the great salt lake

Yesterday morning we said...hey baby lets go to salt lake city. My David looked up where Guy Fieri has been to on Diner's Drive Ins and Dives so we could eat dinner there, because of course, if guy fieri goes there, it's gotta be good!

On the list were:

The Red Iguana

Ruth's Diner

Moochie's Meatballs

Pat's BBQ

Lone Star Taqueria

Blue Plate Diner

We've been to pat's bbq and its SO tasty, I highly recommend it. Somehow we ended up not going to any of them at all. We went to a friend's recommendation for an authentic pizzeria= Sicilia's pizza. The Italian born owner greeted us in a thick italian accent and asked "is this your first time here? I'm sorry" ha! Such a great big menu to choose from. We got the amori and the meat amori (half and half) with mixed sauce (alfredo and marinara). My body told me, rachel you are full. But I didn't listen. I had to finish my plate. It was dreamy sauce and topping goodness.

We stumbled upon some groovy downtown hotspots with furniture, galleries, bookstores, and artists trying to make it. I wouldn't mind living on 300 south, there is so much to do there.

Artwork in Kayo Gallery

Cool shop staircase (everything in there is organized by color, love it!)

Retro Rose

Frosty Darling Boutique (connected with Kayo Gallery)

Sam Weller's bookstore 3 stories of books and a section for rare old and used books, totally awesome to get lost in.

I turned my pictures into polaroids using the polaroid project download. EASY and so fun.

Drawing blindly

I love blind contour drawings. Yes. I do. They are freeing. I love the off-ness of it all. The swirls and twirls of a true blind contour are awesomely fun. I used to hate abstract art. Everything I used to draw was so detailed and rendered as perfectly as I could do it. Although that has merit, I honestly don't feel the need to do that anymore. Somehow over time I've gotten less and less representational. And. I'm. Happy. So here is something I drew up and painted for a commission sketch. I love black, white, and transparent brown now.

Secrets from the Sketchbook

I have a plan to update this often. Since I'm an art teacher, I thought, why not share some things I teach as we go here?

Sketchbook 101

If I don't write down my ideas immediately then it will fall out of my brain and be lost forever. So sketchbooks have become so very useful and an escape for me. I used to only draw with pencil in them. Then one day I realized I could do whatever I wanted to! Now I carry a sketchbook with me where ever I go just in case inspiration strikes.

If you are a budding artist like me, maybe some of this tips will be helpful:

1. Choose a sketchbook you LOVE. If you've got a rockin' sketchbook, you'll be more likely to draw in it. I have several books I started but just wasn't really feelin' the juju of the pages or it wasn't aesthetically pleasing...so they sit on my shelf untouched.

2. That reminds me...Cost. My favorite sketchbooks are ones I made myself. Collect unfinished sketchpads, scrapbook paper, tracing paper, gessoed paper, and any lonely paper scraps hanging around the house. Cut them to the same size and take them to a store to be bound. All you pay for is the binding (which is cheap!)

2. Cover. I prefer hardback, spiral bound like this one. Spirals lay flat. They are user friendly. I used to decorate my sketchbook covers as seen in the 3rd photo, but now I prefer the hard black covers.

3. Size. Choose a book not too big or too small. My personal size preference and shape is square 8"x8". It's small enough to carry with you and just big enough to have room to draw. Too many pages can be overwhelming, so stick with around 100 pages.

4. Inviting. Treat your sketchbook like a best seller to sell to yourself. Sometimes I do intro pages for myself or make a little table of contents when I'm done with it. It should be beautiful to look at and make you happy! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book of artist/illustrator's sketchbook pages and could look at it all day.

5. Other options. Rather than use a blank page sketchbook, pick up a cheap hard back book at a thrift store or one you have laying around. Then it will become an altered book like these examples.

And here is some sketchbook eye candy from around the web:

and check out this post on the design files with some sketchbooks.

best week ever

My spring break came and went, but like my candy comes and goes...it was sweet. The sweetest part being my new website! La la la I am happy. I'm adding things to it daily. I've finally got a better layout than the beginning and that is something I am proud of. Check back often because it keeps evolving! So here is where I will continue to post things I love and things I do. A lot of my online time is spent looking at interior design things and art. Why haven't I shared what I've found here? Well now I am going to. First of all...I love these flowers:

I took this picture a while ago on my phone as I was out on a walk, anybody know what they are? I love them.