Relaxation

My Moleskine has been sitting neglected for what seems like the longest time. I use it when I want to experiment or get messy with mixed media. I decided to give it some attention in the last week. I started off with a watercolor wash and salt. Then I added the mandala in black acrylic paint with the white details in gelly roll pen. Making mandalas is such a peaceful process for me. I don't really think about how it will evolve, it just comes organically when I'm in flow.



The other night before bed, I brought up my watercolor sketchbook, watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons and PITT pen to the bedroom. My bedtime routine usually consists of reading a book or doodling before I fall asleep. Both clear my mind and relax me enough to easily fall asleep. Sometimes though, the doodling actually fires me up and I lose my window of falling asleep at a decent hour because I have too much creative energy and want to do more, more, more.

I had watched a video by Alisa Burke right before bed, so my inspiration came from her work.

Blue Parrot

So I didn't work on the cat painting like I said. I don't know why but the clean up from acrylics holds me back from using them when it's so easy with watercolors. I will get to that cat painting soon.

Instead, I tried out my new larger size Strathmore Visual Journal in the 9 X 12 size.

This bird's face was huge to paint. I'm not sure I will do another bird this size. I felt like I couldn't control the watercolors. I used watersoluble markers to help with details.

Cardinal

I started this painting last month and put it aside until last night. I want to get all my unfinished paintings completed. It felt good to get this one done. Next up is an unfinished acrylic painting of one of my cats.

Daisies

When I first started playing with watercolors, I went to the library and took out whatever books they had on the subject. One of the books that I really liked was Watercolor for the first time by Kory Fluckiger. At the point I took the book out from the library it seemed too advanced for me. I loved his work though. He's very talented. I took this book out again for the third time and this time I did a painting from the book. He pretty much walks you through the process which is really great. I couldn't get the depth of the center of the daisy like he did, but overall I'm very happy with the way mine turned out.

Zendoodle Handprints

This was a gift for my husband for Father's Day. He's not big into the whole gift buying/receiving fanfare, so handcrafted is always preferred. My boys had fun dipping their hands in paint.

This was done with acrylic paint on an 8 X 10 canvas. The white detailing was done with gelly roll pen.

Giraffe

This is a card that I made for my daughter. She is really into giraffes right now. Her birthday was yesterday and the card put a big smile on her face. It was worth the time and effort just for that big smile.

Bright and Bold

I've been in a funk lately. I haven't made any real art in weeks. I still have several unfinished pieces that I have yet to touch. However, I'm still working on the Index Card A Day. I have a bunch I need to photograph and post. But since I'm in a funk, taking photos has been put aside too. I think part of my problem is adjusting to school being out. I haven't been able to get a good schedule going of activities for the kids and my usual routine is out the window. I need to work on that.

Today I really had the urge to play with paint. I took out the watercolor sketchbook and doodled. I wanted to paint with bright, bold colors. I love how uplifted I felt by them. I love color!

Keeping Busy

I haven't posted to the blog lately because I didn't have any completed work to show. I have a few things still in progress and I seem to be jumping from one to the other. I have a two page spread going in my Moleskine that has collage and a lot of layers, I have a cat portrait on canvas in acrylics that is half done and I have a red cardinal in watercolor half done.

Then I saw a new challenge by Tammy of Daisy Yellow that interested me. She is doing an Index Card A Day challenge for the months of June, July and August. You can get details here.

I asked my 8 year old if he would be interested in doing it with me and he said yes. I don't know that he will do one a day, but I think he will do several a week when he sees me working on them. I bought a pack of blank index cards for this challenge.

Here's some cards the I worked on and the last one is one that my son did.







And here is a couple of sketches from my small sketchbook that I carry with me.