The Deipnosophist

"Despite her tendency to fade into the background, chatty fellow diners were delighted to discover that she was quite the deipnosophist." 

Debated for a while about whether or not to add the white and I am so happy that I did!  Adds such dimension and depth. 

Check out all the fun with 29 Faces!

Linking to Paint Party Friday and

Art Journal Every Day

29 Faces - Is it a towel?

Is it hair or a towel?  Good question. . . 

Check out all the fun with 29 Faces!

Illustration Friday - METAMORPHOSIS

Did you know that this is the first day of the 29 Faces Challenge? 

Ayala Art sponsors this challenge each February and September.  It is gobs of fun and I love seeing all the amazing faces posted in the participants' blogs!

Check out all the fun with 29 Faces!

Linking to Creative Every Day

and Illustration Friday - Metamorphosis

Cincinnati. . .

We spent the weekend in Cincinnati and had a blast!  Stayed downtown, visited three art museums, ate great food, went shopping and slept in both days until past 9AM!

Have you ever seen a Pringles machine??

Just love this pattern on the booth at Panera!

Isn't it required to take at least one selfie??

Our favorite museum was the Contemporary Arts Center which was within walking distance from our hotel. 

Only two floors were open since exhibits were changing but there was a lot to look at. . .some pretty and a lot weird.

I wish I had taken a picture of the three full sized trees rotating from the ceiling upside down.  I took a movie but no stills - that display took up a huge gallery room.

It was creaky and loud with the mechanics of the display churning away.

Shark Girl was having a bad day - note the black cloud following her around. . . 

We also visited the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Taft Museum of Art and enjoyed more artistic traditional fare including pieces by Renoir, Manet and Van Gogh but for sheer fun the Contemporary Arts Center gave us the most to talk about. . . 

Tomorrow is our 24th anniversary - thanks for the great weekend, Corey!!  Love ya!

An attempt at line drawing. . .

I'm a big fan of Lisa Congdon's art - colorful, whimsical, and fun while appearing deceptively easy.  Her Basic Line Drawing class is a treat to watch.  I'm nearly finished with it and love her effortless way of teaching. 

Tried my hand at some stylized flowers - while they could use some work I think the addition of watercolor helps to disguise some of unintentional wonkiness (is that a word?) - 

Linking to Art Journal Every Day and

Paint Party Friday

Unusual girl -

"If you are not willing to risk the unusual,

you will have to settle for the ordinary."

                                      - John Roth

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

It's all in the Attitude. . .

I picked up this great quote during one of my recent visits to Pinterest.  It is an outlook that I am fervently trying to cultivate. 

For example - gaze upon this amazing photo of my 13-year old son.  He has been endlessly fascinated by the styrofoam heads at Hobby Lobby forever.  While some might find his craft store antics to be an ordeal, I embraced the spirit of adventure and snapped his pic!  BTW - he reminded me several times that he will be that height very soon. . .

Lori Barnett posted a card with rays today that inspired me to try the technique.  She has a much fancier cutting board than me and I have less patience so taping off sections with Frog Tape (found in the painting section of your hardware store) and quickly painting worked for me.

My foolproof method for protecting my mat wasn't so foolproof - I still managed to get paint on it.  Doodled, cut out and glued a flower and called it a day.  I really gravitate toward clean graphic lines - love this look. 

Linking to Paint Party Friday

and Art Journal Every Day