A Learning Experiece & my favorite poem

Another page for Mandy's Journal this one was not assigned -- just do whatever you want to do.... I wanted to include this poem somehow -- I just LOVE this poem - at first I thought about illustrating all the little images -- stars, birds, grain, etc. - but I realized that would get way to busy and the images would be too small.. so I went to a local cemetery during my lunch to find angel statues - its a huge cemetery but I only found one angel she was at the grave of a very young woman who died around 1917 --I sketched the angel with colored pencils but when I went to write the poem -- the wax in the colored pencils severely inhibited my ability to write the poem

Lesson learned don't plan on using ink over color pencil - Here is a photo of the angel

Ten minute experiment

I set the timer for ten minutes and first sketched this spent hibiscus with water color pencils - then I gave myself another ten minutes and used my Pitt Brush Pens-

I was able to get a lot more depth with the Pitt Brush Pens - I used the grays for a value sketch and then went in with the colors over that -the pitts sketch was under 10 minutes and I felt like I wanted more time to go back in and develop the darks with the watercolor pencils

- I think so much is about learning to use your tools--

My Style ?

Another page for Mandy's journal project I was supposed to talk about my style -- I don't think I have one. These pictures show two extremes of me --the Hammered Dulcimer Player Me and the Old Lady Biker Me.

My daughter and I laugh hysterically when I put on my biker helmet -- and my sister can't look at me when I put it on because they both think it is not me at all - I just think its silly and fun-- All the little boys that see it have to tell me how much they really like my helmet - I believe them.

I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 52 -(I am 59 now and in the photo above)-I really love the way it makes me feel when I ride - it reminds me of when we had a horse (her name was Cowgirl) and I would go galloping through the fields bareback (Cowgirl was bareback I wore clothing)

http://www.1001journals.com/journals/3107/

Mandy's original post was Message #54272 New Dutchie introducing herself.

My first real Journal pages

This page was done as part of an assignment for Mandy's journal project. Mandy recruited participants from around the world in the making of a journal that is part of the 1001 journal project. I volunteered to make some pages to be a part of her journal. Her journal will consists of Art Journal pages from 15 different contributors. She has sent out pages with written assignments for us to do. Some focus on technique, some on soul searching, some on observation. Contributing journalers then send their finished pages back to Mandy and include an assignment for her to do when the package is returned to her. My completed journal pages are on their way back to Mandy in the Netherlands.

This is one of the seven pages I was assigned. It is a map of my day -

I am not really a "journaler" or "collager" I am more of an "eater" and "drawer" ... but I really enjoyed the assignments and it was a fun and different experience I can't wait to see the whole journal. Some of the journal pages are -- well more personal than I am on my blog but ... they will be up for all to see when Mandy puts them up in her journal.

http://www.1001journals.com/journals/3107/

Mandy's original post was
Message #54272 New Dutchie introducing herself.

Water color questions is it me or the paints?

this is a small-- 4" x 7". Sort of quick-- under one hour no hair dryer. Watercolor on canson water color paper the smooth side. Painted with very cheap ($11.00 for 24 larger tubes) reeves brand watercolors from hobby lobby- I'm not sure if its me, just the way watercolors are, or the paints. To me it looks muddy and sort of gritty not sparkling bright colors like I see in so many posts - I'm sure that my inexperience with any fluid art mediums is a large factor but I also wonder if better quality paints make any difference and if so what brands are you all using --- Thanks comments and suggestions greatly appreciated

Moleskine Storyboard Notebook

One of my purchases during my recent bout of BEAS disease *(Buys Excessive Art Supplies) was a Moleskine Storyboard Notebook there are 82 boxes 2.1875" x 2.75" or for you metric types 5.5 cm x 7 cm. I have labeled each of the first 82 boxes with EDM challenges 1-82. I have completed six of the challenge boxes with little drawings. Actually the bag is not yet done and the lamp is overdone -- never-the-less --I plan to complete the remaining 76 boxes -

But.... there are 152 smaller boxes- four per page - on the last 38 pages. They are 1.1875" x 1.435" or 3.7 cm x 3.9 cm - What were they thinking? those are really very tiny boxes - I don't know if I can work that small - what can I do with the last ONE HUNDRED FIFTY TWO tiny boxes??? --bug drawings?? any suggestions will be appreciated.

Something Dangerous / Boogies enemy

One of the bad things about Oklahoma --- Scorpions live here !!!

These things are just plain creepy we have them around our house and our little nine pound Shih Tzu has been stung twice by them - He now knows not to mess with them and growls when he sees one

Watercolor on a 140 lb cold press Strathmore Watercolor postcard

Inspired by Starrbaby Sorra

My apologies to the artist I got her painting upsidedown and sideways but I am not as uninhibited as she and my washes are only an approximation of her clear bright colors and sweeping gestural strokes -

I loved this post http://wistex1129.blogspot.com/2008/08/sorras-watercolor.html by Starr and was inspired to try my hand at a quick sketch - While cleaning the house today everytime I made a trip into my studio I added a little more - I still have two more bathrooms to do but this work is done!

Watercolor & watercolor pencil on canson paper. Thank you Starr & Sorra-

EDM #61 a grouping of 2 or more similar objects

These are old (antique?) brushes from an estate sale, they were given to me several years ago by my sister Jean-- this is the first I have used them -- they were wonderful models they stayed put and never moved unless I told them to. This is watercolor pencil and ink in my moleskine -

PS -- I have found that lightly rubbing a white eraser over the moleskine sketch book page removes the sizing and prevents the washes from beading up on the page. This is easier for me than mixing washes with a little soap.

Thank you Geoffrey Williams !

Gunnar & I drove to Dallas on Saturday ( to deliver a case of Old Style Beer from Chicago) to our daughter & son-in-law. We went out to dinner at a fun Cajun restaurant called RAZOOS just as we were finishing our meal a man walked up with a large piece of paper in his hand he said

"This isn't for money I'm not selling anything but I'm an artist & I like to challenge myself by sketching -- I made this sketch of you folks and would like you to have it"

How fun was that!!??!! I love the sketch talk about flattering I just lost 20 lbs and my old lady wattle--

left to right my daughter Kajsa, son-in-law Brendan, husband Gunnar, then me.

BLOGITIS

In addition to my case of BEAS disease - I seem to be suffering from Blogitis - I think it is quite evident from this self portrait -( no I did not get punched in the face I just look like this - sorta)