Another painting

It has been raining a lot here in Maryland for the past few days...UGH!  Well since I might melt if I go outside...lol  I spent yesterday working on this painting.  I was talking to a friend last week about how daunting a blank canvas is and we both agreed that it is best to just lay down a color on all of them and come back to them when more inspiration comes.  My plan to to do just that, but I decided to try another collage instead.  It was such fun, that I started another one this morning.  Here is yesterdays' piece and hopefully I will have something to share tomorrow.  My not happen since it is warm and sunny here today, and I am getting out of here to enjoy the first nice day in almost a week.  Hope your day is bright and sunny as well.

New Collages

I have been working on two collage paintings, one on wood and one on canvas.  I dind't start the paintings at the same time, so I was surprised to see that I had used the same color both times.  They both are a bit darker than I usually paint, but I think they came out fairly well.  These two paintings are a result of the Complex Collage class offered by Julie Pritchard and Chris Cozen on Lost Luggage Network.

Beautiful surprise from wonderful neighbors

A lot of people believe in karma, and I guess I am one of them.  While checking out of my local AC Moore yesterday, a woman in line behind me wanted to know where I got my AC Moore coupon.  I told her that it had been in the Sunday paper.  I told her that if I didn't use it (turns out all of my items were on sale) I would give it to her.  When I gave it to her she was very appreciative and said something good was going to happen to me for being so kind to her.  I smiled and said that would be nice.  Well later in the evening, our door bell rang and it was the sweet young girl from next door holding a hand full of beautiful Peonies.  She was beaming and said they were from her garden and she wanted to share some with us.  I told her she had made my day, and they were sooo beautiful!  I wanted to share the loveliness with you as well!

Zentangle Coasters

If your art stash is anything like mine, you have things you have purchased and forgot that you have.   Or worse still you have items that you have lost interest in until you have an Aha moment.  The Stampbord coasters were a"find" while I was doing some spring cleaning.  Stampbord is a great surface for Tangles!  I did a set of four coasters and I also have a Stampbord box for them.  I posted the box top several weeks ago, but held off on sharing the coasters because there were a few uh oh moments.  Once the Tangles were completed, I sprayed them with a fixative.  My error on one of them was not giving it time to dry before picking it up, thus the smear on the bottom left.  Then I decided I wanted to color them with Stampbord ink.  I tried the ink on the one that was already a bit messed up, and didn't like the color so much, so I decided to stick with the originals.
 

See the Birdie?

I have been working on quite a few things lately, but I am trying to post every few days, so I did a few more Tangles last night and decided to share this one.  As with everything, I hope to get better with practice.

Zentangles anyone?

I wanted to share two books I purchased recently, as well as a few Tangles I created from inspiration in these two books.  Zentangle 2 by Design Originals is wonderful and a great book for a beginner.  Totally Tangles by Sandy Steen Bartholomew is also a wonderful book, but a bit much more challenging.  Zentangles are very relaxing and quite a lot of fun.  Here are a few Tangles I created recently.... I used the standard 3.5 x 3.5 size here, but I have also done a full page Tangle, and that is a lot of fun as well.

What I've neglected for Watercolor

My past few posts have been about my newfound love of watercolors.  If you have read my blog in the past, this emotion was also given to acrylic paints.  I guess you could say I am a bit fickle when it comes to art..lol  Anyway, I have spent a few hours in my sewing room the past few days, weeding out old scraps, you see I believed that I should save all scraps , no matter how small, because I could find a use for them.  Ha!  Over time I accumulated a large "stash" of scraps.  Since my taste for fabrics change almost as often as my love of art mediums, some of the fabrics made me wonder what I was thinking when I purchased them.   So the past day or so was spent purging and (gasp) throwing away bits of fabric.  Wow, did it feel good to see the trash man take away those bags of scraps, that I knew in my heart I would never use.

