Catching Up for Now

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!

Happy Sunday

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!

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!

All Done!

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

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

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.

Are You Being Watched?

 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

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!

The Sun is Out Again!

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!

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!

A Few of My Recent Pages

 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

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.

Hat Redone

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.

My Hat

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.

What a Trip!

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.

Cherry Time

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.

Some Pages from Christmas

I've been busy as everyone else has been, with Christmas. I travelled to California to be with the grandkids to I made this first page to have ideas to show them for things we could make while I was there. It was done with Pitt pen and watercolor pencil.

The second picture shows the stars and snowflakes we made.

The third picture is a drawing I made before the last of four socks were finished. I drew it lightly in pencil which was really hard to see on the colored background and then moved to colored pencils.

Now to get ready for the new year and everything it will bring.

Note: I just amended this to add that I found that my knitting page fits EDM challenge #253: Draw your socks. Well this one was for my son but while I was knitting it it was still mine technically or close enough, lol.

Pages from Kate's Class

I am taking Kate Johnson's newest class. It's An Artist's Journal. It's really been terrific and better than I had even hoped. These are a few of the pages I have done during the class.

The brown pages are colored pencil work. My Sarah was a blue pen sketch on a tablet which I tore out and glued into my journal. The other is a watercolor attempt.

If she offers the class again I highly recommend it. It's not only been informative but it's been a lot of fun.

Saved Stuff

I don't usually put this type of journal page on this blog as I tend to stick with drawings but this one includes old sketches I was trying to find a place to keep when I threw the notebook they were in away. I was working on a page in my journal and needed to put a protective sheet under it to protect from runover. I didn't realize it had something sticky on it which ended up transferring to my journal. Thank goodness it wasn't a finished page but I couldn't shut my journal like that so I ended up sealing the sticky with acrylic paint layers. I added a couple of strips of paper to tie two sketches I wanted to save together and glued the sketches on top. I ended up saving my old sketches and my journal with a page I am quite happy with. I added the hearts and flowers just because I WAS happy about saving the page.

Journal Page

I had a good time playing with a prompt given today in a group I am in called Blissfully Art Journaling . I haven't figured out yet if the prompt really should have been what it said (Yahoo was sure messed up today and messages and entries into group sites weren't working well) but this was my take on what I read.

This was done with watercolor pencil except where I messed up and grabbed a regular colored pencil by mistake. I also used Pitt pens and did the drawing first in pencil.