Freebird Drawing

2011-12-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are enjoying family and friends, treats and finding much to be happy and grateful for. I am and my blogger pals are truly one of the blessings I count.

I was trying to upload a picture but the internet or blogger or my lack of knowing how to use my Xoom is interfering so I'll have to try again later.

Catching Up for Now

2011-10-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

My husband had an appointment at the VA dental office. It is in Prescott AZ, about 80 miles away so I packed candy and journal stuff to go along with me while I waited for him. The first picture is what I did while I waited. It's in the style of Alisa Burke who offers an ongoing class here.

I made a little travel palette to go in my journal in my purse. It takes up no room. In fact it sits inside my journal. It's made by cutting a piece of Sheer Heaven, a special plastic which can be used multiple ways as you can see here. I made it per the instructions found here. It worked really well as you can see.

And these are my latest pictures from Jane Davenport's class SuppliesMe. I plan on signing up for her next class!

Question For You

2011-10-04T07:58:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. First, this is a picture I made for Jane Davenport's class Supplies Me
. I enjoyed drawing this as she represents my granddaughter who is really skinny like this, loves purple and is taking ballet. (Her mother told me in LB's saturday class they were told to kick their legs behind them and try to reach the back of their head. When she saw LB she exclaimed "OMG (long version), she's really doing it"! And my LB said she kicked her head pretty hard with her right leg but only touched it lightly with her left. Now can you do that? I can't even kick past knee-height!

The second thing and the point of this post is a question. Do you have an Ipad or an Android tablet? I am looking at these and have read that on the Android tablets some of the web sites come up in cellphone version rather than a PC version and some find that annoying. Since I don't get sites on my cellphone I don't know how annoying that would be so I am hoping someone can tell me! If you have an Ipad, do the sites come up regular version or cellular version on it? Maybe this is the real reason people love the Ipad over the Android tablets?

Happy Sunday

2011-10-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a class with Jane Davenport from Australia. The second picture here is my interpretation of her in a teaching video she made from Bali. She's teaching how to use various tools from colored pencil to watercolors and markers. We are also learning how to draw faces and some basic figures. I'm learning quite a bit. The other picture here is one of my lessons in putting it together in my journal.

The picture of Jane was done with regular graphite pencil on a gesso covered puzzle page in a re-purposed journal. I went over the pencil with watercolor pencils and then water.

The girl with kite was done with no drawing for the background. I just took gouache (opaque watercolor) and started in. Then I drew the girl on a separate piece of paper, colored it in with colored pencil, cut her out and glued her on the page. I'm really happy with her and my whole page!

I hope these pictures add some color to your day. Hope you have a great Fall Sunday!

If you are interested in Jane's classes check out this link: http://www.janedavenport.com/workshops/ . You'll learn a lot and have fun too. This is the beginning workshop; she's planning more to help us with drawing people!

Yuck!

2011-09-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been told not to say bad things about my work at least not unless I am willing to say something good. I am trying a new way of working with colored pencils where you layer colors and then rub pretty hard with another pencil to even out all the colors. I didn't use the best paper for this. I used drawing paper and so I will try again on bristol or in my Moleskine (cream paper version). I was feeling like pink and red when I drew my 11th self portrait so I rather overdid them. And then I ended up plastering my hair to my head as if I'd been out in a driving rain! My granddaughter on the left in their picture actually looks somewhat like her but the one on the right does not. I have lots of practice ahead of me.

I almost didn't even post these. I waited several days but then gave in to my principle of showing you all my projects even if they aren't ones that make me happy. I said I would share my 30 portraits so I will! Let's hope the next one is better. Two steps forward, one step back. That's me. I guess that leaves me firmly in the human race - no demigod business for me!

Imaginary Trip to Italy

2011-09-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

I have taken another Imaginary Trip with Laure Ferlita. We had a blast touring Italy. You could have fun too, taking these trips. I always learn something new. Sometimes I learn new things about the places we are "visiting" and I always learn more about painting with watercolor. There is an autumn trip coming up soon. Why don't you join me?

Sambo and another Portrait

2011-08-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

Still keeping busy with artstuff. I had put the background to Sambo in ahead of time. It's acrylic so watercolor wouldn't work well and I didn't feel like using gouache or collage so I used the Tombow pen to draw my little black poodle-chihuahua mix. I like how he turned out. I guess I could have drawn him larger but it's okay this way. At least I got him down before he moved! Getting faster with my sketching and that's a good thing when you try to get an animal down without using a photo.

The other is portrait number 9. I'm really slow at doing these. The challenge was to do one every day during the month of August but I've changed it to doing 30 no matter how long it takes! I'm pretty happy with this one although once again, it doesn't look like me or the other portraits! My eyes are too big but at least I got the head shape better. And the nose is better too! Wish it looked like me though!

Everyone ready for fall to come? I've had enough of this summer between snakes and the heat. I think everyone has had lots of heat this year and many of you got Irened too. I hope all of you did okay through her rage up the East Coast.

Mojave Green and Some More Self-Portraits

2011-08-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

Oh, we had some excitement around our house this morning. Not good excitement either. I looked out about 15 minutes after I'd let two of our remaining dogs outside and this is what I saw. At first I couldn't believe I was seeing what I was so I called my husband over and he confirmed it. Another snake! This is a Mojave Green rattler which has two kinds of toxins, one for the muscles and one for the nervous system so the vaccines and antivenoms don't work well if a dog gets bit. Very, very dangerous. This one had 7 rattle buds so it was quite mature. At least we got this one before it got another of our dogs!

The other pictures are part of my ongoing self-portrait series with Violette
. I am not happy with my monkey face at all. My face needed to be out as far as the hair edges and then hair added beyond that. It would have made a lot of difference. Also, I think I have to watch the angle at which I hold a handheld mirror as it changed perspective on me and not for the better! Ah well, it's a learning process.

The second, blue and orange picture was done in ball point pen with watercolor added. I was trying to stay cool yesterday which I can as long as I stay indoors with the air-conditioning but it was 108 degrees outside. The official temp is never as high as we seem to get but we have three thermometers outside that all say the same thing. They are two different brands and in three areas of the yard so can they all be wrong? I think not. These were portraits nos. 7 and 8. I am quite a bit behind but that's okay with me. It's the journey, not the speed that counts here.

Hope you have happy events in your day!

Portrait Number 4 and a Journal Page

2011-08-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

Portrait number four was done without looking at a reference. I just felt bad and drew that. I think it comes across! Hope you all felt better today than I did.

The birdbath is my sister's. She's moving to Japan to live with her son since she just can't make it in California on Social Security and a part-time job. She's only taking small items with her and although she loved this birdbath, it's too heavy to ship so I drew it. I wish I'd left the writing off so I could make a print for her. When I get refreshed on PSElements I might erase the lettering and print it out.

More Self-Portraits

2011-08-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've been visiting my sister who is leaving to live in Japan and went to my son's pot party (we all took clay pots to welcome him into his new home) so I got a bit behind but I'll keep working at these. Here are nos. 2 and 3 with neither being good and both worse than day 1. I guess you could call me a glutton for punishment but I really am hoping to learn something from doing these.

Now off to catch up a bit with my newest Imaginary Trip with Laure Ferlita which is a trip to Italy! Ciao!

30 Self Portraits

2011-08-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

Violette
is having a challenge over on her blog for 30 days of self-portraits. She's asking us to let everyone know in case they'd like to practice drawing, drawing faces or whatever. So now you know why I did the picture here. I haven't done many faces so I figure 30 of them will help my drawing them. We'll see won't we? Want to join me? They don't have to be lengthy sessions or realistically done. Want to scratch one out with a pencil in 5 minutes or paint one or do a cartoon? It's all okay. So come on! Join in with me.

Damn the Rattlesnakes Anyhow

2011-07-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

I came home from California today as it was a very bad day for us. Our Brandy was bit by a rattlesnake last night. My husband took her to the vet but she couldn't be saved. Evidently, getting bitten in the nose as our big Sarah dog was is a better place than the fleshy underside of a dog. Brandy was only about 3 years old so we are really, really sad and wishing we weren't living in the desert right now. I know the snake was only doing what comes natural to them for their own survival but it hurts so much to see the dogs hurt by them. My husband almost stepped on a snake when he was out looking for her. That snake didn't make it either but I don't feel so bad for it.

Brandy was a shelter dog who'd been turned back in three times before I found her. She got over a lot of her fears and was enjoying life to the fullest so we at least can be happy about giving her that. It's just so hard; we feel like we failed her even though logically we know we did the best we could. We will miss you forever Brandy. We love you.

All Done!

2011-06-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here it is in all the glory it's going to get! This is my pear. Thanks so much Ann for the tutorial and thanks to everyone who has been keeping an eye on the project.

I left the border and the extra bit of paper on the bottom because I am wondering if I want to add "Pear" in calligraphy (Ann, was this a Bartlet?) or maybe something more in that space. I also am wondering about a background. What would any of you do? Leave it white, add some colored pencil - and what color would you use? I'm rather stumped at this point so thinking it'll probably remain white. All opinions welcome!

So once again, check out Blue Bird Hill as she can inspire you too!

More Pear

2011-06-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Second stage of my pear! So far so good but I'm worrying I've added too much color now for the next stage. I might have filled the tooth of the paper. We'll see. Stay tuned!

As always, check out Ann's Bluebird Hill blog for the tutorial and some wonderful art!

Working on My Pear

2011-06-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

This is my pear with the first layer of light yellow all over except in the highlights and then the second layer of adding some other yellows and green. On to some more colors. Actually I had to go over this a few times as it was too light to see when I turned off the Ott light!

Remember this is being done with the tutorial found at Bluebird Hill blog. If you want to try it, just hop over and check out all the lessons. There is even a downloadable PDF.

