Day at the beach

The weather seems to be heating up, that it was a great day to go to the beach.  So we packed the car up with the dogs and art supplies and we were off.  First we went to Santa Barbara to have lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  After lunch I went to the local art store where I bought some mi tientes paper in black and pink.  I also got a couple bottles of FW acrylic ink and more water brushes.

 

We headed back to the coast and stopped a beach that I've always have seen on the other side of the freeway and finally figured out what exit to take so we could go to that beach.

 

Found a perfect spot and spent several hours just soaking in the sun and painting.  This is the view of the mountains and the small cove that we were sitting at.  Watching the waves go in and out was rather relaxing.  By 4pm we decided it was time to go home.  Not only did we create a memory, but I also got a few paintings out of this outing.

 

 

 

 

 

Barn Owl

I've always have thought Barn Owl are so sweet looking.  It's something about the eyes.

 

 

 

 

Morning free painting

I really like it in the early morning when the house is all quite and I'm alone with my paints.  This is a flower from my garden.  Used acrylic ink in water brushes.

 

 

 

 

 

Acrylic ink drawing

Some days I just like to try new things.  As of late I've been using my water brush to do line drawings and then filling in the painting  with watercolor.  Well I've taken it a step further.  I bought a couple of Zig Brush H20 and filled them with Daler Rowney FW acrylic artist ink.  This water brush is filled with indigo blue.  The tip of the water brush is probably a mini or small tip. 

 

On this painting I used the indigo to do the contour of the bull dog puppy and then took another water brush filled with burnt umber to give the puppy some detail and making him more three dimensional. 

I like the idea of not giving too much detail, but just a hint of shading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 just a closer view of the detail.

Colorful kitty

 

I don't paint kitties or cats as much as I would like.  Having four dogs makes it difficult to have a kitty around.  My dogs seem to be rather protective of their living space.  Theses days I'm trying to draw more and more with the paint brush and only adding a hint of pencil or marker to finish the paintings off.  On this painting I used DS watercolors and Schmincke gouache.

 

 

Scaled Composite "White Knight" space ship

Friday morning I got up at the crack of dawn so I could drive out to Mojave Airport to see Scaled Composite "White Knight" mother ship carrying the spaceship make one of their test flights.   My husband works for Scaled Composite as a spaceship engineer.  The Spaceship is the world's 1st commercial spaceship. The company is also in the process of designing and making the world's biggest airplane, much bigger than a 747.  Not only do I get to hear about the process and hard work that goes into building this aircraft, I can see history being made with each successful flight.                                                                      

As we were waiting for the flight to happen, my husband took this photo.  It's interesting to see the ground crew do last minute pre-flight check.  Once the spaceship was cleared for take off, I saw the ground crew pack up their gear and the emergency Fire trucks come out and follow the spaceship.   It's rather amazing to see the rather large spaceship take off and climb up into the sky.  When it gets to  a certain altitude (10 miles), the space ship, which is at the center of the mother ship is released. No rockets are fired for this test glide flight, and the space ship takes 10 minutes to descend 10 miles to the runway.  For later test flights this year, the space ship, after release, will light its rocket and blast into space.  To learn more visit their website:  www.scaledcomposite.com.

 

 

While waiting for the space ship to return I did this line drawing of the windmills in the distant and the mountain range in the distant.

 

 

 

Midori Traveler's Star Edition Passport size

Ever since I discovered the Midori Traveler's Notebook on flickr, I've been debating about buying one.  For the past year I've been making my own journals, so I wasn't sure the Midori's size was big enough for me to work in.  So after looking at many photo's of the Midori, I thought I'd try my hand at making one since the design is very basic and easy to put together.  Finding leather material locally has been a problem, so I improvised  by using vinyl, which was easy to find at Joann's.  To make the vinyl a bit more sturdy, I found stiff felt pieces that I would glue to the inside cover.  After making the same size of the Midori regular size and the passport size, I experimented with making other sizes with the same simple concept.  So I now have at least 5 in the regular size and 5 in the passport size.  I've been taking them on test runs and it seems like a doable notebook for me to work with.

