It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived. Helen Walton

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Work....and art


I never thought it would happen.
I always thought I would make time for art (and my blog)
but working has really knocked me for a loop.

The summer is a slow time for us so I have no excuse.
Last week I headed out to our Art Center and signed up for a class.
That will, for sure, make me get my act together.

I haven't been "gone".  I have become a "lurker".  I see your beautiful things every Friday
and kick myself for not participating.  I have done some "dumps" on yupo so  thought this
week, I would share them.


Friday, February 14, 2014

Joanne Fan


I am a Joanne Sharpe fan.
I have taken her on line classes since her first (I think) Letter Love.
I even got to take a couple of classes from her in person when she came to 
Whim So Doodle in St Petersburg, FL.
So when she started her on line classes in January, Draw your Awesome Year, I was all in.
Because I am working, I am not quite up with the group but I am plodding
along, doing my own thing and once again, enjoying it immensely.
My word of the year...yet again
Here's a sampling
To begin...


Joanne is such a great teacher and these classes are on your computer for forever.
Her themes are POSITIVE and just a great cure for a grey day.
Grey day???  We haven't had any of those lately, have we?
We can make our own sunny day.
Happy PPF!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A Simple Valentangle


This weeks Diva challenge was to do a "Valentangle".
Work has definitely cut into my tangling time.  I even have a hard time
keeping up in my Tangle a Day calendar, something I have been
religious about for 2 ½ years.
Scratched this out this AM, spritzed a little water color, and
called it "done".

Friday, February 7, 2014

Feeling tropical


It has been cool, drippy and grey in Florida lately.
We don't have much patience with grey weather.
We take our blue skies for granted.

So this week, I created a nice tropical background with water colors
on yupo paper.
Decided it needed a parrot so used acrylics on the background.
Happy PPF

Monday, February 3, 2014

Caged Butterflies


Jailed Johnnie is a toughie.  
One of my problems was no matter how I drew it, I saw butterflies.
So call mine "caged butterflies.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

W.I.P.


Just can't seem to leave the yupo alone.
This one was initially painted with Createx gold and quinocredone gold.  I smushed
a dry cleaning bag around on it to get some good texture, left it for about five minutes and 
pulled the bag off.  When all was dry, I gave it a coat of matte medium.
Then I mixed up some alizarin crimson water color and a tad bit of cobalt blue
and used a large brush to cover the entire sheet.  I got some interesting bubbles this time.
I traced my giraffe onto the dry red surface and began the lift using a small scrub brush
and water.  I love, love, love watching the subject emerge.
As you can see, I have left the most tedious, detailed part for last...
not a good idea!
Remember him?  He was done on plain white yupo with the same water color wash.
This color wash was crimson and orange sort of mixed on the surface.
And this will be an elephant if I can ever settle on the elephant sketch I want to use.
I used grey acrylic craft paint, silver and fuchsia Createx and smushed it
with crumpled up wax paper to get the texture I wanted.
I am thinking I will use a dark, dark purple for the watercolor wash.

That's what is sitting on my desk.  What about you??
Happy PPF
and here comes February!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

A peek in my Journal




I am making more of an effort this year to put something, anything in my art journal
on a regular basis.

The white clean pages always seem to stop me dead in my tracks so I have decided
to start each year with...the year.
Done!  

And then there was a lousy, boring day at work so out came the journal

I sketched it out and already felt better thinking that when I got home I would
have fun coloring it in.  The growly mood lifted.


When in a quandary about just what you want to put on the paper,
the word of the year is always fun to do and a gentle reminder of what that word was!


If all else fails, my little four legged boss is a ready, willing. able subject.

So-o-o-o-o, I have NO excuse!  More journal work this year.

Happy PPF