Fun in the Garden

2011-06-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

I had another fun trip with Laure Ferlita. This is another of the stay-at-home variety. It was called An Imaginary Trip to the Garden
and we all had a delightful time sharing critters and flowers and such. These are the pictures I painted. Laure gives lots of leeway for you to personalize your "trip". Why don't you try a trip of your own?

Are You Being Watched?

2011-05-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

My kitty was sitting beside me while I played a game on the computer. I dropped the game and picked up a pencil to see how much I could draw before she moved. Well, I got most of her eyes done and then she was gone. Still, it made a nice page. I went back in and added color to the eyes. I don't know which way I like the drawing better. What about you?

Color Pencil Drawing

2011-05-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Ann Nemcosky of Blue Bird Hill blog is offering a tutorial on colored pencil drawing. I've told her I want to follow along. She's asked to see where we'll be posting our work as we go along so I am going to post the steps as I do them here. The picture she's chosen and already prepared for us is this pear.

Do you want to try out some colored pencil drawing. Grab your pencils and join in. Go to her blog I've linked for you above and let her know. Ready? Let's go!

Just Practice Work

2011-05-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

I was practicing dewdrops for a class I am taking with Laure Ferlita. This one is a Trip to the Garden and she might have a second one coming up. These seemed pretty hard at first but are fun once you get the hang of it. I resorted to a magnifying glass when I tried the teensy tiny ones on the flower you see at the bottom of the Dewdrops page!

The other page was simply boredom last night and a desire to do a bit of practice with my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. I played it loose and fast both with the pen and the subsequent watercolor. This is in a Strathmore journal filled with drawing paper so it's not really made for the watercolor. I think it worked fine as I got in some drawing practice and painting practice but I also found out this ink doesn't dry quickly on this paper. I had several minutes between drawing and painting but my ink still smeared. It didn't matter so much with this page but it could on others.

Since I am always wondering how large a page people are working

on I thought I would mention the top pic is on a 5.5 x 7.5 inch page and the bottom pic is on a 9 x 12 inch page.

Hope you have a wonderful, creative day.

New Pages

2011-05-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

I am back home from California. My Skoshi dog is doing fine now that the blockage is gone from her intestines and I am catching up on blogging and some painting.

The bee picture was done because my youngest granddaughter has moved beyond truly loving all animals to including some of the insect world. She likes bees now even though her sister and a friend have both been stung recently. There is an avocado grove on the hill behind their house and the owner imported bees which have decided this granddaughter's swimming pool is a good water source for quenching their thirst after a hard day pollinating trees! Anyhow, I told her I'd show her a quick way to draw a bee so she and one of her sisters grabbed their composition book journals and we drew bees and daisies. They did a great job and I wish I had thought to scan in their versions but then again, this youngest granddaughter wouldn't have allowed me to share anyhow - she is beyond shy.

With nothing to do one morning while all the kids were doing schoolwork (being homeschooled), I drew one of the family dogs. This little dog is a rescue dog. She's perfect for my granddaughter and was dressed up in such a cute little dress. I had to try drawing her. Painting her was a bit more difficult but I think I got the gist of her down.

The last pic is of my Pandora kitty. She was sitting this morning, where she could see me, the dogs and the canary, Taxi. I thought she made a simple shape the way she was lying down so grabbed a Tombow pen and quickly drew her. Good thing I was being quick because no sooner than I began and she up and took off for a better spot leaving me to finish without my model! With this pen I just had to add a bit of water to have the essence of a painting. I thought it looked like a Chinese or Japanese sumi ink painting so I added a bit of origami paper and made my date look like one of their little stamps. The writing is a bit of haiku (minus the word Pandora) I made up for the page.

Now I have to catch up with some lessons I am behind on. Hope you all have a good day.

Happy Mother's Day - Mitzi's view

2011-05-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! Hope you have a wonderful day.

We celebrated yesterday as everyone but my mistress are going to Disneyland today. Mistress says that's fine with her as she'd rather spend the day with just us dogs for a change. No people unless she decides to go out somewhere to eat.

The girls picked such lovely flowers it was a shame not to try drawing them. The scanner lightened the picture quite a bit but we can only do a basic scan with no adjustments since it's not our scanner (don't have the software to do all the adjusting). The vase was on a brownish table so I painted what I was seeing and should have painted that part to how I was going to have the background on my paper which is good to learn if I want to make pictures that aren't journal entries. No pencil was used here; it was straight penwork and then painting.

We are having a good visit even if it was due to Skoshi (one of Mistress' other dogs, a shih-tzu) having a stomach blockage from swallowing a rawhide chip. She was rehydrated, given barium and lots of xrays but not the surgery we thought she might have to have. We are all relieved but now we don't get to chew on the rawhide strips anymore. I hope Mistress finds something else yummy for us to chew on.

Note by Timaree: I know Roz's International Fake Journal Month is over but Mitzi hasn't filled her small journal so we will continue till it is filled. Besides, it's fun!

Poolside

2011-05-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Some days were cloudy and cool, some were cloudy, cool and rainy and some days during my trip to California were sunny and gorgeous. This was one of the sunny days. Mistress' son-in-law was kind enough to sweep the spider webs off the chairs by the pool so she could sit and enjoy the sunshine. She thought it was too sunny and wished she'd worn a hat but I enjoyed all that sunshine.

The kids decided to go swimming but weren't in too long. A sunny day doesn't mean overly warm when a cool breeze is blowing. The kids enjoy sitting in the spa and then jumping in the pool straight from it. That's a bit too high a jump for me; I prefer the wide shallow steps at that far left corner in my painting. The pool was actually a deeper teal color more like the tile work but I wanted the tile to show up separately so I took what my mistress calls "artistic license" and made it bluer (the pool has a very dark teal pebble lining). The kids enjoy the cave. I hear a bird is building a nest inside and I wonder if I was here when the eggs were laid or hatched if I could reach it. Wouldn't that be a tasty snack? This is sure a fancy pool and rather larger than the one we have at home. You can see my pal Sarah in the one we have. A bit of a come-down don't you think? And we certainly can't both sit in that little thing at the same time. A dog's life isn't always easy I can tell you!

Easter

2011-04-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

Boy, have we been busy! Easter came and went and it was great except for Tena's migraine. I wonder why dogs don't get them although I am very glad we don't because it looked like she was really hurting. Anyhow, I took a spare moment when everyone was still asleep to draw some eggs and a chocolate bunny on the kids' whiteboard which is sitting in the kitchen. It's rather hard to draw well with markers that erase so easily but I gave it a shot. Good thing too as that's all I had to show for Easter. I took a photo of it knowing I'd want something for my journal. After putting it in PSElements where I added the Happy Easter bubble I printed it out and layered it over a photo print of Mistress's easter candy. Now I have a memory in my journal. I wish I could have a memory of one of the eggs the kids dropped as they dyed the eggs but they grabbed it up so quick I couldn't get to it. If I'd been one of the smaller dogs I'd have been able to I'm sure.

I hope you all had a great Easter. I'll bet no one thought you were dyed special for Easter as someone thought I was when we went for a walk on Easter Day. Hmmph, like I'd go through this coloring business just for one day!

Drat That Cat

2011-04-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

We are back in Simi Valley. It's cloudy and cool but not so wet I can't go out. Once while I was out with Mistress but on a leash, I saw Ashley sitting in the front yard near some bright orange flowers. (Mistress says they are nasturtiums and we can eat them but I prefer her fig tree's leaves back home that she doesn't allow me to eat). I tried really hard to paint Ashley but she is just a fluffy hunk of gray. I also really wanted to chase her down but there is that issue of being on a tight leash, hmpph! When I am indoors I can't chase her because she hisses at me and that worries me just enough to keep me from trying it plus there are other cats in the house and I wouldn't want them to gang up on me. One of them, a black cat, weighs almost what I do or at least it seems that way and he takes a swipe with his claws at anyone who walks by so I don't mess with him indoors or out.

The bird was a different story. This time I was inside looking out while Mistress waited for her coffee to brew. She tried to take a picture of this bird we saw outside just sitting so nicely at leaping height on top of a shovel stuck into the ground (these people are finally working on the weeds) but didn't get her camera fast enough so I painted it from memory for her. Doesn't that bird look good enough for a quick treat?

I sure hope you are all having a great day. I really appreciate you all coming to see my pictures and hear how my trip is going.

Taking a Break

2011-04-14T14:00:00.001-07:00

Hi once again everyone. I'm sorry about the skewed picture. I had to ask Mistress to take a photo as we are at her sister's house in Fallbrook now and we can't get hooked up to her scanner right now.

We've been so busy it's taken a few days to get this done and posted. We went to see a cheapo property for sale with a small mobile home on it in Hemet. The realtor didn't show up the first day and it's an hour's drive so Mistress was a bit upset but she got to talk about it with her sisters and we got to see two dogs who live at the home next door. They were pretty large dogs but I am bigger and a bit more refined (at least I hope). They seemed friendly enough and after saying hello a few times, they settled down. They were behind a fence so we couldn't properly get to know each other. (Mistress deemed the property unfixable which is sort of what she expected as it was only $36,000.00 in California. Yes, that's really unreal isn't it?

Anyhow, back to the subject here. We went out to sit on the patio here at Cherrie's and it feels like a nice room. It's really pleasant except that two of the chairs just aren't my style. Mistress finds them comfortable enough and was kind enough to leave the 3 seater swing for me. I didn't swing but it felt so good to be able to stretch out for a bit. It's lovely here in Fallbrook. It's still a bit cool except midday but it's so green! I love it.

Hope you all have a great day. I'm going back outside to sniff the pretty flowers and maybe, just maybe, the neighbors cat will try to go through the yard while I am out there. Oh, won't he get a surprise?

This is Food?

