Sunday Sketches ~ 6-12-16

Once again it is time for our most special "Sunday Sketches" over at Alexandra's Blue Chair Diary.

 Please come and join us.

My first attempt at painting on very old barn wood.
I used gesso and acrylics.

 Ain't I Cute

Flower Doodles
Working on petals and shapes of flowers, leaves, and flower pots.

I Love My Family

5-22-16 ~ Sunday Sketches

"Don't let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. 

Believe in yourself. Do what you love. 

And most importantly, be kind to others, even if you do not like them."

~Stacy London

Alexandra McVene's Sunday Sketches

Taking Alexandra's course in watercolors ~ Watercolor 101 ~ has really been a treat and way more inspiring than I ever could have imagined. Yesterday I was finally able to complete the leaf exercise and also my first attempt at the peacock. It definitely needs lots of improvement with the blending of color in the feathers. That is what I plan to work on today. Thank you again and again Alexandra for helping me with the lessons. Everything is working just fine :-) If you are a beginner or even someone who has some experience painting using watercolors, I highly recommend Alexandra's courses. They are reasonably priced, her instructions are so nicely and clearly presented, and they end up being wonderful and inspiring classes for anyone taking them.

Love Life and Yourself

This was such fun to do even though you can see I am still having difficulty with the flow and blending of colors. I did finally realize I was dragging the water brush from the side instead of head on which helped a lot. After I completed the leaves I just played getting ideas from Alexandra's lesson and then adding my own little touches. I'm going to take her suggestion and will do this little exercise each day before I start to paint. This was the Watercolor 101 Leaf Lesson.

 This is my first attempt at the Watercolor 101 Peacock assignment. My green and yellow blends went askew, but I am so happy with what I was actually able to do. Now, we will see if I can improve upon this later on today. Peacocks are so pretty. Back years ago when I lived in Asheville, NC, and my husband was the landscape architect for the Vanderbilt Estate, we used to take the children over to the staff quarters to see the peacock up close and personal. When they spread those feathers, it is an unbelievable vision of beauty.

The following are a few of the pieces I have just completed.

 Always Focus on the Future

(I was not sure whether to show the eye at the scope or not.)

Weezie and Genie in the Creek at the House

Whenever you see two little girls together in any of my pictures, they represent my closest friend of over 50 years, Weezie, and me. We only met when our daughters were in preschool, but I LOVE to imagine us as children together. She is now in a nursing home after serious strokes, complications of RA, and heart problems. Buddy takes me to see her in Asheville as often as he can. We love each other so much, and it is so sad we cannot be together. She has been a sister to me all of these years.

I did not have an idea how to paint water flowing over the rocks and splashing over our Wellies. Finally, I decided to use my white gel pen to make the splashes at our feet.

Let Your Inner Child Live

Friendships Grow with LOVE
(I'm in the blue hat and Weezie is in the yellow and green checkered dress. I wanted the stems to be at different heights so was unable to put us exactly side by side.)

Smile and Be Happy ~ It Is So Easy

(Note the two girls at the bottom left...they represent Weezie and me.)

5-12-16 ~ Flowers from Spots, Dots, and Splashes

Flowers 

The prompt this week for Try It on Tuesdays is:

Spots, Dots, and Splashes

For this art journal page, I glued two pages together so the ink and watercolors wouldn't bleed through. Then I took one of my flower cutters and cut a form from heavy card stock. I went around with it dabbing Tim Holtz's Antique Distress Ink Stains and then sprayed them with water. After they bled, I sprayed on some of his Distress Spray Stains and used some of the his little distress pads to add more color. When I finished I could see the beginnings of leaves and flowers all over the page. Some of the bleeds I used as stems, and others I drew in myself. After the page really dried, I outlined with a Micon pen turning the spots, dots, and splashes into flowers. Because of my quilting background, I decided to put dashes around all the flowers, stems, and leaves to give the feeling they had been sewn onto fabric. This is my first time ever trying something so free form in nature.

5-8-16 ~ Sunday Sketches and A Mother’s Day Memory

Alexandra's Sunday Sketches

This week the weather has been miserable so have had to spend a lot of time in bed with my back. There is something about the humidity and the fluid around the discs that can cause a bad situation even worse. With my little Koi, Van Gogh, and Windsor and Newton folding travel paint trays and my water brushes,  I am able to sketch and paint propped in bed. As you can see, I am having lots of trouble mastering the concept of "the wash", but maybe I will get it in time. I've just gotta persevere and try, try again and again.

