30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 30!!!- Destinesia: New Definition and It's CURE

30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 30- Our Final Day!

Poppies are everywhere in the Spring in Europe.  I found a portion of some lyrics by Robert Burns about poppies that spoke to me on many levels.  I included them in the background of my sketch. " Pleasures are like poppies spread,  you seize the flower it's bloom is shed. Or like a snowfalls in the river, a moment white then melts forever."  How beautiful is that?!!!  Ahhhh....

We have reached the end of our 30 Day Drawing Challenge.  30 days of drawing.  Wow!  What a great journey it's been to even write these lessons for you, and I hope it's been a pleasure for you to participate. Congratulations on arriving at the finish line!!!  You've made a huge commitment, and given yourself a gift for a lifetime.  Reach around and pat yourself on the back.  

When I see you next, I can't wait to give you a hug and share your reactions to these lessons in class.  Yesterday while you were drawing flowers, I spent a long day driving home from my painting sabbatical in Florida.  While there, I was pursuing a personal commitment to complete as many paintings as I could.  My goal was 30 Paintings, 30 Blogs in 30 Days, and I am happy to say that with a lot of hard work, and after today's blog, I will have done it.  Yay for all of us!  

A new lesson for my upcoming EAT PAINT COOK Tour.
Can't wait to teach this and other art lessons in Tuscany!
"Tuscany's Emerald City- San Gimignano" ©Rebecca Zdybel

Today's challenge- Fighting "Destinesia" or The Secret to Remembering Your Travels

I stumbled across a new word the other day that got me excited- "Destinesia". You'll find it in the Urban dictionary, describing the phenomenon of going somewhere and forgetting why you went there in the first place.  Thankfully, that isn't much of a problem for me. However, I needed a way to describe another frequently experienced phenomenon for which I did not have a good word.  Destinesia seemed the perfect word. So, So, I humbly submit this alternative definition for Destinesia: 

Destinesia:

• Going someplace and not remembering much about it. 
•  Difficulty remembering where you've been...

If you travel, you can probably relate.  You go to a town, you see the local church or the center of town, you walk around, stop and shop, have a snack or a meal, and go on to the next place.  Then you go home, and you can't remember the name, or anything more specific about the place.  You look at photos and think...hmmm.  Where was that?  

My sweet traveling companion- Maggie <3 We had so much fun in Greece! 

For a time, this phenomenon became a discouragement to traveling for me.  I got tired and bored of seeing new places and not feeling like they moved me or impacted me very much.  

Then I discovered ART focused travel and everything changed!  Now I can't get enough of going new places, drinking them into my soul and my memory banks by recording them with drawings and paintings.  

Parthenon- Athens, Greece  ©Rebecca Zdybel

Siena Rooftops 1 and 2 ©Rebecca Zdybel

The buzz of this kind of travel has become so euphoric that I have determined to spend 6 weeks traveling this autumn.  It's scary and exciting all at the same time!  I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to experience this kind of adventure and can't wait to record the journey artistically.  The quiet little corners, the sounds, the smells, the encounters with people, all lead to beautiful mental vignettes for me as I draw and paint them.  They've also resulted in some sentimental art journals that I love to share.  In this modern era, we all over-document our lives with photos.  Creating these art journals has shown me time and again how sketches are so much more personal, and people enjoy sharing them with me. Nobody wants to look at my photo albums, but they actually enjoy seeing the art journals. These sketches tell a different story than a photograph ever could.  There is real joy for me in seeing the reaction of others, and sharing the stories attached to the sketches.  I predict you might have the same experience if art journaling became part of our travel routine. 

I'd like you to experience this for yourself.  If you cannot travel with me, then you can at least record a place you've visited and connect with that place again, even now... 

The idyllic courtyard at beautiful La Finca Del Niño in Spain
Gateway to Heaven ©Rebecca Zdybel

So here is your Drawing Challenge for Today:  Fight Destinesia and DRAW a place you have visited

• Think of a place you've visited and loved.  Go back through your photos, or go to Google Images and search for images of that place. (If you missed Day 28's lesson on how to do this here is the link: How to use Google Images)
• Take that image and draw it using one of the many different approaches to sketching you've learned during this challenge.  Here's a short list of ideas for techniques (all of them are associated with lessons from this 30 Day Challenge): 
• Draw with a water soluble marker (e.g. Elegant Writer or Tombow)
• Do a continuous line contour drawing of your subject 
• Draw your photo reference upside down
• Draw the negative spaces within and around the positive shapes in your photo
• Vignette your subject 
• Add words to tell a little story about why that place has meaning for you
• Frame your subject with lines or words
• Create a toned ground and sketch your subject on that surface
• Add shadows to create linkage between multiple subjects
• Add watercolor to your sketch 
• Create a Zentangle within your sketch

This list could go on and on... You can use any of my ideas or think about coming up with YOUR OWN approach to the subject.  I've given you wings, now it's time to FLY!!