2011-04-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Mistress and I drove from Simi Valley to Oceanside, California and saw some very pretty bits (tiny bits) of ocean and pretty hillsides which I need to figure out how to paint but right now, it was what was in front of me (or not) that I want to concentrate on. James is a vegan. I am a poodle and never the twain shall meet so to say! His table had a nice pretty bowl on it and the colors were wonderful but let's face it, a poodle does not want an orange or a Minneola (such fancy terms these humans have for something not really edible as far as I am concerned). He won't even allow meat in the house like pepperoni on a pizza - boy, isn't that sounding good to me now! So anyhow, I drew what was available wishing it were something else but life is what it is and I'm grateful for the fenced yard with grass in it and that he lets me up on the couch. The sun was shining too so overall it was great but, oh well, I'll be home soon enough where I'll get eggs and bacon, cheese and hamburger, pork chops and steak.... excuse the drool okay?

Ladybird - Huh!

2011-04-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well, while Mistress was taking all those photos I went after the fun bug. I chased the flies! I am always chasing the flies. When I am at home and even here in Simi Valley. Flies are fun. They buzz around and just invite me to catch them. I haven't gotten one yet but someday I will. So Mistress can have the boring ladybugs or ladybirds, as some people call them and I will continue chasing the good ol' fly. Want to join me?

Hmmm, maybe I should darken that pink background. What do you think? Is it as bright and distracting to you as it is to me? I mean, I'm pretty used to seeing things pink since every time I look at myself that's all I see but this might be a tad too much.

Photos?

2011-04-06T17:32:00.000-07:00

Since this is my drawing/painting blog I didn't want to post photos here but if you are interested in my spring photos they are on my other blog here. I guess it may depend on whether you like ladybugs or not!

Out Walking

2011-04-05T17:12:00.001-07:00

Ah, today was a gloriously sunny, warm day. Just a tad of breeze, enough to carry so many wonderful scents (and a few less wonderful) to my nose. Mistress took me for a nice long walk. She tired out long before I was ready to quit but I have to cut her some slack as she only has two legs to my four!

We walked to a park where just a couple of kids were playing and through a housing area where we saw rabbits. No, I did not chase them. I am more dignified than that - at least while in the city! We saw a lady walking towards us and Mistress got excited. She said it was someone whose blog she reads and from whom she'd love to take a class on making books. Her name is Roz Stendahl I found out. She seems to like dogs well enough but I'm not sure she liked my pink hair coloring. (I'm not always sure I do either as I don't see any others this color although Mistress says there are a few). It was wonderful and when we got home we sat out back and I watched Mistress try to take photos (first she had to find some new batteries and then play with the focus thing a lot). Anyhow, I thought I would paint the lady we met in my journal since Mistress seemed to think it was a big deal. Hope you all have as wonderful a day as I did.

Having Fun - Mitzi

2011-04-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Mitzi here. We are having a good time so far. As I mentioned before, the weeds surprised me. We get them in Arizona in the spring but never so big and tall! Tena has been weeding pathways through them for her kids but we dogs sure appreciate it too since we have to make several trips out there everyday. I drew a few of the weeds that are growing but I don't really know what the names are for them. One is just some kind of grass. I know because that's what it tasted like when I tried it.

A German Chocolate cake was waiting for Mistress when we arrived. I got a chewy bone of some sort. I get lots of doggy treats here but not as much of table food as I get at home. Change is good I keep telling myself.

Everyone has gone off to Disneyland now so Mistress and I are taking good care of my new friends Buddy and Lolli, the rabbits (they are fun to watch and so much fatter than the bunnies running around my yard at home), the cats and the birds. This house holds more animals than at home. It even has 4 children but like I said, they've gone to Disneyland. I'm trying hard to do a good job. I bark if anyone comes to the door. You never know who could be there so I want to make sure Mistress is warned. She'd rather I barked just once but I like to give a bit of warning so she just has to get over that nonsense and let me protect her the best I can.

I wonder what else we'll be doing while we are here. I hear she'll take me for a walk to see more than just this neighborhood. Stay tuned.

Mitzi's Trip - Day One

2011-04-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day for a trip. The sun was shining and it was warm. I jumped in the car as Mistress was loading it. I sure didn't want to be left behind! I worried most of the way that she didn't bring any food for me so when we got to Tena's house the first thing I looked for was my bag of food. I was so relieved when I found it.

It was a great trip; we only hit a few slowdown spots on W210. Some nasty old guy honked at us when we had to brake suddenly when everyone in front of us stopped suddenly. He should have seen that Mistress had no choice but to stop fast. That part of the trip made me nervous. I enjoyed the bits of Sausage McMuffin Mistress saved for me and I enjoyed getting out at the McDonald's in Barstow to walk on the newly watered grass and get a drink from the bowl of water she brought for me.

Then I saw, and I haven't drawn it in my journal yet, a bridge going over the freeway with lots of little trees on it. I thought how my boyfriend, Pierre would love to walk across it stopping at each one of those trees as the boys like so much to do. I'll have to draw that to show him when I get home but first I was so surprised at the weeds growing taller than me in Tena's yard from all the rain they've had! I am busy drawing them right now. I'm sure I'll have lots more to tell you soon but right now it's time to visit with Buddy and Lolli-pup!

Mistress says to say hello to everyone and thanks you all for the good wishes for a safe trip.

I'm ready - Or Not!

2011-03-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

I have my new journals ready for my trip and classes. I have one for Laure's upcoming class (The Imaginary Trip To The Garden where there is still openings available). It has the butterfly on it. I have the blank white journal for Mitzi the pink poodle to decorate and write in for Roz's International Fake Journal Month

and I have one with a bird on the front filled with 90# paper, both hot and cold-pressed to see if I like working on it. This should cover me for my whole trip and more.

The reason for the second picture showing the bottom edges of the journals is to show you what happens when you don't want to waste the cardboard so cut it where it will barely fit. The journal with the butterfly barely fits in the cover. It saved me a lot of wasted cardboard but I will not do this again. I'll probably have worn or dirty pages later because I tried to save a few cents. The journal on the right is much better and I will do it like this from now on. Sometimes it doesn't pay to skimp.

I also have a large bag full of my art supplies, some knitting and I even have my suitcase almost filled with clothes. Still have to pack up my computer but I am waiting till the last minute for that. So I am almost ready but I always hate leaving home and most of my pets even though I'll enjoy the trip. So I am almost ready but not quite!

Fake Journal Month for 2011 and A New Class

2011-03-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

It's time for Roz's International Fake Journal Month again. You can find out all the info by clicking on the button (I can't seem to remember what the clickable pictures are on the sidebar) of the blue dog on pink background over at the top of my sidebar or you can just go here. Just be sure to scroll down and maybe even go to previous posts to read the whole thing. There is a description at the top of the blog but if you want to join in do read the whole thing.

I am going to be Mitzi, a pink, standard poodle who happens to be very unusual in that she can do art but hey, my family insists I live in lala land and if that's true then I get to decide what dogs can or cannot do in my world. I decided that although I prefer toy poodles, I do not want to keep my nose to the ground for a month. I want to be able to see what's on the table at least! So stay tuned and we'll see how this goes.

I'm going to be in California for most of the month and I am also going to be taking Laure Ferlita's newest class "An Imaginary Trip To The Garden" so I believe Mitzi will be seeing lots of interesting stuff. I think Laure still has some open slots too so why don't you join me in both the Fake Journal Month AND Laure's new class?

Odds and Ends

2011-03-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

I've finished this house picture I've worked on at times over the last two years. I started it before I began using watercolor. It's in my moleskine journal and I used watercolor pencils which work in that book unlike watercolor. This is purely imaginary; a fun escape when I wasn't feeling so cheerful.

The bluish faced creature is me! This was done as an exercise suggested in the group The Sketchbook Challenge. This is a blind contour drawing done in white crayon on white paper so you can't see it even if you peek. I stood in front of a mirror and drew what I saw, then painted over it all with aqua. The outline showed up but I went back and wiped out as much blue in the face as possible and added more realistic colors. One person who saw it on flickr

said it looked like I was looking up from under some water

which I think fits. My eye got a little off to the side and it's

not any great piece but it was fun and I plan to try it again.

The next piece is a bookmark I made after the bigger picture that looks similar. I did these in Jane Lafazio's style with the bigger one made for a class of hers I am currently taking at Joggles. This is ink without using pencil first and then adding watercolor. I got the pink too dark on the large picture so really went lighter on the bookmark. It looks better. I'm having fun in this class and if you are wanting a beginner's course in watercolor journaling this might be the ticket for you. It's fun even if you aren't a total beginner.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

The Sun is Out Again!

2011-03-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

Nope, I didn't match the title to the picture again. Today is finally sunny after a week of clouds and finally rain. I loved the rain but hated the week of cloudiness. We got enough to water our trees so I am happy. That means water for the well too.

I didn't do anything spectacular to the rest of this page. I really just wanted to let my pear shine. You can see the blotches I mentioned in my earlier post behind the flowers I stamped on the page. Now that I look at it online I'm thinking the white is a bit bright. Maybe I'll go back in and try something else or maybe that will wait for another day. I'm pretty happy overall and ready to do a new page. Hope you are having a sunny day too!

Rainy Day!

2011-03-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

This pear has nothing to do with the title. I just wanted to show it as I am happy with how it turned out. It's done in an old journal I made for a class so the page had white spatters on it and in another spot some really ugly bleedthroughs. First I drew a graphite pencil sketch and then used colored pencil to color it in. I made the pear in response to a green challenge and now have the challenge of finishing my journal page to work around the ugly spots or to incorporate them.

Mostly I just want to shout out "it's raining, it's raining"! Not a deluge by any means but over 1/4 inch to be sure and maybe 1/2 inch. That's a big deal for us here in the desert. Of course it also means all the little weeds are going to grow and then make stickers that attach to my dogs, gets transferred to the carpet and maybe my bed or bathrobe and that part is no fun at all but still, it's raining!