 

When I went to San Francisco last month, I made a point of going to a Japanese stationary shop called Maido so I could actually see how this Midori looked and felt like in person.  I bought some of the accessories and decided I would order one when I got back home.  Maido has an online store www.mymaido.com.  There is definitely a cost difference, so much cheaper to buy online.  So I bought the Traveler's Star Passport edition that comes in Carmel.  I ordered it on Tuesday morning and received 2 days later.

 

Just opening the envelope to take the Midori out was worth taking pictures.

 

 

 Wrapped like a present.

 

 This is what came in the wrapped paper.

 

The Midori comes with it's own cloth sack.

 

 Documents that come with the Midori, along with a ferry pass.

 Journal that was inside the Midori.

First page of the Journal.

 

 back of the Midori when closed.

 

 

Now to take my Midori on a little trip to break it in.  Yes it was well worth the wait.

 

 

More pears

I liked the background of this painting, but one of my pears looks a little wonky.  I also think I'm getting bored with painting pears.  Time to go back to the subject matter I love painting ... DOGS!!!

 

 

 

A trio of pears

 

I thought I'd try painting three pears together.  I really like the technique of  using  Mr. Clean eraser to lift paint.  I used a checker board stencil and used the eraser to lift the color.

 

 

Tan French bull dog

OK this guy looks a little wonky, but hey...I think he's cute.   I used a #1 round to sketch in contour and then switched to a #8 round to add color and details.

 

 

 

French bull dog puppy

 

This what my French bull dog puppy will be when I do bring one home.  Isn't he cute????  I just used a #1 round brush to sketch in the shape and than switched to a #8 round to add details.

 

 

 

Elephant...

 

More practicing drawing with black ink.  When using a pen to draw, I really have to think about how I will drawn the elephant so no lines are over lapping.

 

 

 

 

Giraffe

I've been experimenting with brown craft paper using black ink from my Lamy fountain pen.  It's becoming rather freeing not to have use a pencil to drawn.  I go straight for the permanent black ink!

 

 

Red pear...

 

I forgot how time consuming glazing could be when you paint in watercolor.  On this pear I put on maybe 9 layers, used a stencil for the background, and a rubber stamp saying to add interest.  To speed up the process, I could use a hair dryer, way to noisy, I like to just let each layer dry naturally before I go onto the next glazing.

 

 

 

IF -- Urban

 

 

 

Pear of a different color...

Another page of pears...this time red.  Lots of layers, rubber stamp with words.  I used a fix-it so I could put down more layers if I want.  I'm not sure if I'll use a water based varnish to finish this painting off.

 

 

 

 

French Bull dog in pink collar scarf

I couldn't resist painting this guy with a pink knitted scarf.  I used watercolors and Faber castell wax resist colored pencils.  I'm not sure that I like the pencils...to soon to tell.

 

 

 

Green Pear

Today I worked on the front cover of my Pear-o-logy workbook.  Lots of glazing of layers.  I think I must of put on at least 10 layers.  I'm happy with the way this green pear turned out.  Tomorrow maybe I'll work on a red pear or pears.

 

 

 

 

French Bull Dog

 

Ever since my visit to Florence, Italy last summer, I have wanted to get a French Bull dog puppy.  I'm not sure what it is about the breed that I fell in love with.  May be it was their cute face and big ears, or their playfulness of spirit, they captured my heart.  Just don't tell Sophie or Maddie I'm lusting after a new puppy, otherwise they will get very jealous. At this point in my life our dog population of 4 needs to dwindle down to 1 +;  So I don't see a new puppy for a while.  But in-the-meantime I can dream and just paint French Bull dog portraits.

 

 

 

 

I used my waterbrush to draw and paint this little guy.

Pears

OK, I'm not one to paint fruit, but it does happen on occasion.  I signed up for this online class "Pear-o-logy with Martha Lever".  Sometimes I sign up for classes not for the obvious reasons, like wanting to learn how to paint pears, but more for learning how she assembled her  Pear workbook.  Well I figured out how she assembles her Pear workbook, but also came away with some new tricks of watercolor in painting pears.  So this is my first painting.  Tomorrow I'll try painting red and green pears.  I think this is going to be a week of Pears.

