African Violet

I decided to try some watercolor loosely.   I'm usually a detail person. I put down the greens and let dry. Then added some loose ink lines to hint at the leaves. Then added a little watercolor pencil and waterbrush for some shadow. Here is "African Violet". I made a little sketchbook without a cover from some full sheets of Arches paper. It is about 5.5 x 7.5 inches and held together by metal rings.

The Virtual Paintout - Cape Cod

Here is my art for The Virtual Paintout done in graphite. 

"Let's Play Ball"

The January ATC trade is themed "Anything Goes". I was ready to do some animals but a lot of people are not comfortable doing animals. I decided to make this trade so that each person could do his/her own theme. We have traders from 9rs-70+ yrs and I wanted to be sure each person could participate and feel comfortable with the theme. I was also ready for some graphite art but that will have to wait for another trade. Here is one of the ATCs that I made for that trade...but I can't part with it. I love dogs and Golden Retrievers especially . I will hold onto this one and make another one for the trade. I gave each person the choice of telling me their favorite animal or their pet and I would do those. But I only found out what 2 traders like. One I already knew. So I did two for specific traders and will do one more, but the others will just have to take whatever animals I decide to do. I have a meerkat, lion, cougar, puppy, and 2 giraffe photos printed off so far. Really enjoying putting pencil and cp to animals again.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Teens Being Teens

Here is my painting for the Virtual Paintout for December from Google street map of Venice, Italy. Done in colored pencicl.

Portrait of Melissa

Here is my portrait of Melissa for the Annual Christmas Portrait Swap in the Portraiture forum at Wetcanvas. It is about 8x10 and fits into am 11x14 mat and frame. Done with a little colored pencils, fine line pen, and possibly a little watercolor. Can't remember for sure about the watercolor. I will be mailing it the first of next week.

Penny WIP

Here is my Yellow Lab Penny. This is done in my Till Death Do Us Part sketchbook journal. I took her photo this morning and liked it. She usually tucks her ears behind and it looks like she has no ears. I liked the perspective that I took the photo and the ears that are showing. Colored Pencil and fine line pen.

From My New & Gently Used Sketchbook Journal

Portrait Swap and a New Page in New and Gently Used Sketchbook

I did the portrait swap in Wetcanvas Portraiture forum. Here is the portrait I did of Melissa. About 9x12 inches on watercolor paper with watercolor and colored pencil.

And this is the one I did from a little bust of an eagle that I bought at Dollartree in colored pencil.

Wetcanvas Trades

I am participating in two projects on Wetcanvas. One is an annual Christmas card trade. There are 20 people in this trade and we are required to send a Christmas card to each of the other people in the project. In this trade, we are allowed to do just one original cad and have copies made for the giving. Or we can do several or originals for everyone. I chose to do 19 original cards. This is my second time to participate. One of the trades I made all originals and the other, I made one and did copies. I finished my 19 cards today. Now I am waiting for the addresses so I can mail the cards. The second project is the annual portrait trade. I have done this project for about 5 years now. I have had 2 females and 2 males. This year I got a female. She is a pretty blond. I find that I do bbetter with the males. Both of the other females had sorter hair. This one has long hair. That will be my challenge. I haven't started my portrait for the trade yet but will soon. I wanted to finish all my Christmas cards first. Now that those are finished, I can hopefully concentrate on the portrait now. My trade partner has started my portrait. She's doing a really good job. She is using pastels and I will be using colored pencil and watercolor. Hopefully with her permission, I will be able to post both photos and both portraits on here after they are finished.

Several New Pieces from my Journal

I have done several new pieces in my journal. Now looking thru all my photos looking for more to use in the sketchbook Journal.

For several years, we attended an annual baarbecue of some friends of ours who lived in the mountains on a cattle ranch. They have retired now so no more barbecues. This one was taken probably from the one the year before Bill passed away. Jerry sitting with him, passed away the week before Bill. Jerry had cancer.

This is Friday. We had to have her put down on December 31, 2009 just 3 months before Bill passed. She was one of our fur babies.

This was from a photo I took in the 1970s when we lived in Mapleton, Oregon. Bill was a log truck driver and he loved it. It was his dream job.

