Sketching at a College Campus

I'm still out in California! We had a beautiful day yesterday; I even had to take off my sweater! I went with my daughter's family to the California Lutheran University where her two littlest had a job seminar to learn about some types of careers and her oldest daughter had to take pictures for an English assignment. I took the pictures for her as she had to be in pictures that showed the library, the science building, a stadium, a dorm and one with a faculty member plus a few others. We had so much trouble trying to get her in the picture along with the name of a building which was way over her head and to have the name show up since the school had them done in a silvery color on a beige background for the most part. Anyhow, we got it done and then had loads of time (like 2.5 hours) to sit and wait for the little girls to get done with their seminar. I pulled out my sketchbook I keep in my purse and painted a very stylized statue of Martin Luther. Later we heard the hours chime and I wonder if the statue isn't a bell! I also painted a bridge and sort-of stream that runs through the grounds. There was only a trickle of water going through but it is enough to support the animals and insects we saw around such as ducks, squirrels, bees and even a hummingbird. I didn't see the ducks till I'd finished painting my pic so didn't include them but my granddaughter saw the squirrel as I was finishing so I did quickly add it. I certainly didn't make nice finished paintings here but only quick sketches. In fact, I only drew the statue from memory as we weren't sitting where I could see most of it and didn't figure on adding any background but once I started it just came together and I got the library that was behind the statue (again, sort-of, lol). The campus is really pretty and peaceful.

Sunny Day

I woke up this morning at my son's house in Oceanside, California. I am here for a family get together. My nephew is moving from Ft. Benning, George to Hawaii and is stopping here for a couple of days. My sister who lives here is giving the party but I'll be taking some vegan chili and brownie pudding.
But back to today. My son took off for the beach to play volleyball but I thought it was too chilly so I stayed home. Later though,
Sambo and I went out and sat in the sunshine. It was nice and warm so I came in and got a cup of coffee and my skmetchbook. I drew some of the plants in my son's yard.
I should have been drawing birds for my lesson in Laure Ferlita's "Visit To, the Beach" but I figured I could do that when I had to come inside.

Note:  This was actually for yesterday but I had trouble posting from my tablet.  Drat it, the tablet just isn't quite replacing my laptop yet!

Winter Scene from Dabs

Hi everyone. I just wanted to share a postcard I received today from Dabs. She is an artist, blogger and half of a truck-driving team. She and her husband live in their truck so they can save up to retire in Alaska (no winters like that for me!) and while they rest between loads she paints and draws. Dabs blog is Postcards From the Road and I hope you'll take the time to visit and see what she's up to. Thanks so much Dabs. This postcard is just enough winter for me although I will say we saw some snowflakes as we drove to town a week ago - we had to look carefully though, lol.

Lookin' Up

I made this page today for all my friends and myself - for anyone who's been down and needing a reminder that springtime, whether mood related, weather related or health related, WILL come again. Hope it brightens your day a little bit! I made this in an older journal that I made with business envelopes (you know, from when we had bills come in paper form to the house?) in a spiral binding. I don't recommend this paper even though it is recycling as it is lousy to work on. Once done with this journal I won't make another! But in the meantime, I occasionally make a page and today was one of those times. I used liquid acrylic for the background, cut-out daisies from a magazine (I don't get those anymore either although I am waiting for the mags to come up with an android version so I can get them on my Xoom), and marking pens for the decoration. I goofed and used a green pen that wasn't drying for the leaves. It turned out to be a pigment ink so I got out my clear embossing powder and took care of that problem. Happy Sunday everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Hope you all have a great day with someone you love!

My hubby and I made each other a valentine this year unbeknownst to each other. He says I walked in on him as he was working on mine (for which he has to use Windows XP version to access his old card generating program) and he startled me by walking in on me as I worked on mine but my back was to him so he didn't see what I was doing. He is taking me to lunch today to a Chinese buffet. I didn't take a picture but the mountains around us got a dusting of snow last night while we got a little rain. Hopefully we got a quarter inch as my birdbath shows a little water in the bottom of it. We need it as we haven't had rain since November I think! Sorry I didn't take the "how I did it" pics of my project. I simply forgot as I got into it. I started by pulling papers out of the drawer and then making some heart templates. THEN I came up with what I was going to make; it was not pre-planned. I am a bit too chaotic to do something planned out from the beginning, lol!

Getting Unstuck

Sorry I've seemed to disappear from blogland!  I got a bit down and wasn't doing much blog checking, art or anything at all really.  Oh, I wasted a lot of time playing silly internet games where you really don't win but you can keep playing without thinking much and figure it is passing for living but finally you realize with the help of some friends that you really aren't living at all and it's time to wake up and smell the coffee! 

So here is what I have done since my last post.  Yes, it was a while ago and this is a pretty poor showing of items.  I haven't even finished the Christmas page yet!  I used real Christmas scraps for the background and added the annual family pic in front of the Christmas tree but have not added any titles, lists or commentary.  Hopefully I'll feel like adding some soon.

A couple of weeks ago I got tired of chewing on my nails till they hurt so I went out and bought some new, fun polishes.  First I wore the green and now I am wearing the pink.  It really helps to keep me from chewing as the polish smooths the rough edges and feels silky and I don't want to chew the polish!  I did have fun making the page and started to feel the funk I was in lessen a bit.

Now, the next two pics are the making of my husband's birthday card.  I don't usually like the cards for sale and time is running out so I finally grabbed my paints and brushes and got busy.  He loves pie over cake any day so he will be getting a cherry pie on his birthday and I figured why not put one on his card too?  So I did.  Boy was I rusty.  I have blooms starting up because I didn't wait long enough for the "pie tin" to dry before doing the shadow and I had to hurry and blot the "cherries" as they were bleeding out into the crust.  I set it aside to dry and went over it all again with the final result in the last picture here.  Art requires constant practice if you want to keep your skills up, that's for sure!

Speaking of skills and practice, Laure Ferlita of Imaginary Trips fame is starting up this years schedule of classes with a visit to the beach.  It starts soon so if you want to join in hurry and sign up!

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.