collage making

black pen, markers, watercolour

today i am going to elbow deep in making a collage

I hope to show you on Monday, so stay

tuned

My Town

Black Pen and Watercolour

Today is all about the getting my teeth cleaning

Getting a quote on a new shower

getting some american money for my trip

and some new art

Portraits not Leaves

I thought you might be tired of me showing you leaves, by the way

I am working on pine cones so be prepared (lol)

another portrait its suppose to be me, but alas there

is no likeness so hubby tells me, plus my hair is

quite a bit longer and not red.  I took the liberty

making myself look thinner, is that not the duty of an

artist.  

P.S  In real life I have eyes that are normal looking and equal

today is

today is all about

running errands

having tacos and salad for dinner

walking in the park

stopping and having a hot chocolate at my favourite coffee spot and sketching

reading a good book

what's on your schedule today

fall colors

i love fall

windy,

crisp air

the colors of the leaves

cool air

turning on the fireplace

wool sweaters

hot chocolate

more time for art

warm comforters

cozy pjs

scarfs wound around a neck

what do you like about fall?

Funkify is that even a word

I cant remember if I showed this one yet

it was a quick art journal page I did, though it started

out just as a drawing of a woman, I was going for

a funky woman, because I am having trouble drawing real looking women,

so I have decided to stop trying and just draw my version.  

I love.....

sketchbook done with markers and watercolors

i love working in watercolor soft and dreamy

i don't love that I am getting the deck ready for winter

I love that the weather today is summer like

I don't love that October is almost here and always means snow

I love that I have adopted a walking program that fits my needs

I don't love that I have packed on a few extra pounds and not from the walking

I love that I have been producing art
I do love that in October I will be going to Phoenix for a week

I don't love that when I come home I will have to wear shoes and socks again



Watercolor or acrylic

I like watercolour for the soft dreamy side

and I like Acrylic for the coverage and brights

I have taken an ecourse from Alisha Burke

on sketching, and learned alot.  One of

the things that I learned was treat your

sketch the same way you would

treat your paintings.  Put in the

details, and use color.

Your crazy critic

I have been doing things that make me uncomfortable to challenge myself

like drawing in black pen, that is scary to me, because you cant erase it,

and the other fear I am trying to conquer is trying to make everything perfect

That's gets to my inner critic, you know that crazy voice in your head

that tells you , its not perfect its not good.  I am sure Picasso had an\

inner critic, so I quess if he had one I can live with mine.



crossword hell

I like to do crosswords, I always try the one in the paper

There is the LA times in our paper

and New Yorker crossword

and I never finish them.  One day I will get them all, I have a friend her and her husband do them and just

about get them all done.  This isn't my best piece of art

but i like it.

Dont step on that crack, you will break your mothers back

Not only does Carla do blobs, she does sidewalk cracks,

this is was one of her sidewalk cracks, and this is what I saw.

I had fun doing this it gets your creative mind going, almost

like a warm up excerise.  You could go further, you could

get your watercolours outs, markers, anything.

The life of a blob returns

I have taken a few classes from Carla Soneheim, she has great art.  She

has bee painting blobs on her pages http://carlasonheim.wordpress.com/

and challenging the viewer to make something out of them, these are

what I saw.  Go there and see what you see.

Also in her newsletters and on her blog, she posts

pictures of sidewalk cracks, and challenges

viewer to make art.  More on that tommorow.

Are you on the grid

Last night while watching a movie, and doodling in my everyday book, this is what

showed up on the page, mindless doodles.  It like free flow writing, what

ever  comes up comes up.  I have been practising lettering, because

I  like to write on my journal pages, but it all turns out like crap.  So

I have been making a conscious effort to try and practice lettering

each day.

Well its Saturday, the shine is shining in this crazy city (lyric from a song) and

I just got my shiny new MasterCard and its waiting for me to spend some

of hubby's hard earned money.  So I am off to do it, what are you doing today?

Get me some ear plugs

up early wanted to be dressed and showered before the roof guys get her
I am visions of me running around naked well I forget about a blind
 I haven't closed, and one of them on a ladder looking at me,
and so horrified by the sight he falls of the ladder (lol)

So I am going out for the day because the noise is
going to drive me crazy, because every time
devil dog hears a noise she barks.
So enjoy your day and talk to you tomorrow.

Favourite things

 The weather has turned where I live. Today is a sweater and sock day (I hate wearing socks, I like no socks and sandals), the wind is whipping up the trees, the trees are turning colour and falling on the roads.  I love this time of year, not cold, but a nip in the air.  Its time to whip up some comfort foods and get the fireplace ready.  We are getting a new roof on our house this week, the supplies arrived today. In our area we live in, you have to have a wood shingle roof, green fence, all kinds of crazy rules.  So its way more expensive than just getting a regular old roof.  So that is our home project for this year, a new roof, and new shutters on the main floor, I might have o go back to work to pay for them (lol).  I just got home from a few errands, took the devil dog out for a walk, now she is passed out in the den, and I have to think about cooking supper.  Ok I need a cook, I need to win the Lotto, have a cook and a daily cleaner come to my house, so I could play art all day, because these daily chores are getting in the way of my art. Truthfully I think I was more organized when I worked, I was able to get all things accomplished and create something. 

