New Ventures

Jeanette, Stacy and I have discussed the future for VSD. While we all enjoyed being a part of it, the time has come for us to let it go. We are all moving in new directions and need to focus on those.

So, thank you to everyone who has ever participated in the VSD! I thoroughly enjoyed it. You were all an encouragement to me. I hope you all keep drawing and enjoying yourselves.

For those who want to continue having a monthly challenge, I'd encourage you to start your own group. VSD started with a simple email and then just snowballed on its own.

Happy Sketching!

Rose

Summer Hiatus

Hello VSDers!

Jeanette, Stacy, and I have decided to take a little break for the summer. We plan for it to be a 3 month break. This should help with everyone's busy summer schedules.

We'll see you in September!

May 2009 VSD Reference

OK gang, here is the reference photo, taken by a friend of mine - her beautiful daughters at a hoedown. Remember that the goal of this group is to create something from this reference. Everyone's entry will be different - which is great, just be sure to use this photo as your starting place.

Your entry should be posted on your blog and/or on the VSD Flickr group. If you are posting your entry on Flickr please use the tag VSD_MAY2009.

What you need to know...

• After you have posted your entry on your blog, come here and enter your name and the URL for your VSD blog post into the Mr. Linky widget. Then press enter. As always, please link directly to your specific VSD post and not to your blog's main page.
• The Mr. Linky widget will be removed on the following Sunday, June 7th.
  

When you enter your information into the Mr. Linky widget, it will automatically create the link list. Please come back and check the entries of your fellow VSDers. One of the best things about VSD is the support amongst our participants.

Dates for May

Just to let everyone know, we'll be posting the reference image on Friday May 22nd (this Friday!) Then everyone will have until Sunday the 31st to post their link with the widget.

Check back on Friday!

Virtual Sketch Date April reference

Rhododendron bud

Click on the image to view full size

Welcome to the April Virtual Sketch Date! This month's reference is supplied by Jeanette Jobson. This is a rhododendron bud on an ancient bush outside my window. The bud opens up into a pale lavender pink bloom and is so beautiful and never lasts long enough it seems.

Following the normal schedule, all entries are due by Saturday, April 24th and should be posted on your blog and/or on the VSD Flickr group. If you are posting your entry on Flickr please use the tag VSD_Apr2009.

What you need to know...

• The results post will be posted on Sunday, April 25th.
• After you have posted your entry on your blog, come here and enter your name and the URL for your VSD blog post into the Mr. Linky widget. Then press enter. (As always, please link directly to your specific VSD post and not to your blog's main page.)
• The Mr. Linky widget will be removed from the results page on the following Sunday, May 2nd.

When you enter your information into the Mr. Linky widget, it will automatically create the link list. Please check back here in the middle of the week if you post your result during the first couple of days.

1. DS Whitney2. Liz Steel3. Alissa4. christine pierce5. Nancy Eaton6. Lori Forester7. Debbie Later8. Kiana Fecteau9. Peggy Fonseca10. Mary Jane Muir11. Victoria Culbertson12. Elias Garcia Ortiz13. Alicia Markey14. Paulette15. Sherry Thurner16. Carolyn Pappas17. Florence Morris18. sketchbookbuttons19. sketchbookbuttons
20. Joanie Springer21. Rose Welty22. Lynn23. Cathy Bockel24. vfm425. leigh26. Ann Thompson Nemcosky27. Priti Lathia28. Leslie D' Allesandro hawes29. Jeanette Jobson30. Denise31. Rachel 32. Eileenpostlethwaite33. Eileenpostlethwaite34. Olga Wagner35. Olga Wagner36. Rhonda Bartoe Tucker37. laura starrett38. Ruth Bodycott
39. Sydney Harper40. Jennifer Rose41. Sherrie Roberts42. Karen Officer43. Nithya Swaminathan44. Mary Beth Nardy45. Sarah Michaelson46. Jonathan " Blade" Manning47. Jonathan " Blade" Manning48. Mary Ann Cleary49. Claudia50. Carol Ottaway51. ffyrebird52. Teresa W53. Ramana KV

March 2009 Virtual Sketch Date Results

Thank you everyone for taking your time to participate in this month's Virtual Sketch Date.