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-03-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Jacqueline Newbold of Art in My Heart just gave me this award. Thankyou Jacqueline! As part of this award I am supposed to tell you seven things about myself. Hmmm... and then I am supposed to pick up to 15 others to pass the award on to. Well I can certainly tell you seven things about myself. Let me think a moment.
Well,

1. I am a tea drinker. When everyone around me is drinking beer, wine or soda, I drink iced tea if it's available. Go out for dinner, I want iced tea. My favorite warm up is hot tea although I don't drink it first thing in the morning. Then it's hot coffee. And Lipton tea is my all time favorite. I tried herbals and other brands of black teas but being a person of basic tastes, I now just stick with Lipton.

2. I am one of the few women who hate clothes shopping. I don't even care about fashions. To me, that's a waste of time and effort trying to keep up with what someone else tells me is the "right" style for this season or the "right" color for that one. I wish my daughter would just buy me some basic, good quality clothing and leave me out of the whole process. (She's beginning to get that idea and I get clothes as gifts :).)

3. I have four dogs who I love dearly but someday, instead of a shelter or mistreated dog, I want to have the tiniest poodle and I want to color it's hair pink.

4. I want to have a brightly painted house. One that everyone in the neighborhood says "oh, no, we have a hippie living here" kind. I want to combine pink, purple, yellow, turquoise and red somehow. It might get to be a bit toned down but I may just do brighter colors although not in their primary deepness. I can't do it now because my husband doesn't want it but someday...

5. I cut my own hair. I've cut it for probably the last 35 years. I didn't get good haircuts when I paid for them so I just do my own. Sometimes I do better than at other times, lol, but so far I haven't had to hide indoors to let it grow out.

6. Popcorn is my favorite snack and just plain oil and salt is my favorite way of having it. I am thinking of buying some sea salt to see if that is better. I don't eat it quite as often as I once did (almost every day) due to a little problem with weight gain because when I eat it, I eat a huge bowlful (think big mixing bowl). I share some with the dogs but I eat at least 2/3 all by myself. I am not super heave but I can no longer eat absolutely all I want without gaining some weight.

7. I lived for two years in Sasebo, Japan while my husband was stationed there in the U.S. navy. While others took off to Korea or Hong Kong for clothes shopping, I stayed and toured a ceramic factory where I got to paint with glaze on a tea cup, a sake factory where I couldn't drink the vile stuff given to me so the woman who took me got to drink everyone's including mine, a pearl farm, a Samurai home now museum and a traditional family home where we climbed stairs down the hillside into a bamboo forest which felt like being in a beautiful cathedral.
I also got to go to a kimono show (like a fashion show) where I saw kimonos that cost upwards of $20,000 or more. They were hand-dyed, hand-stitched and embroidered. Very beautiful. I participated in a tea ceremony and basically just enjoyed my stay thoroughly.

Well now I am to list some new people to pass this award on to. I know many people don't like to participate in these so I am going to point you to some blogs you might enjoy. These are either new, underexposed or interesting. And if these bloggers want to pass on the award great, if not I totally understand.

1. A new blogger, Elizabeth Rose Stanton of Penspaper Studio.

2. Robin who is in a group and class with me whose blog I have been enjoying called Pink House Studio

3. Kelly who draws, paints and photographs nature, especially birds and is found at Red and the Peanut

4. Anne Huskey-Lockard who makes delightful mixed-media art and has a predilection for rust and found objects can be found at El Milagro Studio

5. Dan Kent who does pen and ink sketches, watercolor and tells such great stories. He can be found at Dan's Canvas

6. Laure Ferlita who I talk about all the time here but besides teaching watercolor journaling through her Imaginary Trips but also has an interesting blog at Painted Thoughts Blog

7. Jennifer Edwards a wonderful watercolorist and blogger who just started a new blog to record the happenings of Genevieve at Drawn2Be
but check out her old blog too at Drawn2Life

These ought to be enough to show you something new and interesting. Have fun looking around at these blogs.

Now, if the bloggers mentioned above want to pass on the award, you do it by copying the picture of the award and pasting it on your blog. Link back to the one who awarded it to you. Then you tell seven things about yourself and list links to up to 15 blogs you want to pass the award on to.
That's it and its interesting to find out something about bloggers we admire but don't feel you have to do this. There should be total freedom and ease in blogging.

Ireland

2011-03-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, was this an exhilarating trip! We went all over Ireland visiting so many types of places from cities to the countryside to the seashore. Ireland is a land of many beautiful sights.

I've shown almost all the pages I painted for this class. These are the final versions after corrections or enhancements were made after the gentle critiquing from Laure was done. I still need to come up with a cover and I am not showing one for which we didn't have permission to share our work with anyone outside of the classroom. (I guess that means if you want to know what it was, you'll just have to take the class and remember that is with Imaginary Trips with Laure Ferlita as the tour guide).

If you are wanting to paint flowers, keep an eye on Imaginary Trips as I do believe there is going to be a class for that soon.

A Few of My Recent Pages

2011-03-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

These are some recent pages in my journals. They each stretched me a little. To start with, my cat was drawn in colored pencil on red paper. That meant getting my whitish cat to show up and I did that. I didn't get the blue comforter to look as much like a comforter as I should have but after working so hard on the cat I was getting tired of it not coming out as I would have liked. What is wrong? To start with, she looks like she is colored in with a white pencil. She doesn't look like she has fur. I did okay I think on her face and it does look like my cat so I am happy about all that. Also, I did this live with my cat turning her head this way and that and finally shifting even her body position so I feel good that I got her down as well as I did. When I look back in years to come I am hoping to see that I have improved on her over time!

The next page was done with a pre-done background of a red dry brushed corner added to the page. It took me a long time to figure out what to fill the page with. I ended up doing my canary as he sat on his perch. This was another live drawing but I probably will try for a photo next time. He doesn't like me to stay so close and I can't see him if I'm not! Reading glasses only make it worse. I am happy with him but not his beak. I didn't really get his whole face right but I have plenty of time to try again. He was done with watercolor and a waterbrush. I added a bit of penwork to finish him off as he seemed to need a little something after I added the background.

Next up comes my plastic, thermal, iced tea glass. I decided to try out my new Pentel Pocket Brush Pen which I have heard such good things about. Many of the people whose sketching I enjoy use these pens. It actually is a fountain pen with a brush instead of a nib. It was harder to draw with this pen over a pencil or regular pen than I was expecting. The ink wasn't running strongly yet and I thought that was the way it worked but later found it started flowing very well. Then I learned that I was going to need some practice to learn to control the thick and thin lines this brush can make. Lastly I learned that on my multi-media paper at least, the ink does not dry very quickly and smeared when I went back in with watercolor. So...

...I took another page to do some practicing! I tried to see how it would do with comma and S strokes like I'd use in Folk Art painting. I doodles little pictures quickly and just some lines, a couple of letters in calligraphic style and just tried to get used to the way this brush works. I'm thinking if I can learn to control it, I will like how it can make the various lines and marks.

At any rate, this is some of what I have been working on. I have been taking a few classes, some better than others. My favorite again, is the Imaginary Trip to Ireland with tour guide Laure Ferlita. I'll be posting a few of the pictures later on.

So what have you been working on?

Playing Around

2011-02-21T20:22:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-02-19T15:11:00.001-08:00

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?

2011-02-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-02-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

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!

Playing Around

2011-01-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

While making the cards in the Valentine class I mentioned in the last post I made some practice roses and didn't want to throw them away. I kind of get attached to my work practice or not (except when it comes out reeeeaaalllly bad). So, I painted and gessoed and collaged in my practice bits and then filled in with writing. I would have to say this was pure fun. I didn't have any real project or outcome in mind when I started. I just didn't want to throw the roses away. So I played! And this is the result. I'm rather pleased with myself just now. Hope you enjoy the page too.

Valentine Class

2011-01-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

I just finished a mini class with Laure Ferlita which was about making cards for Valentine's Day. These are what I came up with. The one with the cupcake was finished in PS Elements but first I made the cupcake painting. All the rest were made as watercolor originals. It was fun and if you want to join in check out Imaginary Trips. A new tour is leaving very soon!

ATC Journal Pages

2011-01-28T13:35:00.000-08:00

I finally took the ATC's I made in a mini class with Laure Ferlita through her Imaginary Trips classes and turned them into journal pages. First I shrank the ones I'd made down to a very small size so they'd all fit on one page. I kept the card I got from Kelly Riccetti in the original form putting it on a page by itself using photo corners so I wouldn't ruin the card itself.

A trip to Ireland is ready to take off. Check it out at Imaginary Trips and come join me on a fun trip through Ireland with watercolor journaling.

It's Not Drawing But It Is Art of a Sort

2011-01-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

I was over at Sheep Rustler where I saw some very pretty handknit socks and it reminded me that I am knitting a pair myself just now. Since I have so little to share lately I thought I'd show where I am in my knitting. Exciting isn't it?

What is exciting is that the yarn is 51% bamboo! Can you believe they are using bamboo in yarn? It feels very nice too. I'm using a lacy stitch for these to dress them up a bit and when they are done, I'll be giving them to one of my sisters. In fact I'll be giving them to the sister who makes these lovely bird houses. She paints a few different ones. I was lucky enough to get one as a gift. Everyone else gets to pay $35 dollars for one. It's fun to share with someone who can appreciate the work put into something handmade.

I am trying to get myself into doing more work in my sketchbook and I really want to get back to doing some beading. Hopefully I'll have more to post soon.

Home at Last

2011-01-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

I went to California for Christmas and just got home two days ago. What a trip! First, we got to drive in a huge rainstorm so my husband and I took separate vehicles so gifts wouldn't get wet. I hate having to follow someone especially over 300+ miles. At least we didn't run into rain on that first leg of the trip but only from Fallbrook to Simi Valley. I finally gave up following and telephoned (yes, I know it's not legal but I kept it short) my husband to say I'd just get there when I got there!

