Gardens and Doodles

I told you I would share my garden with you. Here is my AeroGarden. I started my tomatoes, basil, petunias and impatiens in it. I managed to get the tomatoes out into the garden about a month ago but then it got cold again and everything else had to wait.

As you can see, it became very jungle-like lol I have to say though, it was nice having petunias blooming in the diningroom. :-)
Here are some of the tomato plants (they have grown at least another 8 inches since I took this last weekend. And we have garlic that is about ready to pick! Yippee!

I planted these sugar snap peas way back in March per instructions from the co-op. They didn't even come up until May! But now are growing about 6 inches a day. I just hope we get peas before the weather gets too hot and kills them off.

And I managed to get a bit of doodling done over the weekend as well. Our class assignment was to find our signature doodle. Something that we enjoy and can sort of get lost in...something we can doodle at anytime and just enjoy.

I used to use Tucker a my subject in lots of art projects. His distinctive markings made him fun to draw. Now we have Minnie. Being a tuxedo cat, black and white, although quite striking to view, can be a bit boring to draw at times. So, I instead am being inspired by her personality. She is such a diva! And I have never seen a more happy go lucky being on the face of the earth. She is just always happy and loves everyone and everything.

So Minnie is now my doodle inspiration (with bits of Tucker thrown in)

Minnie's full name is Mignonette so that is what I am calling these doodles. Here she is enjoying the flowers.

And my little diva just loves getting new toys (or in this case, a new hat).

Wishing for less work and more art!

I am still working on my Creative Doodles class....just not as often as I would like. I am averaging about 2 sessions a week. :-( But this is better than none....right? :-)

Here is a progressive photo of a collage and doodle piece. (I spared you the boredom of seeing each layer of paint and paper lol) We were supposed to be asymetrical...as if I am normally balanced! haha

The black swirls and 'leaves' were done in acrylic paint. Then I doodled all over with black pens and finally white gel pen.
Here we were supposed to draw with a eye dropper....now, I bought one to use for this class but darned if I can find it! So, for now I just used Chinese ink and a paint brush. Gotta find that dropper this weekend! I then added some watercolors and finally doodles with pens.

And in case you thought I had totally abandoned it, I did a page for my journal....using a papers and painted collage background. The woman is from the Stage Beauties image cd from Enchanted Mercantile. Lastly, I doodled the butterfly and added the text "On the wings of a Butterfly, My Dreams take flight".

It has been a very dreary, rainy spring here in the Pacific Northwest. So much so that our gardens are pretty much non-existant! My tomato plants are just teeny things! And my flowers are still in the seed pods inside the house and spilling out all over in hopes that it will warm up and dry out just enough that I can transplant them outside....and hope that summer actually arrives. I should take a picture of my poor flowers before I transplant them...my Aerogrow looks like a jungle! lol

Back on track

Not that I was ever really off track :-) We went on vacation. And although I did take materials and supplies along so that I could draw and doodle, I was so pooped at the end of each day that it just didn't happen lol

We did spend 1 day at the Jennifer Sears Glass Studio. I made this paperweight (which is about the size of a softball!) and Hubby blew a float.

If you are ever in Lincoln City, OR you should check it out! You can create your own piece of glass art...a great, personal souvenier. :-)
But, now I am back home and playing catch up with my class. We are now painting backgrounds so that we can doodle on them.

I have found that I really like watercolors because they run together and blend so nicely.

To save space (and not have to upload 50 pictures on one post---slight exaggeration--but not much lol) I have combined the background with the finished doodle. Here, the black lines on the background were made by dipping a pine branch in black ink.

I love swirls! But I hate the color yellow so I am not sure why I keep throwing it into all my backgrounds!

This one is acrylics, 2 colors, a turquoise and a blue-green. I then ground some chinese ink (but didn't grind long enough, my arm got tired lol) to squiggle over top and finally stamped some fish (Fred Mullett) using Colorbox chalk inks.

Here is the final piece. I doodled around the fish with a fine point sharpie and then doodled all over with a white gel pen (which I swore I would never buy again but found one for a good price while on vacation)

A close-up of some of the fishies.

More doodling!

Days 6 and 7 of my Creative Doodling class are for getting caught up. I wasn't behind so I am using the time to just play.

First, using color on black, I went with our alphabet practice and did my initial (C).
Then, that not being enough, I did my whole name lol I decided to shade everything with a black pencil...along the lines of zentangle. I can't decide which side is up, I just keep flipping it around and around.

We are also supposed to be gathering images, photos, words...that inspire us. This is one of my inspiration photos. These are the tulips that are blooming right now in my back yard. I love their gorgeous red color and something about the shape of tulips is very inspiring to me.

And here is the doodle they inspired. :-) I just couldn't stop working on it...and may not be done even yet! lol I am thinking I might make some photocopies of this one so that I can play with color on it.