Please enter your name and the link to your March VSD entry in the boxes provided below. There is no need to comment after leaving your link (despite what it says in the link box). All links need to be entered by Sunday, March 29th. (Update: Entries for March are no longer being accepted. See you in April!)

Also, feel free to add your entry to the Virtual Sketch Date Flickr Group. Please remember to use the tag VSD_Mar2009.

And keep checking back so you don't miss any of the great entries.

Elias Garcia 2. Rose Welty 4. Nancy Eaton 5. sketchbookbuttons
6. Liz Steel 7. Jonathan " Blade" Manning 8. Christy
9. christine pierce 10. Sylviane Le Cann 11. Nithya Swaminathan
12. laura starrett 13. Ruth Bodycott 14. Sherrie Roberts 16. Lynn
17. Belinda Lindhardt 18. Alicia Markey 19. Alissa
20. Joanie Springer 21. Lisa 22. Anna Van Skike 23. ffyrebird
24. Miel 25. Kaushal Sapre 26. Leigh 27. Rachel 28. Ruth
29. Stacy Rowan 30. vfm4 31. Kim Saxe 32. Jeanette Jobson
33. Sydney Harper 34. Debbie Later 35. Kaushal Sapre 36. Lfwats 37. Marianne Ginsberg 38. Judybec 39. mary Tibbs

March 2009 Virtual Sketch Date Reference

This month's reference was supplied by Stacy Rowan. These birds showed up for a meal at the feeder just in time to become our subject for March. A larger version of the reference can be found here.

Following the normal schedule, all entries are due by Saturday, March 28th and should be posted on your blog and/or on the VSD Flickr group. If you are posting your entry on Flickr please use the tag VSD_Mar2009.

In a continuing effort to find the best way to provide links to each and every VSD entry, we are going to try something new this month for the results post. Several participants mentioned "Mr. Linky" as a way for each of you to enter your own links on the results page. So we decided to give it a shot.

What you need to know...

• The results post will be posted on Monday, March 23rd.
• After you have posted your entry on your blog, come here and enter your name and the URL for your VSD blog post into the Mr. Linky widget. Then press enter. (As always, please link directly to your specific VSD post and not to your blog's main page.)
• The Mr. Linky widget will be removed from the results page on Sunday, March 29th.

When you enter your information into the Mr. Linky widget, it will automatically create the link list. (Keeping our fingers crossed here.)

Please check back here in the middle of the week if you post your result during the first couple of days. If for some reason the Mr. Linky widget does not work as expected, we will update the Results post with further instructions.

Again, thank you for your patience as we experiment to find the best process for running the Virtual Sketch Date. Happy sketching!

(My apologies to all subscribers who received the post before it was completed. I was trying to start a new line of text and managed to publish the post instead. Sorry for any inconvenience it caused!)

February 2009 Results!

UPDATED - A few people have emailed to say that their links were messed up. Please forgive me. I should have checked every link after cutting and pasting, they are all fixed now.

Thanks to Debbie Later for the reference image this month.


Thanks to everyone for all their understanding while we figure out how best to run the VSD. We appreciate all of the helpful suggestions. We'll evaluate how things went this month and then fine tune for next month. Thanks again for your patience.

Here is the VSD Flickr Page of photos with the "VSD_FEB2009" tag.

We had 38 participants as of Saturday night, US Central Time. If we get a few more, they will be added Sunday afternoon.

In the order the emails arrived:

1. Liz Steel
2. Sketchbookbuttons
3. Elias Garcia
4. Lindart
5. Irene Hopkins
6. Carol Edan
7. Ramana KV
8. Fito
9. Christine Pierce
10. Rajalekshmy Usha
11. Alissa
12. Carol Feldman
13. Kaushal Sapre
14. Jeanette Jobson
15. Peggy Montano
16. Linda Frances
17. Blade
18. Rose Welty
19. Eileen Postlethwaite-Milly
20. Nancy Eaton
21. Kiana Fecteau
22. Ann Thompson Nemcosky
23. Sherry Thurner
24. Shalini
25. Leslie D’Allesandro Hawes
26. Capt Elaine Magliacane
27. Andy (Back To The Drawing Board)
28. Sylviane Le Cann
29. Laura Starrett
30. Debbie Later
31. Karel Tuinart
32. Ruth Bodycott
33. Olga Wagner
34. Lynn
35. MaryAnn Cleary
36. Sydney Harper
37. Kim Saxe
38. Gail Bartel
39. Stacy Rowan
40. Sherrie Roberts

February 2009 Reference Image

This month the reference image is supplied by Debbie Later. Her photo is of Lake Louise, Canada. A larger version is available on Flickr.