Then preparations in hurry-up-mode for a couple of days. I made caramel corn (not usually a Christmas treat but my husband wanted it) and my daughter made some chex mix (again, not a usual Christmas treat but her daughter got confused about when we have that treat). I made brown sugar fudge and sponge candy (a crispy, foamy brittle broken in pieces and dipped in chocolate - google it as it's easy and sooo yummy). I made date balls, stuffed dates and divinity too. I didn't find time to make fattigman, a Norwegian cookie my grandmother used to make, nor did I make Biscochitas, an aniseed sugar cookie my sister started making 50 years ago for our family. Ah well, we had enough as my daughter had already made snowballs (sandies or Mexican wedding cake cookies), pfefferneuse, chocolate fudge with and without walnuts, and mints. A turkey was cooked for my daughter's brother-in-law's birthday on the 23rd, cheese, sausages and crackers were cut up and put out for Christmas Eve and my husband's spaghetti sauce made for Christmas dinner (it's red, isn't it?). We didn't make the gingerbread houses till New Year's Eve! I tried to get the girls to make journal pages and they did but after filling the first quadrant they pretty much quit on me. I finished mine just before heading home.

Next I went down to my sister in Fallbrook again where I got together with my son and some other sisters. We went out to Anthony's Seafood Grotto by Grossmont Center (a shopping mall) and that's where I picked up some food poisoning. I was sick for several days with effects lasting a good week. Won't be eating there again but we had noticed their quality had gone downhill before we got sick! Still I found time to start an acrylic painting for my bathroom but haven't finished it yet. It's my first real acrylic painting and probably looks it but I still like it so far.

I was getting ready to come home to get ready for another watercolor class with Laure Ferlita when my daughter called and asked if I could come back up and babysit the dogs so they could go to San Diego for a nephew's birthday party. So back up I went for a few more days. Then I finally headed home. I decided to go east on Hwy. 58 rather than the 210 Interstate to hwy 15 and ran into a 2 hour stoppage due to an accident and roadwork. After that though, I had smooth sailing.

The journal pages posted here were done on my trip. Not too much to show but Christmas is a busy time even without drawing and painting. I've started my new class centered on Valentine's Day with Laure Ferlita. Hope to share what I do in this class soon.

By the way, have you ever wanted to go on a trip to Ireland? I'll be leaving January 31st with Laure on another Imaginary Trip. Want to join me? If not Ireland perhaps you'd like New Orleans another new trip she's worked to provide us with which leaves February 22nd. Just click here and here to find out more!

Hat Redone

2010-12-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

Laure suggested I add more shading to my hat to make the contours show up better. I did just that and like it much better. I reposted the old pic with the new so you can see the difference. Thanks Laure!

And remember everyone, Laure teaches watercolor with her Imaginary Trips where we learn to not only dive into watercolor, that scary medium, but learn to do things like shade objects better, sketch out our ideas and more. Any class of hers will only help you as you have fun while learning. Click on the Imaginary Trips button on the right side of my blog for more info. I'm just finishing another class with her and will be posting pics soon.

Christmas Card Done

2010-12-13T07:18:00.001-08:00

All done! I took the majority votes and used this version for my cards for this year. I didn't end up cutting windows out of colored card but went into Photoshop Elements instead and blurred out the edges, added the Merry Christmas and my writing for the inside. The hardest part for me (besides remembering how to do anything in PSE) is writing something that goes with the card front and fits the season and how I feel about it. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I thought about adding a thin border around the outer edges of the card but couldn't figure out how to do that. I need more lessons on PSE for sure! I meant to get them addressed yesterday but forgot about them since I had them under a pile of books to make the folded edge of the card permanent. We go to town today but this week we will also go on Wednesday and that won't be too late to get the cards out by.

Want to Sketch?

2010-12-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

Have you wanted to sketch but didn't know what to draw? Didn't think you were good enough of a drawer? There is a new challenge starting up in January where some artists got together and will be posting an idea to sketch each month. They will have pointers for us, share what they draw and even have some give-aways. Sound interesting? Check it out by clicking on the Sketchbook Challenge button on the right or going to it righ here. I am going to follow along; hope to see you doing it also.

My Hat

2010-12-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

My Hat
Originally uploaded by TimareeC

I'm taking another class with Laure Ferlita and the subject right now is hats. That reminded me of how my granddaughter enjoyed warming up by wearing my hat when they were here at Thanksgiving so I made a journal page out of it. It's a very fuzzy, shiny hat.

Free Calendar

2010-12-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

Robin Kohli (E-junkie) and Adi C (Fish & Web) have developed an art calendar with owl pictures submitted by many different people. You get to pick the pics you want and for which month. Then you can download and save it for printing. Check it out by clicking here or on the owl to the right on the sidebar. Just a little something for fun!

O Christmas Tree and About That Ornament!

2010-12-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

The first picture here is how I used all the advice given on my last post. I put my oval template over it for the scan to help show what it will be like in a card. I'm still debating adding some lines of white "snow" or glitter to the ornament as a couple suggested. It just isn't thrilling me though and then today I decided to sketch a tiny tree I bought the other day.

This tree is so tiny it won't hold hardly any ornaments. I strung some beads (the larger ones are a lightweight plastic) on a thread and wrapped the tree with them. Then I strung a few sequins to be the ornaments. I liked it so sketched it this morning. I should have scanned it in before writing on the watercolor paper as it dawned on me that I like this better than the ornament for Christmas cards. Now I will have to try to remember how to get rid of the writing in Photoshop Elements so I can use it. Maybe I can figure out how to put a poll on my blog as to which one to use for my cards this year.

Thanks everyone for all the advice given. So many offered and I think that is a wonderful thing. It's good to have people willing to say more than just "I like/love it" as we get to grow and improve getting the feedback with ideas on improvement. You are all wonderful!

I got the poll up on my sidebar. I'd love it if you'd give me your opinion!

Suggestions Please!

2010-12-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

This is meant to be an oval inset into my Christmas cards. I figure the cards will be a color, probably red but maybe something else. The greenery got too top heavy and now it looks unbalanced. Does anyone have any suggestions for improving the balance? Or any other suggestions to make it better even "start over"?

Thanksgiving is Gone Already!

2010-11-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving arrived and now it's gone! Wow. The time sure flies. I cooked and cooked, did dishes and played many games of Trivial Pursuit.

My daughter and her family came in on Monday night. We went to town the next day for a buffet lunch but other than that, I cooked! Before anyone arrived I had made:

banana bread, both plain and with walnuts
4 batches of caramel corn, one with peanuts (should have done two with peanuts)
3 batches of my version of chex mix
chili and beans
pot roast
shortbread cookies

The next day our son came in and from there on I cooked:

tacos, both meat and lentil versions, and tostadas
sausage, bacon and eggs, both fried and scrambled
turkey with stuffing, relish tray, mashed potatoes, corn and gravy
an acorn squash stuffed with apple, pear, pecans, dried cranberries, cinnamon and real maple syrup for my vegan son
3 pumpkin pies, one apple pie and one blackberry-raspberry pie
batch after batch of popcorn
Thai fresh green curried butternut squash
french toast and sausage
salad bar with too many items to mention
southern style sweet potatoes

It was a food filled time but we managed to play a couple of games of Around-the-World on the drawn-in-the-dirt basketball court in the cold wind and multiple games of Trivial Pursuit. The old team (my husband and I) won at least half!

My grandkids fed the goats and dogs, took out the trash, set the table and decorated it for Thanksgiving dinner, ate plenty of junk food but didn't ask for soda till the day before they left. They played the old Atari computer games and the new games on their i-pods, colored pictures and played paper dolls. The two youngest peeled potatoes, sweet potatoes and cucumbers plus chopped whatever needed chopping.

In spite of the help, I am taking a day to rest now that everyone has gone home! I painted some of the decorations the kids made and that made up my journal entry for the holiday. I should have left more room for writing!

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful too.

Tea Bag Challenge

2010-11-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Laure Ferlita posted a painting of a tea bag on her blog. Some of the commenters including myself wondered if we could do a painting like that. Laure came back telling us to try it so I did. This is my result. This is the sort of thing you can do after taking a class of hers (warning: the classes are like potato chips, you can't stop at one!). We don't just learn to copy her lesson; we learn how to put what she teaches to paint anything. I know it's just a little teabag and a used one at that but it makes me so happy to be able to take up that challenge and come up with a reasonable painting of it! Thank you so much Laure!

Friendship Journal

2010-11-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

I took part in a travelling friendship journal for a yahoo group I am in Blissfully Art Journaling. These are the three spreads I made for it. One was to be about me and the other two something about friendship.

The picture I painted was with gouache. The paint lifts very easily when it gets wet so I was going to spray it with fixative. I tried the fixative first on a different gouache page and it worked fine except the spray wouldn't quit spraying until the can was empty. So for this tea time painting I was goint to use some UV acrylic finishing spray from Krylon that I had. Hmmm, three big blobs hit my page before I could stop them. This time I got no spray; the stuff just bubbled out of the can till it was empty. I don't know if my cans were too old, too cold (the house was between 66 and 68 degrees) or what but I even went and found my spray bottle of hairspray I've had for a few years but couldn't get it to do anything but shoot a heave stream rather than a fine mist. So, the page is going to go as is, with three horrid blobs on it. Thank goodness they didn't blur the paint under them.

Do any of you ever seal a gouache or watercolor page in your journal? I have only done it as a trial effort and on a painted cover to a journal. I figure they don't usually get wet but when the journal is going to someone I don't know, I just wanted to be safe.