Bill in the Sketchbook Journal

I just finished this one in my "Till Death To Us Part" sketchbook journal. Colored pencil. I'm not finished with the page but not sure what else I will put on the page. I like the way this one turned out. You can see the pain in his face from his bad back and his overworked heart. He was still working a very hard job that just wore him out each day working too many hours. He had a heart attack on his way home from work one night around 9:30 but before he left work, he washed his diesel truck and got it ready for the next day.

Saying Goodbye to Friday

This was Dec 31, 2009 at the vet when we were saying goodbye to Friday. 3 months later Bill was gone too.

No New Stuff

Sorry to be missing in action lately. No real reason except it is that time of year when my emotions get a little raw. The time of year when I miss my husband more. From out anniversary, the holidays, his birthday in Feb, and finally the day he passed away the end of March. Any time I am watching tv and something makes me sad, I get really emotional and start really crying. I guess it is good to get it out of my system. I have been working on my New And Gently Used sketchbook Journal. I have pieces of several pages done. Will try to post a couple of those this week. Just don't give up on me completely. I'm just slow, not done.

Bill & Kylie

The likeness isn't perfect but close enough that it stirs the memories.

Sketchbook: Till Death Do Us Part

I started my "Bill" sketchbook. I did a drawing of him on the inside cover. I used Copic markers and a little Verithin colored pencil red on the face. The page across from this one shows the sketchbook's name and the date of our marriage. I have another page started a couple pages in. I have traced the outline of a photo of ill holding our great niece Kylie. She was only a few months old when he passed away He had looked forward to being an extra "grandpa" for her. Her dad has always been like a son to us. the photo I used was taken at our Christmas evening with them 3 months before his death.

New Sketchbook Journal

I have been lax at posting for the last couple of months. I have been in an art slump. Hopefully I will be climbing out of it son. I have decided on a new project, and I am looking forward to progressing in it. Well I said one new project but there are two. It started with a new sketchbook purchase. It is like the Moleskine books with the same (hopefully) strong paper that holds a little water. And the pages are beige too and has an expandable folder in the back. I couldn't decide what I would be putting in the book. I posted that in the Facebook Sketchbook Journal area and got a few comments and suggestions. One was from Jacqui who knows I have many, many little trinkets that I have purchased for the Scavenger hunts. Many more than I really need. She suggested doing a book showing all of those. and making a memory of them in case I have to one day downsize them. The second suggestion was that I do a journal about someone I love or am close to either past or present. Well that sounded like a great idea to do for a memory book of my husband. It has now been 3 1/2 years since he passed. I would be able to do sketches of him, our babies that we both loved so much, little bits of information on things that we did or that happened to us along the way, how we met. Not sure one book will be enough but it's a start. I decided to do both. I went to Aaron Brothers to get another sketchbook but didn't find the same one. So I got a Moleskine one. I have already started the pages in the one of my Goodwill Finds. I may title that one as "New and Gently Used". The one of my husband will be "Till Death Do Us Part". These are the first and second pages of New and Gently Used. They are done with colored pencils, fineline pens, and a little watercolor.

Back to School Trade Cards

The Facebook group "Former Drawspace Traders" has the theme this month of Back to School. Here are the cards I did for this trade. Done in watercolor, colored pencils, and fineline pens by Staedler.

In a Slump

No artwork lately. I'm going thru a slump. Everything I have tried to do, I wasn't happy with. So I just try to be patient until it is over. I did go to a plein air outing with my art group today. We went to a small mountain community where we have been once before. It's called Stallion Springs. The little day park where we painted is called Horse Thief park. Great place to go. Very nice restroom, a creek or stream, a covered patio area with several tables, other areas with tables, a covered bridge. very quiet and peaceful, and not many people around. Across the water is a cute little white church with a steeple. And many beautiful paintable areas. Here is the painting I started the last time I was there and worked on some more today. It's not really finished and not sure I will finish it. The part from the first trip was done in colored pencils. Today I used watercolor and watercolor pencils. The colored pencil part just shows up too bright compared to the watercolors I did today. But I enjoyed the two outings and the atmosphere and I will consider this one a learning piece.

Scavenger Hunt Items

I haven't been doing any art lately. Kind of in a slump. But here are some scavenger hunt items that.