If you feel the wind beneath your wings and like the idea of an ADVENTURE with ART as a FOCUS, I encourage you to come with me to TUSCANY.  My next big adventure will include my EAT PAINT COOK Tour of Tuscany Oct 3-10, 2015.  I have a really nice group of people assembling around this trip, and we look forward to incredible food, scenery, art lessons, and cooking classes, capped off with live music in the evenings.  You can see my brochure here on my website: EAT PAINT COOK Tour of Tuscany- Click this link

New Classes Begin: 

Watercolor Wednesdays 1-4PM Begin again on June 10
Saturday Sessions 1-4  will begin June 13 
(Reserve your seat in advance for all classes, please)
Be sure to check my calendar on the website for any changes in schedule. Contact me for more info: Rebecca@artmyrtlebeach.com

My website will be changing platforms soon:  If you are a current subscriber a notification will soon arrive in your inbox and ask you to confirm your subscription again.  Just click that confirmation and you will continue to receive updates to this blog directly to your email inbox.  You can become a subscriber by entering your email into the box along the right edge of my homepage (in desktop view).  If you are a mobile subscriber, you may need to go to desktop view to see it.  If you'd like to subscribe and have not been able to do so, please email me and I will send you a link.   My email address is rebecca@artmyrtlebeach.com.  

I have lots of new ideas and lessons I plan to share.  I also will be traveling extensively during September and October and will be blogging about my adventures and my art along the way.  If you subscribe today you'll be kept up to date and share the all the fun. I hope you do! <3 

This scene was just down the street from my hotel in Toulouse.
Bienvenue à Toulouse ©Rebecca Zdybel

These Banana trees were everywhere in Spain.
Banana Beach  ©Rebecca Zdybel

Rebecca Zdybel

Artist, Instructor, Art-Travel Instructor

Art Lessons: Drawing, Watercolor, Acrylic, Collage, Mixed Media

Myrtle Beach, SC

rebecca@artmyrtlebeach.com

Spread Light, Share Love, DO Art!

Feel free to share any of this blog post on your own blog or website, but I ask that you you include:

Rebecca Zdybel is an artist and instructor in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Follow her and see her work at http://www.artmyrtlebeach.com/

Join me on Google+ Rebecca Zdybel Google+ 

30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 29- Draw Flowers

30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 29- Draw flowers

Elegant Writer and Watercolor 

Tombow 947 and Watercolor

Congratulations! Tomorrow you will be able to say you committed and completed 30 Days of Drawing!  I was discussing the joy and the zen of drawing yesterday.  I paint, and of course I love painting.  I also love to draw and sketch, and surprisingly I sketch for a little different reason.  When I draw, I am very present wherever I am.  I am seeing intently and noticing my surroundings.  When I paint, I tend to be transported and the process is more "otherworldly".  I'm not sure if anyone else can relate to that, but there it is. If you have thoughts on this I'd love you to comment and hear your opinions.

That's why I love to draw and paint on location.  Art journaling is incredibly fun and almost my preferred way to make art when I travel...it forges an incredible bond with wherever I am.  I hope you'll pardon me taking a moment to encourage you to join me for my EAT, PAINT, COOK Tour of Tuscany Oct. 3-10, 2015.  It is art travel at it's finest.  It's incredible...and I'm not just saying that!  Drawing, Painting, Eating chef prepared meals, seeing gorgeous Tuscan hill towns and vineyards, sampling local wines, cooking lessons, drivers to all our destinations, and music in the evenings...ahhh, I can't wait to get back there and would love to have you join me!  See the brochure on my home page in desktop view, or follow this link:  Eat Paint Cook Tour of Tuscany 10-3 to 10-10-2015

Misty Morning in Tuscany ©Rebecca Zdybel
The view from one of our little hill towns is panoramic
and lends itself to paintings like this little watercolor sketch.
Join me and I'll take you there and show you how...

During our 30 Day Challenge, you've processed a truckload of information, so I'm going to keep it simple today and let you get right to it.  Let's celebrate spring and the glorious beauty of flowers!  

Today's Drawing challenge: 

• Take some real flowers, or real artificial flowers and draw from life, OR find a photo reference and use that for your drawing.  You may use any materials you'd like
• When finished you can send me a photo!

Here are a few sketches from fellow artists and past days of the Challenge:

So much fun to see what you do with these challenges!

