Paint Party Friday June 27 2014

It's been a weird and unproductive week for me ....lots of ideas floating around out there but no energy for follow through. I was chalking it up to the whole FYBRO thing and then decided to check my blood pressure  and it was only 104/49 . So decided to monitor it the rest of the day and evening and it stayed low. When getting up this morning it was only 89/50. I had this once before many years ago and they gave me effidrine for it. So needless to say I did not take my blood pressure medication this am and had a couple of cups of coffee and it came back up to 121/67. I will be calling the doctor on Monday..he doesn't work on Fridays any more. I already feel more energized this morning but will be taking it easy all week end.  Perhaps my healthier eating and more exercise has lowered my pressure and I don't need the medications any more... One less pill would be wonderful.

 So enough whining about my health issues and onto the real stuff....the ART. 

I started 2 projects this week and really hoped to get one finished for my sister this weekend....but that didn't happen. 

Here is a picture of us when we were around 14 and 11. I'm the older one. 

I wanted to do a collage out it with lots of embellishments and layers of colors. This is as far as I got... going for a Victorian kind of look. 

So it has a long way to go yet.

It was supposed to be her birthday present 

:(  I'll give her a nice hand painted card with the original picture in it and a message about how her gift is a WIP and started with that picture. She'll go nuts trying to figure out what I'm doing with it :) 

The second is a big painting on plywood. I get these pieces of scrap plywood free at work. They were used to ship flooring tiles ect. and they just throw them out when the unpack the tiles. 

This one had lots of flaws and chips and I was going to fill them with wood putty , when I decided to just go with the texture. 

So far it has two coats of clear gesso on it and then one coat of white gesso over most of it leaving some of the wood texture showing. I may paint over the wood later we'll see how it goes. 

I've also added some interesting texture with stencils and texture putty. 

Close ups of some of the added texture....

I have absolutely no idea where I am going with this....but the process has been very enjoyable.

Linking to 

Just click on the link in my sidebar to get there :) 

There are some truly creative people who share their work every week. 

Summer of Color Week Two

SOC Week Two 

A quick page in my journal before I dash off to work. The coral looks more red in the picture than in life but don't have time to adjust the photo. 

Paint Party Friday----June 20, 2014

Thanks again to Eva and Kristin for hosting this fun event! 

Congratulations to Jane Coquillon on being chosen as the feature artist this week. Some amazing work on her blog for sure <3

The heat is here and I'm spending less time outside. Just staying out there long enough to do what has to be done and then coming inside to the cooler air.

Which means I have a little bit more time for art now :) So I actually have more than one piece to share this week. 

The Bee Balm in my gardens is in full bloom this week which has inspired two of the pieces. Here's the real thing....

Here are the two drawings I did ...

 The first one is done with my uniball SIGNA 207 and the second one is done with Prisma Colored Pencils. 

  

The painting for this week is a Tee-shirt that I wasn't all that crazy about  so I painted on it to make it more interesting. 

I used fluid acrylics mixed with Liquitex fabric medium. It's the first time I've used the fabric medium so we shall see how it does. It does make the paints much softer on the shirt instead of stiff. Time will tell how it holds up. 

The gardens are exploding.... I have flowers everywhere. 

These are some of the plants that I have around the fish pond in the back. There are several different kinds of Dragon Flies that live out there, but this is the only one I could get a picture of that day. 

Some random thoughts for today are....

Don't for get to check out the other great artist this week ...Just click on this picture on my sidebar and it will take you right there :) 

Summer of Color Week One

Summer of Color

This is the first time I have joined this challenge. I'm not sure I'll manage to keep up since I seem to have that problem this year. I will try and I will have fun :) 

Using a limited color palette was more difficult than I thought it would be...after what's so hard about creating an image using only 2 main colors and one accent. WRONG! I found that I had to almost slap myself to keep from grabbing a different color for shading and whatever. 

So here is my first simple entry ... using water soluble oil pastels on watercolor paper. 

I just know you're surprised it's a flower :) 

The Hub's calls these my "Hippy-Love & Peace" flowers. 

Linking to ...

http://twinkletwinklelikeastar.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-summer-of-color-week-one.html

Paint Party Friday

Friday!!! 

Opening day for the weekend and launch day for Paint Party Friday. Special thanks to Eva and Kristin for making this day "EXTRA" special :) 

This weeks art is a page out of my garden journal...

water color pencils and ink ..

 At first I wasn't liking it at all but after adding the ink it's starting  to grow on me. 

Kinda like my flower garden in front is growing on me. My husband decided he thought the bed would would great done in only purples and yellows..... I love a wilder mixed up cottage style garden. He likes it more tailored and defined. I tried to reach a happy medium ...but I'm really missing the reds and blues. Maybe after it's filled out more. 

The Bee Balm is about to bloom and then maybe I'll like it more. The empty spaces actually do have plants but they are new perennials that won't do much this year. I think I'm going to top off the mulch with some dark brown or black mulch and I think it will look better. 

I untied the branch to the storm damaged Rose of Sharon and they are still hanging down too far. Will tie them back up today and hope for the best. Worst case I'll have to prune heavily this fall. 

"Fuzz" has flown the coop :) He was ready and so was I ...taking care of a bird at work was becoming a real challenge. He didn't want to stay in his box at all. He sat on the ladder for about 15 minutes...just looking around and taking things in and then off he flew to join his family in the Plum tree. Lot's of robin singing and joyful noises coming from that tree. 

Today's thoughts...

Linking to ...

http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

Paint Party Friday June 6, 2014

It's FRIDAY!!!!! 

Thanks again Eva and Kristin for hosting this fun event and congrats to Tammie for being the feature artist of the week. Beautiful flowers and I admire your determination to paint every day :) 

It's been an absolute crazy week here.... everything is growing like crazy and I can't keep up , plus we have a new temporary resident at the house who demands lots of hands on attention all day long.

Meet "FUZZ"  :) 

He's a baby Robin that the dog found in the yard on Monday. 

Let me tell you that baby birds eats lots of food and very often. I can't imagine being a Moma bird and having to feed several babies at a time and having to go out and catch the food on top of it. Exhausting!!!! 

Fuzz is doing very well and has more than doubled in size since moving in on Monday. He goes to work with me and stays on an ice cream carton at the paint desk. He is already trying to fly and is so funny when I let him out to play in the bathroom at home. He has a very roomy tote that he lives in there. 

I think he has outgrown the coconut shell nest but he still sticks his head in there at night. 

So Fuzz is my art inspiration for this week. It's been a very long time since I tried to do a realistic bird drawing or painting but I think I did  a decent job of it. The little tuft of hair( feathers)  on his head is where I got his name from and it's pretty much gone now :( 

I finally got the Hummingbird feeder out and they are regular visitors to the deck now. I love watching them and trying to get good photos of them . 

 I even managed to get the fish pond cleaned out and the fountain running. Will put the fish back in it today...

Then I have to start harvesting the herb garden which is getting totally over grown with all of this rain.  

Today's Thoughts

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