Category: Uncategorized

Thursday 1/24/19 EEM watercolor paints

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

Mail today!!

img_5857

If you’ve been thinking about testing some handmade watercolors, check EEM’s site (Eventually, Everything Mixes) They are really nice paints, rewet easily, vivid colors, and she wraps them so prettily, and fills them generously. She sells out quickly, but keep watching and grab them when she has them. Her burnt sienna (still available, I think, at this writing, in a full pan!) is one of my favorites. A bunch of others, too, but I won’t tempt you by talking about them, since they aren’t available right now. The raw sienna monte amiata that I painted in the pan is lovely, and still available, I think, and maybe the yellow, blue, and green in the top left corner… the blue has actual sterling silver added for sparkle! She always tries something unusual. 🙂 Whatever she has available… try them!!!

img_5856

Wed 1/23/19 the awesome Pilot Coleto

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , 2 Comments

YES!!! I love this thing. If only the ink was waterproof, it would be PERFECT. Even the pen holding 5 refills is not uncomfortably wide.

You can choose several different pen bodies, which each hold 2-5 refills. Refill options include 3mm or 5mm mechanical pencils, an eraser, and 3-5mm gel pens in many colors. A PEN, PENCIL, AND ERASER ALL IN ONE BODY!!! WOW. HERE is the link for a pink pen body (there are other body choices) and ten color refills on Amazon, or you can purchase a set of 15 color refills, linked here. 

I purchased the specific refills and pen body I wanted individually through jetpens.com. That way I could begin with just a few colors, and the pencil and eraser refills. Of course now I want all the colors!! 🙂 But I don’t NEED all the colors. (If you ARE buying all the colors, try Amazon first, as that 15-set is currently only $12, and is $18 at jetpens. 🙂

img_5834

img_5833

Monday, 1/21/19: Blue Fairy

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , Leave a comment

Costume time! Pinocchio Day at school, Ellis would like to dress as the Blue Fairy. This was a good deal, I think it would have cost more in supplies to try to make something ourselves. But… we’ll know in a week, when it arrives, if it is anything like its photo!

img_5818

img_5816

img_5819

img_5823

 

 

Saturday 1/19: altered matchbox, and January’s Storytime

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , 1 Comment

My first altered matchbox…and Storytime at work!

Saturday morning I led a storytime, reading three adorable books by Peter H Reynolds, (sold in a set called a Creatrilogy!), all about kids, art, and how much fun ANYONE can have with  art… We had 15 or so kids attend, I think, or all ages, less than 1 year to about 12 years old…a good turnout. (And they are not just kids who happen to be there, now, but kids actually coming in for Storytime!) The kids really seemed to enjoy the books (I know I did). Then we did a sticker craft, using dot stickers, because one of the books is all about a little girl who paints only dots. But the best part (even better than the cookies we had) was painting. The second book was about using colors, the third about how things don’t have to look exactly perfect in our pictures. We had ordered 24 Crayola* paint sets (sold here, on Amazon), and some nice quality 100% cotton watercolor sheets (sold here on Amazon) I had worried about it being too messy, but even the younger kids were very focused and there were no problems. They made some really nice paintings. (*If you need sets of watercolor paints for a group, these crayola paints are a very good price, about $1.50 a set, but know that the brushes, while much better than the hard plastic ones from my childhood, shed something fierce. The kids didn’t care)

(Okay the older one in red is actually one of our team members, helping out 🙂

Once home, I worked on a swap I have to send out this coming week, for swap-bot.  

(Swap-bot has been a great  motivation for me over the 10 past years or so, inspiring me to try quite a few artistic or creative things I would not have attempted on my own, or even thought of on my own. In fact I don’t think I’d be painting or drawing at all without it, and I have met some awesome ladies there)

Anyway, I’d been putting off this altered matchbox, because I haven’t made one before. (I signed up specifically because I haven’t done one. Then kind of regretted it!) Naturally, once I began, it wasn’t difficult at all, and I enjoyed myself, and although it isn’t great, it’s fine, I think. The theme was chosen for me, Stevie Nicks’ song “Crystal”… I’m embarrassed to admit I wasn’t really familiar with the song or even really with Stevie Nicks, (another reason I procrastinated), but it was fun learning about both.

I added a few tiny shells and sea glass inside because of the line “drove me like a magnet to the sea”, the only line that really spoke to me. (I collect seagrass bits AND shells, especially heart shaped shells, so I had plenty to choose from!)

Then did my journal page. To be honest I had decided the matchbox was enough “art” for the day, then just before bed thought Wait, why am I not journaling it? So:

img_5783

 

img_5782

Now. Off to start my Sunday!

HAPPY FRIDAY! 1/18/19

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , 1 Comment

Hey? Where’d the rest of the week go??

img_5747

Daniel Smith Bloodstone, Uniball Deluxe Pen, Moleskine watercolor journal…

I like the journal, it is well made. But I like the paper in my other journals better. Pretty much ALL of them, really.

img_5743

Thursday 1/17… a new paint trio… MIND BLOWN!!!

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Still just writing the weekday name…. I’m so uninspired after I work!

