Zentangle Bookmarks

I have been playing with some bookmarks tonight. So nice just to let go and do something where you don't have to think. Very satisfying and I got to use up some scraps of paper.

Friday Finished

Well I'm not really happy with it but this is finished. I still had trouble with the colors. I think the problem is that there is so much gray and that with red turns pink. So I ended up going in with the reddish colors right away this time and trying to add some gray and white after which isn't easy. I so wanted to get the hairs in like Kari and others do but it just doesn't seem to work for me as it does for them.

Our Friday

I worked on a picture of our Friday tonight. I wasn't happy with the colors so I'm in process of trying to take a lot of it off. I love the eyes but the yellowish color I don't like. And the reddish color was looking weird. I hope I can get enough of it off so I won't have to start over.

I then used a small piece of watercolor paper that I had put some watercolor pencil wash on. I made a small Zentangle. After that I made a Zentangle bookmark. They were ok...not great...just ok. I guess tonight wasn't my night to draw.

Caught Up

I got some business cards made tonight. That's another chore finished. But several days now with no artwork done. Maybe I can still fit a bit of cp work in tonight.

I did check out a watercolor website that was interesting. It had some basic instructions, some more advanced, videos, and even sites for other mediums. I will search thru it more as I have time. You can check it out here.

Sometimes I get so engrossed in reading other art blogs and even some craft or sewing blogs that I end up several layers away from where I started. It is a good way to find some new and interesting blogs that I might not see otherwise. It's fun to click on links at other blogs and meet new artists. I have found some good recipes, patterns, and ideas but it can be very time-consuming.

I have been watching some old game shows on late night tv. Right now is a segment of the game Password with Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Lauren Bacall. I don't know what year it was from but I know it was quite a long time ago. It is so funny to hear the words the people used back then. I was watching an older Family Feud and one of the questions asked was what are men's pants made from. One answer was polyester. That show was probably from the 70s.

Sewing

I have spent the day sewing, mending, and making business cards. Most of the day was spent on the cards. I had an interesting plan but it didn't pan out. Took up most of the day and all I did was empty my print cartridge. I still need cards for the art show next month. Oh well I will save that for another day.

I have put off sewing and mending for a long long long time. I used to make all my clothes. I loved to sew. I worked a full time job, made dinner, cleaned up and around 10 pm would start to sew. Sometimes till 1 am.

The bank where I worked had some competition. Quite a few people would have a new outfit every Friday. I admit I did try to keep up for awhile. But I made all mine and that got way too time consuming.

At this time of my life, I don't like sewing much any more. I spend as much time taking stitches out as putting them in. And that is very time consuming. Especially as I have to have a very bright light and glasses. I have a fairly new computerized sewing machine I don't like. I had more fun sewing with the first sewing machine I ever had. I put it on layaway at Thrifty Drug store. I used that machine much more than I will ever use the one I have now.

This one like most of the ones I have had in the last 10 yrs or so are too finicky. The computerized ones start buzzing and showing an error if you run over a little bit of thickness. I really liked the old metal ones. You could sew over straight pins with those. I don't know what you are supposed to do if you need to repair something that is more than 2 thicknesses.

No new art to post

I don't have anything to post tonight. I finished a plein air piece for an art show that my art association is having. Just have to spray and put it in the frame. Glad to have that out of the way.

I did a couple of scavenger hunt items a few days ago. Posted them yesterday. But other than that I haven't accomplished anything very good. I had a couple things I did with bad results. Probably won't do any more on those. I did do an ATC of one of my Noah's ark figurines. It turned out ok. Not the way I wanted. I will try to post that tomorrow.

White Dog - Brown Dog

At the grocery store, I found these little plastic dogs about 1 1/2 inches high with muzzles larger than the proportion of the dog. Really cute. The box said there were 6 versions but I only came home with 4. I used two of them to make more dog ATCs.

I used colored pencils on brown mat board for the white one and Bristol Smooth for the brown one. The little dogs were just as much fun to use as my models as I thought they would be.

Corsica, France

I finally did http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifa picture from the Google Street of Corsica, France. Not sure which area as I did not write that down. I like the rock buildings they have there and the different doors and windows. A lot of interesting things we don't see in the U.S.

