Costa Rica Jungle & Beach Sketchbooks 1 & 2

I have been scrambling in all directions lately. For some reason, I thought my life would slow down as I approached retirement age, and I HAVE felt sort of "powered down" for the last few months, but when I look at what I've been doing, nothing seems to have gotten more leisurely...

What are centermost in my thoughts these days are the headwaters of the Amazon, where I am going in December. Being a live-aloner, I like to do something exciting on Christmas and my birthday (just after Christmas) to celebrate, and it seemed like a trip to The Headwaters of the Amazon might fill the bill. So I've been putting aside every penny, no dinners out, no movies, no frills atall-atall, for a long time now, and one by one I'm doing the things on my Bucket List. (Click on images to see a bigger versions.)

But that's not what this blog is about. I'll blog my preparations for the Amazon Journey later (it's a sketch/journaling trip, so I've lots of cool stuff to share about the preparation, just in case you're planning something similar ~ or just interested in how one prepares for something like that!).

And this blog isn't about my Second Annual Art Show and Studio Sale I'm getting ready for, just like the one last year, with hundreds of original illustrations being offered at Fire Sale Prices (gotta get those closets cleared out!) on December 11 and 12 in Ashland, OR.

No, dear friend, this blog is about ways YOU can sketch/journal your winter vacation in the tropics (or anywhere else, for that matter), with my two new downloadable e-sketchbooks: Costa Rica Jungle & Beach Sketchbook 1 and Costa Rica Jungle & Beach Sketchbook 2! Sketchbook 1 is pretty much the same book I published last year called "Costa Rica Feb. '08." So if you bought that one then, skip #1 of this pair. But you probably didn't, because it had such a boring-looking cover and ho-hum title that few people were tempted to even check it out. I can hardly blame them. I'll be interested to see if the new cover and title turn out to be more fetching.

Anyway, I added the companion e-sketchbook, #2, which I had created the following July at El Remanso Lodge on the Osa Peninsula. It's full of my jungle/beach sketching adventures, in ballpoint pen and watercolor pencil. The differences you encounter between wet and dry seasons (in vegetation, climate, animals, flowers, EVERYTHING) are amazing.

These are scrumptious sketchbooks, full of interesting sketching subjects and journal descriptions, plus lots of ideas you can put to use in your own sketch journals. Neither one has a tutorial, which has kept the price WAY down there at $6.95. I hope you'll go take a look.

This is just a short post to alert you to the publication date (today!). I'll be blogging again within the next week or so with more big news.

till then,
Irene

My New Costa Rica Sketch Journal is available!

What a spring this has been! Rain, rain, and more rain, a Jack-in-the-Beanstalk garden, yet more rain, a trip across central Oregon, and then a bit more rain.....
To visit my brother and his family in Idaho, I spent four days traveling nearly 1091 miles back and forth across the high desert of Oregon, and I sketched and journaled at every opportunity (what a marvelous sketch crawl!).

Actually, opportunities were sparse at times, because even though I had waited until late May for the trip, it rained and snowed for much of the time. But when the clouds parted, and it wasn't raining, I had some great sketching experiences: wild elk along the Rogue River, a colorful young rattlesnake and long-eared owls in the Owyhee Mountains, gadwall ducks diving in a desert lake, a mama pronghorn defending her newborn fawns against circling ravens, and a BUNCH of other adventures. And after a wonderful trip and visit, I came home to another two weeks of rain, which made me gloomy and grumpy..... so I sat down at my computer and went to Costa Rica in my mind.

The outcome of that portable vacation is that I have now a new ebook to offer you! It is called Costa Rica Feb.'08, my travel journal from that sojourn, full of sketches and observations, which you can download for a paltry $5.95.

Also during that rainy/gloomy time, I reviewed what has been happening with my my Workshop Workbook sales since I raised the price from $9.95 to $15.95 in April. I realized that I had inadvertently put the workbooks financially out of reach for many of you in these hard times.

So trusting my heart, I have lowered the price of all my Workshop Workbooks (except for the Observing Nature set) back down to $9.95. Stop by and let me know if I did the right thing!

However, when one lowers a price like that, one has to think about all those wonderful people who bit the bullet and bought the workbooks at the higher price. They would be rightfully miffed.

After some pondering and deep thought I concluded that the only solution would be to offer a bonus download. So... a whole bunch of great people are, as I write, opening their email boxes to discover free download links to Costa Rica Feb.'08. I hope that softens the blow some!

If you write and sketch in a journal on your travels; if you like to travel; if you like to armchair travel; if you are planning a trip to Costa Rica, if you think you might like to try your hand at sketch journaling; ANY of those things ~ and if you can afford $5.95 (I've kept this REALLY low because I'm not sure how great the interest is such a thing), let me suggest you download my sketch journal and get some inspiration for your next trip.

I have a number of other sketch journals you might enjoy, too, including Costa Rica in April and July, ten days in the wilds of Hawaii, the trip across Oregon's High Desert, and maybe even my month-long trek from end to end of New Zealand with Daniel. They aren't cleaned up and uploaded yet, but I plan to do it soon.

I'm starting to pull out of my rain-induced gloom now. It's still often cloudy/rainy, but spring has finally come with 80 degree afternoons and no need to light a fire in the evenings. My garden is producing enough snow peas for daily use and the spinach leaves are 8" across! Fee fie fo FUM!

And remember my woodshed with the roof crushed last winter by the fallen tree? I finally got the rafters hoisted back up and repaired ALL BY MYSELF ~ after a lot of Puzzling Things Out, a big hammer, 2x4s, ropes, electric drill, hand saw, honky galvanized nails, two ladders and a concrete block I hung from the ends of each rafter as I went along to pull the outer end down while I pushed up on the center broken part (the fulcrum technique). Only then could I "scab" it with a long 2x4 securely nailed to each side of the break. I still have to nail the corrugated panel on, but that's EASY compared to mending those rafters! Here are pictures showing the tree on the roof, the repairs partway through, and as it stands now, ready for its roof panel. Click on an image to see a larger version.








So that's the news from the madrone forest in southern Oregon. I hope your spring is progressing in a satisfying way and that you enjoy every minute of it!