It seems that life as we knew it has become yet another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic and while I’m not entirely sure that’s a bad thing, it’s definitely disconcerting and wearying. I’ve heard myself say and think the words, “I’m over this” so many times I’ve lost count.

Lying in bed last night, I realized I needed to start searching for a new normal and figuring out what I want the new normal to look like. I recently stumbled across the graphic below on social media and it went a long way towards giving me a working mantra to help me begin to think about moving forward:
I’ll be the first to admit that accepting what is, as in life as we know it being over, has been a challenge. So is letting go because I kinda liked my life before it was interrupted. I found myself frequently thinking things were on some kind of temporary hold. All those headlines (April 1st became April 15th then April 30th and now I hear sometime in May) have been seductive and had me thinking that once the magical date arrived, we’d throw the switch and the party would resume and I’d go back to “life as usual.”

But can it? Will it?

I don’t think so. It seems unlikely and again, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing but rather a scary thing.

But what I do know is that I cannot stay in a perpetual cycle of hand-wringing, aimless wandering and useless conjecture about when we might get back to some semblance of normalcy, old or new.

Coping Methods
After more than a few sleepless hours last night of mulling over where this is all going to go and what my place in the new world order might look like (and really, I still have no clue), I decided to do a “brain dump” this morning. A brain dump is the process of dumping everything out of your brain that’s bugging/worrying/aggravating you. It’s all the little disjointed thoughts that don’t seem to have any relation to other thoughts.

I basically wrote down everything that’s been nagging at me about this situation, but I’ve also used this exercise to target a specific problem I had no idea how to solve. Once everything is written down, I can often begin to see patterns and associations between those disjointed thoughts. And sometimes, I’ll see an answer or a path forward just from what I’ve written.

Other times, it takes a little longer. In these instances, it’s as if I have extra space in my brain and I use the room to begin working through the issue(s) at hand. Obviously, this pandemic and all its far-reaching effects on our lives is not going to be solved with one brain dump, but I also found myself feeling a bit of relief from the constant, nagging fear and worry.

Now that I have a written record of it, my brain and emotions can rest for a bit before finding something new to fret about. With that said, I also realize I get to must choose what I feed—my faith in what will be, in the possibility of an even-better new normal in life or my fear(s) that life will never be as good as it once was.

I see a lot more brain dumps in my future, especially if it helps me to keep the fear in check. I also see a lot more creative efforts. I’ve been exploring other art mediums, jewelry making, and such to keep myself entertained. I don’t know what I’ll pursue just yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll share it with you.

I also know it’s important for me to reach out to friends, be it a text or a phone call, to see how others are coping. The conversation always starts out about the virus, but I am trying to push past the pandemic to other things like art, music, recipes, sharing quarantine accomplishments and so forth. Life is more, far more, than the current case count of our state, and it helps me greatly to focus on something other than pandemic.

Lastly, I find it’s crucial for me to have [more] humor in my life. From Shelby’s antics while chasing those persistent squirrels away from the bird feeder to my husband’s dry humor to funny posts on social media to funny shows on Netflix, all of them help to fill the void left by my old life and soothe my worry over what the new one is going to look like and when it’s going to get here. (Ha! As if it will simply arrive on a specific date.)

I’m wondering how you’re doing and what you’re doing to pass the hours of the quarantine. How are you coping? What helps you to keep the fears at bay and have you given any thought to what life is going to look like on the other side of this and what you want your new normal to look like?

I’d love to hear from you! Please leave me a comment below!

I’ll leave you with a photo of a tired pup lounging on the couch with her head propped up on a deflated ball. She chased squirrels all day long yesterday and it just wore her out!

Sweet, tired Shelby!

There is a great deal of peace and serenity to be found at Selby Gardens in Sarasota, FL, and I found myself in need of a place to unwind and decompress after my whirlwind experience at the Suncoast View show. Selby was the perfect place!

