The Sketchbook Confessional is a blog where I look at the past month and all the art and creative things I did in that month. Like a backwards to-do list, the Sketchbook Confessional is a ‘done’ list.
In February I reworked some of the drawings I did in 2015, 2016, and 2018, I made them a bit looser and more colorful:
In my original drawings like this, the colors were only blues and whites. It’s been fun to revisit the drawings and redo them.
I added a new piece to this series too:
In February I started a new kind of painting - I am making imaginary landscapes with hikers or backpacker figures in each one. It’s been an adventure to do this. I really like what I am making, with these.
These are painted on clear plexiglass and also color plexiglass. It’s fun to have a color background to effectively work as a built-in underpaint color. Some of the plexiglass colors that I have are very bright or different colors than I would typically use as underpainting colors, so they are a good stretch of my routine.
In February I did a few paintings of Mt. Elbert that I don’t see as finished yet. I will add a couple more touches to these over time.
I added these to this blog to see how they change next month. All I have to say for these is they are super thick paintings and I love them. They will definitely take a bit of time to get done.
I made a few lupine oil paintings also.
The lupine paintings are a fun way for me to get into the swing of things with impasto.
In February I was able to get outside and do a few plein air pieces. I went to Boulder Falls the day before Valentine’s Day and did a few watercolors that I enjoyed making.
I think of romance a lot in February since it’s the month of Valentine’s day and it’s unavoidable, but I also think of February 14 as exactly half of February, most years. I also like that there are so many flowers in the supermarkets because they are green and there’s not much green around in Colorado in February. It’s such a short and cold month, not as dark or cold as January, but still cold. I do like running and skiing in the snow but I don’t mind the idea of beaches and sun.
Running:
I signed up for the Leadville Heavy Half marathon and knocked out a few runs in Leadville in February. I have a long way to go before June. As far as training, what I’m up to is going for hikes or runs whenever I can get childcare for Baby Jewell, or the occasional stroller run. I think the stroller running makes me stronger but who knows. I also don’t want to put Baby Jewell through running in some of the 0 degree weather we’ve had lately.
All in all I’m happy with my mile splits for any given terrain, this spring I will work on driving down the times for my splits at high altitude or over 10000 feet.
Overall I’m feeling 100% and have felt this way for about a month after getting Covid in November. It really did take about 8 weeks before I felt normal or back to where I was after I gave birth.
That’s what I got for February! Until next time, see you, Space Cowboy.
