Alien droplets, poop-encrusted cleat, and a dancing monkey in a kimono

Dear Sarah - Day 117 of our daily drawing exchange

April 27, 2025
Hello Sarah!

Man, where has this month gone???? So, these things are supposed to be water droplets… but they look to me more like small aliens or something. Maybe in the context of a leaf glistening with dew the concept of highlights and shadows might work better?

Live and learn…

Spent a small amount of time today (after running back and forth to the city…) poking about in our manuscript. Didn’t make a lot of progress but I think I’m set up now to tackle the missing day in the writing retreat.

April 27, 2025
Hi Nikki.

On my walk yesterday, I took a photo of a giant cleat (near a giant anchor at Macaulay Point Park. (Esquimalt is very big on nautical relics.) I did a "realistic" pencil drawing of the cleat but I always find proportion and perspective so hard to get right. Plus the cleat was not smooth and had lichen and bird shit on it. And then there was the shadow...

So then I did a blind contour drawing of the cleat which struck me as much more interesting and lively than my pencil drawing. I saw a monkey-ish dancer in a kimono in the blind contour drawing and added feet and eyes. I love it!

I'm sitting on my deck amongst all my pots of perennials, which are already surprisingly large. It's shady and not very warm, but a nice place to sit and draw. Or read. Or even write. Hmmm...

XO S

Hi again -

I just saw your message and your two drawings. Wow. How could the same subject look so completely different?? I like them both - and, looking at the first one (the realistic one) it strikes me how we are improving with our efforts!! The dancing monkey (I saw a mouse) is purely delightful!!

Makes me eager to see what we will get up to tomorrow!

As for pots and perennials - it was wet, miserable, and SNOWING here again today. Snow didn’t stick around, but jeez, I am ready for spring to get here and stay a while.

Nikki