After you post your image on your blog, remember to:

• send an email to virtualsketchdate@gmail.com with a link to your VSD post and your name
• if so desired, upload your image to Flickr, give it the tag "VSD_FEB2009" and add it to the Virtual Sketch Date group

I'll do a summary post on Feb 28th or March 1st.

Should be a fun time this month, happy sketching!

New Rules and February Specifics

It's that time again for the VSD. We have a few "changes" to make, so please read the following carefully.

Using the reference image:

• This group centers around a reference image each month. While we are definitely open to different interpretations, it should be clear that you began with the reference image.
• For instance, if the reference image is a red flower, you may not post a painting of any red flower you come across, it should be clear that you began with the specific red flower in the image.
  

Posting the reference image:

• It is best to just link to the reference image in your own post.
  
• However, if you choose to include the actual reference image, please be sure to credit the artist who took the photo.

Adding to the Flickr Group:

• VSD continues to grow, which is a lovely problem to have. However, it does mean we are outgrowing some of our procedures. We created the Flickr group last month, which was successful and has added to our popularity. Jeanette also graciously spent the time to create a list of 59 blog posts. While that is admirable, there are precious few who actually click on every link.
  
• If the number of participants continues to rise, we may have to abandon the list of links. We haven't decided to do that yet, but it is a possibility. Therefore, we'd like to institute a new way to see all of the images for a given month.
  
• We are asking that you add a tag to your photo when you upload to Flickr, then when you are on the group page in Flickr you can just search on that tag and see all of the thumbnails for a given month. As well, you can leave the link to your blog post in the comments for your photo - that way people can follow it back easily.

February Specifics:

• The reference image will be posted on Friday, February 20th.
• Post your image by Saturday, February 28th.
• Upload your photo to Flickr with the tag VSD_FEB2009 and add it to the VSD group.
• Send an email to virtualsketchdate@gmail.com with your name as you want it displayed and the link to your post with the VSD entry.
• The link list will go up late Saturday the 28th or early Sunday March 1st.
  

We are still planning to do a link list of all the posts, however, we do reserve the right to not do it if the participation numbers are too high. Our subscriber numbers are nearing 300, so we do have to think about practicalities. The Flickr group (with tags) should make it easy to see a thumbnail of all the entries. If we don't do the link list, we'll post a link to the Flickr group page on Saturday or Sunday.

Hope that is clear for everyone. Thank you all for making this group a success.

January VSD links

I think this month has seen the largest number of participants in the Virtual Sketch Challenge. Thank you to everyone for taking time out of your busy schedules to join in. Now comes the fun part - viewing all the wonderful art that people have created from this month's image!

Please click on a link to go to that person's blog and image. If you haven't already done so, you may add your image to the Virtual Sketch Date group at Flickr and view many of this month's pieces there. You'll need a Flickr account to post your image and you can sign up for free.

