pretend This Never Happened
A hilarious book by Jenn Lawson I read during my trip.
If you need a laugh, go check out her blog: TheBloggess.com

After the beach - travel sketches

Just relaxing and enjoying people watching!

I easily recognized the rotator sling!

zzzzz