Art Is Healing

“Art making has the ability to move people along their journey of grief and loss into a more balanced place of healing and hope.” ~ The Chandler Gallery at Maud Morgan Arts

 Day 50 ~ SE-50-25 ✍️

Don't Just Exist

"Don't just learn, experience.

Don't just read, absorb.

Don't just change, transform.

Don't just relate, advocate.

Don't just promise, prove.

Don't just criticize, encourage.

Don't just think, ponder.

Don't just take, give.

Don't just see, feel.

Don’t just dream, do.

Don't just hear, listen.

Don't just talk, act.

Don't just tell, show.

Don't just exist, live.”
~ Roy T. Bennett

Day 49 ~ SE-49-25

Courage

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” ~ Winston Churchill

Day 48 ~ SE-48-25 

Opportunity

 "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity." ~ Albert Einstein

Day 47 ~ SE-47-25

Don't Quit

"When you get tired, learn to rest, not quit. ~ Banksy

 Day 46 ~ SE-46-25 

Never Let It Rest

 "Good. Better. Best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better, and your better is best."
~ St. Jerome

Day 45 ~ SE-45-25

Determination

"You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction." ~ George Lorimer

Day 44 ~ SE-44-25 

Drawing With A Brush

"I dip my brush in my soul, and paint my own nature into the picture." ~ Sandy Sandy  This is the start of my next oil painting with the subject drawn out  with a brush.

Day 43 ~ SE-43-25

Cheerful Fun

"When you focus on the good, the good gets better."  Cheerful and Fun at Sandarosa Studio today with my Merry Maidens. These are my live class watercolor and ink demos.

Day 42 ~ SE-42-25

I Am Still Seeking

"I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart." ~ Vincent van Gogh I added a background wash and beefed up some of my line work today. Sometimes you just have to try things out and not worry about 'ruining' your piece. There is no other way of learning. Which way do you like this watercolor sketch better, with or without a background?

Day 41 ~ SE-41-25

Keep Drawing

"The important thing is to keep on drawing when you start to paint. Never graduate from drawing." ~ John Sloan 

 Day 40 ~ SE-40-25

✍️🎨👩‍🎨

Making Progress

"As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward." ~ Vincent Van Gogh

 Day 39 ~ SE-39-25

✍️💙✒️🎨

Nothing So Delightful!

 “I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing.” ~  Vincent van Gogh  Working from my old sketchbooks brings a wealth of reference material and  inspiration.

 Day 38 ~ SE-38-25
💙✍️💙

Little Opportunities

“Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.” ~ Danny Wallace I know this is true in my life, how about you?

 Day 37 ~ SE-37-25

A Magical World

“I can’t imagine anything better that might happen in a person’s life than for them to start paying attention to birds. To become aware of this magical world that exists all around us, unnoticed by many but totally captivating for those who know its secrets, has to be one of the greatest gifts of life on Earth.” ~ Kenn Kaufman

💖 Day 36 ~ SE-36-25 🥰

Wake Up Your Brain Cells!

 “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in today's world. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.” ~ Dr. Seuss  Here's SE 30-35 with color applied. These will be the subjects of our 5th Live Group Session of Classes here at Sandarosa Studio. You can see more about it here: https://www.sandysandyfineart.com/2025-live-session-5.html

Chicken King

Here Comes The Chicken King!

🐥Day 35 ~ SE-35-25 👑

Moo-re Ice Cream Please!

We All Scream For Ice Cream

 Day 34 ~ SE 34-25 

The Mail's Here!

See more about doing U.O.W. People here:

https://www.sketchingeveryday.com/2011/08/draw-people-with-simple-formula-by-tony.html

Day 33 ~ SE-33-25

 

A Day In The Neighborhood

 

Day 32 ~ SE-32-25

Surf's UP!

 

Day 31 ~ SE-31-25

A Day At The Beach

I have been getting ready for our next live art class session here at Sandarosa Studio. As per my students' requests, we will be doing whimsical scenes, similar to what we did last year. You can see what we did in last year's class here: https://www.sandysandyfineart.com/2024-live-session-5.html

Day 30 ~ SE-30-25

Fun Feathers

 Day 29 ~ SE-29-25 "Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good." ~ Cennino Cennini I had a private drawing class here today, and my student and I created these 'Fun Feathers' together. If you are not having fun, why do it? “Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.” ~ Aberjhani

 Day 29 ~ SE-29-25

A Quick Brown Fox

 "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." These are the demos I did for our live class today. You can see the class participants' results here.

Day 28 ~ SE-28-25 🦊

Values Do All The Work

"Color gets all the credit, but values do all the work." ~ Sandy Sandy ☯️ See how to do quick value sketches (Part 2 Video) here: https://www.learnlovecreate.com/drawing-lessons.html and see my photos you can use to try sketching your own 2-minute gestures: https://www.sketchingeveryday.com/search/label/watercolor%20wash

 Day 27 ~ SE-27-25 🖌💦

Drawing From Life

 "The ability to draw from life determines the artist's skill.This is why live drawing classes have always been at the top of the curriculum for properly structured academic workshops."~ Igor Babailov “Drawing from photos is all well and good, but we also need to draw from life, because our brains process 2D and 3D information differently. Just like a musician practices the same piece of music over and over, if you want to improve as a fine artist, you must train in the same way.” ~ Sandy Sandy

See photos of my roly-poly subject and more about drawing from life here: https://www.sketchingeveryday.com/2021/06/everybuddy-needs-buddy.html

Learn how I do 2 minute gesture drawings in pencil from life here: https://www.learnlovecreate.com/drawing-lessons.html

Day 26 ~ SE-26-25 ✍️

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

 “Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue,

And the dreams you dare to dream really do come true. 

Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly.

Birds fly over the rainbow; why, then, oh why can't I?”

~ Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg   

Day 25 ~ SE-25-25

It's Not Enough

 “It’s not enough to love animals; we must actively protect and preserve them.

It’s our duty and responsibility as custodians of this planet.”

~ Daphne Sheldrick

 Day 24 ~ SE-24-25

A World Without Insects

"Who has decided – who has the right to determine for the countless regions of people who were not consulted, that the supreme value is a world without insects, even though it would also be a world ungraced by the curving wing of a bird in flight?"

~ Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962

Day 23 ~ SE-23-25

 

In Troubled Times

 "In these troubled times, even more than ever, we need an affirmation

that there is goodness and beauty in the world." ~ Bob Benson

Day 22 ~ SE-22-25

Has Momma Blue Chosen You?

"I am certain that once bluebirds have ‘chosen you’,

you are now responsible for trying to help them."

~ Julie Carney

'Momma Blue' Day 21 ~ SE-21-25

Bluebird Conservation

"Bluebird conservation offers an unusual opportunity for people who are truly concerned about our wildlife heritage to accomplish something by means of direct action. ~ Larry Zeleny, The Bluebird, How You Can Help Its Fight for Survival, 1976

Day 20 ~ SE-20-25

Nurturing Beautiful Animals

 "Because the bluebird is beautiful and readily accepts the help of humans, and because people love to nurture beautiful animals, especially those that are endearing, a strong natural bond is forged between man and the bluebird at the nest box. In many cases, that relationship not only lasts a lifetime but also grows into a greater awareness of the plight of all wild animals and the plant kingdom on which all animals depend." ~ Gary Springer

Day 19 ~ SE-19-25

Lots Of Begging

There is a whole lot of begging going on in the natural world right now.

“Many bird species are seeing their babies leave the nest, but that does not mean their parental duties are over. The fledged chicks are flying about, but they still rely on their parents for food.” ~ J. Switzer 

Day 18 ~ SE-18-25

I'm Hungry, Dad!

 “Baby birds are everywhere you look begging for food. The parents will continue to feed them until the babies have learned to feed themselves.” ~ J. Switzer  

'I'm Hungry, Dad' 

 Day 17 ~ SE-17-25 

Where Power Moves

 Life is a Circle

By Black Elk

Oglala Sioux Medicine Man

1863 - 1950

Day 16 ~ SE-16-25

Everything the power
of the world does,

is done in a circle.

The sky is round

and I have heard that

the earth is round like a ball,

and so are all the stars.

The wind in its' greatest power whirls.

Birds make their nests in circles;

for their's is the same religion as ours.

The sun comes forth and

goes down again in a circle.

The moon does the same

and both are round.

Even the seasons form a great

circle in their changing

and always come back

to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle,

from childhood to childhood

And so it is with everything

where power moves.

They Have Fledged!

"When nature made the bluebird, she wished to propitiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave them the color of the one on their back and the hue of the other on their breast." ~ John Burroughs  This morning, a vulture was on our bluebird house with two more nearby. My heart sank as I feared the worst. All morning, I watched the parents fly around the field with binoculars, but none went to the opening in the house, as they had been doing about every 5 minutes for the past 10 days. I knew the babies were about to fledge, so I kept my fingers crossed that all went well. Later, Jerry and I went out to check, and all five were gone! They have fledged successfully, and I am thrilled! 

Day 15 ~ SE 15-25

Sanity Isn't Cheap

 "Owning a horse isn't cheap,

but then again, neither is sanity."

💙 

 Day 13 ~ SE-13-25

Some Silly Sketching

I keep thinking of this quote by Dr. Suess, “In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!” So I decided to do more silly sketching. Embracing silliness isn’t foolish and can reduce stress and promote a sense of joy and playfulness. Engaging in silly sketching is not a stupid exercise. It can reduce stress while fostering creativity, innovation, and fun! This is today's Drawing Everyday Watercolor and Ink Sketch called 'Some Silly Sketching' I'll be posting my sketches regularly on our Facebook Drawing Everyday Group throughout the summer. You are welcome to join, even if you don't draw. ✍️

Day 12 ~ SE-12-25

Embrace Freedom

 "Horses teach us to face our fears and embrace freedom."

Day 11 ~ SE-11-25

A LoveThat Lasts A Lifetime

 “Horses aren’t a hobby that you pick up for a while and put back down.

They are a love that lasts a lifetime.” 

Day 10 ~ SE-10-25

Racing Into Your Heart

“I’m not fond of small babies.

I would rather give birth to a kitten or a little pony. “

~ Marie Helvin

'Racing Shetland Foal' Day 9 ~ SE-9-25

Stay Young At Heart

Pablo Picasso once said, “It takes a long time to become young.”

This may seem lighthearted, but it's actually a deep thought about staying playful and creative while nurturing your inner child and creative spirit. Today’s sketch was inspired by this quote, “In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!” ~ Dr. Seuss See more about this drawing here in yesterday’s post.

Day 8 ~ SE-8-25