Pastel version

I thought the water color was flat and boring so I tried the same reference in pastel-- I like it much better -- of course-- it took quite a bit longer to do about two or three hours compared to maybe an hour on the water color version--- this piece is 11" x 15" (on Brenda Mattson paper which I don't like )- I actually enjoyed doing this so maybe I will allow myself to do some more pastel and pencil pieces and work on watercolors and sketching a little less - AHHHHH it feels good to do something fun again

Forcing Myself -#2

It's like a switch was turned off and the lights went out - I have not felt like making art in weeks and I miss it but I am having a very hard time getting switched back on - tonight I just forced myself - I found a photograph in a book about old houses and used it as a reference not good art but not awful - I think I just burned out for a while and now I'm trying to get going again - watercolor 8" x 11"

The Art of Baking

OK I found this on line recipe for no knead crusty bread so I tried it - started it around 8 last night and finished baking at 5 pm today - easy and good was VERY crusty so I rubbed the loaf with butter which makes it softer try it both ways - I'm surprised how good it tasted and had a very nice texture See it done here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU
No Knead, Dutch Oven Bread1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting.
You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing

Different strokes from Different Folks week 19-20

Another challenge from Karin Jurick at Different strokes from Different Folks her reference photo was a night time scene of the Jefferson Memorial. The challenge was posted just when we had a beautiful full moon at perigee. Every time I saw the reference photo I was reminded of the beautiful moon we were seeing and so the dome became the moon in my version of this challenge -

Watercolor 9" x 11"

Lethargic

Lately it's been hard to get motivated - but today I did a couple of little things in my sketch books (and dated them incorrectly)- so here they are -

I'm still learning -- this watercolor sketch of a cherry started out O.K but then with every glaze I went out side the lines so I had to fix it -- and the cherry kept getting bigger-- then I did not wait for the stem to be completely dry or else I used to much water when tinting the back ground - Live and learn -

this was a based on a sunset of a farm it started out so bad I was tempted not to finish it but then I messed around with a micron pen and it turned out much better than I had hoped for

I've been Tagged

over on Flickr they are playing a game of tag - if you are it you have to list 16 facts about you and post a photo of yourself - (I photoshopped my sister right out of this picture )

1. I'm the second of five children - I was also born a blond

2. My husband and I owned and operated an industrial manufacturing company

3. I love my children more than life itself - Two happiest days of my life were the days we brought our babies home from the hospital (we adopted both at birth)

4. My horse was named Cowgirl I loved to ride bareback

5. I taught snow skiing (snow plow classes)

6. I'm afraid of the dark (like a moonless night out in the woods no flashlight -)

7. My favorite food is Nachos

8. I listen to books on CD

9. I am a cancer survivor - I have been bald

10. I cannot sing - But I love to play music on my Hammered Dulcimer

11. Favorite music to listen to- Folk Based Blues -(Guy Davis)

12. I played the Cello when I was in Jr High School

13. Favorite summer drink is a Tanqueray Gin & Tonic

14. I had a flock of sheep and spun their wool and wove it on my loom

15. Gunnar & I lived in Ogden, Utah and Bellevue Washington in the 1970's

16. My sweet husband of 38 years makes me breakfast every Sunday

POP ART

yahoo!!!!! this is a sketch under an hour- this is what I joined EDM to learn to do - If I did it once I can do it again - I'm happier with this than any other piece I've done since June - except of course I am not happy with the handwriting and journaling but YEA!!! ME!!!!!

Forcing myself

Forcing myself to learn water colors -

I recently did a pencil sketch from the same black and white reference photo of my niece Arena. I tried to fix the eyes on the pencil sketch and I think I ruined it.

Arena was about 4 or 5 years old in the photo ( she is very old now -- at least 30!) This was one of her favorite photos of herself - and I've had the original or a copy of it for a long time --at least 5 years -- and never did anything with it ------- so then I was chiding myself for resorting to pastels for my recent self portrait and decided I would do a watercolor based on Arena's photo even if it was in black and white - In the reference her smile is so sweet and her eyes are all most elfish - She was and is very cute and sweet - this water color is not as sweet or cute as the real little person - but is the best I could do - I Love you Arena - AK

Zentangles & Mandala Zentangles for your relaxation

First I went to Barbara's Blog and saw some Zentangles - I really liked them - I had seen them before but did not quite get how to do them - mine just didn't look right . Barbara gave me a link to the Zentangle site where I could read about them and it helped me to see how it's done so I did a little page with just boxes to practice making some of the designs


So here is my first Zentangle - it was very relaxing and kind of meditative to do it I added color with pitt pens I like the bottom half better than the top halfThen I found another site how to draw a Mandala Zentangle I enjoyed making the mandala design. I will make more-- this is the perfect kind of art for those times when you don't want to do something big but want to do something relaxing and fun . Thanks Barbara.

The evolution of a self portrait

New Years Day -I did not get dressed all day - watched HGTV and did some zentangles ---then decided I wanted to do some real art - There was a portrait exchange over at Karin Jurik's Different Strokes but I missed the sign up so I decided I would just do my own portrait -

I put a rough sketch on water color paper but lost my nerve about doing it in water color - I thought I should do it in crayon- but then I thought maybe I would do it in the style I like to use with crayons but use pastels -

I scribbled random colors in the correct values to get the light and dark areas established -then started adding the correct local colors -It got real muddy so I sprayed it with water and pushed stuff around and wiped off some color then I reapplied some colors and real color and told my self to stop my mouth is very weird and wrong,--- some of the dark blues I used in the original value scribbles show through ---but mostly I like it and I tried something different -

happy new year !!