1. Jeanette Jobson
2. Nancy Eaton
3. Elias Garcia
4. Christine Pierce
5. Rose Welty
6. Jenna White
7. Alissa
8. Jeanette Jobson (2nd image)
9. Karen Blados
10. Brenda Yarborough
11. Marie-Dom
12. Rhonda Bartoe-Tucker
13. Ann Thompson Nemcosky
14. Donna
15. Belinda Lindhardt
16. Mary Jane Muir
17. Lisa Bachman
18. Sherry Thurner
19. R Proffitt
20. Liz Steele
21. Jeanette Jobson (3rd image)
22. Mary Ann Cleary
23. Irene Hopkins
24. Steve Chipman
25. OlgaWagner
26. Valerie Jones
27. Anita Murphy
28. Leslie D’Allesandro Hawes
29. TeresaW
30. Lin Frye
31. Andy Veasey
32. Peggy Montano
33. Debbie Later
34. Michelle Burnett
35. Carolyn Pappas
36. Karel Tuinart
37. Aimee
38. Nic
39. N. Gonzalez
40. Cathy Bockel
41. Dianna Wooley
42. Laura Starrett
43. Eileen Postlethwaite
44. Nithya Swaminathan
45. Bob Easton
46. Stacy Rowan
47. Lesley Spanos
48. Carol Feldman
49. Jennifer Rose Phillip
50. Gail Bartel
51. Kim Saxe
52. Sylviane Le Cann
53. Sydney Harper
54. Kim Saxe (2nd image)
55. Laura Ferlita
56. Ramana Reddy
57. Ana Tirolese
58. Jonathan Blade Manning
59. Jeanne Grant
60. Sally Tharp
61. Patrice O'Farrell Hinz
62. Fito
    

Virtual Sketch Date January 2009 reference

Clementine (click the image to view it full size)

This will be the first Virtual Sketch Date of 2009! Its so exciting to start off a new year. I hope you enjoy the reference image supplied by Jeanette Jobson.

What You Need to Know

• Post your image to your blog on or before Saturday, January 24th.


• Email your name and the link to your blog post to virtualsketchdate@gmail.com with "VSD post link" in the subject.


• Come back and visit this blog on Sunday, January 25th for the post of links.

UPDATE! The Virtual Sketch Date will now have a presence on Flickr. We will still post the link to your blog image here but invite you to add your image to our VSD group on Flickr.

Details for adding your image to the group can be seen here.

Save the date! January VSD!

Hi everyone!

If you are interested in participating in the January Virtual Sketch Date, mark your calendar and save these dates.

The reference will be posted Friday, January 16th.

Blog links should be emailed to the address provided by Saturday, January 24th.

The summary of links will be posted on Sunday, January 25th.

The reference this month will stimulate and challenge you!

December 2008 Virtual Sketch Date - Results

*Updated 12/14/08 - Please check out the new additions*

Here they are - the results for December! I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout given that this time of year is busy for so many people. Thanks to all who participated!

N. González
Kathleen
The Happy Painter
Elias
Sherry in Wisconsin
Jan Pope
Debbie Later
Carol Edan
Sandy (Myfiddlestix)
Peggy Montano
Andy Veasey
Christine Pierce
Victoria Culbertson
Rhonda Bartoe Tucker
Leslie D’Allesandro Hawes
Laura Starrett
Stacy Rowan
Jennifer Rose Phillip
Sharon
Sylviane
Regina Calton Burchett
Lesley Spanos
Sydney Harper
Nisha Nayar
Joanie - BMoon
Nithya
Rose Welty
Kim Saxe
Cathy Bockel
Mary Beth Nardy

I will check email again tomorrow and add anyone that I might have missed.

December 2008 Virtual Sketch Date - Reference

Farm - Lehigh Valley PA

I hope you are ready to "sketch" again, because it's time for December's virtual sketch date. The reference for this month is shown above. A larger version is posted here.

The new process worked well last month, so we will be using it again.

What You Need to Know

• Post your image to your blog on or before Saturday, December 13th.


• Email your name and the link to your blog post to virtualsketchdate@gmail.com with "VSD post link" in the subject.


• Come back and visit this blog on Sunday, December 14th for the post of links.

Enjoy!

Dates for December 2008

In December the Virtual Sketch Date is going to be held earlier than normal so as not to conflict with the holidays at the end of the month.

The dates are:
Reference post - Friday December 5th (this Friday!)
Entries due - by Saturday, December 13th
Results post - Sunday, December 14th

Hope to see you there!

November 2008 Results!

*** Updated with two new entries at the bottom of the list ***

Thanks to Jeanette Jobson for providing the reference.

