hello.

We spent most of today visiting art museums here in Charlotte. We started with the Bechtler Museum which was interesting – some nice pieces for sure, but a little small. The Firebird (shown above) by Niki de Saint Phalle was my favourite piece. It stands just outside of the museum and really is a lovely way to entice people.

Next we hit the Mint Museums – both were very interesting, but I loved the one in Uptown. There was a fantastic craft and design section with some amazing works. I have no idea how these artists create such beautiful and intricate works. It was inspiring to see how some of these artists could take certain mediums and do astounding things with them. We didn’t get to see it all so I am already looking forward to visiting it again soon. If nothing else, it’s inspired me to do more art – in my own plebian way anyway.

It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a pencil and sketchbook to sketch anything but wireframes and structural designs. This weekend I decided it was time to try and get back into it and started with a favourite subject – flowers. I’m such a girl. I’m very rusty, but it felt good to be working on some art just for fun. No work. No client expectations. Just the enjoyment of sketching something and playing with shadows and lines.

I’m hoping to do a lot more drawing in the coming weeks. I have a lot of practicing to do. I’d like to also do some colour work. Coloured pencils and gouache was my medium in school, but I’d love to try my hand at some other mediums as well. Watercolours always look so lovely and soft and I’m pondering trying that first. Then, perhaps oils. I never attempted oils at school.

The picture has lost some of the subtle lines in the original, but I thought by sharing it, it would be a kick in the butt I need to keep practicing and improve.