Pomegranates

2010-10-22T07:50:00.001-07:00

I wanted to paint my pomegranate before I ate it. (Hmmm, maybe I should paint it when it's cracked open too)! I grabbed my general journal and used a drawing paper page which worked okay but not great. I'd pre-prepped the page when I was with my granddaughters and thought it would make a good background for the fruit. The biggest problem was bleedthrough to the other side as you can see on the other pre-prepped page (showing my granddaughter that the cheap paints I had in a palette someone had gifted me were better than the Grumbacher ones she was using which is why I promptly ordered her professional watercolors when I got home. Never expect children to do well with or to love doing art if they don't have good tools. It's really worth the expense at this level in my opinion!) so I am happy with my page. The drawing paper took a very long time to dry which is unusual and then I remembered we are in the middle of a nice, large rainstorm :) and so I happily waited for some of the paint to dry but should have waited till it all did. Patience is a virtue and I am working on it! By the way, since I didn't have patience or correct pre-planning, I lost my highlight so I used some gouache that was sitting in another palette nearby to rectify that problem.

I WILL figure out a page that will go with the bleedthrough or cover it up. It's now a challenge page!

Autumn Fun!

2010-10-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Once again, a class of Laure Ferlita's is finished. These are the pages I painted for my journal. Don't you want to try this? A new Fall class started just today. You could join in right now and not miss anything! There are other classes listed on her site too. Check them out. You won't be sorry.

Gosh, Gouache Is Tougher Than I Thought

2010-10-18T16:47:00.001-07:00

I found using gouache I'd dried in a palette hard to use for a picture. I've heard people use it this way and some are what I call terrific journalers and painters. So why did I have such a hard time. Well I got splotchiness in spots. In other places I couldn't layer or the color underneath lifted. I ended up accenting with ink to clean it all up. I could sure use whatever suggestions anyone has for using it.

Paper Try-out

2010-09-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

I was getting ready to make a journal for the class I am taking with Laure Ferlita. I got the paper cut but since it isn't really watercolor paper and that is the medium I would be using, I thought I'd better test it out first. Hmmmm, the little pumpkin sort of came out okay but I sure didn't like the stripes on the wash. This is done on multimedia paper which I had read on some blogs was good for watercolor. Well, when you compare it to the washes made on watercolor that came out so smooth with almost no effort, I don't agree. I guess I'll make the journal but use it for colored pencil or something else but NOT watercolor.

I've got some Canson Edition paper in a dark beige and some Brockford paper in blue, torn down for a journal. I need to make a cover and then put it together which will be in the coptic stitch style for a change. I've never tried these papers or the journal type so it will all be new. I've heard good things about all of them. Hmmm, but I heard good things about the multimedia paper too. Well, that's why we should try different things at times so we know what WE like or don't like!

Love Those Grandkids!

2010-09-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

My husband took us back to California just a few weeks after we'd come back from there. He wanted to fix up some of the family computers. While there I got my 13 year-old granddaughter signed up for Laure Ferlita's Autumn Class which just started (there is still room. Go here ). I helped her sign up in blogger and showed her what she'd need to participate fully. She wanted to try out the new watercolors I'd gotten her which would be used in the class so she and one of the other granddaughters sat down to paint. They didn't know what to paint though! So I put down my coffee mug and had them choose between it and a pink goblet that was already on the table. One chose the mug and the other the goblet. Then I showed them how to paint them and they did a great job. You can see for yourself they did a great job. Now let me tell you, these girls are 11 and 13 and this was their first try at using watercolors in a real way. If they can do it, so can you! So scoot on over and join in on one of Laure's classes. You won't regret it.

Wow, Another Page!

2010-09-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

I got a new bird yesterday. Actually I got him a little over a week ago but when he didn't eat for 4 days and was sitting on the bottom of the cage, not even on his feet, I took him back. I was so happy to hear they'd take him straight to the vet. We hear such awful stories about the treatment of animals in stores and mills. When I called back later the manager told me the vet thought he'd make it and it was mites that were the problem. She said she'd put my name on him when she got him back so I could rebuy him. Then she took ALL the canaries for treatment. This was at PetCo so they really do take care of the animals.

Because I missed him after I took him back to the store I made a Zentangle with him. Now that I've got him back I made a journal page that I had pre-prepped with paint, about him. The zentangle is there rather than his picture. Now that I think about it, I should have had both picture and zentangle. Oh well, I guess I'll have to do another page sometime.

By the way, he is doing great now. He's hopping all over the place, eating the veggies I put in the cage and his seeds. He's even done some chirping. Cross your fingers he stays this way!

Helena ( Creating a Likeness )offered to make me some photo corners and I thank you for the offer Helena. As you can see, I made a couple for this picture and they are much larger than the punch cuts out. I appreciate your offer so much though.

New Pages

2010-09-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

I made two pages for my journal. These were made loose to work on watercolor paper which my journal is almost out of. I'll use photo corners or something to attach them to a couple of pages in my journal. My next journal will have a lot more watercolor paper for pages!

Both of these are done lead-free with a Sharpie non-bleed-thru pen and then watercolored.

My New Bed

2010-08-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

I did this a few days ago but am finally posting it. My sister had an extra bed set given to her and didn't need it so gave it to me. It's from IKEA she says and I love it. I didn't have one so am happy to get it. What better reason to make a journal page?

I did this straight with the pen, no pencil so the angles are a bit off but I knew if I putsied around it would never get done. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Two notes: The lamp was a cheap one I had and painted to go with my room's furniture and it is always wonky so I drew it that way. Second, the white stand next to my bed holds a lot of my smaller papers and is there instead of a regular nightstand because I've run out of room for supply storage. Something had to go and it was not going to be my art supplies!

What a Trip!

2010-08-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yes it's about time I posted here! I went to California to be with family which I do several times a year. This time I just got so busy I didn't even get online for a long time!

We went to our granddaughter's ballet recital where she had a solo after taking ballet for only two months. She got to do a dance she'd made up before starting ballet and didn't know that was what she was doing! (She was in gymnastics for 3 years so I'm sure that helped).

We stopped first in San Diego to visit our son for his birthday and then went for an overnight to my sister's in Fallbrook where I picked up my new bedframe (my husband had his truck with him so could bring it home for me).

We went to the circus in Los Angeles as my husband was given that as a gift back in Feb. for his birthday.

Then up to Simi Valley for that recital I mentioned and then staying for my grandson's 16th birthday unparty. He didn't want the anxiety associated with a party so it was mostly family and a few neighbors and we kept up the unparty theme teasing him that we brought an ungift and so on.

My daughter took me shopping for the bath stuff I don't get here at home and for skirts that were on clearance at JCPenneys. I was down to only two very old skirts hanging in my closet so needed something.

And then it was watch the girls do this and watch them do that and journal with us Grandma and listen to this and watch us swim and play a game of pingpong with me and on and on. I had fun!

Finally it was a couple of days with my sisters and brother. The last time all of us were together was eleven years ago for our dad's dying and funeral.

Busy, satisfying and very tiring. Now I am home trying to get back into doing classes and catching up with everyone.

In the pictures I am wearing a blue t-shirt and a skirt at the beach and a purple t-shirt at my sister's condo she just moved back into (lucky her, she's back in the San Diego area). We range in age from 51 to 63. The journal page pictures were done mostly at my daughters in spare moments. I added the words to the borders page when I got home.

Beaded Flowers

2010-08-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

I mentioned doing beading in my last post. These are some of the flowers I made. The pot is about 2" high and the larger daisies are not quite 1 1/2" across. I also made some roses but they are not in an arrangement yet so I'll share them later. These aren't drawing or painting but they are art in their own way and since I mentioned how they helped fill my July with art stuff I thought I'd show them to you.

Art Everyday

2010-08-02T08:06:00.001-07:00

During Laure Ferlita's Foundation To Journaling class I made a calendar page. Everyday during July I put a red circle around the date if I did anything artwise. I also wrote down the main thing I did. I managed to do something everyday! It feels good to see every day marked off.

Mostly I beaded flowers and worked on paintings for my son's birthday. I'll be posting about both of those but since he hasn't received his gift yet I don't want to take the chance of him seeing what I did yet. Stay tuned. Today is his birthday so I'll be posting in a couple of days about it.

This month I probably won't be able to do art every single day since I'll be visiting family and doing lots of things they want to do but I will try to do as much as I can.

If you want to take her Foundations class you'll find a new one starting up tomorrow. Hurry over and sign up. It was a super class.

Journal Class

2010-07-12T20:33:00.001-07:00

I've been taking another class. This class was called Foundations of Journaling and it was taught by Laure Ferlita. As you know, I've enjoyed some of her trip classes. Well this one was just as good! I've posted most of the pictures we did but not all of the exercises or pages. We covered a lot of ground and had a lot of fun. Again, this is another class of hers I highly recommend.

Now I am moving on to her Explorations class. She has room for a couple more people. See, she keeps her classes small so you get the attention you need. Why don't you click the Imaginary Trips button on my sidebar and see what is being offered. Hurry if you want in the class that is starting on July 20!

Sarah's Challenge #s 5 and 10

2010-07-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

I've combined two of the challenges for this page. Challenge #5 was to draw with your non-dominant hand. Challenge #10 was to use simple collage and sketching.

I found it really hard to use my right hand. I tended to use my arm and kept my wrist stiff. I think my writing fit with the theme although I was in seventh grade when I got to buy the Creamsicles not first grade where I learned to print!

For the simple collage I went really simple but I'd been wanting to use this fruit pop in a page and this worked out to be a great one for it. Some sketching, just outlining but using my right hand made it a challenge. I added the borders to finish the page and do a bit more sketching.

If you haven't yet tried to use your non-dominant hand you ought to give it a try. For one thing, it sure gives a different look to your work, for a second, it is rather a fun challenge, and last, it makes you appreciate wherever you are at with drawing with your dominant hand!

This challenge can be found at Sarah's blog. Try it out.