What was even better was running into two of the artists who sometimes join me at Keeton's for classes. They even had their kits with them!

There was a light breeze coming in off from the bay that kept things nice and cool. I walked around for a few minutes just soaking in the ambience before pulling out my Stillman and Birn sketchbook. This is the Zeta version and it's their smallest softcover size at 3.5 x 5.5 inches, closed. It's perfect for small bags and pockets!

The sketches above were all done on location, but with a two-hour drive in front of me, I chose to add the color after I arrived at home. (It was only when I went to paint this that I realized I had not finished the tree that went with the really odd bloom at the upper right side—it looked like it was ready to strike! I didn't even take a photo! I must have been distracted!:)

I will be teaching a two-day workshop there in March, Painting Postcards in the Gardens, and we'll have a chance to explore this phenomenal place together in our sketchbooks—I hope you can join me! I will be returning in April for a second class as well.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions and I hope to see you there!
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Willis doing her gargoyle impression in the dark of night

Why are you looking at cute cat photos on an art blog?  On Tuesday, he and I had to run some errands, including stopping by my mother's doctor's office. That took the better part of the day. Wednesday was more phone calls and another visit to their home. Make no mistake, I'm glad to help out and I'm thankful he called so we could get matters taken care of, but I also have to acknowledge it shot a huge, gaping hole into my plans. 

Joey on the "traveling tree skirt" back during the holidays

Moby lounging in the shipping supply box

Pen and Water Wash with stamped letters Crummy watercolor journal 3.5" x 5.5"

I would love to tell you I've been traveling or sketching up a storm or on some delectable adventure, but the truth is I'm not really sure where the last two weeks have disappeared to! I haven't any sketches to show for my absence either. Well, with the exception of the one to the left and it's just a quickie.

There are times when I want to sketch and there are times when I want to sit back and absorb what's going on around me or to focus on the person I'm spending time with.

I can fall into my sketchbook like some people fall into their smartphones and it can damn annoying to someone who doesn't sketch. Or so I've been told.

For me, often the point of sketching is to create a portal, or return ticket, back to a moment I want to remember. In this instance, I wanted to remember the "pity pot" and a quick sketch was all that was necessary.

As we sat together, it took a few minutes for me to grasp the idea that the pity pot was a toilet and when my friend was done with her pity party, she simply hit the handle to wash all the negativity away!

It amused me and it delighted me that she had found a way to deal with some of the ongoing, life challenges she's facing. Like most of us, she's dealing with her fair share of "stuff."

She also puts a timer on her pity parties and sets a firm deadline, say 4 o'clock in the afternoon before her family comes home from their day, by which to end her party. That way she doesn't fall into the trap of lingering too long.

At the end of her party, she ceremoniously flushes the toilet and watches the water swirl the pity away and out of her world. Clever, huh?!

And that's what I have to show for the last two weeks.

Acorns Watercolor, watercolor pencil, ink and charcoal

The other morning I found myself in a parking lot full of acorns and you know I just had to pick some up!

And this time I had a good reason…I did a class last week at Keeton's Office and Art Supplies on Autumn's Garden and the bounty to be found there. We painted some of the acorns.

But I gotta tell you, I probably would have picked them up anyway as they were huge! I think they were from a red oak(?) and I fell in love with them.

Looking at an acorn, you usually see a hint of green, umber, ochres, yellows, a few golds and maybe some gray. Not so exciting when I look at all the fun colors I have in my palette.

So I decided a fantasy acorn was just what I needed to dispel the icky weather we've been having lately.

Above is the result of playing with all kinds of color as well as media. There's a little bit of everything in there.

I can't say I'm wild about the end result as it looks nothing like I had in my head, but I can say it was fun and it scratched the itch of painting an acorn.

Back in the parking lot, as I looked up into the tree I was standing under, I could see gobs and gobs of acorns still on the tree…a very bountiful crop this year…and I thought about Mother Nature's approach to the future.

