Painting at Garden of the Gods

I finally had a chance to get out and do some sketching!!! We've been packing and decluttering and getting the house ready to sell. That is done so now I have some time to go sketching. It was such a gorgeous day I headed straight to Garden of the Gods. It was 82 degrees and windy, with a clear blue sky. Just beautiful!!!

Excuse my writing, my hand keeps going numb, I've had carpal tunnel for years but have refused surgery, I was worried it would affect my painting and drawing...

Had to take an art break!!!

Are you sick of Stargazer lily sketches yet? LOL! I just realized this morning that I titled this a day lily when it's really a Stargazer. I am tired!!! I have been de-cluttering and cleaning and purging since last Friday and I'm ready to do some art. Unfortunately the house isn't quite where it should be so...... I did have to take an art break though, I was getting close to exploding or imploding! I get so grouchy if I don't do art!!!

The movers are coming to do a walk through today and the Realtor comes on Monday, I have more dust bunnies to chase! I'm thinking maybe I should shave the dog! She sheds so much! Valentine is a Golden Retriever and no I wouldn't really shave her. We did have her clipped and her hair thinned out at the beginning of the summer but it's grown back.... ANYWAY, back to work I go.

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day and go sketch something! :D

Big news and be careful what you wish for!

Unless you follow my other blog you won't know that I was wishing I was a gypsy! Well I meant one of the 7 gypsies! Be careful what you wish for! We are back to being corporate gypsies!!! Yes that's right! We're being transferred from Colorado to Pennsylvania! We'll be right outside Philly! We became gypsies back 1992 when we transferred with a company to Indiana, then on to Ohio in 1996 and then back to Colorado in 1997.

I'm excited and anxious! I'm going to miss Colorado terribly, painting in Garden of the Gods, and the mountains, and most of my family is out here, so that will be hard! There is a lot of history in Philadelphia and who knows, maybe I'll even be able to sketch the liberty bell on location! And I'm sure there are all kinds of other cool things to discover out there!!! The growing season is longer and you can grow all kinds of things that you can't grow here, like hydrangeas and blueberries and who knows what all!

So if I'm a little scarce it's because I am cleaning and going through every drawer and closet getting rid of lots of stuff and getting ready to have a huge moving sale! The fabric and books and all art supplies are going!!! I don't care if we have to get rid of the furniture!!!

I'm so thankful for the Internet and for all of you, my blog buddies! You'll be the only people I know out there besides my family! So thank you and stay tuned for more!

New sketches

These are all sketches from last week, they're done in my reloaded vintage book.

Manitou Springs is the most awesome little town, lots of little Victorian shops and small to large Victorian houses, there's even a castle! I used to live over there when I was single. It's just west of Colorado Springs, and the Springs just merges into Manitou. If you're ever out here you really should visit Manitou! I went to the arcade to draw the pink elephant. I would have sketched more but tourist season is in full swing and it's hard to get around, maybe I'll try it later in the fall, they close for the winter. They have a penny arcade with antique games in it and there are some that would be so cool to sketch! One that I can remember is a gypsy fortune teller...

Next I went to Garden of the Gods. I thought I'd try a looser sketch this time. I had fun with this, letting the paint just run...

And some Stargazer Lilies I just planted last fall bloomed so I've been sketching them!

I'll have to think of some other cool things that I want to sketch here in the Springs.

Thanks so much for stopping by, now it's your turn, go draw something! :D

Lots of sketches!

And you thought I was slacking! :D These are some of my recent sketches that I've been doing while I work, it's been really slow. I bought this mini mannequin to alter but I'm having so much fun sketching it!!!

And my day lily finally popped open so I had to do several sketches of that before it's gone. I can't believe it's already August!!! Although, I am looking forward to the temps cooling down!!! It has been a very hot summer here in our part of Colorado, and we're wimps! We're not used to it! :D

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

New huge reloaded vintage book

First of all let me just say, what was I thinking?!!!! I guess I thought if a small reloaded watercolor sketchbook is great then a HUGE one would be even better!!! LOL! It has around 20 signatures, each signature has two folded pages. I used 140 lb paper. Needless to say, it will take awhile to finish this one. I'm still working on my first one, which I'm trying to fill with scenes of Colorado, although I did sneak in a Stargazer lily last night...

I'll try and post more photos of finished sketches in the next few days.

Thanks for stopping by, now it's your turn, go sketch something! :D

I'm on a mission!

I'm on a mission to fill up my new reloaded vintage book with sketches! So this morning when I was cleaning house my muse told me to get outside and do a sketch of my back garden before fall is here and I miss it completely! We have this old wishing well and I've planted flowers around it. The Echinacea is blooming like crazy this year! See the small evergreen tree? My son and I found it years ago when it was no more than an inch high. We've been babying it, and when we moved to this house I had to dig it up and bring it over. It's now about 3' to 4' high!

I know my perspective is off on this, but it was hot! That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it! :D

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Garden sketch

The other night I took my reloaded vintage watercolor book out and sat on the front porch and sketched part of my garden. A hummingbird flew up and was eating from the torch lillies while I was painting. I didn't get him sketched, they just move too fast! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I couldn't even get a photo of him! Hopefully I'll remember the camera next time!

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!