July Challenge - Day 4

2010-07-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

This pic did not come out so pretty. It was definitely a challenge. The challenge was to hold your pen at the high end tip as if you were holding a brush at an easel and draw something with it. Sarah figured it would loosen up the work and it sure did that. Funny thing is, I love to see other's loose work but not sure I like it in mine. Maybe there is more to loose work than loose.

I did the penwork at first with a fine tip but then realized it wasn't going to show up over the practice writing I had on the page under it. (I really didn't want that practice showing up like a whole journal page; it had been done for a class I took). Since it wasn't showing up I reached for a heavy black pen that wouldn't bleed through and what I had was a brush tip so that's what I used. Basically this is a practice piece over a practice piece. Maybe I'll like it more over time. I think if I'd gone back in with gouache and painted it the whole picture would have looked nicer but the markers were handy and it was late. Late is not good for me as I don't make the best decisions then. Ah well, that is a lesson in itself. Hope I have something prettier to show next time.

Edited to add my final version where I added a red background. I like it much better.

Check out Sarah's challenge here.

July Challenge

2010-07-06T21:19:00.001-07:00

Sarah at Curious Crow is challenging herself and anyone who wants to join her during the month of July by trying to do things to stretch and grow beyond just sketching in a sketchbook. I've decided to join her and the picture here is my first piece I've done. This is for day three. I would have done day two but it was to use the primaries and make a color chart. I've done a color chart which I will be posting about soon but it was for a class I took and since I just did it recently I didn't want to do another just yet. Day one was to add paint or collage to some of my journal pages just to present a challenge when I use those pages. The picture here has a piece of testing-out paper glued onto the page. It was sitting on my desk when I needed to add that collaging so I used it. Then I wondered how in the world I was going to incorporate that into a page.

So how did I do it? I used ink to draw my picture. I used some purple for flowers. I used the grid I had around the top red square in the window on my little adobe house which I drew from my imagination thinking about how it should look and using what I've been learning in watercolor painting with Laure Ferlita in her classes. I added some swirls to another corner and although all of that didn't fit that strip of paper in completely it no longer looks foreign either.

Why don't you check out Sarah's blog and see if you want to join in?

Continuing With Fake Journal

2010-07-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

I know the Fake Journal month is long past but when I get an idea I am going to continue to add to my journal.

I was looking through my newest book I bought Drawing Lab For Mixed-media Artists by Carla Sonheim and I realized I bought it because I enjoy her fanciful, fake animals. Then I picked up my papers I was using for my fake journal and saw a bird on the top piece. So, I picked up a pen and doodled it out. It's a fake for sure so I decided to add it to my fake journal as an official entry.

First Portrait - Help Wanted

2010-06-20T10:48:00.001-07:00

Well I need some help. I am taking a portrait class, Faces in Technicolor by Sharon Tomlinson. Her blog describing the class is All Norah's Art . This is my very first portrait and I am not really ready for them but I wanted to learn how she adds all the colors to them.

So where I need help is with my drawing. I have pointed out what is wrong with the pictures many of you were asking for help on and I am now asking for help myself. I know the mouth needs a little change which I saw when I was uploading the pics but beyond that, what do I need to do to make this look like my grandson? Your advice is most welcome and needed.

Blind (or almost) Contour Drawing

2010-06-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

I got the new Carla Sonheim book Drawing Lab for Mixed-media Artists and have done a little bit with it. My cats came out terrible so I am not sharing them. They were just practice really anyhow. Then I saw a lesson on blind contour drawing which is not new to me but I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't want to go find a picture of a giraffe just yet or any other exotic animal so I settled for the dog asleep near me.

I have to admit I looked a few times so I guess this is technically a modified contour drawing. What I like about this kind of drawing is my speed goes way up over trying to do a careful drawing yet I still captured her likeness. When I was done I had a dog in the center of an otherwise empty page so I turned it into a journal page. This was drawn in an Aquabee 9x12 inch sketchbook where my usual journals are either a moleskine purple band or handmade to about that size. I don't normally draw as big as I did on this page. Watercolor added when I decided to make a journal page out of it. The whole page took less than 20 minutes!

Cherry Time

2010-06-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by some cherries painted by another blogger at Maoma3 blogwho posted about her cherries and included the nicest little cherry painting on her journal page. I am always wondering what to draw and I just happened to have some cherries too. So, I put them in a little bowl, drew them with a Pitt pen and then decided to use colored pencils to color in the picture as my paper wasn't really suitable for anything wet. I'm happy with the way my page turned out. Hope you are enjoying cherry season too.

C is for Color

2010-06-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

I got the new book The Journal Junkies Workshop. Using a few of their ideas I made this page. I've previously done a page for the letter A and have started (barely) one for B so I decided to do C here.

I used watered down acrylic for the watercolor looking background hoping it would somewhat seal the page. This is done on drawing paper and the paint was watery enough to soak the paper and bleed through to the other side almost ruining my page there. Adding watercolor pencil lines, I had to rewet the paper to blue them out. Then I let it dry and stuck with drier stuff like a photo I took of a flower in my daughter's yard and some butterflies from gift wrap. A little inkwork and I called it done at least for now.

I think my next journal will only have watercolor paper in it. I like painting on the 140# but it's so thick you can't get so many pages in a single journal. Could any of you tell me how 90# paper works for doing wet backgrounds concerning bleedthrough to the other side? I don't mind buckling as it flattens some when the book is pressed close.

Organic Fruit

2010-05-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

I finally drew the fruit my son sent me for Mother's Day. I had a little oops moment. Perfection just seems to shout out against me, lol. The rest of it came out okay and I now have a record of the fruit besides a photo. I used Caran 'd Ache crayons for the color and Pitt pens for the ink.

Imaginary Trip to England

2010-05-19T06:16:00.001-07:00

It's been another fun trip with Laure Ferlita. This time we went to England and what a comprehensive trip we had! We went to some pubs of which I painted my favorite. We went to a national park in Wales called Snowdonia. Touring some interesting neighborhoods was part of our trip as you can see by the house and castle doors I've painted. Seeing some historical stuff like a ruined abbey and Stonehenge were even part of the trip as going to the palace and seeing the changing of the guards.

Exciting and I learned so much about sketching with watercolor. I encourage anyone who has wanted to try watercolors but has been too afraid to hop onto one of her trips and have fun while learning. She is starting up a couple of general (no trip this time) classes in watercolor journaling also so click on that Imaginary Trips logo button on the right and join us.

Fake Journal - Page Seven

2010-05-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

I know Fake Journal Month is gone (and I only did six pages for it) but I've decided to keep it going and when I see or think of something fake I will add it to my collection. This drawing shows something so very fake it is hideous.

Now mind you, I am not slamming all TV dinners. I love the Marie Callender meals and both are made by Con Agra but some like this Bangquet are simply trash. Reading the ingredients the chicken patties are made of chicken, soy and lots of other stuff. I don't mind soy. I eat it in my Jack-in-the-Box tacos I think but here it does not taste good and if you look at what you get nutritionally you'll find it quite dismal. Many of the calories come from fat. By the way, the veggies they show on the cover are MORE than what I found in the dinner. I tasted it and threw it away. Really. Marie Callender dinners have lots of real potatoes/rice and vegetables with a small amount of real meat. They are very different items and I was shocked to see they were both made by the same company. Worse, I go to the store and see some old men (they are older than me so they are OLD) buying huge stacks of the Banquet dinners when they go on sale. Can't beat 88 cents can you? Well maybe if you want some food....

This time I used a dark brown Pitt pen and watercolors to paint in my drawing. I didn't think the watercolor would work so well on the inked background but it turned out fine.

Now if you would like to start journaling especially in watercolor and want to not be overwhelmed then try this class I posted about here.

Journaling Class Coming Up!

2010-05-13T11:05:00.001-07:00

If you've been thinking about journaling and thinking about watercolor with it especially then I would like to send you over to Laure Ferlita who is offering a beginner's and not-so-beginner's journaling class in June and July. The link is here and it looks mighty good. The picture here is one of Laure's and it's along the lines of what she'll be teaching. And don't even think you can't do it! I've taken her trips classes and she is a great teacher. Her classes are loads of fun and worth the money. I am signing up for the journaling classes myself just to have more fun and more guided lessons as I am not quite getting what I want on my pages yet. Will I see you there?

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T14:34:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers. It's a quiet day for me with my husband still recovering from surgery. I spent the morning drawing this sketch, then baking a Burnt Sugar Cake which I will have to eat all by myself since my husband doesn't like it and there is no one else around. Aw, poor me, lol. Then I went back to my sketch and added gouache. Now, what to have for dinner is the question. It seems today is mostly art and food for me! My son called to say happy mother's day and I am waiting for my daughter to call later. Life is pretty good.

Surgery Over

2010-04-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. My husband came through his surgery just fine. No heart attack, no extra blood loss even though it was described as a difficult extraction. Too much info? That's okay 'cause that's all there is. Now we are on to healing and then me getting back to more of my art work!

This page was made with torn paper (and a bit of cutting) collage. I did it while waiting in the waiting room during the 5 hours of surgery. No, it didn't take 5 hours to make the page. That only took about 15 minutes - about the quickest ever. I had to take the photo with my cell phone so it's a bit blurry.

Tucson VA Hospital

2010-04-25T10:23:00.001-07:00

My husband is having surgery soon at the Tucson VA hospital so we had to go down for some pre-ops which ended up including a stay overnight for a cardio-catheterization. I took the opportunity to do a couple of sketches from his 3rd floor room window. It is a beautiful old place and they are keeping it up quite well (the room wasn't so great and the food was inedible but the hospital is lovely).

One sketch is on watercolor paper using watercolor and the other is on some Canson MiTientes brown paper so I used gouache on that one.

