I signed up for this class for the March Sketch-A-Day session. I completed that but had not finished the videos. After doing that I did this sketch of an iron wood coyote I bought at a street fair. I love iron wood. I tried to watercolor it but the old sketch pad I dug out after filling the one I was using was cheap and the paper warped.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 1 - student project

Of all the topics to start a sketch-a-day project, self-portrait would never have been on my list. In the first place, I can't draw people. Well, I can't draw period. I just like to try.

The only part of this self-portrait that looks like me is the exhausted eyes. If a police artist sketched this to catch me, I'd be home free. :) (I watch too many detective shows.) Looking forward to tomorrow for something more in my interest.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 2 - student project

Trees are more my thing. I love trees.

Right now wildflowers are in better shape than my trees. The drought has hit our area hard. The only big tree left in my back yard is the mesquite by the kitchen window. It's early for them so I'm hoping it is still alive and will become a living bouquet of green lace soon. Here's my sketch of it.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 3 - student project

When I was crossing the street I mourned the decay of one of my neighbors' trees. Here's what you might call it's eulogy.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 4 - student project

Those vines are still alive. They will sprout foliage soon.

Looking forward to tomorrow's prompt.

It was a clean-out-fridge meal at lunch. Both the last of the blueberries and the kale needed to be eaten. I just ate the kale from the plastic container but made the blueberries into blueberry pancakes. I think fresh fruit and veggies are beautiful so I wanted to add a little color. Watercolor on the kale worked out okay but the pancakes leave something to be desired. My hands were shakier than usual today so I should not have tried to show the design on the plate. Oh, well. Tomorrow's another day.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 5 - student project

When building was the topic I knew exactly what building in my little town I wanted to sketch. Unfortunately it was another very shaky hand day so none of the lines are level. This was the town movie theater in the 1950s. It was in ruin when a group decided to attempt to restore it. It is now a performing arts theater with some type of stage usage each month. I have performed in two productions presented in it, Mildred in Dividing the Estate and Ouiser in Steel Magnolias. The building is very close to my heart. I'm sorry my sketch doesn't do it justice.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 6 - student project

Didn't get online yesterday. Hardest part of doing Skillshare projects for me is having to get on the computer to post projects, Wish the phone app would allow uploads.

So - here's yesterday's sketch. Fruit.

I chose an avocado. I could live on them. I wanted color but my watercolor didn't turn out like I had hoped.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 7 - student project

Today's "book" was hard. I could never pick my favorite book so I opted for my current read. I review books for a Web site, noirjournal.tumblr.com. This book is showing promise. It will be released next month.

Unfortunately, my sketch doesn't show nearly as much promise. I couldn't manage all the detaiil on the cover. It's an essence, not a literal representation.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 8 - student project

Maybe tomorrow I'll be inspired. And - the mesquite tree is showing tiny sprouts of green. It lives!!!

Once again copying lettering sabotaged my limited skills. I'm a Cokeaholic as my mother used to say. They can have my Coca-Colas when they pry them from my cold, dead hand, Yes, I know they aren't good for me but I've given up too many comestibles for one reason or another. I have annoying food allergies. I don't drink coffee. I've quit all types of alcoholic drinks, Most juices don't set well on my stomach. So here is my drink of choice - a Coca-Cola.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 9 - student project

I wanted a touch of color so I added the red stripes. The coloe isn't as intense as that on the can but I like the effect.

These are my favorite shoes. I live in flip flops. My feet break out when I keep them enclosed. These were sold as a fundraiser for the local high school band. I wear them constantly and go on short trips with them as my only shoes.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 10 - student project

This wasn't assigned but it's my mesquite that I sketched on Day 2 sprouting now. It's much prettier than my watercolor.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 11 - student project

This is my coat rack. The weather has warmed here so mostly vests and some leftover scarves are still on it. I love this pink vest. It was a gift from one of my cousins.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 12 - student project

I'm running behind, not on sketching but on posting - the most difficult part of all Skillshare classes.

For the appliance I chose my washing machine. It was my mother's but both of us have cared for it so well that people are amazed it is 25 years old. It's pretty basic but it gets the job done.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 13 - student project

For a vegetable I sketched the only fresh one in the house, a bell pepper. (I need to shop.) I liked the way the watercolor looked on it.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 14 - student project

For today I sketched the three newest rocks in my collection that began when I was a child. I got these last weekend at the gem and mineral show. I should not attend those shows. I can't resist rocks.

The color didn't work well on my rocks. I had neither the subtle colors nor the skill to portray them as lovely as they are.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 15 - student project

At the rate I'm getting on the computer it may be another three days before I post again.

It was only two days.

I have no family left. I say my family has four paws and a cold wet nose. This sketch looks about as much like her as my self-portrait did of me.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 16 - student project

My favorite sketching materials are pencils and a sketch pad. That's what I take when I go for a day at the beach. Here are three representative color pencils, a pen and a pencil.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 17 - student project

Catching up on posting again. It's not a sketch thing, it's a computer thing.

I was in the Walmart parking lot gettting ready to leave my parking place and glanced across at the man in the car facing mine. He had an amazing face - looked like an Old Testament prophet. Long white hair, heavy facial hair - I couldn't stop looking at him. I wasn't set up to sketch behind the steering wheel but looked at him steadily trying to memorize his face.

