Iris Drawing from Bloomington Art Center

Bloomington Iris, pencils on paper, 9 x 7", by Tracie Thompson

On the west side of the building, there's a tiny garden where some of the kids who take classes at the Art Center leave their colorful ceramics projects as decorations. It's a quiet, happy community of earthenware animals and non-perishable food items (my favorite is the order of French fries in its pretty, white-and-blue striped container).

And there are flowers. Yesterday, the irises caught my eye, so I took some time out to sit in the shade and draw one.

Minneapolis Mills Drawing, along Hiawatha

Hiawatha Mills study, 8 x 11" mixed media on cotton rag paper, by Tracie Thompson

2700 38th Street, Minneapolis (the Old Garage), 7 x 9" pencils on brown paper, by Tracie Thompson

This is how I spent the afternoon of 5/30. I'd gone out to draw some of the mill buildings, which have always attracted me, and found the little leaning garage by chance when I parked my truck. Sketched it, got hungry and visited the Cardinal Bar just a couple blocks away for a nice beer and a burger, before heading out again to try my hand at the mills.

Mushroom Drawings

Mushroom Study #2, pencils and pastel on paper, 7 x 5", by Tracie Thompson

Mushroom Study #1, pencils on paper, 7 x 5", by Tracie Thompson

These are the perks of all the rain we've had in the Twin Cities lately -- all kinds of fascinating little mushrooms springing up. The sketches were done over this weekend, in carbon pencil, pastel pencil, and (for the second one) soft pastel.

Petit Four Painting (the Second)

Raspberry Petit Four, 5 x 5" oil on canvas by Tracie Thompson

Another of my series for La Patisserie. Finished fresh this morning. Available at $40 at my ArtFire Shop.

Spring in St. Paul; new workshop; and happy bulldozing.

Lilacs at the studio window, 5/24/11

Went out walking this morning, and despite the clouds it's gorgeous here, and all of Highland Park smells like lilacs.

Home now, I'm putting together the outline for a fun, one-day workshop at Bloomington Art Center, on painting portraits of animals from photos.  Scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24th. I'll link more information when it is available.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking about how often we get stuck because we let stupid obstacles stop us. The little still life setup in this photo is an example: I haven't been painting still life at home because I kept thinking I had no place to set one up. This idea, when examined, was silly. Of course I had a place. I was just using it for clutter-storage, crowding it with things that I could simply move.

What a powerful thing -- to just move stuff where it needs to be instead of letting it make you take detours. Now I feel like a happy little bulldozer, on the prowl for other "obstacles" I can shove out of my way.

Walking and Flying (rut avoidance, part three I think)

View out the Soap Factory Window, 3.5 x 5.5", ballpoint, watercolor and acrylic on paper

I liked last night's sketch enough to add some color to it today.

Good day for playing around: it's raining here, storming, lightning. Earlier, during a break in the weather, I went walking and chose another new direction. I'd already been thinking about birds and about some seeds that look to me like moth-wings -- thinking of things that fly -- when I came upon a perfectly intact balsa-wood airplane, resting right there in the street. Wet and dirty, it had clearly been out there some time, yet somehow had not been run over. It was missing nothing but the rubber band that had powered the little red propeller.

As a kid, I had probably a dozen of these, the exact same design. Naturally I picked it up and took it home. I figure I'll do with it what it was designed for: play. But on paper and canvas rather than in the backyard that I currently do not have.

Sketches from The Soap Factory

Tonight I did a bit of volunteer work -- I'll confess I turned out to be more decorative than useful, for most of the evening, but I tried -- at the Soap Factory.

While sitting at the entry table to greet guests, I made a couple small sketches with the materials I had on hand: my little Moleskine sketch book and a ballpoint pen. The wild violet was pilfered from the grass just outside the building, and the roofline drawing is of the view I had out the Soap Factory window.

I met some really great people, including Jim Rustad of the Weisman Museum, and had a very good time looking at art once my volunteer shift was over. Being at the Soap Factory always makes me happier.

Sir William, at the Paideia Academy Festival

Sir William the Dragon, 16 x 20" acrylic on canvas by Tracie Thompson

Okay, this? Was fun.

I began with nothing but the sketch on the canvas, and worked from about 5:25 to just after the close of the silent auction at 7:30. Because I was using acrylics, the paint dried almost instantly, which meant the winning bidder was able to take the piece home right away.

Next year, I'm thinking ... horses.

Pumpkin the French Bulldog, finished

Pumpkin, 10 x 8" oil on canvas, by Tracie Thompson. Click to enlarge.

Ten hours in the studio yesterday, picking up where I left off on the portrait of Pumpkin. My legs and feet are still sore from standing at the easel that long, but I just couldn't go home.

I don't know how anything is as adorable as this dog. Is this even legal?

Flower Painting from yesterday in the studio

White Ranunculus study, 5 x 5" oil on canvas by Tracie Thompson

On the way to the studio I bought two ranunculus stems at Laurel Street Flowers. Having paid rather a lot of money for them, I was pretty motivated to actually paint them. Will probably make a second little study today; the white flower is a challenging study in light and color.

Meanwhile, work continues on the portraits of both Pumpkin the little French Bulldog, and the Fiend -- a gorgeous, and goofy, black German Shepherd Dog. Those aren't photo-ready yet, but the day is young.