Ever since I can remember I have been a lover and follower of Mary Engelbriet and her precious and child oriented paintings. I think I have every book she has written, and have collected her calendars for years along with picture frames, pocket books, pins, pot holders, fabric, wall hangings, note cards....you name it and I have it. One day this week I was looking at one of her pictures and loved the little house, her sun, and her apple tree. I added them to this, but they certainly do not look like hers. And to think that she started when she was only 10 years old. Amazing! Her life story is so inspiring.

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 The "Follow Your Dreams" and "The Sky's the Limit" are two of my mantras for young and old alike. Unfortunately, I keep messing up my Micron pens and my special "waterproof" highlighter pen. Am thinking I may be pressing too hard, or maybe I have gotten paint into them. I am waiting until each painting is totally dry before going over my sketch lines with the inking, but I am still having problems. Wish I knew :-(

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In Memory of My Mother on Mother’s Day 2016

5-1-16 ~ Sunday Sketches ~ Painting is Just Another Way of Keeping a Diary

I am having a wonderful time working through Alexandra's first two online classes. I created journals especially for her Hello Courage" class and her Watercolor 101 class, and today I finally finished making the cover. I saw a tutorial on You Tube and decided to follow it but put my own touch to it. The tutorial is "Art Journal ~ Being Creative" by Vicky Papaioannou. The quote is one I love from Picasso, the jar with the brushes is a stock photo from the internet, and the palette is mine. I came up with the idea of painting with acrylics and Gesso, and I used Ranger Texture paste and stencils. 

Art Journal Cover

 Inside Cover (In reality, the pink is a very light pink.)
Watercolor is of my granddaughter hiking with me.

 These are the swatch sheets for my two Artist's Loft watercolor sets.


First Assignment ~ Make Swatch/Color Charts

My little Koi and Windsow and Newton boxes had space in their lids 

for me to place color swatches in the order of the little trays. It is sososo helpful.

Part 1 - The Sketching Assignment 

Part 2 - Painting with Watercolors

I just finished the English Robin assignment. I was not happy with my first one, so I decided to do it over listening again and again to Alexandra's directions and pausing and staring at the computer screen as I was sketching. Boy, do I have a long way to go to learn her blending technique before I start on the flower wreath and the peacock. Our wifi out here in the boonies is so SLOW that it takes what seems like hours of buffering and then on for a bit to get thru one exercise...but it is well worth the wait :-)

I am joining in this week with Alexandra's Sunday Sketches.

3-25-16 ~ Just Some Doodling

"We used to play a lot outdoors, not in leagues,

but just in our spare time.

~Steve Yzerman

...Now, at 77,  I take pictures, doodle, and draw in my art journal.

Easter on My Mind 

Art Journal ~ Colored Pencil and Pen and Ink

Playing with Children and Faces, a Dog, and a Cat

Art Journal ~ Watercolors and Pen and Ink

3-20-16 ~ Bright Coneflowers on a Sunny Day

This is the process I followed with this art journal page:

Painted Gesso on an old book page

Sketched in my coneflowers and grass

Painted with acrylics and Galatos

Outlined with pen and ink

Added embellishments

Tammy at My Flower Journal back in 2013 posted a tutorial on her splatter art and how to turn it into flowers. She actually did this with lavender coneflowers on top of Gesso, and I tried it. This is my version of what she did, and I want to give her credit for her wonderful tutorial. Many Thanks, Tammy.

I wish I could photograph a journal page so that things like the ric-rac and the ribbons at the top do not look like they are going crooked and the green button does not appear to be running off the page. UGH! It seems like a hopeless case for me. Also, how in the world do you erase your lightly sketched outlines. I have been using the pen and ink to cover them up. Any suggestions? This is only the second time I have worked with Gesso. I am finding it a fascinating medium.

I am sharing this with the ABC Mixed Media Challenge ~ Crazy for Color 

3-18-16 ~ Learning to Paint on Gesso

Weezie, Genie and John as youngsters. 

On this picture, I used watercolors, Gesso, Galatos, and pen and ink.

My first attempt at using Gesso and painting over it.