Surgery Over

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

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

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.

Apple Blossom Time

Good morning everyone. I thought I'd share some photos I took yesterday of my apple tree and rose bush. Aren't these so springlike? Spring is well underway and I'm loving it!

Fake Journal - Page Five

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

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.

I Won!

I was enjoying Jennifer Edwards blog which has great artwork on it. She knits and she paints. You really should go over to Drawn2Life and see for yourself. Anyhow she had a drawing for some of her notecards and I WON! These are the cards I got. If you like them she sells them on her website Yarnworks. Do take a look as you will be glad you did.

Thanks so much Jennifer! I love them.

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 latest class which is a virtual trip to England with Laure Ferlita. I'll post about that as soon as I get some paint on my page. Stay tuned.

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

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!

Have Some Fun

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

I just recently took A Trip to the Beach, a class with Laure Ferlita. I've posted all the pictures I painted and journaled in this trip. I've put them all on my other blog here. I hope you'll go see them. This has been a wonderful experience and I think everyone should take at least one of the trips she offers. There is a trip to the beach, England and Paris right now and all are getting ready to take off so hurry and sign up! I can't tell you enough how wonderful taking a class with her is. You have to try it to see for yourself. I had not really used watercolors up to this point and look at what I did. If you can draw basic shapes you can do it!

J Inchy

This week's inchy is the letter J. I went to bed one night and an idea of what to do came to mind but I didn't get up and jot it down so by morning my wonderful idea using J in multiple ways was gone. This is my second idea and probably just as good as my original idea (unless that idea comes back to mind I'll never know)! This is Pitt pen and watercolor. I can see doing watercolor might be best done with a finer brush now that I see the one inch square blown up so large. Ah well it is what it is....
...which is

Jack and Jill went up the hill

to fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown

and Jill came tumbling after.

You all remember that rhyme don't you? And do you remember lots of rhymes without having to look at a book?

BJP Off and Running!

Hooray for me! I finally finished the January Bead Journal Project piece!! I know it's March but I am still happy as I wondered if I'd ever get anything done! I took the project more literally this year. I also want to finish each piece as a stand alone item before starting the next. My beadwork piece is
2 1/4 inches square. I made it to complement fabric I chose for a 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!

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 Tammy, Shay and Ramona.

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.