She didn't put all her hope into one acorn, but into thousands and that was from just ONE tree!

She knew that some acorns would feed the woodland creatures and some would fall onto concrete for crazy humans like me to pick up.

Some would fall to the mower's blades and others would fall in an inhospitable environment, so she made sure there were enough that maybe, just maybe, a few of those acorns would grow into themselves to become big, strong oak trees.

I often find myself too focused on the one acorn rather than a more bountiful approach of several acorns. Perhaps you can relate?

However, I've been quite fortunate and blessed to find that my acorn has taken root and continues to grow daily (ImaginaryTrips.com). Another acorn, Imaginary Trips Made Real, is thriving with a trip to the beach coming up in January—if you want to interrupt winter, there's still time! Click on the box at the top of the page for more info.

My friends and family are also blessings though some are more like squirrels than acorns. As we *supposably* slow down for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, I am taking stock of all of my acorns and how much they've grown this year.

Thanks to all of you who've come to be part of my world via classes, the blog, the internet and FB groups. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I wish you the very best of blessings for the season.

May you find your acorns have grown as well.

Farm-Fresh Onion Watercolor and Gouache 11 x 8.5 inches Stillman & Birn Zeta Bound Journal

Every once in a great while, I'll revisit a subject I've already painted if I can find a new "take." While I may work in a series upon occasion, it usually is more of a theme-driven series rather than the same exact material over and over.

Here in Florida we get to enjoy farm-fresh produce all year long. There are fruit and vegetable stands set up as permanent businesses and you can just about get your favorite fruit or veggie any time.

Farm-Fresh Onion Watercolor and Gouache 11 x 8.5 inches Stillman & Birn Zeta Bound Journal

When I brought this onion into the house the other day, I set it up on top of the dryer in the laundry room because I knew those long, crinkly stems would be irresistible to certain 4-footed members of the household.

The next day as I was tossing clothes into the dryer, I happened to glance up and see the unique perspective of the bottom part of the onion being cut off…eureka!! A new take on an old subject!

As I'd already sketched onions before, I needed something new to capture my interest and make me want to sketch another one.

Watercolor and Gouache 11 x 8.5 inches Stillman & Birn Zeta Bound Journal

As "they" say, there's nothing new in the world, nothing that hasn't already been done millions of times before, but I disagree. A new perspective, a new palette of pigments, something even a different day of the week and the results are astoundingly different.

Maderia Beach Visit with Terry and Jim Watercolor, Ink and Gouache 5.5 x 8.5 inches in Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook

My view from the restaurant. You can see the reflections caused by the plastic as well as the edge and grommets of the shade

Maderia Beach, Florida

Hard Working Chucks © Laure Ferlita Watercolor and Ink Stillman and Birn Bound Zeta Sketchbook 5.5 x 8.5 inches

It sometimes take seeing someone else sketch something to open our eyes to what is and has been around us all along.

Take for instance these dilapidated, falling-apart Chucks that belong to my husband.

They are his yard shoes. The ones that aren't good for anything else, but he can't quite bring himself to part with them.

As I stood in the kitchen, I found myself sketching them in my head.

This was after I pondered why they were lying in the middle of the breakfast nook. Look no further than the two kittens that reside with us for an answer—those strings make fabulous toys!

Gazing at them, I wondered why I hadn't realized before now they would make good sketching material. After all, they'd been there for a few weeks.

It's because I saw Jean McKay's sneaker sketch. You'll have to have a Facebook account tho see the sketch.

Her sketch provided the inspiration to make me take notice of the ordinary.

I truly enjoy sketching and viewing sketches when I see something elevated out of the everyday flotsam and jetsam that largely passes by unnoticed.

It makes me wonder what else have I missed, what else has the potential to become something special in my sketchbook if I pay attention.

Even though our sketches have little in common besides both being sneakers, it's fun to see the different ways we manifest our surroundings in our sketchbooks.

