Cidada and Black Eyed Susan

I forgot to post my very first full spread in my Sketchbook Project - the Black Eyed Susans. So here they are.

My most recent is this sketch of the Cicada that fell out of our oak tree during a recent rainstorm. The wings weren't really that colorful but I decided the poor ugly creature needing something redeeming about it. I'm just glad I didn't have a cup of coffee sitting there when this thing fell, eeeeewwwwwwww! My kids were a little freaked when I brought it into the house to paint, they thought maybe it was still alive. :D

Now I need to find something else to sketch....

Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome day!

Hibiscus-oops! Rose of Sharon

For those of you who don't know, we just recently moved from Colorado to Pennsylvania. I'm always making new discoveries here - it's like living in another country! I saw these flowers on a bush and went out to see what they were and was totally amazed that they were Hibiscus! A sweet friend of mine let me know that they are The Rose of Sharon, thank you Patty! I used to have a yellow one in my front window in Colorado! I never would have planted it outside, I don't think it would have survived the cold winters. Keep in mind I lived in the foothills.

The first spread is for my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project - see the button on my sidebar. Then of course I had to do another sketch for my personal sketchbook! And it was such a beautiful and cool morning out I spent several hours doing this! Yesterday it got up to 99 degrees in the shade! Holy cow! With the humidity it's just awful!!! I don't know if I'll ever get used to the humidity here... :)

Anyway, you might want to check into doing the Sketchbook Project, I know several people are doing them - some do mixed media and collage in theirs... I only have 17 more spreads to go! I'm going to try and keep it to sketching but who knows, I may do some collage also. And it doesn't even have to be sent in until the end of January!

Hey thanks for stopping by! If you leave me a comment I can come visit your blog! :D

Sketchbook Project 2012 - the start of something big!

I was a little disappointed when I received my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project, I guess I expected something more grandiose. I didn't waste any time (even to take a photo of it) taking it apart and binding some hot pressed watercolor paper and making it into a whole new looking book. I kept the main cover, made the spine wider and cut off part of the front, adding a piece of chipboard (thank you Lisa Vollrath for that idea). I also added a piece of elastic to hold it closed, they didn't allow anything to be hanging from it which is too bad... Then I Coptic bound 10 pages of hot pressed watercolor paper, folded in half. I glued fabric to the outside of the book, thought that would stabilize it better and I love this fabric by Robert Kaufman. Then I put it all together and ta-da!!! It has 20 pages, 40 if I do front and back. I'll play that by ear.

I think I will mainly be doing watercolor sketches but I'm not ruling out some mixed media or collage as well, we'll see how it goes.

The theme I chose is "This is a Sketchbook" so that leaves it wide open. I really don't like "themes", they tend to stifle my creativity. :D

More photos to come!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you're keeping cool in this heat.

Just joined the Sketchbook Journal Project 2012!!!

Woohoo!!!!!!!! I so wanted to do this last year but couldn't cause we were in the middle of selling our house. I saw the link on Anita's blog and popped over and signed up for this year!!! Can't wait to get my book and get started!!! I'm actually going to sketch in mine, I chose the Title - This is a sketchbook. That leaves it pretty open. I hate being pinned down to a theme!

I know a lot of mixed media artists will do collage etc., but I'm going to sketch and do watercolor and colored pencil. Have you signed up yet? I think this will be awesome to have one of my sketchbooks in the Brooklyn Art Library!!! How cool is that? People can check out your sketchbook and look through at the library! Who knows, maybe I'll inspire someone to pick up a pencil and start sketching!!!

Here's a link if you'd like to find out more:

http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject/features

Inspired by Kate (Cathy Johnson)

I just got Kate's (Cathy Johnson's) new book "Artist's Journal Workshop" and I love it!!!! I'm only half way through and I know I'll be re-reading this one forever! And I usually hate reruns but there is so much info and so much inspiration I know I'll be going back to it again and again!!! If you don't have it yet, you need it! If you do have it but haven't started reading - read it! I know I'm being bossy, but you'll be so glad you did!

I have been ignoring all the piles of moving boxes and sketching instead! :D For those of you who don't know - we just moved from Colorado to Pennsylvania in May and yes, I still have tons of boxes to unpack! I have an awful lot of books! I am actually going to have to get rid of some of them, but not any of Kate's!

If the laundry room was bigger, I'd just hide some in there, but we downsized and so stuff has got to go! We'll be having a huge garage sale! Possibly two or three! LOL!

Well that's all for now, time to go look in some more boxes and groan...

New watercolor sketches

You can tell I was out of practice on sketching! The top two sketches I did a few days ago, the bottom three I did yesterday.

I just got Cathy (Kate) Johnson's new book - Artist's Journal Workshop - and love it!!!!!!! If you're just getting into painting you need this book! And if you've been painting for years you need this book! There's a lot of information on new products, how to use them, what works best, ideas to try and just such an inspiration!!! Thank you Kate for sharing your knowledge with us!

I've been slacking off on my painting and Kate's book gave me the kick in the pants that I needed to get back to it. Now if I can just focus and keep painting... I really do miss it. I used to paint huge watercolor paintings and enter them into shows. I really miss just the painting itself. So I'm thinking of giving up some of my other mixed media and altered art stuff so I'll have room to set up my drafting table again.... We'll see how that goes. I enjoy all of the other art too but I can't do every different kind of art that comes along, even though it is fun! I don't have enough room and it gets expensive! Hmmm, I'll have to think on this for awhile.

Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy 4th of July and have a fun and safe weekend!

A new pen and watercolor sketch

Oh my gosh! I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted on this blog! I didn't fall off the planet, just moved a good distance across it! :D We're still settling in after moving from Colorado to Pennsylvania for a corporate move.

It's so lush and green here! And humid! Colorado has about 11 percent humidity so this is going to take some getting used to. But it is gorgeous! All kinds of new things to experience - we have a ground hog (Philadelphia Phil) and a fox in our yard. New kinds of birds to sketch - Cardinals are awesome!!! So this is my first dark purple columbine that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of Columbine! I had to do a quick sketch last night before the last few went to seed. I also painted an ACEO (artist card edition original) that it now listed for sale in my Etsy shop:

http://purplepaint.etsy.com/

Hopefully I'll be able to do more sketching here pretty soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by and now it's your turn, go sketch something!

Some recent sketches and trying something new...

March came in with a beautiful spring day so I just had to get out and do some sketching! This week I went over to Manitou Springs and did some quick sketches. Keep in mind these were really quick and really loose! The one of the buildings I have done large paintings of but of course that takes 30 hours just to draw it up. These are very loose!

This bottom painting is inspired by a workshop I'm taking online, Strathmore is putting it on for free and Pam Carriker is one of the teachers. I'm having a lot of fun with this loose style. And surprisingly I'm having fun using acrylics! Usually they dry too fast to suit my needs, but they're fun to play with!

Thanks for stopping by! Now it's your turn! Go do some art! :D