Busy Day

I finally have my scanner/printer at my new home so can upload pictures for my blog easier. I'd tried with my Iphone but last time I had to cancel my post as the pics didn't fit right. I'll get to those pics as soon as I update Iphotos on my computer. In the meantime I have scanned in what I did today.

Today was busy. I went shopping for some natural looking bark and potting soil to plant my new trees before I head back to Kingman for some more moving chores. My back is hurting but my garden looks a bit better and my trees might get to bloom and grow now they are in pots and watered.

My yard is rather atrocious at present. Here in hot Hemet a lot of seniors in the past made their yards non-toil by putting in tiny gravel and having a green spray of some sort cover it all rather like a plastic coating. That is what my back yard is at present except for to long narrow planters so I fixed them up. Hopefully we can sell our old house eventually (not too many people are selling in order to buy what we have which is what was done before the recession when Californians sold homes for great prices and bought desert ranches to keep horses on) and then I can have the yard scraped up, towed away and a patio, cover and a tiny bit of grass for the dogs put in. In the meantime I can enjoy the planter boxes and my potted trees!

I didn't finish painting before it got dark so the one section didn't get done. I didn't wait to post because I haven't had such a good track record of posting lately so took the time this evening to post what I had already.

I've tried to upload some pics from my Iphone photo stream but its not cooperating or I'd show you the real version of what my journal page shows.

I Really Am Here

Hi everyone. I am still moving and don't have my scanner yet. I have done a tiny bit of creating and these photoessays are proof of it. Not a lot but hopefully once I am all settled I will create more regularly.

The stools used to have a green base but it didn't go with the new room they would be in. I didn't want to give them up because I painted them for my dad back in 1994 and he's gone now so I have the stools back. (I am more sentimental than I used to think I'd ever be).

The journal pages speak for themselves. I should have a lot more of them than I do.

I should be getting my red living room couch this month and then I can take pics of what I've been doing to decorate my new home to share with everyone.

Something New, Something Red

It's been a long time since I've done any art. I couldn't resist trying to put my new salt and pepper shakers on this background I had done previously. I don't think I made the colors pop enough but I am pleased with my wonky shakers and more pleased that I got something done!

I am really going red in my new house. I am only partly moved but had to share my new red sofa. My husband is.balking at the purple rug I ordered to go with it though 😊!

New House

I have been waiting to do this for a really long time. My husband will probably not be as happy as he has been on this 40 acres of desert but I've had a longing to get back to California. Hemet is 1 hour from my son's house, 2 hours from my daughter's and 1.5 from a sister and some other family down in the Santee area which means I'll be close enough for family get-togethers but far enough away that I won't bug everyone to go out for lunch or dinner every week!

  I couldn't believe it when my husband told me to actually go looking for houses when I was in California last time and I really couldn't believe it when he asked me if I found one and if so, to put a bid on it! He was going to go look at a couple I liked but got a really bad case of sciatica and hasn't been able to go anywhere for over 10 days now. Because of that, I just got to pick the one I wanted most and we've now got the news our offer was accepted. Geez, I am so excited.

  We'll take our time, maybe up to 1 1/2 years to move (although once my husband gets started on something he usually just goes full tilt on it) completely. Maybe the market will start improving where we currently live so we can sell the house we are in okay.

I went out to California for my glaucoma appointment and had laser surgery as the pressure is just not coming down with the drops they have me on. I hope it works and will find out at Christmas time. If not, I'll try giving up coffee and see what happens. The doctor says it doesn't matter about my coffee but my son read about a study showing coffee does affect one type of glaucoma (and I am not sure what type I have) especially among Scandinavian peoples. I come from Norwegian stock and some Irish too (we know how the Norse travelled that area) so who knows, it might affect me. I don't want to give it up yet as I like it and I want to see if the surgery worked. One step at a time! I was also told I have a cloudy build-up on my lenses that replaced my real eye lenses. The doctor was surprised I can see as well as I do so I think some more laser surgery is in my future.

  Not much art at all in this post but life is in flux for me as you can see. I could feel my depression lift when I realized my husband was serious about moving. I didn't think I was letting it bother me so much but guess it was.