Numbers 9 and 10

I'm not as happy with these two as I have been with some of the others. I just couldn't get the colors to come together in the Doxie. The other one is a Border Collie/Queensland Heeler mix. Both are from references from Wetcanvas. The Dachshund is my ref. A friend's dog named Shorty. The other is from a.reichart. That's it for the Drawspace trade but one of the ladies has two friends who aren't into computers that want to trade. So I will be making two more to trade with them. This will be my second trade with them. I love it when artists fall in love with the tiny ATCs.

I spent a quiet day. I didn't make it to church but listened to 3 of the Pastor's online sermons. I felt much better after that. Then I started checking my normal blogs. I can't believe how many pieces Leslie Hawes has done of the areas around Corsica, France. I think she has done about 5 or 6 now for the Virtual Paintout which visits thru Google Street Maps each month at a different place. I still have yet to do one. I am map challenged apparantly as I don't seem to find the cute little sites that Leslie finds. Either that or my eyes aren't as artistic-seeing as hers.

Hubby is home from working out of town overnight, the dogs are fed, dinner of homemade hamburgers is finished, and the night is mine to use for art. I need to address and stamp my Drawspace envelopes so that those can go out in the mail tomorrow. Then I will try my hand at the last two dogs.

Number 8

Number 8 is a Beagle. Later I will post photos of the stash of things I found at Goodwill today. And a lot of the things were only 25 and 50 cents.

Number 7

Well here is my second post tonight (er morning). I finished another dog ATC. This one is a Pug. Both this one and the previous one are done in colored pencil with a touch of pen and ink on Bristol smooth.

Number 6

I just finished number 6 of my 10 dog ATCs. This one is a Great Dane puppy. Like most pupphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifies they are so cute. Four more dogs to go.

Latest Scavenger Hunt

I'm hosting the current scavenger hunt and these are a few items I quickly sketched.

Two New ATCs

I did 2 new ATCs last night. One for a trade on Drawspace and another for trade or sale. The one for Drawspace is my fifth one of dogs. This one is a Rhodesian Ridgeback (from a photo on Wetcanvas by Canis Lupess). The other is done from a little mouse ornament I picked up at Goodwill (it's only about 1 1/2 inches tall).

The mouse is done on brown matboard and the dog is on Bristol Smooth. Both are colored pencil and pen and ink.

I have 5 more dog cards to do and mail out before the end of January. I have the address list and hopefully can finish them this week.

Groundhog's Day

February 2nd is my husband's birthday. It's also Groundhog day. My husband will be 60. Now I can tease him like he has been teasing me since May when I turned 60.

I decided yesterday that I will do a memory picture for him of 3 of our passed dogs. The last two we lost and the one who we lost a few years ago and the one he was so close to. KC, Ditto, and Friday. All 3 very different colored dogs. Blond, red, and salt and pepper gray. I will be able to show the progress on here as hubby doesn't read my blog. He knows how to get online and surf for things he wants to research but that is about the extent of his computer knowledge.

I was at Goodwill today and found a perfect frame. Long so I can make them side by side instead of a group. And the price was right at $2. It will be a surprise for him so I will only be able to work on it when he is gone. I just hope I can keep it a secret. I'm really bad about telling him ahead of time. Maybe since the day is almost here....

I bought a large sheet of matboard at the framers today. I plan to use a slice of it for the dogs' portrait. It is a tan color. I wanted a more colorful sheet but when I thought about each dogs' colors, not one would look good with all 3 dog colors. Since I love to draw on matboard I plan to buy several more sheets in various colors.

My art association is going to have a show for us in February. I will be able to put two pictures in it. At least that is what was predicted. I plan to get something done for that. I found several more frames at Goodwill. And now that I have a larger sheet of Bristol board and the new matboard, I can cut the sizes I need for the frames.

I look forward to getting started on my babies' pictures. Seeing their faces looking back at me. Oh yeah, at Goodwill I found more goodies. A really cute Mr and Mrs Santa salt and pepper shakers. Not to use but for posing. And half price so the 2 for $1. Can't beat that.

Pondering

Last year like many other art bloggers, I chose a word to give me inspiration for the coming year. Well I have no idea what the word was. I just looked thru old blogs and can't find it anywhere. Maybe it is good that I can't remember. I apparently didn't use the word.

