Two Mixed Media Paintings

Here are the paintings I made yesterday and the day before. I have an 8x10 frame with glass and I thought it would be fun to frame a different painting each day.

These are both mixed media on Bristol stock. First you tape your paper down and do a watercolor wash.  Let dry completely and untape from the board. Then I drew the shapes with 2 permanent markers, one a thick point and one slightly finer. For the trees I just freehanded it.  For the 'rabbitlike' creatures, I did the pencil sketch first and kept an eraser on hand to make corrections. Then I colored them in with Crayola Crayons (TM).

This would be a great project for teens and tweeners, but younger kids might need a hand.

I sketched these bunny like creatures in my sketchbook a few weeks ago. Then when I saw the bunny-like image the watercolors had made randomly in the top center part of the painting, I knew it was the perfect background for my rabbits. It's like the great bunny spirit in the sky.

The inspiration for this was a gourd my boyfriend had wordburned a tree design onto. It was really fun to color over the background painting which made all kinds of subtle layers and nuances.

I can see this technique used for so many subjects. It has just enough randomness to keep it interesting, and enough planned art to feel like you still did some art.

Sewing and Murphy's Law

After another four hours of sewing today, I'm finally done with both the shirts my boyfriend needed for Great Western War.  If you want to read the final details they are on my sewing blog. Guy's shirts. He's leaving tomorrow but still hopes to dye the shirts today.

Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled life. I bought fabric to make 2 dresses. But I need to take a break from sewing to clear my head and rest my hands. I was also up until 4 AM last night so I'm just going to relax the rest of the day.  I walked to the corner for lunch and on the way back I thought I'd lengthen my stride and burn a few more calories.  Two steps into it a pain shot through my right heel.  Now it hurts when I step down on it and when I pick my foot up again.  So I have a feeling I'm going to be needing to sit down a lot the rest of the day, which means I won't be able to help load everything for Great Western War. It's kind of hard to schlep bins if I can't put weight on my right foot.  I'm right footed too. I sure hope I won't be alone here for a week and not be able to walk much. Hopefully it will stop hurting . But for now I'm keeping my weight off of it.