  The page I made here was started as part of a lesson months ago and I didn't know where to go with it after playing with the watercolor and gluing on the butterfly stamping scrap. I wanted to make a page about the new house (which was built in 1976 and so isn't really new at all) and this seemed made for it. So don't ever throw away a page you start but don't finish. You may find a use for it later too!

No Art But Still Busy

I am back in California helping my son this week and going up to my daughter's on Sunday so I can make my doctor's appointment on Monday. Then I will visit for a week before going home. I feel like I am rushing but I've been gone so much this summer and I need a bit more time at home.

So far today I have made vegan strawberry pancakes for breakfast with fresh squeezed orange juice, done some laundry which means hanging the clothes on a line as my son doesn't like automatic dryers, mowed the back yard with a push lawnmower, done dishes by hand and tried to use the weed whacker but the battery wasn't working. This evening I took my son to a meeting for rare plant lovers and started this post while I waited for him. I am glad to be able to help him a bit while he is healing from shattering his foot. Since I don't live nearby I can't do much.

I just thought I'd share what I am up to even though it's not art!

Am I Back Yet? I Hope So.

Finally, I've gotten out a pencil and did a sketch.  I think it's been over 3 months since I've drawn anything.  I was sick and tired of not doing any drawing at all.  Not a fancy page for my journal but a bit of life.  It feels good to have laid pencil to paper again.
The only other thing I've been doing lately is knitting on a scrap afghan.  I was sick and tired of doing nothing at all so I started one.  Sometimes I get a bit down in the dumps.  I hope it's going away and I will even want to start putting color on a page!

California Driving

My daughter was driving her son and four of his friends to a water park by Magic Mountain. It's about 35 miles away and took us an hour to get to because of the traffic. It was a Friday and I guess lots of people were heading north for the weekend. Just a few miles from our exit off of I-5 in Santa Clarita the police shut down the freeway for about 15 minutes because a car had broken down in the fast lane. I don't know why they shut the whole thing down and I sure don't know why they finally opened only one out of four lanes once they reopened it but that's the way this kind of thing happens. At any rate, I was prepared. I had coffee, cookies and my journal! I only got the pencil sketch done before we were moving again but it helped to pass the time. I painted the picture this morning at home.

By the way, I got to go pick up the kids because my daughter had another place to be in the evening. I stopped at Starbuck's to get my granddaughter who was my co-pilot and I a nice cold drink and figured on 70 minutes driving time. It took 76! One way, for the 35 miles! No time for another drawing though as this time it was me who was driving and I might be from California but contrary to public opinion we are not crazy!

I took the liberty of making a purple car versus another gray one! Hope you are getting where you need to this weekend without traffic jams or other problems. Still, if I had my way, I'd be living here and not in Arizona where I don't have any traffic problems since I don't live in the Phoenix area.

Drawing with My Granddaughters

As you all know, I am having an extended stay in California. I'm taking advantage of it by trying to do art with my granddaughters. I need to catch up on the classes I am taking and hopefully this week I will be able to do that.

The first two pictures were done because my daughter says the girls should do something while they watch TV. They watch the same shows over and over or at least that's how it seems to me, so it's easy to do something besides just watching it again. I suggested to one (while the other did a puzzle) that she divide a page in fourths and pick four objects in the room to draw. Her sister suggested she draw some items on the fireplace mantel so this is what she did. I gave her a gray Tombow (non-waterproof) pen and she drew straight in ink so she couldn't fiddle around. Afterwards I showed her how to wet it to shade the drawings a bit with the ink that blurs out when wet. I think she did great with her first straight ink drawings. The second picture is from the littler sister who gave it a try the next day and wanted to draw her dog and it's belongings. I am very happy they gave leadfree drawings a try and that they didn't worry about picking "easy" things to draw!

  The next two photos are collage pages I helped the girls with while they were at the allergists. After they get their 3 shots each (glad I never had to do that) they have to sit and wait twenty minutes to see if they react badly and its a boring time for them. I grabbed my art kit and they grabbed their journals and I showed them how to make a page to remember a holiday by. It just took some giftwrap leftover from the day and a copy of a photo. A few words and they had a nice addition to their books.