Well after reading some other's words, I have spent the day and evening pondering.

ponder - chew over: reflect deeply on a subject;

- to weigh in the mind : appraise

- to think about : reflect on

But the pondering hasn't helped. I have thought about several words that I saw on Kathy Johnson's blog: catching happiness, simple pleasures, everyday adventures, and they would all be nice and fit nicely. But nothing catches my attention as "the" word.

In the span of a year, we have lost two of our fur babies. One last December and one this December. That's way too close and they were too young. Friday was only 9 1/2 and Ditto was 12. Our other big dogs lived to be 14 (Golden Retriever) and 16 (German Shepherd) and we expected Friday would live about the same number of years. Our other two little dogs lived 19 (doxie) and 17 (poodle) and of course we hoped Ditto would too.

Because of the two losses, I thought about the word appreciation because I want to live my life this year full of appreciation. Appreciation for my faith, my babies, my husband, my family, my friends, and the blessing of being able to do something I really enjoy, artwork. I appreciate the people who follow my blog and who participate with me on the scavenger hunts, and ATC projects.

So I guess my word for this year will be "appreciation or appreciate". I will appreciate every new thing I learn this year. I will appreciate any commissions or sales I get this year. I will appreciate that I have an art group to go to different venues for plein-air art. I will appreciate my followers on my bog and Facebook. I will appreciate all the great art blogs out there that I enjoy reading on a regular basis. And I will appreciate all the friends and fellow artists I have met thru the internet.

Here is to a better year this year than the last, and an even better one in the future.

Cholla Framed

My dog groomer took the graphite portrait I did for her to have it framed. It looks really nice in the frame with a gray mat that has a border of black. The photos with the glass didn't turn out great but you can see how it looks.

Dogs

On Drawspace forum I am leading an ATC trade with the theme "Dogs". Anything to do with dogs. I am doing realistic dogs. I've had plenty of cartoony animals and now for some real ones. I have finished two from references from the RIL at Wetcanvas. One by Alphalion and one by southern wind. One is a Rat Terrier and the other is a Whippet. I started with a red background and really like it. I think I will continue the same with all the cards.

I just spent the last hour or so browsing the reference library. I found several photos I would like to do in preparation for a portfolio. I need to get one together.

I have drawn daily for the last 3 days, participated in the current scavenger hunt, and did a small, quick card of a spoonbill for the Wetcanvas WDE. So I am keeping up with some artwork every day.

I printed off some instructions for a couple things to crochet or knit and I have been spending lots of quality time with my babies. Those are at least starts on some of my goals for the year. Hopefully I will continue.

Please vote For Dizzy

There is a competition on Kari's blog for a portrait of someone's pet. We had to submit photos and now they can be voted on. You can vote once a day. Please stop by her site and vote for my baby Dizzy. I think #11 would make the best picture even tho I said in an email to a few to choose the other.

New Year Plans

Well I finally sat down and figured out things that were very important for me to accomplish. These things will be things I try to do/finish this year. If I don't, life will go on but if I do, life will be easier to live with.

1. Draw daily. I have gotten really lax about this. Now is the time to get my priorities straight and get moving.

2. Keep improving with graphite and cps. You can never learn too much and I seem to learn the best by doing. So more ATC swaps, more entries in WC projects. I want to continue with the journey I have been on with the little critters and things I have been doing on ATC cards. I really like the whimsical look to them.

3. Continue to learn more about cp portraits and do more for practice.

4. More time with my fur and feather babies...like there is no tomorrow because there might not be. (I love you Friday)

5. More art, less surfing. More commissions hopefully. I managed to get 2 this year. One for pay and one for trade. Both dogs which shouldn't be a surprise. And several I did as gifts.

6. Read dthru some of my art books. I am not good at reading thru reference books. I tend to just browse and read things that pop out at me.

7. Set up a new blog or website for commissions and selling of my art cards.

8. Read my Bible daily and continue Bible studies.

9. Eat healthier and drink less soda and more water. This will probably be my biggest challenge.

10. Some sewing, some knitting or crocheting, and enjoy life and not stress thru it as in the past.

Hopefully all of you will set a few goals and share them. To everyone Happy New Year. And have you hugged your pet today? If not, do.

Hugs, Jeanne