Spent the day with friends hitting some mud puddles in the forest. As many times as I've been to Deb and Jerry's house I never noticed the cute Frog, in their bird bath... too funny and the perfect thing for the journal since I'm too tired for anything hard tonight.
Picnic at the beach with the Palmetto Jeep Club
Fun day today... Great way to send off the last days of Summer.
She's got red hair, she's got dogs, she's got cats, she's got dust bunny's... she doesn't iron, or do windows ... cause she's a DOMESTIC GODDESS... she's my entry in Lunatic Mom's contest...
Limited Palette... water, mountains, sky... I don't like the line I get at the bottom of the mountains... tried to obliterate it... but couldn't...pershaps I should have extended that color all the way to the shore... oh well next time.
Was a hectic day at work today... pizza and beer for dinner... now I'm ready to go do a little painting...
I'm still exploring the site... but I really like his videos and teaching style. http://www.simplypainting.com
Ordered the pen on Monday from Pen City... arrived today... now THAT's fast... I did not pay for 2 day service but it got here in 2 days anyway. I plan to take better care of this one... I was sick that my other one clogged up and died on me...
Read a neat tutorial on painting water... so I'm off to try to paint some water... and maybe a tree or two since my trees still need work.
This one's for you James, your mishap with your computer monitor this afternoon cracked me up (as you well know).
Unleaded - Ink only - Contour Drawing from The Natural Way to Paint (rendering the Figure in Watercolor) by Charles Reid.
Out of phase today for some reason... more practice from my Jack Hamm Drawing the Face and Figure book.
This is the other painting I did today, I saw a bead like this once, I really liked the concept of it so I tried to paint it as best I could... I think it turned out pretty good.
I keep trying to find a cheap alternative to the microns... but so far no luck. Bought some pens at Staples, and I like that they are waterproof,... don't run at all... but they bleed thru light wt page so for the handbook journals I can't use them... maybe when I start the journal with 140 lbs watercolor paper they'll do ok.
Fooling around... using the sheet I'd slopped paint on the other day. I like the evergreens top right... tree left is off the other 2 well more practice on trees needed I can see LOL
Crazy weather from Fay today, the bands are coming thru with rain and sun very close together now. Bought some crocs... funky orange and yellow ones.. but since I have BIG feet, I did not get the usual big old chunky crocks... these are very cool looking and very comfortable.
"Meddle thee not in the affairs of dragons for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup" I used a dragon bead sitting on my desk to draw a dragon. I need to practice drawing dragons... I like them.
EDM stands for Every Day Matters... say it with the emphasis on the word 'Matters' and it means hum-drum, maybe common stuff... say it with the emphasis on DAY and you've got a whole new meaning. Been a bit of debate of late about what the 'group' is all about... for me I say it the second way, I'm a cancer survivor... every DAY matters...
Psalms 118:24
This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it...
Well practice obviously helped... I did my best score ever tonight. My mop brush arrived for AWS... except I got 2 for 1... which means they sent me 2 of the same brush size 18? Anybody want to order something smaller... and I'll send you the 18 if you send me the smaller size?
Work the knife around to peal up your painting . Note the 'black' glue holding the pages together... thus the name 'block'
Insert knife in the open slot on the top once your painting is dry...
Using a block means no stretching of paper, no buckling, no extra effort for me at all... they are also nicely portable so easy to take on the road for use Plein Aire (outdoors)
I use Arches watercolor blocks, but there are lots on companies that make blocks, and different sizes and types of paper...
Cover of a 9x12 Watercolor Block
Tree painting on 9 x 12 Watercolor block... dry and ready to remove.
My friend Angelina - (see favorite blogs top right) Asked what a watercolor block is... since I didn't know myself until a few months ago... Even though I'd seen them in the store many times... I thought I'd post these pictures... and explanation for those that don't know what a watercolor block is.
Today I sat and stared at the blank page forever, nothing except the date... looked up the current EDM challenge... CATS... so I sketched a couple of cats... they turned out kinda cute...
