Tag: watercolor sketching

Quarantine Art Journaling 3/24/2020

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Over halfway through our self-quarantining in Virginia, and the Governor has added another 30 days. I’m ok with being home 30 days… but not happy about the businesses and individuals who will be losing huge sums of money. And the kids lost school year. My niece’s high school graduation!! (sigh) Anyway, it’s a great time to catch up on things! So, I’ve nearly finished cleaning and decluttering my studio! And I’m catching up on a few art projects I’ve promised out. We’ve also been recording some virtual Storytime sessions for Chick-fil-A Virginia Beach Blvd’s facebook page, that’s kinda fun. More work than I’d imagined because I don’t have the right equipment AND kinda stink at it. But… it’s still fun. And I hope to start my youtube channel soon… watch for it!

Meanwhile… the urban sketching group has set a daily sketching challenge… which I have ALREADY FAILED haha… but I’m going to participate on some days anyway. Day 1’s prompt was Hello, I am… (and sketch a selfie) So… here you go!

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I’m not sure how I managed to sketch myself looking both older AND FATTER than I am, plus SADDER. But, good enough, challenge accomplished.

Days 2-5 I skipped. Oops. I may go back for a couple. Fun journal prompts are always in demand. Day 6: “Do It Yourself”.

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Just a hammer I have in my studio. I also sat outside a while and reveled in the quiet beauty of our cherry trees in full bloom, the blossoms blowing all around me like snow. I didn’t capture the wonder and quiet, but it was nice taking the time to try:

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You can’t see the blossoms falling, which is too bad. Each quiet breeze brought a fluttering bouquet all around. I should probably try again tomorrow and see what I can improve.

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I want to be sure to mention my friend’s new youtube channel,Linked HERE, (Mandy Lewis-Houston) with a fun simple painting tutorial the kids will all enjoy (and grown ups, too, actually, as I proved myself with a tiny sketch in today’s journal entry!) You CAN’T do it wrong… give it a try. Plus… she’s both talented and funny, and there’s no telling where her art videos will lead.  (I might even cameo in one or two, if invited 😉 (subtle hints…)

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This was my entry for last Wednesday. Mandy-of-above-mentioned-channel and I decided to do a little Bible journaling. I didn’t do it in a Bible, though. I will tell you it DID lower my anxiety level, as I kept turning this verse and what it means over and over in my mind as I created my page.

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Some pretty cherry blossoms, too. Unlike today’s attempt! Definitely need a redo before they are all gone. (It happens so quickly!)

How is your self-quarantining going? I’d love to hear (or see) what you’ve been working on (or relaxing with) I hope you are all well!!

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!