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.

March 8, 2016 ~ A Walk in the Woods ~ Art Journal

"Don't walk behind me: I may not lead.

Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.

Just walk beside me and be my friend."

~Albert Camus

These two girls represent my best friend, Weezie, and me. She and I have been best friends for 50 years, reared out children together, lived across the street from one another (I actually lived in the home in which she grew up), and now she is in an extended care facility with serious RA and after having had heart attacks, a stroke, and now she is having memory problems. My husband is taking me to see her Mar. 9 and 10 (it's too far for me to drive alone) because I an so afraid she could become more ill if I wait too long. These little pictures that I draw are my way of dealing with my sadness and a way to keep our happy times together alive and doing well. We were so close and our two families were like one extended family. She is the Godmother of my middle child, and he and his wife named their daughter, Eloise, for her. This little building reminds me of some of the flats in Cancun and in Ireland (two of our trips together) and San Juan. They were all painted pastel colors, had window boxes with flowers, and so very pretty. Many had the little balconies on the second floor.

Here are 2 photos of us...one taken as we were leaving for Ireland in 1996, and the other is the last photo I have of the two of us taken at the nursing home in early 2015.

 It is so hard to believe that this was taken almost 20 years ago.

This was taken at the nursing home in Asheville, NC.

This post is linked with:
 Take a Word Challenge with its "Purple" Prompt
and 
Digital Whisper with its "Lavender" Prompt.

March 5, 2016 ~ Weezie and Genie in Purple ~ Art Journal

"Don't walk behind me: I may not lead.

Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.

Just walk beside me and be my friend."

~Albert Camus

These two girls represent my best friend, Weezie, and me. She and I have been best friends for 50 years, reared out children together, lived across the street from one another (I actually lived in the home in which she grew up), and now she is in an extended care facility with serious RA and after having had heart attacks, a stroke, and now she is having memory problems. My husband is taking me to see her Mar. 9 and 10 (it's too far for me to drive alone) because I an so afraid she could become more ill if I wait too long. These little pictures that I draw are my way of dealing with my sadness and a way to keep our happy times together alive and doing well. We were so close and our two families were like one extended family. She is the Godmother of my middle child, and he and his wife named their daughter, Eloise, for her. This little building reminds me of some of the flats in Cancun and in Ireland (two of our trips together) and San Juan. They were all painted pastel colors, had window boxes with flowers, and so very pretty. Many had the little balconies on the second floor.

Here are 2 photos of us...one taken as we were leaving for Ireland in 1996, and the other is the last photo I have of the two of us taken at the nursing home in early 2015.

 It is so hard to believe that this was taken almost 20 years ago.

This was taken at the nursing home in Asheville, NC.

This post is linked with:
 Take a Word Challenge with its "Purple" Prompt
and 
Digital Whisper with its "Lavender" Prompt.

March 2, 2016 ~ Geometrics in my Art Journal

"I'm not confused, I'm just well mixed."

~Robert Frost

Some days I do not feel like I am very well mixed,  and as I grow older and older I find myself more and more confused. Still, I love this quote from Robert Frost. It makes me smile.

These are two of my art journal pages using geometry figures. For the quilt square, I used watercolor pencils and Micron pens while for the 9 Square it was all pen and ink. It was really difficult to replicate the middle on the top with the middle on the bottom. A light box comes in handy, but I still had to figure out what to do with each of the lines.When I set out to do this, I had no idea how long it was going to take especially for that middle square. The one exciting thing that came out of it was the third little square on the bottom row of the middle somehow, magically, showed perspective which I usually cannot create. This little square looks like stone steps either going up or down, and it was so exciting to see them. How I did it I do not know, but I will be referring back to this in the future if I want to do any steps. I added the little bits of red because I thought it perked up the drawing. The prompt for this week was "geometric".

This post is linked with I Play along at Inspirational.

February 5, 2016 ~ Love Special Delivery ~ Art Journal

March 1, 2016 ~ A Sketch of Jack ~ Art Journal

"Good art is not what it looks like,

but what it does to us."