Getting the most out of "An Illustrated Life"

For Christmas I received a copy of Danny Gregory's An Illustrated Life it was a wonderful surprise ( from me to me)- -
It is a beautiful and fascinating book but I don't want to miss a thing - I followed Winna Jill's advice to getting the most out of every page

If the shoe fits AKA - EDM # 1

this shoe won't fit anyone - it is very small and the front half is solid -- no place for toes - A gift from my niece It is made of some kind pottery - I enjoyed sketching it - my sketch is larger than the shoe-

then a really quick sketch and a few blobs of water color I liked the water color so much I put color on the first version too.

JUL BOK

Water color and micron pen in moleskine watercolor sketch book 8 1/2" x 5"

My husband was born in Sweden and came to the US with his family when he was 13 years old--- that was many many many many many years ago. We have a big Christmas eve meal that includes many traditional Swedish dishes. We decorate the house and tree with a lot of Swedish Christmas decorations. My favorite decorations are the straw goats they are called Jul Bok - In Sweden there are trolls called tomten who bring gifts on Christmas eve in a sled pulled by goats - so these straw goats are kind of like reindeer - sort of --

I'm not sure how many of these we have this one is about 12" tall I have one that is close to three feet tall - Our tree has lots of straw ornaments, red hearts, paper Dala horses and sometimes Swedish flags.

Here is Boogie and the Jul Bokken waiting for Santa

A Sketch of some Hammers

So back to practicing water colors and sketching - a pair of hammers that I seldom use but they were interesting to sketch -water color on a very strange paper I have no idea where I got it but it is not really like paper more like plastic 4 1/2" x 8" fairly quick 45 minutes maybe - I am learning but I still need to work on my quick draw - drawing skills

I buy lots of hammers it must have something to do with BEAS disease some related syndrome but hard to diagnose - maybe I think I'll play better if I have better hammers but mostly I think I'll play better when I practice more - mmm do ya think practice would work?

my first public performance

I don't "Play Out" as they say in the hammered dulcimer world - it means I only play in my studio and I never play for any kind of an audience - I have severe performance anxiety - I choke- big time -and my playing is an absolute train wreck if I think any one can see or hear me play - but at night if I am not making art I am making music-

I am mostly self taught and I just love the sound of this instrument - my Hammered Dulcimer is a Chromatic Grand built by David Lindsey of Bennington Oklahoma - I bought this one about 6 years ago when I lived in Illinois-- David had a booth at the Gebhard Woods Dulcimer Festival in Morris Illinois - and I had to have one of his dulcimers- they have the EXACT sound I was looking for (it is bright, brassy and loud- like me- without much sustain- also like me -) my first dulcimer was a Dusty Strings ( not enough notes) so then I got a Master Works (too much sustain and too soft a voice) and then I got my Grand it is absolutely just right

Thanks to the extreme kindness and supportive remarks that my EDM friends make regarding my attempts at art - I have the nerve to post my first public performance on the hammered dulcimer - It took about 10 takes to relax enough so I could get through this short version of Carol of the Bells - just knowing I had the camera on made me nervous

anyway thanks to everyone for the kind comments and support you have shown me both on my blog and my FLICKR I am wishing you all the very best in the coming New Year

December Virtual Sketch Date

Pastel on Brenda Mattson paper 11"x15" for Virtual sketch date

this paper has very little tooth I don't think I like the paper -I am, however, satisfied with the drawing -

This is not what I would call a sketch it took about 3 hours - I did make an attempt with watercolors but that went straight into the trash - I am thinking more and more about - not learning to sketch in ink or watercolors but just play around with my standards pencils and pastels - I am so much more relaxed when I do -

Different Strokes - Her Boots - (maybe final version)

This is the version I submitted to Karin's Different strokes from Different Folks - I'm having fun with the crayons but I think maybe this background is boring -I found a box of 64 crayola brand crayons - Kajsa gave them to me when she was cleaning her craft area out - and I discovered them while I was reorganizing my studio -- I enjoyed kind of scribbling with them -

I'm trying to blog less create more

this was a demo/lesson on the Painting & Drawing channel that I watched on you tube last night -- the lessons change weekly so it may not still be there - I watched the video and then went straight to my studio to practice - It turned out ok but I don't like the sky - scan is not quite true to color but close enough -

This is the new challenge on Karin Jurick's Different Strokes from Different Folks I did this real quick in crayon & I like it way more than my water color for the last challenge -- but I'm posting the good and the bad so that was bad this one is pretty good - I'm considering if I want to do more or leave it as is -

Different strokes from Different Folks

Karin Jurick has an interesting weekly challenge at her blog Different Strokes from Different Folks- (see all the entries for this week here )

the reference for this week's challenge was the photo below - my version is 5" x 8" on 90 lb watercolor paper it is done in watercolor, - this is my second time to participate it is a fun challenge.

Clean Studio

This may not happen again for quite some time - but I got my studio in order - It does not look this neat today as I played in it yesterday ---and so it is now lived in - this is my favorite room in the house -

I had wanted to paint the walls and ceilings when we moved here but it was one of the better rooms in the house and now it has been close to three years and there are still MANY projects ahead of this one - we might even get to do the kitchen this winter !!! Yahoo!!!!! my kitchen is vintage 1970 it can use a lot of updating - at this rate maybe in 3 or 4 years I will get my studio painted, replace the old patio doors and get rid of the carpet which has some pastel dust stains - but I still like this room - it is my first room totally devoted to art and music -no computer -no TV -no guest bed (but it has been slept in a couple of time using blow up bed)