Sketch & Wash {art supplies}

The charcoal pencil.
It has been one of my go to supplies for a long time now.
I love the shadow effect I can get out of it to pop a subject up to the eye.
The depth it can create with its contrast.
The way it can finish a piece when used along the edges.

Recently I started playing with a water soluble graphite pencil.
{General's Sketch & Wash}
That charcoal pencil might want to be wary.
Lighter in value, but gives a nice smooth and delicate shadow.
It moves about the page easier.

Same, but different.
Both fun to use.
 

Believe {one little word}

Last year was

DO.

I did not do.

Big fail.

But...

 

Do you know how many quotes there are about failure not being a negative thing?

A lot.  Thank goodness.

I may need to refer back to them often this year.

Because this year is all about believing in myself.

Believe

My word for 2014.

Somewhere along the way in 2013 I lost my belief in myself.

I'm not sure where, nor how.

But happen it did.

However, I intend to get it back.
And luckily I will have a little help along the way.

With this guy.  Ha!

See last year started off with me saying quite loudly that I will do and succeed because,

"I'm a bad ass unicorn!"

He was tucked in my stocking this past Christmas to remind me throughout 2014

that I am indeed

A Bad Ass Unicorn.

Here is to believing in myself again.

 

Do you have a word for 2014?

 



The Weekend Worktable

I had intentions of spending the whole weekend playing in the studio,

but I ended up with only a few hours play.

 

But I made some useful time of it.

Remember all those journals I said were sitting open on my worktable?

Well I got to a couple of them.

 

The Spellbook

Although October is over and I had thought to put it away until next year,

it's still out.

I might keep it out until the end of November and hope a few more "spells" get added.

 

Journal No.10

Where gesso and white pen become a still life.

I'm enjoying the simplicity here.

 

Journal No.1

It got a start.

Maybe I'll get some evening time to finished it up this week.

 

Journal No.3

The Autumn Journal

Nothing... but I can see it so very clearly.

I need to get it down before it fades.

 

So, what did you do this weekend?

 



The Process {Inside an Art Journal}

It started simply

by smearing around some leftover paint on a couple of blank pages.

 

A few weeks later I was given a card by a couple of very sweet young ladies

while out walking the dog.

It just so happened that the colors worked well with the paint I had smeared.

 

 

Two days later it was time to begin.

Ephemera gathered.

Glued down.

"And the little children sang"

was penned next.

 

 

After that I found out that Dawn had NaNoJouMo promts happening here.

I like prompts.

And also the song lyrics worked really well with the page.

Added.

Flowers finished.  Swirlies drawn in white and drippy bits across the top of the right side.

I am loving the drippy doodle right now.

 

 

Over on the left side;

Doodle.  Make a hot mess.  Try to fix it and make a bigger mess.

Cover it up with gesso.

 

 

This time, fix it for real.

Add a little color here; a little contrast there; a few pen lines.

Edge it all in charcoal and add the finish date.

One week from the start date.

 

 

Remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day either.

 



Old Dogs In Crystal Balls

It's been just over a year since I lost my beloved Lucy.

At the time I had my Autumn Journal sitting out on my worktable.

A few weeks after saying goodbye, this came out.

A memorial of a sort.

 

 

Black and white with a touch of red.

She only wore red collars.

The color popped so prettily against her fur.

 

 

A little fella who just happens to make me think of dogs.

 

 

A "crystal ball,"

because as Dorothy saw Auntie Em, I just wanted to see her one more time.

 

 

Broken hearts and tearful stars

and the words of Mary Oliver...

"What would the world be like without music or rivers

or the green and tender grass?

What would this world be like without dogs?"

 

Really now, what would this world be like?

Probably shouldn't ask that question of cat people, huh?

 



From My Sketchbook {dare to dream}

 

"We dance for laughter,

we dance for tears,

we dance for madness,

we dance for fears,

we dance for hopes,

we dance for screams,

we are the dancers,

we create the dreams."

~Albert Einstein

 



Carving Heart Stories

Life.

It's been a little stressful around here lately.

You know, life crap drama stuff.

I'm not the protagonist in the stories being played out right now,

but I'm close enough to the action that I am definitely a supporting character.

As a self proclaimed "seeker of beauty,"

I've become fairly adept at finding the "beautiful" in messy life situations.

Unfortunately that doesn't always alleviate the heartache and stress.

So what is one to do is such situations?

Well, for me, it's drink coffee.

In copious amounts.

Amounts that make my dental hygienist's polishing hand twitch.

But stepping away from the action is helpful, as well.

 

 

So I left for a few days.

It was already planned, but I was at that point were I felt maybe I shouldn't go

yet knew it was best that I did.

When I arrived at my destination

and promptly burst into tears

and my hostess took it all in stride,

I knew I had made the right decision.

 

 

So off she whisked me to make art.

Heart art.

Heart art with Stephanie Ackerman.

Tearing, gluing and smearing hearts...

it made the knots in my stomach ease up just enough

so it no longer felt like it was chewing on my heart.

 

 

And then the next day was even more blissful.

A whole day of doodling and carving.

Stamp carving.

Have you tried it?

It is glorious.

It's smooth and meditative...

like a cool balm on torn, ragged nerves.

 

Yes.  So very, very glad I went.

And that wonderful hostess of mine,

well, she didn't even blink at the amount of coffee I drank.

 

 



The Pink and Green Palette...

with accents of white, bluish-gray and brown.

 

This is how it started;

in my pattern book.

 

 

Green ombre with drippies of pink and coral.

 

And from there paper fabric was created.