What have you elevated to the extraordinary lately?

Check out that helmet!

To step outside of mainstream, to show originality takes courage and whenever I see someone who has stepped away from the safety of the herd, I always take a minute to salute them. 

Bye!

He probably would have shrugged it off as if it didn't matter, and maybe to him it didn't. 

Okay, let me explain…
I wasn't sketching the woman. I was sketching her scarf. It was gorgeous with colors of blues, turquoise and aquas.
Unfortunately, the scarf happened to be worn by the woman and so I had to sketch her as well. Otherwise, the scarf would look like it was levitating on the page and since I didn't plan well, she didn't turn out so great.
She turned out like some kind of demonic mutant in my first attempt.


When I showed it to my husband, he had the audacity to laugh—can you believe that?!

I can. She's pretty funny looking.

By the way, in case you're wondering…it does not bother me that she turned out like a mutant or that she doesn't look a whole lot like herself in real life. You see, I don't know her from Adam's house cat. It's okay that she doesn't look like anyone I know.

Now, if I knew her…that would be a completely different kettle of fish!

After the sketch bomb on the left, I attempted to redeem myself by re-sketching her face to the right. This one turned out a little better and more proportional to her body.

The lady at the bottom was engrossed in her phone and had no idea anyone else was even in the café.
HINT: Folks who are playing with their phones make great sketching subjects! They seldom look up find you staring at them.

On Sunday, Chris and I went to one of our favorite Greek restaurants and sat out on the patio. The little English Sparrows were busy, busy, busy! The chirping was so loud at times it was a bit distracting.
I waited until we'd finished eating to get out my journal* and start sketching. I only had his** little face sketched when the birds disappeared. I'm can only guess it became too crowded for them. We sat for a little longer before I gave up and we went on about our day.

The odd thing about this is that even though I don't consider either of these pages to be anything to crow about, I really like them!

They were done in the flow of my day rather than a "special trip" just to sketch. My favorite sketches are almost always those that happen in the in-between moments of my day rather than those I create when I make a grand production of going out just to sketch.

How about you? Which are your favorites—the ones you plan out or those that happen organically?

*I've recently had some back issues so I switched to a smaller purse. This forced a change to a smaller journal as my usual Stillman & Birn Zeta would not fit in the smaller bag.

The journal seen above is a no-name watercolor journal from one of the big craft chains. It's 4.24 by 5.5 inches. It's okay, but not my favorite sketchbook by any means.

The palette is a converted lipstick sampler. I cleaned out the leftover makeup and painted the mirror and lid white before adding my paint. It works in a pinch when I want to add just a hint of color to the page.

**I say "his," but in reality this is a composite of several different birds.

The title of this post amuses me on so many different levels. But then again I'll take amusement any where I can find it as I haven't had much to be amused about lately.

Five days into a particularly nasty round of the flu, I decided I want to "document the fun."

I'm using the term loosely, I assure you.

When I sat back to look at the drawing, I debated whether to stop or to continue as I didn't think I wanted to post it on the blog.

After all, aren't we only posting the "pretty pictures?"

But something inside rebelled. That's a disservice to those who are just beginning their artistic journey.

Because not every sketch is a beauty.

They're not all perfectly drawn and painted.

The sketch above was done in the moment. I didn't really care if it came out well.

I (obviously) didn't take my time and wasn't careful with my ink lines.

But, you know what?

It's an accurate record of how I was feeling. I didn't care. I didn't feel good or "pretty."

To have made the sketch pretty would have been a lie as to how I was feeling and the reason for documenting the situation in the first place.

No matter where you are in your artistic journey, no matter how long you sketch, know that there will be less than pretty sketches that could not be any more accurate if they tried.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While I'll never see beauty in the sketch above, I do see truth.

So maybe truth is in the eye of the beholder as well?

