Peach Jam by Desiree

Peach Jam

The written tale on the reverse of this postcard had visual qualities nearly as good as this beautiful painting of peach jam by Desiree Habicht.

So here it is....

Dear Katherine

With our fruit trees in full production and everything ripening at the same time I am forced to deal with bushels of fruit.  I do love to can and put up things I grow. The weather has been so nice and I have an outdoor kitchen where I sterilize jars and process jams.  It helps keep the house cooler but requires a lot more running for me.  After two solid days of picking, cleaning, processing and sealing I feel it qualifies as Sketchercise!

This year I made peach jam, peach-japaleno jelly, peach bellini jam, peach salsa, peach-cantaloupe preserves and corn relish.  Yummy - 45 jars of goodies!

Enjoy

Desiree

I most certainly did Desiree - I am salivating at all those wonderful products of your labour - and that amount of work most definitely counts as sketchercise!

Postcard from Castiglion Fiorentino

Thank you so much Robyn for this lovely card. The images on the card increase my wish to travel to Italy again. Yes, in fact, it would be terrific if we met one day and sketched together. The quince – including the leaf – you've painted looks perfect in color and shape. I can almost feel the velvet surface. I think your report of your afternoon sketch group and the other information you have written can be read easily here on the blog. Thanks again! Albrecht

Felicity's Curiosities

a maple curiosity - a watercolour painting on a postcard by Felicity Grace

As I was packing to go to France, I received a delightful postcard from Felicity Grace (Felicity's Philosophies and Other Curiosities).

One of the things I like so very much about this project is how people choose subject matter particular to them and also related to the person who's receiving the card

Felicity Grace knows how much I enjoy botanical art and her postcard for me is a delightful painting of a maple twig.  I love interesting leaves and these are gorgeous.

I'm not sure what she's painted on but it's a lovely warm buff coloured card with little crimson red flecks in - which reminds me of the papers which incorporate petals and leaves. 

She says

Hi Katherine

At this time of year I should be drawing something bursting into life, but this dried up maple twig is what caught my eye.  Below are Acquilegia seed heads from my garden...... 

Acquilegia seed heads from Felicity's garden

The Jet d"Eau in Geneva

and on the envelope, the Jet d'Eau - something "Geneva" for you

Hope you have a fabulous time in Provence!


All the best Felicity

The sketch on the envelope was so effective I thought it was something that had been printed and done specially for people sending envelopes from Geneva!

I'm sat here writing this in London - while having a break from the panic associated with packing and generally getting ready for a long drive across France.

By the time this publishes I should be sat in the sun with Robyn enjoying  the view from our temporary home in the Vaucluse.

I didn't get a sketch done before I left so whoever is getting my sketch in June will definitely be getting a postcard sketch from Provence!

Colourful Autumn – Cathy's postcard from South Africa

This colorful autumn postcard I received yesterday on a wonderful early summer day. Cathy wrote that she drew this great little work of art at the May Day public holiday. Cathy has a beautiful handwriting: "We are fully into autumn now & there are so many colours where I walk round the dam - too many to hit on a postcard! ... lots of people walking in the park. The birds are Hadeda Ibises (because of the noise the make) which graze on the lawn every morning ... "

Thank you so much Cathy! Everything on the postcard, on both sides, fits perfectly together including the stamps and the very well characterized silhouettes of ibises.

A postcard from the Island of Sky

Today I received a beautiful postcard from an area which is still on my list of places I would like to visit in my lifetime. Great, many thanks Bridget! I guess you have painted the postcard with acrylic. A few strokes of a pen are visible. Bridget wrote: "I've spent the last week on the Island of Skye. Though it frequently rained nothing could spoil the dramatic landscape, the Black Cuillin Mountains plunging into the sea. Its history is also full of drama too - the remains of abandoned crafts (small stonehouses) when the crofters were forced to leave their land to make way for sheep, many having to emigrate and the stories of Bonnie Prince Charlie who took refuge here. This view is off the shore at ARDVASAR, on the southern part of the island.«
I of course immediately asked at Wikipedia about the unfortunate Charles Edward Stuart. When I come to Rome next time I will visit his tomb in St. Peter's.
One more time: Thank you so much Bridget for this gem in my collection of postcards!

An expensive painting, February postcard from Katherine

Look what I got in the mail – a beautiful coloured pencil version of Pierre Bonnard’s Terrasse à Vernon by Katherine Tyrrell. She says it auctioned at Christies for a mere sum of 6.4mGBP (sorry I don’t have a pound symbol on my Australian keyboard!)

The colours in this postcard are amazing and so vibrant and a real treat on a very dark and grey autumn Sydney day (yes, we do have days like that – occasionally!)

Thank you Katherine!

[NOTE:  You can read more about why/how this postcard was created in "After Bonnard" on Katherine's blog]

Almond blossoms in Tuscany

Today I have the great pleasure to show a beautiful postcard received from Robyn Sinclair (Have dogs will travel), a little watercolor painting in subtle colours and many layers. To find the blooming almond tree on a cold and grey day was a magical moment Robyn tells me on the backside of the card.

I had admired Robyn's little Tuscany studies for a while in the sketchercise group. Now I can say it feels great to own such a nice piece. Thank you Robyn for this special card bringing the first almond blossoms this year!

Introducing Vivien Blackburn

sunset, Penwith, oil in sketchbook

I'm really looking forward to this postcard exchange with such a great group. Thank you for the invitation :>)

About me: I can't remember a time when I didn't draw - one of my earliest memories is, aged one, posting drawings (scribbles) to my father when he was in Gibraltar, looking for accomodation so that my mother and I could go out to join him.