Well, the whole time I spent cleaning and purging my sewing room, there was something haunting me on the wall...a big UFO (unfinished object).  Can't quite remember when started this quilt, I think it was January.  I have viewed it from afar, (my art studio is adjacent to the sewing room), but it never nagged me unit a few days ago.  May have to stop painting for a day or so and get her done....or not!

Luckily for me, the blocks are not sewn together just yet, because once I took this picture, I think I want to shuffle the blocks around a little bit.   Just think, this UFO has been waiting for me on the design wall all this time while I pursued acrylics, watercolor, journals, drawing, pastels, calligraphy, and Zentangles.  How awful of me to neglect this cheery quilt!  Bad girl!  Oh well, at least it makes the room colorful and happy....

Pan Pastel Storage

Wanted to share a great new way to store your pan pastels, in case you didn't know.  The storage trays come in two sizes..storage for 10 or 20 pastel pans.  Before buying the trays, I had mine stacked on top of each other which was great for storage but not so great when it was time to use them.  With the trays, now I can see them easier.  Love these creamy pastels.  Have a great weekend everyone!

More watercolor painting

I am so in love with the watercolor book I purchased last week.  I am feeling more confident with this medium each day, although I know these are baby steps.

Watercolor Flowers

Spent part of my day yesterday painting......good times!

Great Inspiration!

Today I am sort of all over the place with ideas of things to do, and am working on several things I hope to share in the next day or so.  In the mean time, if you haven't had a chance, check out Teesha Moore's blog today with videos on a really cool journal/sewing/quilting idea.  I made a tiny purse with this method years ago and if I can find a photo of it, I will share.  I see more quilting in my future.   Good thing I have all day most days  to play because I am in idea overload!
Here is some of the beauty in found in my backyard today.......

More Watercolor

A couple of days ago I mentioned the workbook I found on watercolors.  Stayed up way too late last night reading several chapters.  I am so pleased that I found this jewel!   Anyway, I went back to this drawing I did several days ago and painted it with watercolors, also adding a few flowers that are not drawn.  What fun and how relaxing.  After I do a few chores today, I am going to try painting a few more flowers.

I am also taking several portrait classes (again) this time from Suzi Blu.  I love her teaching style as well as her painting style.  Martha Lever mentioned taking one of her classes on her blog, so I decided to check it out.  What really drew me to the class was the subject matter.  We are painting Henry the eight and his wives.  Don't know about you but I LOVE The Tudors on Showtime, and I love that era.  Hope to have some decent painting to show soon.   Well, chores are calling....

Leaping into Watercolor!

Martha Lever (MarthaLever.blogspot.com) has a wonderful blog which I visit daily for inspiration.  Martha and I have taken a lot of online classes together, though we have never met in person.   I have taken two calligraphy classes from her and have always loved her combination of calligraphy and watercolor.  Today, I was happily surprised to see that she had done a watercolor tutorial.  She is such a great teacher and makes everything seem so easy.   I was so inspired that while out running errands today, I stopped at Borders to check out their water color books.  I found a cool book/workbook/course.  Here is the wonderful book, and my first attempt at Martha's 5 minute flowers.

Watercolor and Pan Pastels

Okay first off,  I am NOT a watercolorist, have only tried it a few times.  So I decided to draw a few flowers and use my watercolor pencils (which I rarely use) to color in the drawing.  I decided to use my pan pastels (rarely use) for the background.  So in the end, although my drawing is very childish, I at least used some of my art supplies that are gathering dust, and had fun to boot!  Oh, and the butterfly is my new Martha Stewart punch.  All in all it was a good day. 8-)
Would love to take a water color class online.  Think next time I will eliminate the drawing and go straight to the watercolor pencils or pans and see how that works out.

Happy Easter

I searched my photos for a shot of a lily or other spring flower to share with you on this Blessed day, but couldn't locate one.  So I decided to share these two backgrounds from my online class with Wyanne instead.... and a quilt I finally finished binding....sort of spring like, huh?