Fridge Shopping Stillman & Brin Bound Beta Sketchbook 5.5 x 8.5 inches ink drawing

We need a new fridge.

We've been looking for a while now, but have yet to agree on a model.

On Friday, instead of going to an outdoor antique market, in the rain, we opted to do our shopping indoors.

And we found a fridge!

Finally.

Finally, a model we could both agree on.

It is a Samsung with the freezer on the bottom, but in this model instead of a big drawer in the freezer area, it has lots of small drawers similar to what you get on top.

And the doors are split on the bottom as well.

Yay!!

Wrong.

It's too big.

It's an inch too tall and an inch to deep to go into the space in our kitchen.

Now we have to decide whether to wait to see if Samsung comes out with a smaller model or go with something else.

Dagnabit!

The sketch above was done from memory and then details added from a photo I took with my cell phone. The verbiage was suppose to be much, much different.

Rather than write down the info on products/appliances we're interested in, I just take a photo with my phone for later. The solutions signage was actually in the store and struck me as humorous when I looked at the photo because we were so sure we had found our fridge.

Cat Toy Masquerading As A Pillow Ink with Watercolor Stillman and Birn Beta Sketchbook 5.5 x 8.5 inches

Autumn has already arrived at our house despite temperatures in the mid-90's. (To that end, I've recently bought a few pillows, a wreath and some other things to help usher in the season in the hopes of convincing myself it really isn't 107º! [It's not. It just feels like it.])

So imagine my surprise, annoyance, aggravation, frustration, disappointment when the kitten decided the new pillows made GREAT play toys.

Sigh.

Willis has a blast attacking the wonderful, big balls of soft cushiness. The material is a soft suede and feels good to the touch. However, they're also great to hide things under and then hunt before pouncing on them for the kill. In fact, the pillows spend about as much time on the floor as they do on the furniture.

Since it is doubtful they'll be in great condition by the time fall is over, I figured I'd better commemorate them in my sketchbook so that I could remember them before they're torn to shreds.

About the Sketch:
Because I wanted the pillow to stand out and I was short on time, I chose to paint only the pillow. By adding color in one area only, I can direct the eye to the my Center of Interest (COI).

This works well when you have a sketch that has an area that has a mistake in it or didn't turn out so hot. You may or may not notice that I fudged the lamp shade as well as the line running across the bottom of the couch.

I attempted to fix the line on the couch only to draw it in crooked again.

Still, chances are good you may not have noticed had I not pointed out the mistakes.

That's the cool thing about art—we get to use all kinds of tools and methods to hide the flaws...we just have to know how!

Last Saturday, Chris and I found ourselves in the possession of a bow-legged, bat-eared, talon-toed kitten.

Make no mistake as to who was in control of this situation.

Her name is Willis. Mostly. She's also been called Skunk Monkey, Demon, Dammit, and NinjaPuss.

Willis Ferlita

And before you ask, no her name has nothing to do with the TV sit-com from the 80's, but it does have significance to us.

Can you hear that laughter? That's the Universe ROFLIAO. You see, we weren't ready for a new kitten. Or a puppy. We weren't even sure we were going to get another one at all.

Yeah, well, put one lost, hungry and lonely kitten in my parents' garage on the day I have to go over there and poof! We now have a kitten in the house.

Playing with an oversized pipe cleaner

The lessons we've observed so far...

She knows what she wants and she goes and gets it. There is no try. There is do or do not. Or, in her case, attack or do not. Either way, she gets what she wants and she's not afraid to get vocal about it either.

She is nearly fearless and quite fierce. Anything and everything is fair game for those needle-sharp claws. So far she's stood up to the ceiling fan, my coffee mug, and demons only she can see.

She'll try anything once, including jumping up on things (like human legs) best not jumped up on, jumping off things that are a bit too high (tables) to be jumped from, and climbing up things not meant to be climbed (curtains). If she fails, she either tries again or goes and finds something else to do. She doesn't obsess or freak out.