Day 4 & 5

We played some more with doodling over colored pages which is a lot of fun! But then we added more color! WooHoooo!

I chose to work on the page I previously turned in the scared child and monster....just to make sure I really am not nuts lol

I doodled with various black pens. And once done, I added more color with pencils. This page was VERY bright so I used my pencils to actually tone down a lot of the areas....not that you can tell lol

Although bright colors are not usually my thing, I really like this! Hubby says I am still nuts. HaHa
And today we doodled the alphabet on black paper. So, here is my alphabet before I added color.

And now.....ta da! Color!!!!

I have to say, normally you stick a pen or brush in my hand and I am a happy camper but this is beyond fun! No one is expecting perfection (well except maybe me lol). Who expects doodles to actually look like anything?! I am hoping this freeness (is that a word) will carry over into my other art projects. :-)

Day 3 continued

I am really having fun with this!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a vintage/rustic/antiqued style girl so doodling like this is sooooo outside my box that I can no longer see the box! lol

But I am having a blast!
I added a white Prismacolor pencil over the black background (because I don't own any white pens.....they always seem to dry up and frustrate me)

Day 3

Day 3 of my Creative Doodles class!

I won't bore you with my random doodling exercises lol

I tackled yesterday's "What do you see?" challenge again. I just sat back, squinted my eyes and waited. Slowly a mermaid tail appeared so, not to be unkind, I gave her a body lol And then the bottom of a treasure chest so of course, I had to add the top. :-)

Then, just like seeing images in clouds, fish began appearing everywhere. And then columns, as if she lived in Atlantis!
We have 4 more pages of 'what do you see?' today. I have only completed 2 so far but figured, since I was diddling around on the computer, I would go ahead and share.

My first was pretty straight forward. The images were blatantly obvious...flowers. I tried to doodle them up a bit and then I came back in with my trusty black pencil to add a bit of depth.

This next one called out to me as soon as I saw it.....I saw a poor little girl, just awakened by a horrible monster! So, what would a psychiatrist read into this? Probably that I spend way too much time alone, I have a warped sense of humor (because I find this picture very funny) or I am nuts....or maybe all three! lol But I like it!

I'm taking a class!

But before I get to that....here is the last of my 3 ATCs for April. I know the colors don't seem very spring-like but it depicts spring for me...at least this year! lol It is has been rainy and dreary since Feb 1! I think we have only seen the sun a total of 5 days since then!!!!!
And now, for the class. I am taking Traci Bautista's Creative Doodles class! It is an online, work at your own pace deal....which is what I need with my crazy work hours and back pain issues lol

Not only is this the first online class I have ever taken but I decided to move way outside my comfort zone and go big (well big for me). I am using an 8.5 x 11 journal. I normally work very small....I used to drive my teachers and professors up a wall! lol They wanted 36" or 48" canvases and I was working at around 8"-10". haha

So, here is Day 1. We have 'prompts' like 'draw circles' and we doodle. Being a real control freak, it is hard for me to just let go....my doodling has always been very controlled lol As you can see, nothing wild and crazy here! haha And I have to say, it drives me nuts that my squares are not perfectly square! lol

Day 2....More prompts. I tried to be freer, not sure I succeeded...how to do you force yourself to let go and not be your normal, tense, uptight self? lol Notice, no squares so no distress about that issue. Ha!

We also had to do this "what do you see" page. Obviously, I see a mess lol I made another print of the page so I will try this again tomorrow....and the day after... until I see something I like. :-)

You can check out Traci's classes here. And there is still time to join! Classes continue until July.

Spring has Sprung!

I work from home which is great except when the sun is shining and I can see the trees blooming outside my window. Then it becomes very hard to concentrate! Last week I snapped several shots of our flowering plum and this week, some of those shots are doubling as cherry blossoms. :-) I need to get my 3 ATCs done for the monthly swap so first up is Cherry Blossom Time. The woman is from Stone House Stamps. They have the most gorgeous Asian stamps I have ever seen! Next we have April in Paris. The Eiffel Tower stamp is from Postmodern Design and is huge! As you can see, I only used a portion of the stamp. The can-can dancer is one I carved about 15 years ago for a RubberStampMadness submission (and it was published. Yay!)

For both of these ATCs, I colored the women with watercolor pencils.

Even though our temperatures have not been overly warm this past week AND we had some serious snow and hail, the goldfinches are coming into full color. They are just so cute and a beautiful bright flash of color on these cold and dreary days!

This was a slow moment at the feeder. I have actually looked out and not been able to see the mesh at times with so many birds crowded together enjoying the feast. And Minnie loves to watch her birds...she makes sure to let us all know when the feeders are active with her squeals of delight. lol

Isn't he a handsome fellow?! He is almost done molting into his bright yellow feathers!

More than just art!