Special Notice: 
My website will be changing to become more mobile friendly and add some new features.  If you are a subscriber, you will need to update your subscription.  A new notification will soon arrive in your inbox and ask for you to confirm your subscription.  It will be from my website server.  Just click that confirmation and you will continue to receive updates to this blog directly to your email inbox.  There is a button on my home page that allows you to subscribe, but if you'd like to subscribe and have not been able to do so, please email me and I will send you that link.   My email address is rebecca@artmyrtlebeach.com.  I have lots of new ideas and lessons I plan to share over the next few months.  I also will be traveling extensively during September and October and will be blogging about my adventures and my art along the way.  If you subscribe today you'll be kept up to date and share the all the fun!  I hope you do... <3

Rebecca Zdybel

Artist, Instructor, Art-Travel Instructor

Art Lessons: Drawing, Watercolor, Acrylic, Collage, Mixed Media

Myrtle Beach, SC

rebecca@artmyrtlebeach.com

Spread Light, Share Love, DO Art!

Feel free to share any of this blog post on your own blog or website, but I ask that you give attribution and include:

Rebecca Zdybel is an artist and instructor in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Follow her and see her work at http://www.artmyrtlebeach.com/

Join me on Google+ Rebecca Zdybel Google+ 

30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 16- Drawing Your Drink

30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 16- Draw Your Drink

Can it be that we are on the second half of our 30 Days of drawing?  Here we go...we're on a roll now!

Drawing food or drink is an easy way to find a ready subject to draw.  Try drawing while waiting for a friend who's late for a lunch date.  When traveling, create an art journal and record the restaurants or meals you eat. I'm sure at this point in the challenge you've found that drawing is just plain fun!   So let's continue with today's challenge will be to Draw Your Drink.  I have a lot of instructions, so let's get right to it. 

Highlights are created by painting around them  Treat highlights as shapes.  Look closely...they are there and will glint brightly with big jumps of value if you're drawing glass.  For this sketch, I used the Elegant Writer Black marker and watercolor for the yellow tones. 

Materials to use for this Challenge:
Elegant writer marker
water container
brush (small/medium round is fine)
Watercolor or watercolor pencil, acrylic ink, or watersoluble crayon for color

• Step 1: Get out something to drink...it's getting hotter and you've got to stay hydrated ;-)
• Step 2: Note where your drink is located and mark it's location on the table (in case you move it or you get thirsty and take a sip)
• Step 3:  If you have a camera, iPad, or a cell phone, take a photo before you get started.  This is important:  Take the photo from your viewpoint in the chair you plan to sit in.  This is because your perspective matters and will change the entire drawing if it changes.  This photo will be your back-up in case the drink moves or in case you move.  It will also be a way to "check your drawing".  (I use this technique all the time when drawing on location.)
• Step 4: Now draw your drink. Note any highlights on the glass or shiny surface.  Draw that highlight as a shape...oval, square, rectangle, cone.
• Step 5: Note the top of the drink container is usually round.  However, if you view something round from an angle it becomes an oval or an elipse. The top of the drink will generally be the same as the bottom, so you may be able to make two of the same ovals once your get the correct shape.  If the container isn't transparent or the shape of the container is different from top to bottom, then the top and the bottom will be different.  Remember this hint:  The bottom of glasses are not flat so don't draw a straight line!  There are no straight lines on a curved surface. 
• Step 6: Once you draw your drink, note any shadows your drink is casting...either on the surface of the table or within if the glass is transparent.
• Step 7: Once you finish the drawing, you can add color to it with whatever you choose.
• Step 8:  Take a photo of your drawing and send it to me...text or email is fine.

If journaling and traveling are something you enjoy doing, or would like to do, you should join me October 3-10, 2015 for my Eat Paint Cook Tour of Tuscany!  There is still room if you hurry...

Click this link Now! Rebecca's Eat Paint Cook Tour of Tuscany

Here are a few drawings from Fellow 30 Day Challengers...

I think this is drawing a rounded form from Day 11- but nice formatting!

Day 14- Elegant writer makes these simple studies so easy!

Day 14

Nicely done again everyone!  I can't wait to see your drawings and share your favorite tools and see what you're drinking  ;-)

Rebecca Zdybel

Artist, Instructor, Art-Travel Instructor

Art Lessons in all media

Myrtle Beach, SC

rebecca@artmyrtlebeach.com

Spread Light, Share Love, DO Art!

Feel free to share any of this blog post on your own blog or website, but I ask that you you include:

Rebecca Zdybel is an artist and instructor in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Follow her and see her work at http://www.artmyrtlebeach.com/

Join me on Google+ Rebecca Zdybel Google+