I found this trio suggestion while watching a video on Meow Meow Kapow’s Youtube channel… it was suggested by Kathryn T. These three colors are actually (until now) three of my least favorite tubes!!

Daniel Smith Phthalo Green (blue shade… PG7), Daniel Smith’s Quinacridone Lilac (PR 122), and QoR’s Green Gold (PY 129) … actually DS Rich Green Gold is the suggested color, but also PY 129, and QoR is what I have.

img_5729

So… here’s the thing… if you mix this GREEN, with this PINK… YOU GET BLUE. Blue, people. BLUE????!! Blue. I felt like god… not in a sacrilegious way, I know I didn’t create blue OUT OF NOTHING, and He did… but I made BLUE out of two other colors!!!! My mind is totally blown. Didn’t our elementary school teachers always tell us yellow and blue make green… red and blue make purple… AND YOU CAN’T MAKE BLUE BECAUSE IT IS PRIMARY!!!!?? Well, this isn’t actually a primary blue. It is a deep dark inky blue. But is clearly and definitely BLUE. Add more lilac and it is a drop-dead-gorgeous purple. It will never be a pale soft blue.

img_5731

Still, my five year old inner self is completely astonished. I can’t decide if I am totally amazing because, even though I didn’t figure it out, I STILL MADE BLUE!! Or if I’m a complete idiot because I’m 53 years old and didn’t know this already. (and… I’ve had these paints for like a year…)

img_5735

All those colors inside the Thursday letters came from those three colors. I’m so impressed with myself.

Thanks, Meow Meow Kapow, and Kathryn T, for making my day!!

CHOCOLATE Wednesday… 1/16/19

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , 2 Comments

img_5725

Today I met another member of the Hampton Roads Urban Sketching group in Virginia Beach… we started at Jerry’s Artarama (of course!!), spent a ridiculous amount of time drooling over everything, and planning how to spend all available (or not) funds, went to Chick-fil-A for lunch, then to Town Center to sketch. Upon reaching our destination, however, we decided it was a little too chilly, and sought refuge inside The Royal Chocolate, drew some pretzels, and ate them. I forgot to get a photo with them. (Apparently, to really count as an urban sketch, you are supposed to photograph your sketch held up in front of the building… or pretzel…it represents.)

img_5726

By the way, if you have an opportunity… pop in to The Royal Chocolate and pick up a caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel rod… DELICIOUS!!… or the caramel and chocolate dipped apple which costs more but is really just a piece of heaven on earth. And huge. My absolute favorite thing EVER!!!! Like really… ever ever ever.  I’ll draw (and eat) THAT next time. (What was I thinking???) Next time, BOTH.

img_5727

 

Uninspired Monday. And Tuesday. And Lesson Learned! 1/14 and 1/15

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

So Monday, after working, I came home and simply did not want to paint or draw or anything else. So I just wrote “Monday”. When I filled the background in with lines I was going to add a little color… and the ink I had used bled! Naturally (was my thought at the time) I added a little shiny gold “hello” just to show Monday it hadn’t beaten me.

img_5733

Tuesday was even less inspired:

img_5734

I had planned on Wednesday being the same, but I’ll do that one in another post, because I actually painted AN OBJECT. And journaled a few words about my day. Lesson learned? “If I don’t feel like it, just push through and come up with ANYTHING. I’ll be more inspired later.”

Saturday, 1/12/19… the holy family!

Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , 3 Comments

Yesterday I picked up a nice big illuminated holy family set for the yard next Christmas. A sweet (seeming) woman named Deb listed it on LetGo, for free! My daughter sent me the ad, and I couldn’t resist. It was a little scary to meet, but it turned out she WAS in fact just a nice woman named Deb, not a Craigslist killer who had moved on to LetGo, and we met in a public place anyway, so it all worked out. I gave her a little gift in exchange, because it didn’t feel right just taking it for free.

img_5627

Poor Joseph has a peeling nose, and toe… but surely he would have been a little messed up from all that time in the desert sun anyway, right?

I also played with watercolor trying to recreate part of a Paint Nite picture I’d seen. I ended up using gouache on top and wishing I’d just don’t it all in acrylic or gouache. And… bigger. I was just starting to get the hang of it, when I finished. 🙂 It was late, though, so I stopped.

img_5626

(I actually spent most of the day working, but you wouldn’t know from my description, would you??)

This is what someone sees looking into the back of my car:

img_5628

A little creepy. Or encouraging… depending on your perspective!

 

Friday, 1/11/19

Posted in UncategorizedLeave a comment

I was at work all day, and didn’t really want to journal that. So I scrolled through my photos and found a screenshot of someone’s pretty art… I took it months ago and of course didn’t get the name of the artist! But here is my rendition of their piece. Not even a tiny bit my idea, but it’s just staying in my journal.

img_5608

This is Daniel Smith Green Apatite Genuine  (One of my favorites!! A staple in my palette, so I’ve included an Amazon link), with a touch of DS Carmine in the berries, and a little Holbein Aureolin and DS Indigo here and there.

I do receive a few cents from Amazon links I post, but it doesn’t cost the purchaser any extra… and I only link items I think you might enjoy!