Roy Adzak

This is my first attempt at sketching my VERY OLD Schnauzer, Jack. He now sleeps most of the day and he appears to be losing his sight and hearing. Instead of playing with my granddaughter and her friend when they come for a visit, he goes and hides. He used to scamper on their heels all around our non-use-farm. It is so sad. The one thing he continues to do with a vengeance is bark when Buddy is leaving for work. That really upsets him. The other one is when the pest control man comes - who he does not like - I have to put him in his kennel, and then he barks the entire time Mike is here. So...he still has perk left in him, but not what it used to be. He continues to be my baby, and “King I” around this old place along with “King II”, Trouble, Bud's cat! Trouble does NOT want to have anything to do with me.

This post is linked with Moo-Mania and Inspirational Challenges.

February 28, 2016 ~ Pam's Basket and a Lady Slipper ~ Art Journal

"Knowledge is power..

   knowledge is safety...

knowledge is happiness."

~Thomas Jefferson

This pretty little basket was made for me some 30 years ago by our art teacher. Pam Tinsley back when we taught at Highland Belle Middle School.  I have used it over and over again through the years, and it is still in pristine condition. It is one of my favorite things in which to place fresh flowers.  I need to learn where to place my journal in order not to get all the noise in the photos. This one is full of it.

The Lady Slipper was sketched using Dr. Oscar Gumption’s book entitled Wildflowers of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Dr. Gupton was a professor in the Department of Biology at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA, during his lifetime. His son continues to be a friend of my boys.

This post is liked with 

Paper, Paint, Pencils, and Pens

and

Friends Meet Friends

February 21, 2016 ~ School Days ~ Art Journal ~ Flowers

“The only thing that is stopping you from where you are to where you want to go is your comfort zone.” 

~Dhaval Gajera

Ever since I started working with my watercolors back in 1995 when I did my series on the Oklahoma City Bombings, I have always done this primitive type of work. Sometimes I think it looks a bit Mennonite or Amish, but there are no hats, bonnets, lace coverings and no faces. As far as perspective goes, I have a lot of work to do. Yesterday I started on this little drawing in my art journal after reading the prompt of “Flowers” for Paper, Paint, Pencils, and Pens. This is a blog where people who are interested in drawing to a prompt can come to participate. My flowers are not fancy, but they are all me, and they make me happy drawing them. The story in my head is it is a day off from school, so all the children are playing out front in the flower garden, the tree, and on the equipment.Right now I am trying to draw a Lady’s Slipper, and I am really being put to the test. This is way out of my comfort area, but that is how I learn and move forward. I sent Eloise a picture of this, and being the budding artist she is she flipped out. "Oh, Baga, how in the world did you do all that?” I knew she would get a kick out of it. I hope it makes you all smile.

Look for:

~Trouble, Buddy’s cat

~Children on the see-saw

~Children on the swing set

~Children sitting on the bench

~Children climbing the tree

~Boy and girl playing ball
~School Bell
~Tree swing
~Apples

~Wagon

~Birds

This post is linked with Paper, Paint, Pencils, and Pens.

February 19, 2016 ~ More Red and Lots More Love ~ Art Journal

 Leave All Things and Come with Me.

Let’s Dance

Reminisce

~ Did you ever take tap dancing as a child?

~Did you ever wear a frilly outfit like this?

~I took tap and adored it, but never did I sport an outfit like this one.

She is oh, so cute.

Sorry I cannot seem to photograph my journal evenly. It seems like one side is always a bit cut off. Actually they are straight. These two are on pages side by side, but to photograph them together makes them so small you cannot read the letters. Both of these collages were made with some old papers I had for the backgrounds, common doilies, cut and paste, typing, and Kim Klaassen’s "Softly" texture. The little girl with the tap shoes came from Reminisce Magazine.

This post is linked with:
Lunagirl Moonbeams - Love
Three Muses Challenge - Love
Moo Mania - Hearts

February 18, 2916 ~ The Music of Love ~ Art Journal

This post is linked with The Art Journal Journey.

This piece is made up of multiple layers combined in PSE 9 - my favorite. The girl with the violin was a free stock photo from the internet and the two textures I used were “Music” from the Internet and Kim Klaassen’s Doodles and Stitches. I used “hard light” to mix with the colors.