Stop thinking so much. . .

We've gotten a lot of snow in the past few days here in KY.  In fact, yesterday was declared a State of Emergency by the governor.  School was cancelled for Caleb from Wednesday - Friday and we've been hunkered in the house as a family for the past couple of days.  The board games have been dug out, goofy television has been watched and there has been a lot of laughter.  Snow days ARE good days!

Linking to Paint Party Friday,

Sunday Sketches

#artjournaleveryday

Creative Every Day

But I think I touched it.

I used masking tape in my journal while painting these flowers and was so excited to see if it worked that I removed the tape too soon!  Then I spent the next several layers having to be careful not to go outside my crisp edges.  

NOTE TO SELF:  Leave the tape until finished with the page!

Linking to Paint Party Friday and

Art Journal Every Day

AEDM - Life is. . .

Life is about change

Sometimes it is painful

Sometimes it is beautiful

But most of the time - it is both.

So I took my cut up flower painting and made a book using this tutorial.  I even got out my trusty Scor-Pal for old times' sake.  No worries if you don't have one - just use a scoring blade on your paper cutter.  Makes me want to get out and use my papercrafting tools again. . . 

Check out the other work daily on Art Every Day Month (AEDM)!

Art Every Day Month -

Hey - I've missed you - life has been challenging lately and my creative side took a big hit. 

I'm hoping that taking part in the Art Every Day Month challenge will help get things moving - at least I painted today which is more than I can say for the past two months!  Anything is a move in the right direction! 

My flowers are all cut up for the next step in their transformation.

Check out the other work daily on Art Every Day Month (AEDM)!

Linking to Illustration Friday - BOUQUET,

Paint Party Friday and

Art Journal Every Day

Sewer Flower

Good advice from the flora. . .

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

buy me this

The weather was gorgeous this weekend!!  Way too pretty to be inside drawing so all I have to show is a quick flower doodle on a prepainted ATC card.  How was it outdoors by you??

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

Abstract Flowers with Color Burst - Part II

Loved the first abstract flowers so much I decided to make another piece featuring Color Burst by Ken Oliver - not sure what those weird little seed things that are coming out of the one flower are. . . 

This one puts the pot on the opposite side of the paper.  My family is divided - two of us prefer the first one and two of us prefer the newest one - which one do you like best?

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

Abstract flowers with Color Burst

During a recent jaunt around the Internet I discovered the gorgeous art of Sandrine Pelissier and in particular her abstract flowers.

Take a few minutes and look around her site and you will not be disappointed!  She has an amazing grasp of color and composition and the way she adds texture with inked patterns makes me so happy!!

For her flower pictures Sandrine has been using YUPO paper - I had some in my hands at Blick one day but then ended up putting it back on the shelf - guess I'll need to drive back to the store and pick some  up to play!  I ended up using regular cold press watercolor paper that I taped to my board before sprinkling with Color Burst by Ken Oliver and then liberal amounts of water to make the background.

I drew a design and then started to paint the background white but had problems with the Color Burst soaking through so I took a few minutes to spray a fixative on the background and then added a thin layer of Liquitex Matte Medium to seal everything in place.

Used a variety of spray inks to paint more intense colors and to differentiate the flowers, leaves and pot.  Finished up with my favorite part - the ink work with gel pens and black markers.  Doesn't look anything like Sandrine's flowers but I am still tickled with this piece!!  The bright cheerful colors are a great way to welcome spring on Saturday!
Linking to Paint Party Friday and
Art Journal Every Day

Any hints on how I can straighten up my warped paper??

ETA:  Had so much fun with these flowers that I made some more - check them out here.

Sketching flowers in the car. . .

I'm a big fan of neutrals - my favorite colors are brown, black and gray.   However, after weeks and weeks of winter weather with all my surroundings being dull and neutral a splash of color was just what I needed!! 

Started with flowers that I sketched in the car while waiting to pick up the kiddo from school - blechy and rainy outside.  I loved the black/white sketch and was tempted to leave it but the urge to play with color wouldn't be left alone!

Much brighter than what I usually do but I'm really happy with how cheery this turned out! 

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

The grass is green where you water it.

I'm thinking this would look so much better if I had some mad lettering skills - doncha think?  Since my career as a calligrapher isn't going to start anytime soon I am wondering. . .do you have any tips for adding wording to your pages?  I regularly use letter stickers and print out sayings that get cut/glued onto my pages but if you have any other ideas I'd love to hear them!! 

Linking to Art Journal Every Day and

Paint Party Friday

4 doodled flowers

Started with a watercolor background - 

If you are going to paint one you might as well paint four, right?

Doodled some inky flowers - I dig how neutral they are but I know that look isn't a favorite for everyone.

Which one is your favorite?

Linking to Creative Every Day and

Sunday Sketches

trunk full of loot

Sketched this flower in the car and watercolored once I got home.  The part that is my favorite is the old book quote - 

"Therefore, that trunk full of possible loot could hardly have belonged to Jack."

Cutouts from old books are a treasure trove of nuggets that can add invaluable and unexpected personality to the pages in your art journals.  Have you tried adding cutouts from old books to your art?

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

Painting in Public

While this doodled/watercolored flower may not be a showstopper it is certainly a milestone for me.  Why?  Because it was painted in public - in the cafe at Barnes & Noble!

My friend Kim has no fear (Instagram - @artfullyvintage).  She's got her bag packed and is ready to create anywhere the mood strikes.  I was wigging out from the word go about drawing in public.  I simply would never have had the confidence to attempt such a feat without her prompting. 

Plus she brings me presents - great friend, huh??

Linking to Sketchbook Sunday and

Creative Every Day

Inky, inky flower

I filled an entire page of my art journal with a big inky flower! Lisa Congdon is a master of filling pages with amazingly quirky images and she often features them on her Instagram feed.

It was such a great idea until I got to about this point and then it started becoming tiresome,

but then I was on the telephone for a while and before I knew it the entire flower was finished!  I am really pleased with how it turned out- I need to try that again! 

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

Wood tag girl

This girl is on a tag - not just any 'ol paper tag but a 1.75" x 3.25" wood tag!  The wood tags were an impulse purchase that I "knew" I would use but sat in the crafting cabinet for more than a year.   

That fact that I've used ONE wood tag "totally" justifies that purchase along with the even tinier 1.25" x 2.5" wood tags that also snuck home with me that same day.  LOL

Do you end up with purchases that you wonder "why did I do that" later??

'fess up - we all want to know!

(Flowers were doodled on with a .005 Micron pen - tiny work.)

Check out all the fun with 29 Faces!

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

Flower doodles. . .

More flower doodles - they are becoming rather addicting! 

There are some flowers that I love more than others but the total effect is pleasing in the end.

Started with a watercolored background of orange, yellow and pink hues.  These first flowers (my favorites) were drawn in the car - I seem to be doing some of my favorite stuff in the car.  Go figure!  I think it may have to do partly with me taking all expectations off myself since we could hit a bump, etc at any time.

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

SOC - Week 6

This is the last week for Summer of Color - oh no - what will we do with ourselves now??   This week's challenge was Raspberry & Tangerine with a Smudge, Splash or Pop of Lemon.

While the finished pic doesn't seem to show much orange it was definitely evident at the beginning of my journey.

I love the inspiration that Kristin has been giving us every week - it is always a stretch for me to use color - I tend to gravitate to neutrals and earthy colors.  This challenge has made me step out of my box. . .

Only 46 more weeks until SOC 5!

Can you tell I'm still being inspired by the Alisa Burke Flower Power class?

Linking to Paint Party Friday, 

Friday Sketches and

Art Journal Every Day