She is respectful. When the older cat came into the room, she sits still and watches him. When he only had hisses and growls for her, she ignored him and went about playing like a maniac. Totally ignored him and his unhappy vibe. She didn't get hung up with his bad attitude nor did she waste any time wondering why he didn't like her.

She plays hard. Then she sleeps. So far she has two speeds—attack and sleep. She lives to eat, sleep, poop and most importantly, have fun and play. We've laughed more in the last 72 hours than we have in the last six months.

Look at those eyes. She's a wild child.

As for the older cat in the house...

Joey staged a hunger strike under the bed for the first 24 hours. When that proved unsuccessful in removing the intruder, he attempted extreme affection and cuteness in the hopes he would prove this new trespasser was completely unnecessary.

I suspect he fears the kitten armageddon that is sure to come as soon as we turn her loose on him. Poor Joey...he may not leave the comfort of his hiding place under our bed from several weeks.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to see if I can't adopt her approach to life...play hard and often, be fierce, be fearless, try new things with abandon and ignore anyone who doesn't want to play with me!

...are about as rare as hen's teeth. We've had days and days of wet weather for the last week or more. We finally had a reprieve yesterday and was it ever fabulous! The temperature dropped and even better the humidity dropped to make it a fantastic day.

Breezy, cool and low humidity is a Floridian's idea of a perfect day. Chris and I decided to have lunch at one our favorite places to eat, a little Greek taverna so we could sit outside and enjoy the weather.

Huge cypress trees in big, big olive-style pots sit around the area as a privacy screen and wind break.

Acropolis Greek Taverna Cypress Watercolor and Ink Stillman & Birn Beta Sketchbook 5.5 x  8.5 inches

The cypress in the sketch above sat close to the front door and made for the perfect opportunity to sketch as I love the mellow colors of the bricks behind it. I sketched a bird nest from the same place in this post.

Have you ever seen a green brick before that wasn't painted? Probably not. But if you look at the bricks above, I have a few. This is called embellishing, it's one of the "5 E's System" I teach in the Imaginary Trip classes to help artists learn to sketch on location.

Embellish means just that—to embellish what you see with colors that may not be there or may not be very obvious. Embellishing can be subtle or quite obvious depending on what the art calls for.

When we rely on photos for the majority of our sketching references, we sometimes forget that a camera is limited in the colors it can "see," versus what our eyes and more importantly, our imaginations, can see.

Try adding some "extra" pop to your work by embellishing with some unexpected color and see what you think. Let me know how it goes!

Taking Flight Watercolor Pineapple Journal 5.5 x 5.5 inches

Who among us has not wished they could do something, like sketching or painting, with ease? 

"Welcome to Firehouse!" Watercolor and Non-Permanent Ink 5.5" x 11" Pineapple Sketchbook

It's kind of cool to go to lunch with a friend that "gets" sketching during the meal, even if it is for celebratory reasons.

Neighborhood Bistro sketched with pen and watercolor in my Pineapple Sketchbook

This was a new restaurant that I'd not been to before nor had my lunch partner. We decided we were in the mood for something different and it had come highly recommended (how many little bistros do you know that have their own chef?!).

The restaurant was at the end of a strip mall with each storefront different from the next to give the feel of a small village. I had intended to sketch my meal, but I was too busy eating to sketch it. Maybe next time.

One of the coolest things was their logo—it strongly reminded me of a logo we saw in NOLA last year, but then I've had NOLA on the brain for the last few days!

Lunch was good, the company superb and the day an absolute delight!

It's also a delight to come back after being gone nearly two weeks and see all the new folks that have joined the blog—welcome, my friends! I'm so glad you're here!

The technology war continues and it's still impossible to tell who is winning. However, I'm going to be doing the first ever Painted Thoughts' GIVEAWAY next week, so please check back next Tuesday to see what the giveaway is and whether you would like to win it!

Hope y'all have an awesome weekend!