I decided to try the ink brush after I sketched him but regretted it. It made him too dark and all the hair was really white. Maybe I should have tried watercolor.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 18 - student project

Yesterday I went out to sketch the cardinals and green jays that came to my feeder after I filled it and saw this cute little fellow on the patio. I love lizards and have a collection of geckos - mostly ceramic. I didn't get the color mix quite accurate but he was so cute that I had to sketch him for my animal.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 19 - student project

If the weather improves I'm going out in the back yard later today to sketch a bluebonnet. They are such lovely flowers and I have a nice spread of them this year.

The sun did come out. I didn't want black outline on my bluebonnets so I drew them with watercolor pencils. The white tops would have shown up better with ink but I like the way the blue blossoms came out. No art or photography ever shows them as lovely as they are.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 20 - student project

I don't carry a purse or bag regularly. Everything goes in my pockets. This is my go-to bag for evening when I have no pockets. A friend gave it to me. It is faux leopard look in black and white and goes with all my black evening wear.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 21 - student project

I'm a purple person. I have a friend who is a jewelry maker. He made me some gorgeous charolite earrings but I lost one. We hunted at gem and mineral shows and never found charolite that we deemed suitable. He found sujilite stones matched for earrings at a Denver show. These are the earrings he made from them. I wear them often and love the mixing of the shades in them.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 22 - student project

The brick on my fireplace - and house - is very unusual. I love it. I love to look at the offbeat patterns in the stones and find all kinds of faces and critters. Here are three of the face patterns. Hope they are as plain to others as they are to me. I used pencil for these to allow for more shading. A lot of the lines are like cobwebs while other places are solid dark and others have a dirty look.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 23 - student project

I wanted to show a marranito for dessert even though I usually eat them as breakfast pastry. They are Mexican cookies in the shape of a pig. Even though some refer to them as gingerbread, molasses is what gives them their rich flavor. They are also called cochinitos in some areas. Yummy! Especially zapped in the microwave. Mine ended up with a longer neck than I intended but they come in all shapes, from very definitely a pig to oblong lumps with some bumps to indicate the nose, legs, ear and tail. It all depends on the bakery/panaderia where you buy them.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 24 - student project

Several day break from the computer. Always a joyful thing.

I can see the shape of what supplied the texture but doubt anyone else can.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 25 - student project

This one turned out to be more fun than I expected. I was killing time waiting for a friend who was shoe shopping and noticed the clerk checking out a customer. I liked the angle of my viewpoint and got the basics. I filled in details I could remember later.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 26 - student project

This platform rocking chair belonged to my grandmother. It doesn't lean nearly as much as my sketch does.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 27 - student project

There are many, many antiques in my house much older than my television but it was handy and I had already drawn the rocking chair for furniture. I don't get television programming. The TV set serves as a monitor for the DVD player. So much of what I watch is old movies that the square format is far better than the newer widescreen televisions for me. This one is a hand-me-down, a Montgomery Ward TV. I'm sure Montgomery Ward stores closed before a majority of my fellow students were born.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 28 - student project

I will not be able to travel anywhere today so I won't be going anyplace new. However I did take a different from my usual route yesterday and noticed something I can pretty well see in my mind. After I get food prep done for Easter I'll sit down and sketch it from memory tonight. After Easter maybe I can upload every day for the final days of March.

Catching up again.

My sketch-from-memory on my drive can be called a flop. I saw the rows of row crops - this looked like corn - flipping by and wanted to show it but I think I need to work through one of the classes on watercolor that are in my queue. I definitely need guidance to make a watercolor look like anything. I wanted the rows, backed by the blobs of vegetation behind them and the blue sky above but it would be hard to identify what this is supposed to be. At least I did it and was brave/stupid enough to post it. :)

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 29 - student project

I live in a small town in a ranching area. We have nothing that could be truly called a cafe. We have a grocery and a pharmacy, a post office and city offices, DQ (Dairy Queen) and Sonic, and - blessings upon it - a Dollar General store. I selected it for my store sketch. One of these days I'll sketch something with straight lines that doesn't lean.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 30 - student project

Once again, I live in a rural area. No public transportation. This is my little white Jeep. It takes me all the places I need to go.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 31 - student project

Hoping I'll manage to post each day for the rest of the session.

Most of my cosmetic basics are L'Oreal. I discovered this collagen cream a while back and have gotten so many compliments on my skin since I started using it. I used some metallic drawing pencils to show the silver and gold tones on the top and the "L'Oreal" on the jar. The blue is watercolor.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 32 - student project

When I saw "contents," one thing immediately popped into my mind. I had spent the day yesterday packaging the contents (components) of the gift boxes I was preparing for the visiting clergy for our church's upcoming centennial celebration. The contents are an oil lamp replica of the type that were used in Biblical days, a wick, a bottle with a small amount of lamp oil and a card with the lyrics of the first verse of the song, "Give Me Oil for My Lamp." I had to sketch those. There was no other choice.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 33 - student project

I used left over Easter grass for packing and kind of got carried away with the purple grass in my sketch. At the upper right is the box that holds all the contents.

Nothing captures my senses - or heals my soul - the way the beach does. I'm a little more than an hour from the Gulf Coast, an hour and a half from my favorite beach. The few times I have been able to walk on the beach in the early morning, my mind sings, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth." And really means it. I love the feel and smell of the sea breeze and the way the sand squishes between my toes. The rush of the waves and the cries of the sea birds are music to my ears. Watching the little pipers scurry across the sand makes me smile and finding interesting designs in the sand or in the markings on shells relieves tension. So for my sensory overload sketch i thought of the beach at Port A and tried to capture its aura. It was a great finale for a delightful session.

March Sketch-a-Day Session - image 34 - student project

Thanks, Elisa!