Flooding rain today, never seen it get so high, so fast. The heavy rain started during high tide... outer bands of Hurricane Faye I think was the cause of it. Issues at work, kept me late... I hate when that happens.
Distant Hills - attempt #2... used Quin Gold this time... I like the soft transparent yellow better on this one.
Purple and lime green... and a doodle or two. Been doing housework all day... too pooped to pop.... time for dinner now.
Busy day, cleaning out the studio area... until around noon, then to the range and shopping.... home to swap dogs in the yard and out for a steak dinner at our favorite steak place Brecks... Time to put Saturday to bed.
A view of her tail... and the notch out of her ear. This shot taken in August, in the Spring she was pregnant and very fat... and for a couple of months she didn't come to the feeder for her sunflower seeds... she thin now and back in the feeder.
She watching me now... and will bolt off the feeder in a mighty flying leap... but she'll be back... the sunflower seeds she loves are waiting for her.
Ms Squirrel has a distinctive notch out of her ear... she's also the only squirrel that figured out how to climb into this feeder.
Scavenger Hunt#97 for Wet Canvas Draw a Nose, so instead of a person's nose I drew my JRT Stoney's nose and this time I think I got it pretty darn close to looking like my little dog. To see my previous attempt, check out June 27th...
Draw a bird house was on the list.. so I drew the bird house on the phone poll outside me office window. Don't know how much longer I'll be in this office... I will miss it when we leave.. Maybe my feathered and fuzzy friends will miss me too.
Rained all day today... the pond is full to overflowing now. The doves hunkered down on the powerline outside looked like exclamation points.
Distant Hills... done based on a tutorial I watch tonight... Trees again tomorrow... could add one to this I suppose.
Rainy night ahead for us, been threatening rain all day, so while I'm grilling burgers it starts... we need the rain though, half of the little pond near my office is completely dried up. The egrets will be happy that it is raining.
Still trying to paint a tree... this poor tree turned into a green lollipop.. Pine tree attempt ran amok....
On http://www.wetcanvas.com in the Art from Life forum they do 'Scavenger Hunts'.. a list of things to draw, sort of like the EDM list, I haven't done one in a while, and I haven't done a 2 page spread in a while either... so... here's my items for Hunt #96.
What was I thinking? I thought I'd buy a bathing suit for a beach party we're going to labor day weekend... No way..not me I did not buy one... nothing like trying on bathing suits to remind you to stay on your diet.
Spent the day, dragging this 'project' into our yard. My DH is going to have fun with this... I just want to take a shower and go to bed, I'm exhausted from messing with it.
Got my order from Daniel Smith today, new Artist grade pans and a tube of his Green - Jadeite... can't wait to try that out.
Learning... learning... same house I painted at the workshop... my sky is pretty good, the trees... well... I need to work on my trees just a bit more.
I'm really enjoying the Jack Hamm book, it is so LOADED with details... and I so need it... So today a few lips.. I kinda like the purple lipstick... and I had to include a nose or two LOL
'Listen, do you want to know a secret?' la la la... do you promise not to tell... Showing my age aren't I? I'm a Beatles fan from way back... It's too hot for words today... I'm off to shoot some paper targets now.
Boy did my tree stink last night... but I can't quit after just one bad session... I'm too green at this for that... so in the journals today I drew noses... but later tonight I'm doing trees again.
Talked to my daughter Jeanna and Jon, I need new drivers for my printer. And my upload issue was solved by downloading Firefox and using it as a browser. I also purchase Photoshop for the Mac... now I can change the size before I upload... I'm happy now.
Spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon shopping. I spent a long chunk of time again today trying to select my photo for upload... the Mac file system is kicking my butt LOL Time for a nap... I'm pooped
First thing I miss is Photoshop... I can't figure out how to resize photos... and it took me forever to get it selected... I'll get it figured out... it's already way better than Vista.... whoo hoo...