I thought I would share a bit about my other hobbies for a change! I collect lots of different things but really love old kitchen gadgets and cast iron. This hand mixer fit into both of those catagories! It has such a cool look. I had never seen one made of iron before and just the look of it...well, I couldn't leave it behind! It has a very sculptural look....at least to me. I just love it!

I also love photography. I am snapping pics of just about everything...all the time! And I seem to live in macro mode! LOL The closer the better!

The other day, our work system was down so I grabbed my camera and ran out in the front yard....the ornamental cherry is blooming! And it was the first sunny day we have had in 6 weeks! Definitely a reason to capture this moment!

Just a little update

I promised a while ago I would add some photos of recent projects...well, I then proceeded to catch a nasty cold which was quickly followed by a lovely sinus/inner ear infection. Yeah, it has been very fun at my house! haha But, at last, I finally feel better AND have some time to get on here! On this first journal page I wanted to play with masking tape. I covered the page with tape strips then painted the whole thing with acrylics. Then I got the idea of adding some Distress crackle paint (antique linen). Am I alone in not liking to wait for this stuff to dry? I blasted it with my heatgun (hoping my other acrylics didn't melt or my tape peel up!) And finally rubbed the whole thing with antiquing gel to bring out those cracks. I love this! It has such a cool 'leather' feel! I then had the daunting task of deciding what to do with it! I was sitting in the living room and then I saw my subject....my most recent purchase (at that time), an antique child's rocking chair. Have I ever mentioned I collect antique child chairs? No clue why but something about them calls to me. Unfortunately, we have a fairly small house so they are all sitting in the middle of the living room. I am up to 6 but always looking for more (to the chagrin of my poor hubby lol) So, using acrylics, I painted my latest rocker onto the 'leather'. I also got the idea that I need to learn Chinese ink painting so I am teaching myself. Here is my first attempt....bamboo. I won't bore you with my other early attempts LOL Just know that I do not do things in a normal order and jumped from bamboo to chickadees to flowers LOL I will say that I LOVE the feel of the ink and the rich black! I really need to find some time to get good at this!

Being a dragonfly lover, I added one to a journal page using Chinese ink.

And of course, my all time favorite subject, my baby Tucker. And yes, he had huge yellow/green eyes!

I think it is so cool how so many shades of black and gray can be obtained with just one ink!

Weird! blogger won't show my text in paragraphs! it shows that way in the html but not on the blog. I really wonder about this thing sometimes, it has some very strange issues! Hopefully the text will align correctly later on.

Miss Me?

Here I am again, apologizing for being MIA. LOL

But, I have been arting....more or less.

I have not been successful in my 4 pages a week challenge BUT I am still working on my journal and that is a huge plus for me!

My camera has lots of photos on it....now to find the time to download them and adjust them and then share them....I think if I had just a few more days in my week....or maybe a couple extra days.

How about a vote....anyone object to a 10 day week? We still keep the 5 work days. Hmm, maybe, if I am playing with time....how about a 4 day work week and a 6 day weekend???? Show of hands...all in favor raise your right hand! :-)

I will try to get pics uploaded soon.

Happy arting and here's to hoping we see spring very soon!

Overcoming the Blahs

I have found, if I don't make art of some kind, every day, I get the 'blahs'. So, you would think that would keep me on track wouldn't you? But sometimes life gets in the way of art.

I went for 4 days without any art time! And boy did it show. I felt lathargic all day, I dropped everything I touched... and I was very cranky! LOL

So, finally this evening I got a few minutes of quiet time to create a new journal page (no, this is not it below). I grabbed a piece of watercolor paper and gave it a whirl. Watercolors are something that I love but am not very good at. I took a class in high school and my teacher thought I had great potential but unfortunately we didn't have any watercolor classes available at college and I have just not gotten much practice since then (although I have lots of supplies lol)

But the good news is......I am still on track for my 4 pages a week for my journal! This is really amazing! We are heading into the 4th week of the year and I have 13 pages done! WoooooHoooooo!

So this page is one for last week. I was playing around with layering background papers.

The face stamp is from Tin Can Mail. The hands are from Stampers Anonymous.
I also worked on a zine last week. It was my first (and most likely my last). I know lots of people love them but it just wasn't for me. Trying to coordinate 8 panels for one theme just wasn't fun for me. But at least now I can say I made one. :-)

Happy Monday

Does anyone really enjoy Mondays? I know I don't! I struggle to get up for work and then once I am there, it seems we always have system issues which turns the longest day of the week into an eternity! LOL

I got my 4 journal pages done again last week! I am very proud of myself!!! :-) So I am sharing a couple of them with you.

