Day 346 (Tues Dec 12) excuses for a week ‘off’…

Excuses For a Week Off: Well, not actually OFF, but most days I didn’t do art… one day I spent hours assembling a new studio table (yay!!!) and counted that as my art project, as well as the time I spent BEGINNING to reorganize that room… one day I drew a picture but couldn’t get my entry to post (I’m still wondering if this one will)… and I did a couple other puppy sketches as well. Puppy sketches, you ask? YES!! PUPPY SKETCHES!! The main reason I haven’t posted is we invited a 9 week old newfie puppy to join our family, and I’m consumed and exhausted. In fact she just went to bed, and I’m off as well, because in a couple of hours she will be back up to potty.  So now we have CRAZY Emmett, 18 months old, 135 (or so) pounds, and sweet Clara, now 10 weeks old, 22.8 pounds as of today’s veterinary visit. And I’ve spent most of my time carrying her in and out to potty and poop, and keeping crazy Emmett from smooshing sweet Clara with his big monster feet.

Yes, her tummy is that fat. But her nose is longer. I’ll get it, though.

For the darker sketch, I used an interesting pen. I’m adding the Amazon link for the pen (I am an Amazon Associate, so if you click on it and buy the item, I do get compensated… a little… but I only add links for items I think you might enjoy. Even if you don’t purchase it, I think it’s nice to have links for items so you can read all the details about them.) It is a Kuretake Zig Cocoiro Letter Pen, I received it in one of my monthly “Art Snacks” subscription boxes. I had never seen this pen before and wouldn’t have purchased it on my own, but I really enjoyed using it. The nib is stiff and creates a very fine line, but is also flexible enough to make different width lines. The body of the pen comes in many colors, and the refill shows through the end of the pen, and includes the nib of the pen. So as the pen runs out of ink, you’ll get a new fresh nib as well. AND, you can purchase different sized nibs on the refills, and different colors of ink. So in theory… you might only need one pen body, for lots of options. I enjoyed drawing with it, and look forward to using it for writing as well. We’ll see how the nib holds up over time. To me the only drawback is that the ink isn’t waterproof. WILL I purchase a refill for it when this runs out? Yes, probably. And possibly some of the other colors. So here it is:

Cool, huh? I like the blue body… but I want the pink one, too. 🙂 The blue part is the body… everything else is the refill.

Day 122 (Tues May 2) Watercolor Markers: Tree

Jerry’s Artarama had a clearance sale in April, and it drew me in several times. This weekend I could get my 10% off for having their “card”, plus an extra 20% off the last couple days of their clearance. So I picked up these Zig Clean Color watercolor markers. I doodled a tree while waiting for my husband, and enjoyed using them. (They are actually BRUSH tip, like a paint brush, not felt tip markers!) The result was ok for a first attempt. I was outside painting with a little tin of travel paints (to be discussed later in a separate post) and while my brush was wet anyway, I drew a wash across the tree… and liked the results much better! I only have greens, two browns, a red (which I’d previously received in an Artsnacks subscription package!) but I do lots of plants, so this is sufficient for now. I can find more on Amazon if I decide I need them.