The last picture is a page I made from the sketches (1 min. max each) I did of some handy objects to show them how to draw with the pen and how to shade with the waterbrush.  One of the girls used their mother's cricut machine to cut out the daisies for me.  I played with watercolor on the page and tried throwing some for blotches.  I don't recommend using the water brush for this anymore for two reasons.  One, it gets the paint too light colored and two, the force of swinging the brush pulled part of it apart.  I was able to put it back together but won't use it again unless that's all I have handy.  I adhered the items on backwards from planned.  I would normally put something like a shoe on the inside edge of a page so it has some space to "walk off" the page.  I'll add a bit of writing when I figure out what to say.... and then I will get to looking at my art lessons.... just as soon as we get back from driving to Oxnard to drop off the ballerina for her dress rehearsal and get lunch and go grocery shopping and....

Hope you are having a productive and fun day!

Loving California

This is a journal I keep in my purse at all times for the odd moment when I can fit in a sketch. 
The pencil drawing was done while at the beach.  My son was moving all over the place as he played volleyball.  I tried to just catch his pose rather than an exact likeness which I knew would be impossible right from the start.  I would wait till he got back in this stance to draw a bit more and would have kept improving on it but the game ended and it was the last game of the weekend.


The second picture was done yesterday.  I tagged along when my daughter took the kids to Tilly's where my grandson was looking to buy a couple of shirts.  We left with a couple of shirts, a pair of pants, a top for one of the girls and sun glasses for another of the girls and myself!  Oh, AND this sketch of one of the display tables.  It took me about 10-15 minutes as I really hurried to get done before the family was ready to leave.  One of the sales clerks was super nice and asked if I was a professional artist!  She was definitely more impressed than my family was.  When I got home I added one more layer of color to everything but the hats to help them stand out better and then I took the photo.  You can do this too and if you think you can't then perhaps you should take some journaling classes with Laure Ferlita of Imaginarytrips.com  as she will teach you how to do it well and fast!


Today I hope to get some class art work done but it looks like we might be very busy again!

Mission Beach in San Diego

I am here in Oceanside, California at my son's house.  Yesterday we went down to San Diego's Mission Beach where he plays volleyball on Saturdays.  It was gray, breezy and cool but I had a sweatshirt to keep me warm.

 I took plenty of photos of my son playing as he likes to look at them to see what he is doing right or wrong but I still took time for myself.  I went for a long walk to find some coffee and started with a caramel mocha which was the worst coffee I've ever had so I tossed it out and got a plain cup of coffee at another vendor.  Then I walked back down to the volleyball area and sat down with my sketchbook.  It didn't take me long to put a few pencil lines down and add some paint especially after seeing my online watercolor teacher Laure Ferlita do a similar picture in class! 

This picture was done two days ago as I sat at my son't dining table using my computer and looking out the living room window.  I liked seeing the green bushes and the mailbox so did a quick sketch.  It's good to leave home sometimes and get a different perspective!  This was done with some of the lessons and thoughts behind them that I've gained from Jennifer Edwards on her blog.  I didn't draw the houses on the other side of the street as she recommends to draw just what drew you to the scene.  Laure says to simplify down to what gives you the essence of the place you are sketching so between the two I've had some good advice to follow.

Haircut!

In the last 20+ years I've had my hair cut by someone besides me two times.  Yesterday was one of those times.  My son goes to Julie at Lido's Hair Salon on Claire Mont Mesa Blvd. In the San Diego area.  She really likes him and gives him a great bargain but when I went with him yesterday I got a better deal.  She cut my hair for free!  She wanted to do t for me because I am James's mom and traveling out fro Arizona.  She liked my naturally gray and curly hair too.  Wasn't I lucky?  All I could do is take a picture and email it to her via my tablet I take with me everywhere.

Lessons and Memory Making

I've been busy doing mostly art for a couple of classes I am in but I also am drawing some other stuff in my journal.  Someday I hope to do some work outside my journal, something I can frame if it comes out nice enough.

I am reading and enjoying the lessons that Jennifer Edwards has been offering on her blog Drawn2Life and the top picture here comes from her lesson #9 which is about letting loose.  I don't know if I was all that loose but I did have fun and I made sure the page was done when it was done rather than leave it at a point where I could just use it as a background for something else.  I've done that a lot but that wasn't what I understood this lesson to be.

