Playing Around

I was playing around by first adding some leftover paint to the pages by sliding a credit card with the gold paint down the page and then later adding blue circles. On another day I stamped a red checkerboard pattern in pigment ink and then worried it wouldn't dry so I embossed it with clear embossing powder.

So far, so good but now what? I left the pages open for a couple of days and then saw a post on Carol Sloan's blog
that gave me the finishing idea. I used her tutorial to make my dialog boxes and then filled them with quotes I'd been saving. All but one of the boxes that is. That tiny box got filled in when I realized I had done all the quotes upside down on the pages! I have a tendency to do this upside down trick in many of my journals. I guess I get caught up in what I am doing and stop paying attention to anything beyond the page! So the tiny box made note of my error and now the page is finished.

I really like the idea of doodling an area that can be filled with something later on. Thanks Carol for the idea.

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away!

We had rain late last night and most of today. We had a LOT of rain for our desert area. I am so happy. I had to make a journal page to commemorate it even! The goats hate rain so they hide out in their shed all day. Mary Muffin kept poking her head out to see if it had quit yet. I thought painting their pen with the out-of-focus mountains in the background would be a good way to remember a very rainy day so that's just what I did. Hope you got rain too if you've been wanting some.

Ficus carica - Say What?

A while back I read a neat post on Jacqueline Newbold's blog Art in My Heart, Jacqueline Newbold titled Watercolor Vignettes from Ponet; a Peek inside my Watercolor Journal.  You can find it on the sidebar (I couldn't copy the post address itself).  Anyhow, she showed how to precolor the background.  I did it but I made one big block of color and then didn't quite know what to do with it.  Until the other day that is, when I wanted to draw my poor, new fig tree. 

I got the fig tree for my birthday back in November from my son.  It is a plant that will only grow about 3 feet and can live and produce fruit indoors.  That's important because the animals will kill the tree outdoors and/or steal all the fruit.  I got it potted and placed it in a sunny window - right at cat level!  I had no idea my cat would chew on all the leaves.  I didn't think the tree would survive but it finally sent out some new leaves and I wanted to draw it to commemorate the occasion (by the way, the plant is in another window now on a tall stool the cat can't share).  I remembered this page and thought I'd give the sketching and overpainting a try.  I am real happy with how it turned out.  The paper is not my favorite but I have it in one of my sketchbooks so need to use it up.  It soaks up moisture like a sponge and doesn't warp but it doesn't always allow for detail to show either so some penwork helped out a lot here. 

If the idea of an indoor fruiting fig sounds good to you the link to buying one of your own is here.  It was under $20 when I got it, not a bad deal.

Happy Valentines Day and Painting in Public - Sort of!

My daughter and her family came to visit on the ninth so as to be here for Grandpa's birthday on the 10th. He only found out they were coming on the ninth. That didn't give me much time to get ready but I did the best I could. That means the sheets were washed, bathrooms cleaned and the vacuuming done. Then baking commenced but all I got done was caramel corn (4 batches), Chex snack mix (4 recipes) and shortbread cookies. The dusting didn't get done and no one seemed to mind.

We celebrated the birthday all weekend playing darts (in the garage out of the cold wind) and lots of Trivial Pursuit. They have a new version out and it was one of the birthday gifts.

On Sunday my husband took everyone bowling. I don't bowl since it hurts my wrist and fingers but I did take the time to do some live sketching. A bowling alley is public but it wasn't busy and no one walked by me to even know I was doing any painting or drawing. Still, I was ready for onlookers and I did do the sketching. I enjoyed myself and everyone else did too except for the youngest grandchild who was coming down with a bug.

I'm happy with what I did but I can see I am still sticking to just using mid-values (I'm really trying to work on that Laure)! My family was pretty impressed that I did these in just under an hour right there at the bowling alley.

And I'm a bit late in the day but Happy Valentine's Day everyone! These are valentine hearts my middle granddaughter and I made. Everyone else was out playing darts and after just one heart we went and joined them. We had fun doing them. This morning we all had heart-shaped waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and then everyone left for home. We had two wonderful celebrations together this year!

Painting My Wall

I have been busy painting a wall in my bedroom/craftroom. I moved the bookcases that you can see here to another wall and that left a brown and yellow wall - ugly! It took me months to get to it but I finally went and bought the paint and did it.

First, I used the paint that is on my furniture for a sample so I could match it at the store. Knowing it was a large area to be done, I lightened the sample a bit so it would read right. Well, I didn't lighten it enough and after getting it on the wall I had to lighten up some of the paint and recoat it. Then I added the squiggly pink lines one at a time till I finally covered the wall in a diamond pattern. I finished by adding blue paint to the top edges where the wallboard had a frame already and painted some really sloppy green leaves on the blue strips to match what I had done on the furniture. I either need new brushes or get back to practicing strokework but overall it turned out. This wall took me four days to do - painting those lines is hard on the wrist. As you can see it matches the furniture I painted several years ago. I think my room is done now. Well, until I need to rearrange my art supplies again anyhow!