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Little Blue Truck

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Idea stolen by request of my  2 1/2 year old grandson. He wanted it to hang in his room. If you haven’t read Little Blue Truck to your kiddos, do give it a try! Written by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry.

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8×10, fabriano watercolor paper (140lb, cold press) using various watercolor paints (daniel smith, holbein, schmincke) I copied as faithfully as I could, not trying to reinvent an already perfect wheel, with the exception of my ink lines. (Although looking at it now, I can see some errors I made!) Illustration is really my favorite way to use watercolor.)

Thirty More Everyday Sketches (2)

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Santa took an adorable selfie with Ellis at the Christmas in July event we hosted last month at the Chick-fil-A Virginia Beach Blvd. There were a ton of great moments I could have chosen to sketch, but this was a highlight for me. 🙂

Thirty More Everyday Sketches! (1)

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Obviously I haven’t added color yet, but thought I’d go ahead and post the beginning of my next art journal. I am determined that these layouts will look more “complete” than the last journal. I’m using a Strathmore 400 series journal, in a larger format this time. (found HERE on Amazon)  (not 100% cotton paper, which makes it slightly less fun to paint on. But this is one of the first watercolor journals I tried, and even with all the awesome types I’ve tried, I still love it! At about $15, (currently), it’s more affordable than some, and quite nice to use.)

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I’ve only started the title page and one entry so far, but I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I’m enjoying the larger pages!

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This page is from Saturday July 27th, our Christmas in July event. That’s Santa, taking a selfie with Ellis! I’m both eager to see this painted and also afraid to do anything else to it:

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(It was a GREAT event, by the way)

I’m particularly pleased that Ellis looks so much like Ellis to me here. Also, that’s why I’m afraid to add color. 🙂

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I’m not going to do one page each day this time, but hopefully still quite often. I’m wondering, though, if I will keep myself on task effectively without that self-imposed deadline each day.

Thirty Days of Everyday Life… day 31 ;)

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With just one page left in my journal… my plan was to create some type of end page, but when the day finally came, I decided to continue art journaling. Looking through the book, I’ve decided to add borders in places next time… I think that’s why my pages feel unfinished to me in this journal.

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Tomorrow I plan to post a review of the whole journal. I’m pleased to have finished another full journal.

Thirty Days of Everyday Life, Day THIRTY!!!

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Kinda’ going out on a whimper here. But can you believe it’s been 30 days already!? And I DID it.

Shopping for vacation Santa’s photo area at Saturday’s Christmas in July event:

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So. I still can’t paint a black dog. In fact, my earlier attempts may have been better. I’m UNlearning. 😦

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Not a great layout. Gorgeous weather, though, that’s something! 🙂

(PS Affiliate link included here: Clara’s new doggy pool is awesome!! (linked here on Amazon) It was $65 for the xxl (63″ across) and I hesitated before spending that much, but it has very good reviews and the cutest joyful doggy photos and videos. There are a lot of sizes, the smallest is under $30. The sides are sturdy and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending it for both dogs and children. Easy set up, easy storage. Best little storable pool I’ve even purchased like this. I feel like the plastic is strong enough to last a long time, and it accordion folds to store. AND it stays up without water, so even with just an inch or two in there now, it is open fine!)

Back to my art journal experience: I’m glad I challenged myself. I’m going to try to art journal my way through August as well, although I may allow myself to miss some days. Thirty days without a break was a bigger challenge than I expected.

Several advantages, though:

It is GOOD to make myself stick to something thirty days straight even if I don’t feel like it.

I’m more comfortable/familiar with my current paint set now.

I’m more comfortable/familiar with my pens now.

I have this cool diary to refer back to in later years. (I’m not sure art journaling my life every single day is wise… I’ll never look back at all that! )

A lot of practice at general sketching/painting.

Re-developing the habit of everyday art.

Really the only disadvantages:

It was hard to do EVERY day without fail, and took more time than I expected.

Sometimes my day was super boring (online paperwork etc all day) and I didn’t know what to draw. (maybe an advantage, too, sometimes, since I might have to draw something I’m less comfortable with)

Thanks for listening!! I may do a journal overview and supply list later!

Thirty Days of Everyday Life, Charlotte’s Cafe… Day 29

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Just one more day and this book is full!!!

My mother took my sister and me out to a little cute place in Newport News for lunch, Charlotte’s Cafe. It looks like it might be a nice place to suggest for the Hampton Roads Urban Sketchers group sometime! The walls are filled with the owner’s (?) paintings… very pretty… and lots of interesting quirky things, too.

One of the servers had very fun hair, a lovely color I almost but didn’t quite capture here… and I didn’t get the texture at all. (Looked very silky!) :

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I think this vase might be better than one I remember sketching this spring.

Entry hallway with a few seats (and a sister):

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Thirty Days of Everyday Life, Day 27: Storytime, and Selphy printers (updated)

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Storytime! Today we painted little birdhouses.

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I had no idea if we’d have 4 children or 48… we set up the tables, paints, and birdhouses for 22, and had just enough (after adding a few extra for those who wanted to paint elsewhere) It went smoothly and everyone enjoyed themselves. Saturday, Santa will be at the restaurant while he is vacationing, and they were excited to hear about that. It was a good morning. I had started it out with a damaged tire, so it was nice that storytime smoothed things out a bit for me.

It was sad dropping my “hmmmbug” off at the tire center, but my new Canon Selphy photo printer (linked on Amazon here) had arrived and oh my goodness this thing rocks!

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Ok, I’ve only printed 3 4×6 photos so far, but they look really nice, and I’m looking forward to the card and sticker paper arriving so I can do small prints to add to my journal pages. It also has the ability to print photo booth type prints which I think could be fun if I figure them out. I looked at several mini printers. I liked the idea of a very tiny portable printer, but a couple of them have prints that are not at all archival, and these are supposed to last 100 years, and are even water resistant (or something) so I went with this slightly larger, but still portable, printer.  (it is only 5″x7″.) I never print photos anymore, in this digital age, and really miss having them, and working in my scrapbooks. I originally wanted this so we could print nice quality photos instantly at the restaurant when Santa is there, but the photographer recommended a different printer (which we bought) and I got this one for myself at home. This one only prints up to 4×6, but the one for the restaurant will print larger if we need it. (Although I only got 4×6 paper anyway to use for Santa pictures next weekend)

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Edited: There were several things I forgot to mention… a car painted in PIZZA, but that will have to go on another page… I added in the box turtle I stopped to help across the road. I’d never picked up a box turtle, that I can recall, so was stupidly nervous, but I didn’t want him to get squished. He actually may have helped ME as much as I helped him, because then shortly after I got on the interstate my tire had a big problem, and it was JUST at the last exit near the house, so it was easy to get back home safely. Another thirty seconds further up and it would have been a mess!

Then, because of that, in the evening we had to drop her (him??) off at the shop to stay overnight which made me as sad as if I’d had to leave a puppy behind. So I’ve added those two little items. And in fact, even though it isn’t laid out perfectly, it made the page look more finished as well!