 

 

{little known fact: wolfhounds like paper fabric just as much as they do regular fabric}

 

Continuing down this track,

 

 

a hexagon flower was sewn together.

 

Soon after, part of the paper fabric was cut into triangles to create this lovely little sun-catcher number.

 

 

I'm pretty sure there is still more exploring to do within this

pink and green palette.

 

Stay tuned.

 

 



On Joy

Joy:  /joi/

Noun:

1. A feeling of great pleasure or happiness.

2. A thing that causes joy.

Synonyms:

delight - gladness - pleasure - mirth - rejoicing

 

 

I believe we are made up of joy.

The real us.  That light that is our soul.

It's made of joy.

And it's all of our human crap, our egos if you will, that cover it up.

But then every once in a while that human crap thins out and parts,

just like the way the clouds part in the sky,

and then the most beautiful thing happens.

Our joy, our true light, shines through.

And everywhere your joy touches

amazing things happen.

 



The Splendid Book for Girls

I received the most splendid package in the mail recently.

A package from one of the sweetest artists, bloggers, people I know;

Monica Sabolla Gruppo of The White Bench.

I was so surprised when I opened the box and found this...

a journal cover she had created.

 

 

She used an old book as the base...

The Splendid Book for Girls.

At first I was reluctant to punch holes into the spine for binding,

but I finally did, as the only thing that felt right was to keep the book whole.

 

 

It truly could not be anymore perfect;

the heart {she was supposed to just be sending me some heart shaped rocks, which are amazing in their own right!},the postcard from Scotland she chose to collage onto it, the colors used, the butterflies and the words.

Oh the words.  The message the chose for me... well...

 

 

But the most wonderful and amazing thing about it is, Monica went out of her way for no reason at all other than the kindness and love in her heart to create this piece of art for me.

Life is such a beautiful place to be.

 

 

 

 

What I Did With My Patterns

Remember those patterns I made for

MAM's SEWN class?

 

 

I made a pattern book with some of them.

A book to paint more patterns in.

Although,

I have yet to paint any patterns in it,

because I've been too busy caressing it.

I love it so.

Terrible, wonky free motion stitching and all.

 

What have you been doing?

Summer Patterns

Hi.

It's been a busy summer so far what with that Finlay dog

and some visiting and some junking and some summer classes...

like this one.

Paint and Patterns.  Delicious.

Here is my first set.

And because I like a theme I made a list of what is summer to me and then painted it out.

 

 

cicada song

 

 

a breakfast of toast and jam with Hercule Poirot

 

 

sno cones that sparkle and glow like a stained glass window

 

 

the salty sea

 

 

the scent of honeysuckle and wild roses

 

 

cloud watching from a hammock

 

 

lemonade and old quilts

 

If you have spare time this summer,

{no, it doesn't even matter if you have spare time or not}

go now. 

SEWN

You won't be disappointed.

 

Now I'm off to wallow in more pattern.

Have a beautiful Monday.

 



The Doodlicious Tapebound Journal

I made it home late Monday night

and yesterday morning the first thing I unpacked,

well the first thing I unpacked was my toothbrush the night before,

but the first thing I unpacked yesterday morning was my doodle journal.

 



{the cover- doodles in paint}

 

This is the journal we made at Handmade U with Dawn DeVries Sokol.

I don't know what it is about this particular journal,

because you know I have a gajillion art journals,

but this one,

I just cannot stop playing in it.

 

I think I mentioned before that this journal is made out of

cardboard and scraps of paper

and the whole thing is bound with tape.

 

Let's just pause a moment and think about tape.

{more doodles in wet paint before putting it together}
 

Ahhhhh.

Tape.

{this makes me laugh.  non-dominate hand prompt.  no doubt about being right handed here}
{this page may get my attention next}
 

I also mentioned that we had time to work in it

and that Dawn gave us a few prompts.

A few of these doodles are the end result of some of those prompts.

 

I am somewhat obsessing right now over drawing with a black pen.

Specifically, drawing with a black pen in this book.

I don't know what it is about it,

but probably well over 50% of my day, if I'm not actually working within it,

I'm thinking about it.

Thinking about making black marks in this lovely, little book of mine.

 

The Art of the Zentangle

I've really been wanting to step up my doodling skills.

Especially so after looking through all of the amazing work I've seen pinned on Pintrest.

Like this and this and this.

{really I could go on and on}

 

But man, that blank white page gets me every time.

I really needed something in my doodle arsenal that I could use as a jumpstart tool.

And then one day I came across this book-

One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula.

 

For me, this has been a really good instructional book.

I've enjoyed learning the different tangles and patterns.

My favorites are the more organic ones.

I'm not a very geometric kinda girl.

 

The one thing about zentangling though,

and this is only my own perception on what I've read and seen,

is there seems to be a lot of rules.

And those rules must be followed in order to call what you have drawn an actual zentangle.

{of course, I could be completely wrong on this matter}

I don't follow rules well.

At least not when it comes to art.

 

Anyway, I've been having a good time going through the lessons in my practice journal

and then applying them elsewhere in my doodle journal.

 

Zentangles, doodles, pen & paper...

fun stuff.

 

Do you zentangle?

 

 

 

 

 



On My Worktable

Which happens to be the dining room table at the moment

and has limited supplies

due to a studio redo.

 

 

Project Life

{still loving this}

 

 

Ice Skating Afternoon Ornament Pattern

{I have 4 of these kits.  Someday I'll actually finish them.}

 

 

Valentine Stitching

{percolating}

 

 

Lettering Practice Journal

{awaiting a watercolor paper order to arrive}

 

What are you working on?