So I have been Christmas shopping I try to get it done way before Christmas rush   Because I cant stand the stress of it all.  I cant last minute shop it makes me crazy.  I like to have them all bought and wrapped by December 1.  I am going to finish it all off when I am in Phoenix in October that is my plan.

Ok you know how Oprah has her favourite things show.  I am going to tell you every wednesday   1 favourite thing of mine for 10 weeks. .  So here it goes, my favourite thing this week is

Space bags

what did I do before I found these, they are amazing, easy to store, can get lots of storage in them.  Try them you will be amazed.  I got a box of 7 space bags all sizes at Walmart for 19.00. and worth eveery penny.

Stencil Magic

It funny in life and art how you have a favourite go to, in art my favourite go to is stencilling  and you use it and use and then  forget about it, and then it comes back again.  Stencil

is one of my favourite ways to make art,.  I like to use a stencil

two ways, first with spray paint, the above stencil was done with

spray paint.  And then I also like to use stencil with paint,

or chalk.  But my favourite has to be spray paint, you

can get so free, but it has to be done outdoors, and

where I live you have a very short window to do this. 

What favourite technique do you have?

Reworked some old art - you can do it to step by step

This was a really old piece of art that was hanging around the studio

and I decided to re-work it.  I saw a really good idea at someone blog,

and I cant remember who's, and thought I could do that

to some old art.  So I thought I woul show you how I did it.

I decided it was not the right size.  So I cut it down

Now the supplies I used were:

spray paint (you could paint even if you did not have spray paint)

stick on letters of any kind

The next step was deciding what I wanted to do , I decided I wanted to

say something. So I placed  the letters on the peice of art, and the date.

The next step was I spray painted this white, now in hindsight, I should have used a different color,

after the spray paint dried I took of the letters, I was not to happy

with it so decided to use pan pastels with a cloth to add some color

So I added some color, but I am still not happy with the way it looks. I think I might add some charcoal to give it some depth, any suggestions on what else it needs.

The great thinker

been sketching and making stamps

sitting on the deck enjoying the last that summer has to offer

baking chocolate zucchini muffins

freezing blueberries, and raspberries

re watching videos of online classes that I have taken and never made anything

helping the shopper try to get organized

trying to figure out where I want to go from here with my art

what are you doing today

Whats on my desk wednesday

I have been carving out some time (lol) to crave

looks like it still needs some work but having a good time. 

What have you been doing this Wednesday

The sun is shining in this crazy city

OK I don't know what was wrong with me yesterday I cant even blame it on PMS, but as I re-read that post today I just cringed.  I am not a whiner, I just need to get over it, so I am over it.  And thanks to everyone who commented and made me feel so good.

Today its beautiful, its a stat holiday,  I am bbq ribs, corn on the cob, Caesar salad, and Parmesan fries in the oven.  I am having the shopper aka the daughter over.  The sun is shining I might go on the deck with a nice cool margarita, and a art book and enjoy myself.

The above is an old piece I might have shown before, I did in my sketch journal.

What are you doing today

Just a peek

Just a peek into my junk journal, I had not nearly finished it.  but I thought I would give you a sneak peek, I am having fun working in, all the lines make something else.  Like a puzzle.
I am again trying to change up the blog, do you like this font or is it to hard to read?  I am trying to get more traffic over here.  I have thought about turning off the comments, and taking off the stats, that way I wont know when nobody reads this blog and what I dont know wont hurt me. Do you have a trick getting traffic to your blog, I know I dont live an exciting life, so sometimes its humdrum.  I posted just about everyday for the past three months, more posting didnt do the trick.  I dont know why I care, because when I first started I didnt care if anyone read my blog.  Oh well for those of you who do read my blog thanks.

lee

The Junk Journal

Here are a few pics from my junk journal.  Remember when I said I was not taking anymore classes, while I decided to take two more.  And I happen to love them, the first one is from Carla Soneheim where she makes and show you how to make a junk journal, and then you draw some funky animals in them.  I will show you when I am done, and I promise I will finish this class.  Half way there already and a junk journal made.

The other class I am taking is the Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen class on Collage, I love collage, but I don't just like to throw it down, I want it to look like art.  And that is what i am learning in there class.  They put alot of effort into the classes, lots of great videos, pdfs, and answers to questions you might have.  Chris and Julie both have great knowledge about paint.  I highly recommend this class, if you want to expand your knowledge base as an artists.  I sound like a commercial for her, I promise you she is not paying me to say this stuff (lol).

Today I went to my favourite inspiration place, IKEA when  I need a pick me up I go there, to the fabric, to the pillows.  It gets my motor running.  I did of course purchase some stuff, you cant leave that place and not buy.

Well better go and get some stuff done around here, whats on your agenda today.

lee