Fake Journal Page Six

2010-04-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

I have found out that a line drawn to show the shape is not really there on the object in reality. I actually knew this but hadn't seen it put into words really until I saw a blog post on Drawn2Life where Jennifer talks about why she draws as she does. Very interesting and I suggest you go take a look at the post if you haven't already. So anyhow, it led me to my current take on "fake".

I drew a continuous line drawing of my lamp I painted several years ago (it was a $5 lamp from a dollar store and I hated it till I painted it to match the furniture I'd painted). It was harder than I thought as I find I have to hold the Pitt pens so vertical to get them to draw that my hand started to hurt. I need to find a pen that will write at a slant which may better suit my left-handed curled grip. I colored it in this time with markers. Hope you enjoy it.

Fake Journal - Page Five

2010-04-17T19:25:00.001-07:00

Today's fake thing is my plastic flower pot I got from Wal-Mart this year. It looks like ceramic but it isn't. I went for it because of the price and the hope that I could move it if necessary once it was full of dirt.

Hopefully my tomato plant will take hold. The first one didn't as the wind bent it in half. I'm going to get a tomato cage for this next time I go to town. I don't think they are fake yet but they have reduced the number of rings to 3 and I seem to remember 4 years ago.

This is ink and gouache. I like how the gouache covers the background mostly. I'm not using it so thick as to hide all the ink or background but it's not totally transparent either. If you haven't tried the gouache I would recommend it for your tool arsenal.

Fake Journal - Page Four

2010-04-15T20:54:00.001-07:00

I have my fourth page done for my fake journal. This page has my fake flowers on it. I made french beaded flowers and put them in clay I had stuffed into this watering can. Then I sprinkled a little dirt over the clay to hide it. I love these bright flowers but of course, there is no real substitute for real ones.

I painted the watering can after a question was asked in the Oils class I am taking with Nel . What color do you paint a metal thimble was the (paraphrased) question. Nel said to paint it the colors reflecting off of it as the metal doesn't have it's own color exactly. Well tonight I needed to paint a metal watering can so I played by using blue, teal, red, orange, yellow and purple in this painting. Didn't it work great? Thanks Nel.

Day 3 of Fake Journal

2010-04-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well I have a third page done for the idea of fake. What do you think? Is the milk we drink today real? I used Pitt pen and gouache to do this page.

I am working on my first lesson for the virtual trip to England I am taking with Laure Ferlita. I'll post it as soon as I get it done.

Fake Journal - Second page

2010-04-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

It seems the theme of my fake journal is "fake" as in this is not the color of the original flower so therefore it is a fake. I have no idea what other fake things I am going to come up with so stay tuned.

Fake Journal - Day One

2010-04-07T08:03:00.001-07:00

Well the first of April has come and gone but I am finally posting what I did. The first was a busy day as my husband was having a medical problem and my daughter and her kids were coming in to visit for Easter. After everyone settled down for the night and I still hadn't thought of what to put on my journal I did this as a first page. This is more real as in how I was feeling but let's face it, a fish that can deal with being out of water must be a fake one, right? I drew this with pencil as it was all I had at hand that late at night. Anyhow, I've started!

Try-out for Fake Journal

2010-03-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Roz Stendahl has a project going in April that she calls Fake Journal Month. I decided to join in and my fake journal is going to be on individual papers. I have them ready. They were made by painting Dr. Martins inks on a sheet of hotpress watercolor paper and then tearing it into 4 1/2" x 6" sheets. I had some extras so I used one to try some things out. I used a nib in a dip pen to try writing with the ink but it was too scratchy and didn't work at all. The gouache worked pretty well although when it's really watery it beads up a bit at first. My Pitt pen worked okay too. So I think these will be my main tools. I might add some collage to the works too.

Now to think of what my fake journal will be about. It's not supposed to be about my life as I put in my real journal so that's something to think about and I only have a few days to do that.

What about you? Do you want to try doing a fake journal? Check out Roz's blog and see.

Apple ala Nina

2010-03-25T17:38:00.001-07:00

Browsing the internet blogs this morning I stopped at Nina

Johansson's and looked through her Brown Journal she is sharing there. You really ought to go look. I find inspiration there, eye candy and learn a thing or two each time also.

Anyhow, this time I saw an apple I thought looked easy enough for me to try in my own journal. I got one out and gave it a shot. Then I ate it and halfway through I thought I should have taken a comparison photo of it to my painting. So in the second picture here you can see the real apple compared to my painting. I then painted the core but didn't take another photo. This time you just have to trust me, lol!

This also fits EDM challenge number 24. How lucky is that?

Something Easy to Try

2010-03-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

I saw a post on Laure Ferlita's blog about making a photocopy
of some pictures after turning them to a grayscale version. I think this is a fun way to change and personalize a photo to fit wherever you might want something a bit different. It is recommended that you use watercolor paper but my printer wouldn't take anything heavier than a drawing paper so I tried that. I think I made mine too light a version of gray so be careful not to make it too light. The pink daisy is my result. As you can see it's quite a bit different than the original shown in the other color picture.

This is fun. Give it a try. Thanks for the idea Laure.

A Trip to the Beach

2010-03-19T08:50:00.001-07:00

Recently I took a class with Laure Ferlita called A Trip to the Beach. It was a virtual trip and it was wonderful. I highly recommend anyone who wants to have a fun time learning to paint with watercolors to take one of her trips. Here is the link to her class descriptions. There will be a trip leaving for the beach in just a few days. You will be very happy if you decide to join her. I am getting ready to go for her trip to England next!

These are the pictures of my completed paintings for the class. If you don't like the beach join me in England. I was really new to watercolor and this is what I did so you can too!

Laure I can't thank you enough for expanding my world. This was a great trip.

New Journal

2010-03-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs a new journal periodically. I am in a bead embroidery group where I agreed to make a piece of bead embroidery every month. Well, I finally have January done. Yes I am a bit behind but I am happy because I didn't just do the beadwork but I made a journal incorporating it. My beadwork piece is 2 1/4 inches square. I made it to complement fabric I chose for the journal.

When I was done I made a book 5 1/2 x 8 inches. I glued the square of beadwork between a cover board with the square cut out of it and a thin piece of card to back it. This way it is flush with the cover and won't snag putting it in a bookcase or stacking other books on it. I filled the book with drawing paper and watercolor paper. I made 4 signatures wrapping each one in a decorative paper to go with the cover. I'm very happy with how it turned out and hope I don't need to do too much changing or adapting for the next book. If I have my math right and wrote the corrections down I'll be okay!

I've Been Awarded!

2010-03-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yep I sure have. I've been awarded the Kreativ Blogger award. I think it's going around a fun group I am in on Yahoo called Blissfully Art Journaling . If you like to journal and add some art to it this is a good group to be in. Anyhow to get back to the point, several of the ladies have been kind enough to give me the award. In fact three of them on this blog and three on my other blog! This award here is from Stacy, Fadwa and Vicki.

Now as part of the award I have to do seven things:

(1)Post the image of the award.
There it is over on the right!

(2)Thank the person who gave it to me.
Thankyou all three of you ladies. Your cyber friendship means a lot to me.

(3)Link to the person who gave it to me.
Will do as soon as this is posted!

(4)Tell you seven things about myself that you wouldn't know.
See below.

(5)Choose seven great bloggers to give this award to.
Oh dear, well I think most of the people I know have received it or don't want awards so I am going to be the party pooper and not pass it on.

(6)Give a link to their blogs.
See number 5.

(7)Leave them a message on their blog.
See number 5.

Seven Things You Would Not Know About Me:

1.I am taking a watercolor class by Laure Ferlita or should I say, I have taken one and am ready to start another. These are cyber trips and I highly recommend them. In fact I will post the pictures on my next trip so you'll see how much you want to go on a painting trip too.

2.I'm busy as a bee as I am also taking a class starting this Wednesday that is a beginning oils class (although I will be using acrylics) by Nel Jansen . Go here to see her paintings. You'll love the variety.

3.But I bet numbers one and two aren't what you were expecting were they? Okay how about I'm one of those strange Americans who actually loves fruitcake? Really. I make some every Christmas even if I am the only one who eats it. I have a great light fruitcake recipe too with canned (not candied) pineapple and coconut in it.

4.Every Easter I make chocolate covered coconut fondant eggs for my daughter and her family. They taste just like See's Candies! I got the recipe in a candy cookbook over 30 years ago.

5.I bought a guitar over a year ago and want to learn to play it but the books are too hard to learn from especially since I couldn't even tune the thing from the directions I got. I'll take lessons someday after I quit paying for art classes!

6.I love quiet! Real quiet as in no sounds at all unless it's the wind outside or a bird calling. I don't need the noise of the TV blaring or even music although after doing without music for 20 years I got an Ipod and enjoy it now occasionally - very occasionally.

7.I'm shy. Yes, yes I am. When I am around strangers I am painfully shy. You all are not "strangers"!

Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed my answers. Thank you again for the award.

Grocery Day

2010-02-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

Today was my day for running into town and getting the groceries and everything else we need for the week. After I got most of the stuff put away I drew and painted a few of the items I bought today.

I learned how to do this page from a DVD I got called Beginning Watercolor Journaling by Christina Lopp and Gay Kraeger. I love the DVD even though it's fairly simple what they show. The thing is, they show a few important things to get you going so I am glad I bought it.

Fruit in Bowl

2010-02-20T18:25:00.001-08:00

Wow. It's been a long time since I've posted something. I really have been busy. I am taking several classes but have resisted signing up for more as it got to be too much.

I am in Fallbrook, California visiting my sister. She was called in to work today so I had some time to myself. I sat down and painted this pear in a bowl that was sitting on her table. I'm very happy with it. I went for wild and painted the shadowy white interior with purple. I felt like gray would have been boring and blah. This looks colorful and makes me happy. I hope you enjoy it too.

Done in my journal on watercolor paper with gouache paints.