We have some lovely entries this month:

Mary Beth Nardy
Cathy's Watercolors
Art For the Soul Of It
Liz Steel (Borromini Bear)
Christine Pierce
Regina Calton Burchett
Leslie D’Allesandro Hawes
Andy Veasey (Back To The Drawing Board)
Capt Elaine Magliacane
Rose Welty
Sheona Hamilton-Grant

Peggy Montano
Rhonda Bartoe Tucker

Kim Saxe
Patrice (mom) & Annie Hinz (age 7)
Nithya Swaminathan
Carolyn Pappas
Sandra Rice
Sherry Thurner
Brenda Yarborough
Laura Starrett
Paulette
Jan Pope
Sylviane Le Cann
Fiona Lewin
Stacy Rowan
MaryAnn Cleary
Sydney Harper

That's what I've received so far, roughly in the order I received emails. If I get more emails late tonight or tomorrow, I'll update.

Thanks to everyone for participating! Great fun and lovely interpretations!

Reference for November VSD

It's that time again! Above is the reference for the November VSD. We wanted something seasonal and Jeanette Jobson graciously offered this.

Remember, there is a new process this month:

What You Need To Know

• You do NOT need to "opt in" via the comments as before. You can leave a comment if you'd like but the list of participants will come from the emails received.
  
• Post your image to your blog on Saturday November 22nd.
• Email your name and the link to your blog post to virtualsketchdate@gmail.com with "VSD post link" in the subject.
• Come back and visit this blog on Sunday November 23rd for the post of links.

Enjoy!

Plans for November VSD

Just wanted to give everyone the dates for the VSD this month and explain a new process.

New Process
VSD has grown beyond all expectations, we now have over 100 subscribers to the blog! We usually have just under half that number participate in any given month. This is fabulous news! However, it does complicate the process a bit. Everyone likes the post of links, but to have to visit 50 blogs and gather links is too big of a job. So we are going to try something new this month.

We will still have a post of links on the Sunday after the VSD. However, we are going to try and make it easier to make that post.

Essentially we now have an email address. Once you post your image on your blog, you will need to send an email to the address with "VSD post link" in the subject. The body of your email should contain your name as you wish it to be displayed and the link to your post. Remember, as the administrator will be going through roughly 50 emails, they will just be cutting and pasting to make a post of links. (Do not include your image in the email or as an attachment, you need to post the image on your blog. Your email should only have your name and the link to your VSD blog post - don't just give the link to your blog homepage.)

What You Need To Know

• Reference will be posted Friday November 14th.
• You do NOT need to "opt in" via the comments as before. You can leave a comment if you'd like but the list of participants will come from the emails received.
  
• Post your image to your blog on Saturday November 22nd.
• Email your name and the link to your blog post to virtualsketchdate@gmail.com with "VSD post link" in the subject.
• Come back and visit this blog on Sunday November 23rd for the post of links.

So there you have it gang. We'll see how it works this month. We want a nice happy medium between it being easy to see everyone who posted for a particular month and it not being a mountain of work for administrators.

October 2008 Virtual Sketch Date Reference Image

http://belindalindhardt.blogspot.com/2008/10/october-virtual-sketch-date.html
UPDATE! All entries for the October Virtual Sketch Date should be posted and available for viewing. Remember, there will be no list of links. Just have a peek in the Comments section and go to the individual's link or blog to view their work.

Thanks so much to everyone for participating and especially to Belinda for a fabulous image to draw and paint.
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Welcome to the October Virtual Sketch Date!

The reference for the sketch date is above. Please click on the image to see the larger version. This lovely image was provided by Belinda Lindhardt. You can visit Belinda's blog here. Below are the guidelines for participating in the Virtual Sketch Date. The purpose is to have fun with some online artist friends.

How It Works

1. You have until Saturday, October 26th to complete your drawing post it on your blog.
   
2. When you complete your piece, post a comment on this post. This will be your link to your image for others to see. If you have multiple blogs, it is helpful if you can leave a link to or the title of the blog that will have your Virtual Sketch Date image.

Art Guidelines

1. Any medium is fine -- graphite, charcoal, digital painting, colored pencils, watercolor, pen & ink, etc. have all been used.
2. You are free to crop the image however you want -- include what you want, exclude what you don't.