Sticking with my diet theme....now if I could just stick with the diet. hmm

Here is my lovely lady again. I just love her LOL

She is living my life...balancing above all those tempting goodies....trying her best not to fall (fail).
It has been pouring down rain here for a week. That puts a crimp in my creative thinking. Puts me in the mood to sleep though LOL

I needed 1 more page for my week and had absolutely no ideas! So, I began rummaging through my vintage photo drawer. And tucked into a little bag was this photo. I had shoved it into the drawer and never used it! These women just look so happy. It looks to me like they never let the weather get them down. From the smiles on their faces I have a feeling they were fun to hang out with! So I did! LOL

They look so proud of their fancy outfits. Those gorgeous fur coats and don't you just love the plumes on their hats?!

I don't know, I look at their faces and they just seem to know a secret....to happiness maybe. :-)

So far 2011 is going good!

I can't believe how creative I have been this week LOL After the past few years of barely able to complete an ATC, to create 3 in one week (6 in 2 weeks!) is just amazing LOL

These 3 are for the monthly swap...at the end of February! Yeah I am way ahead!!!! WoooHoooo

So, here we have a very fancy kitty. She (and her gold embossed crown) come from the Stampin Up set Cool Cat. The diamonds and French postmark are from the Tim Holtz French Market set by Stampers Anonymous.

I painted the background with acrylics blending from mauve to pale yellow. It is a very simple card and yet with the gold ink and embossing, sort of fancy. :-) Minnie (my little diva kitty) approved.
Ok, this one is odd, I know LOL But last week we bought a new toaster. And I couldn't get this song out of my head. My ex's niece used to sing a song about loving toast when she was around 10 or so. Not sure this is the exact song but close enough!

And don't you love that toaster? It comes from the Cricut cartridge "From My Kitchen". My new toaster sort of looks like that...very retro. But mine is a cool metallic red! Very sassy!!! LOL

And this last one was inspired by my lack of ability to stick to a diet! LOL This woman has way more will-power than I do! I swear, I love chocolate chip cookies and no way would I ever be able to resist them let alone do my exercises on top of them!

BTW this lovely woman comes from VivaLasVegastamps. Isn't she great?

The only fun thing about taking out all the Christmas decorations is bringing back all my collectibles. We finally got my antique school desk back in from the garage this week. Kitty loved it. He hopped right up as if he was ready for school....which is hilarious because Kitty is really dumb! If you every read Tucker's blog you would have gotten to enjoy Tucker's view of Kittys intelligence (or lack there of LOL)

My Resolutions are still intact!

I completed my 4 journal pages this week. WoooHoooo! I know, it may seem like much but believe me, this is big!. I usually have forgotten my journal by January 2. LOL

I began by slapping acrylic paints onto my 4x6 cards. (they are taped to my Olfa cutting board - and yes I can hear all you quilters gasping LOL)
And here they are! All done and signed on the backs. :-)

Hmm I see that I didn't stamp anything this week....very strange for me LOL
I have a mix of painting, photos, drawing, writing....I am liking this process so far (1 week in LOL)

BTW I drew and painted the dragon myself. I think he is cute. :-)

This was a very productive week for me! I also completed my ATCs for the monthly swap (and they aren't even due until the end of the month!)

Since people won't get them until early February, I tried to think ahead. I have Chinese New Year (it is going to be the year of the rabbit) and Valentine's Day. (the happy couple comes from VivaLasVegastamps) And how about the Village Blacksmith? That background writing is a ledger sheet our hostess sent me with last months ATCs. Such cool handwriting! I'm not sure exactly what it was....a list of names and dates....but now it is our blacksmith's customer list. :-)

Oh yeah, I am on fire this year! heehee

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!

I hope you have all arrived in 2011 safe and healthy.

We rang in the new year at home watching movies and just enjoying being together. We paused the movie for a few seconds to watch the ball drop and then back to the entertainment LOL

Throughout the day yesterday I pondered on whether I wanted to make resolutions. Every year I make one and every year I have forgotten it by mid January! And then the guilt sets in. Who needs to set themselves up for a guilt trip every year? Not me! No more!

This year I decided I will make them but then taylor them to my needs....no more generic resolutions for me!

So, sort of as an accountability thing....here are mine:

1. Create an art journal and make entries at least 4 times a week. (in the past I have tried art journals and felt pressured to make art in them every single day...with my schedule, that was just asking for failure!) My plan, create pages using blank 4x6 index cards and bind them all together later. Not so much space that it is overwhelming, not so small that you can't be creative. I will paint 4 card backgrounds each week and then throughout the week, collage/paint/embellish them. I just finished my 4 backgrounds a few minutes ago and they are now drying....great start to the year!

2. Lose weight. Someday I hope this is not a resolution but until then, here we go again. This year though, instead of trying some diet plan and then feeling guilt when I slip up, I plan on adjusting what I eat....to make the focus of my day fruits and veggies. Wish me luck!

I wish you all the best in all of your resolutions and hope that 2011 is a happy, successful and art filled year for us all!