The other pictures were drawn to have the memory of Mother's Day in my journal.  This was done on a spread in my large 9"x12" Mixed Media Strathmore journal.  I actually used another of Jennifer's lesson with the apple tree which is Lesson #6 which is contour drawing.  I started the apple tree straight in pen and just looked and drew from one leaf to the next without worrying about doing each individually.  I started at the top and worked down.  This was not blind contour and I lifted my pen several times but it was done in the spirit rather than the rule of a contour drawing.  I certainly didn't try to get absolutely every leaf into my drawing!  Then I added the color and I rather like it!  What do you think?

The frog was done in pencil, then inked and finally painted.  I lost some of the pure, bright watercolor look when I tried to add a glossy topping to it which is a shame as it was more true to the frog's colors before.  It is still the frog though and I am pretty happy with how it turned out overall. 

At any rate, this is some of what I have been up to.  What have you been up to?

Happy Mother's Day

I have been trying to get on blogger all morning! It's now 2:30p.m.! I guess people must be online today sending Mother's Day messages or something. And one of the things I've been trying to do is say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you mothers out there. Hope you are all having a great day.

 I've talked with my daughter who sent me this frog. It's about 10 inches long and made of dichroic glass. I love it. I've been meaning to get something made of this glass for a long time. It's expensive glasss so I've put it off but now I have something made of it and it fits my frog collection! We talked on the phone this morning. My daughter's kids bought her a cotton candy maker - big size - not a toy!

 I made myself a burnt sugar cake but I won't torture you with a photo. It sank! I had to make it from scratch as you can't find a mix for this flavor and living in some highish altitude it is really hard to get a cake to come out. Oh well, not pretty but I've had two pieces already (that's all I've eaten today so I am going to need something good for dinner and I just can't think of anything).

 The other thing I was going to talk about is that journal you see in the photos. I bought this on Etsy from a fellow online artist and friend Robin Walsh. You can see what others she has here. I liked this one for the variety of page papers and sizes and I do love the fuzzy spine she makes. I've made my first journal entry which you see in the other photo. (I put her card on a hinge made of paper so I can flip it to see her etsy and other addies)! I'm going to have fun using this journal. She sent me another little treat since I was her very first customer. That is the 2" x 4 1/2" accordion fold journal. I am really happy with my purchase. By the way, her journals are all up-cycled from boxes and papers she has although if I remember right, she said she could make some with watercolor paper but this batch of books doesn't have any of that. Take a look as for mixed-media and writing they are great.

Just Call Me Quick Draw, er, McGraw?

Another of my quick little drawings. I was reminded about the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. I have one but had forgotten about it. I haven't practiced with it enough for it to be natural to use so I just pulled out a scrap of paper (I seem to have scraps everywhere with a note on one, some numbers on others...) and drew one of my pencil jars that was sitting right in front of me. That pencil is not a curved one although it got drawn that way. I have had pencils curl like that here in the desert but not this time but that's our little secret! I added some color. I always figure color will help and it usually does at least, to me. I decided to keep it; I actually keep almost all my sketches and I adhered it to a prepainted page in a recycled puzzle book I got from my daughter. The cover was too pretty to throw out!

Quick Sketches Build a Page

I started this page by sketching the iced-tea glass on some cheap memo paper because I hadn't been drawing anything and felt a lack of it. I did the drawing in probably a minute and didn't like it. So I didn't have anything to lose by adding some watercolor. Still didn't like it but set it aside to dry. In the morning I sort of liked it (isn't that how it goes?) and grabbed another paper scrap, this time a bit of watercolor paper, and drew my little plastic bowl with Dove Chocolate Easter eggs in it. The color really shows differently on this paper doesn't it? So now what to do with these is the question. I threw them in my journal and didn't look at them for a few days. I ate a couple of Dove chocolates and realized the foils I peeled off them could go with the picture. I adhered the two pictures and the foils to the page but it was lacking something. Aha! I dug the Lipton teabag wrapper out of the trash where I'd just thrown it and added that to the page plus some writing. I'm pretty happy about my page and it's truly a bit of my life here. What do you have laying around to draw and add to your journal?