The last 7 illustrations in my christmas sketchbook

   January 6th is only a day and a half away firmly closing the holiday season with one last hurrah. The kids have gone star singing, candles have been shining all through the last two weeks, guests have come and gone, and the tree is still alive, barely. In short, the two weeks have once again flown past faster than anticipated.
   There is something so relaxing about the empty, quiet time these two weeks offer. A chance to reflect and review, to catch up on sleep, and for me to finish a few studio tasks and evaluate what to concentrate on in the new year. I have done a bit of planning, something which I will share more about in future posts, but for today I would like to show you the last of the illustrations in my small Christmas sketchbook. As you may already be aware, based on previous posts, I have chosen meaningful and familiar items to represent in this little book. It is not only a set of sketches but a part of my story, our story. A story which revolving with the earth's gradual progress comes back to the same point each winter, once again gracing our lives with a revisitation of the joys and treasures of Christmastime.

  As shared in the previous post, I have thought a bit about the items I have included in my book. They are there either as a result of their meaning to me or simply because they aesthetically appeal. Something not unsurprising in an artist's choice, me thinks.



 1. With young children in the house I began several years ago looking for wooden, unbreakable ornaments for our tree- this is one of about twenty such birch bark stars I bought at what was, before it became a huge tourist trap, one of my favorite Christmas markets. It was a lovely artisan market taking place on only one of the Advent weekends in an old Schloss. It was beautiful, bustling, and freezing cold. And of course, if you saw something you liked it made sense to just get it. We went once a year. These birch bark stars have graced our tree for about a decade and a half. And as hoped none of them are broken.

 

2. They remind me in fact of an ornament which I bought in Washington State as a student. It is quintessentially Western American to my mind. The figure in the middle is a grizzly bear as portrayed on souvenirs and many other common objects.

 3. While still searching for unbreakables I ran across beautiful hand made silver filigree snowflakes in a fair trade shop. These are made in India where my husband has spent quite a bit of time for business. My simple sketch does not do their workmanship justice.

 4. At a certain point our children began bringing home fragile ornaments they had made in school, thus beginning the phasing out of the unbreakable rule. One of my children made this terracotta star several year ago. They used pen caps, paper clips and an assortment of other small items to 'stamp' in the clay. A very clever idea.

 5. This little glass car ornament was too fun to pass up, and so it has been safely out of reach for a while and now gets to hang on the tree.

 6. A few years ago we bought red and white glass balls to add to the tree, that was just before we got a cat and her first year saw a few of them broken. She has been trained by now and doesn't touch the tree at all. She sleeps under it but the glass balls are safe and made a second debut this year.

 7. Finally, and in a flight of selfish shopping, I went to a local shop to buy, on the discount rack, the exact ornament that I had seen at a friend's house only days before. I have painted several glass ornaments both last year and this. Working on my techniques of representing shiny surfaces. I even offered a workshop in November, teaching a few people how to paint them. This ornament with its crackled glass, offers internal lines which give me a chance at a new, slight variation. I painted it immediately. Fortunately, it is also a deep turquoise, the colour of the sea. And one of my favorites.

   And that's it. Just in time the book is complete. I am toying with the idea of putting the text of a song, such as 'silent night' on the opposite pages. I will probably leave it until next Christmas to decide. In the meantime I am excessively pleased with how it turned out.

 If you are curious about the art supplies I use check out my 'favorites' page. I have offered affiliate links for many of them there. And for those who prefer to shop locally, there is a list.



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