In my youth I lived in some beautiful places including Cornwall, Malta and on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland, so, though it may have scrambled my education a little, it almost certainly led to an early feeling for light and landscape.

I went to art college on leaving school, completed my Foundation Year, didn't continue on to the Diploma years - did a few different things - art was on a back burner - then married, had 2 daughters and didn't go back until they were at senior school. I then did my BA in Fine Art as a mature student. It's never too late :>)

This is some of my sketching, the first few are all Cornwall

Sam, evening, silver sea, watercolour/mixed media in sketchbook

Moorland Farm, Penwith, watercolour/mixed media in sketchbook

Lanyons Quoit, charcoal, in sketchbook

Someone commented earlier on about the clean neatness of Albrecht's sketchbook - mine are, I'm afraid, messy ones! I work in all sorts of media - oils, watercolours, lots of mixed media, charcoal, pastel, pencil, acrylic ..... etc etc etc- so loose oils may follow a detailed close up study of something in pencil in my books, followed by watercolour, mixed media, charcoal ,ink - anything goes.

Wild Day, Sennen Cove, oil


Approaching Rain, Mawgan Porth, charcoal and coloured pencil, in sketchbook

Charlestown, Cornwall, watercolour/mixed media, in sketchbook

I particularly like to paint or draw water - the Cornish coast has to be top of the list but canals, streams, rivers tool

Wild Day, Sennen Cove, pencil, in sketchbook analysing the movement of the waves

The Old Packhorse Bridge (very old), Aylestone Meadows, charcoal, in sketchbook

Frog Island, Leicester, in large A3 landscape sketchbook

I don't often do industrial landscapes. This is part of a series of sketches of local waterways that I intend to revisit.

Cardoon seedheads, in sketchbook, pencil

And .... sometimes it's nice to change scale and observe something closely. I found the spiky dry scales vs the fluffy insides of these cardoons fascinating to draw.

I unfortunately have arthritis and asthma. so my walking distance is limited but it is essential to keep moving so sketchercise is great as it will encourage me out walking, sketching and sharing the results :>)

I like to work plein air soaking up the atmosphere, feeling the wind. smelling the vegetation, getting the mood of the day and seeing the colours as the light changes - it is so much better than a photograph, fixing all this in my visual memory, the feelings, smells and memories come back when I look through old sketch books.

Well - my first postcard went out at the end of January so hopefully it's winging its way to Martin. And I'm really looking forward to the first one dropping through my door :>) and following the progress through the months.

Introducing Desiree Habicht

I am fortunate to live in Southern California with my husband and daughter, where the weather is almost perfect year round. I love to be outdoors gardening, swimming, walking, running, sketching or painting. I find that I do several types of sketch books and sketches. One is to document my travels, another is for sketching things that inspire me and yet another to record ideas and designs for future projects. My supply list is a pen or pencil, a water brush and some paint tucked into a backpack that I can carry where ever I go. If I am going to an indoor event I often just tuck my sketchbook into my purse. I usually always carry it with me so that when the opportunity arises I have it.

I have been an artist all of my life, doing murals, faux finishing and fine art. Today I work in fiber, pastels and watercolor. You can view my art on my website or follow my adventures on my blog. Mostly self taught I didn't start to sketch daily until several years ago when I read the book "Everyday Matters". That is when I started adding sketches to my journal pages.


When I am walking or running I seldom stop to sketch but often I will return to a particular area to sketch something of interest that had caught my eye. I have also collected things on my walks that I will sketch once I get home. Something special happens when I paint things from life, I really discover it! I get to record the details most people passing by never see. It becomes imprinted in my mind's eye and it is not  quickly forgotten.

I find when I look back over my  sketchbooks it takes me to the memory of that day.

One of the things I like most about sketching and recording my thoughts about the events of the day, is that it is a personal record of my life's journey. These sketches and notes are for me and although they aren't always perfect or beautifully done, they are a small glimpse into what I was doing or feeling on any particular day. I hope that in years to come my family will enjoy them long after I am gone, seeing where I was, what made me stop along a trail to sketch, what inspired me and what I was thinking.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this wonderful group of talented artist from around the world. We are joined by a love of exercise, the outdoors, nature and painting.

Introducing Bridget Hunter

I live on the south west coast of Scotland and I love painting - oils, acrylics, gouache - especially the landscape around my home.

I prefer painting outside in front of the subject but, as its not always possible to do this,  I often sketch. The sketch then becomes a painting resource along with my recollection of the atmosphere and colours.

Above Loch Doon

Sketch - Loch Doon

Landscape, Loch Doon
Oil 2010

I also love walking and I'm lucky to live 10 minutes from unspoiled beaches and 10 minutes from the countryside which varies from rolling hills to rugged moorland, both populated by Blackfaced sheep, grouse, deer and buzzards.

I always drew and painted, but, as others find, working fulltime and being mother to 3 meant ironing and other such necessary activites always came first. Then I was widowed, my daughters became mums, I retired and painting has become much more than a part-time hobby.

But since joining Sketchercise and seeing all the wonderful, varied sketches of the people here and of artists' work found through the blog Making A Mark, I now appreciate drawing as an end in itself once more.

I'm very grateful to the members of Sketchercise for the opportunity to be part of this postcard exchange and look forward to being in touch, in this amazing way, with like-minded people from all around the world.