 

 

 

 

IF -- Egg

 

 

"Happy Easter everybody"!

This weeks topic for Illustration Friday was easy.

 

 

Kiss me, I'm pretty!

Anyone that knows me real well, knows I love giraffes.  I'm not sure it's their goofy expressions or their tall grace, I just love them.  So when I saw this guy, he was saying "Kiss me, I'm pretty!"  Who wouldn't want to kiss that cute face.

 

 

 

Tulips from San Francisco

When I was in San Francisco two weeks ago, I was amazed at all the Tulips blooming at Pier 39.  Everywhere I turned there was this explosion of tulips all around.

 

 

Daffodils from my yard

I've been rather ill for the last few days with that nasty stomach flu that's going around.  So I was pleasantly surprised to see my Daffodils finally have opened. 

 

 

 

Poppies at the local park

 

When I was visiting my sister last week in the SF Bay Area, poppies were growing  all over the local park near her house.

 

Purple calla lillies

 

Calla Lilies always remind me of my mother and her garden.  She grew these in many colors. 

 

 

White flowers

I can't seem to stop drawing flowers with my paintbrush.  The paint just seems to dance on the paper.

 

 

 

 

Orange tulip

 

A sample of a tulip from my garden.

 

A purple Iris

I like the simplicity of just using my paint brush to draw...my paintings seem to have much more fluid movement.

 

 

 

Rose

I really love painting flowers.  I like the idea of drawing and painting with my paint brush only.  Adding color as needed.

Paper 53

A simple line drawing using Paper 53 APP on my mini IPad.

 

 

 

 

 

Hummingbird Mixed Media Painting

While in the bay area saw this Hummingbird in my sisters garden.  Had to capture the moment.  I painted this on toned paper, using watercolor , gouache, Faber-castell Paper crafter crayons, and a black fine tip sharpie.

 

 

 

 

 

Visit to the SF bay area

Just came home from a wonderful visit to the San Francisco Bay area, where I'm originally from.  It's always good to go home and visit with my sister and brother-in-law.

From the moment my plane touched down, I was on the go.  Thursday went shopping at Daiso -- Japan where everything is from Japan and cost $1.50.  Bought a lot of art supplies and found some unique things too.  On Friday went to the Pleasanton Rubber stamping and scrapbook expo.  This is something my sister and I do each year.  As usual I spent way too much money on supplies I wanted, but didn't need.  I bought lots of rubber stamps by Judith, Spellbinder dies, lots of embellishments for card, a envelope score board which has a neat feature of rounding the corners.  We bought so much stuff that we had to make two trips to the car.

On Saturday we spent the day in San Francisco.  First stop was Flax Art and Design store.  This place  is huge.  It has a really cool selection of handmade paper, drawing and painting supplies, a book section, a fine pen department, blank book section, stencils, and much, much more.  I bought a couple of odd size watercolor pads, 3 Lamy converters, waterproof black ink, and some handmade paper.

After the art store we drove down to the Marina for lunch.  My favorite Italian restaurant has changed.  Now catering to 20 something.  Really loud and noisy.

The whole purpose of the trip to SF was to go to the art store and see the "Jersey Boys".  I wasn't sure what to expect because up until a few months ago I really never had heard of them under the name of Jersey Boys.  Well the musical was fabulous.  I am so glad my sister shared her tickets with me.

Afterwards we headed out to Pier 39 for dinner at the Fog Harbor Seafood Restaurant.  We had a wonderful view of the SF bay.  Was a great day, went home tired.

On Sunday we went to the cemetery to visit my parents.  We usually go to clean their headstones and bring flowers.  Hard to believe my father and my mother have been gone 16 years.  Rather disappointed that my nephew and nieces don't bother to visit their grandparents, especially since their father lived and was supported by my parents.  They would usually stay at my parents house every weekend and my parents were rather generous with their home, time, and money.   Their behavior is just one of those things I have to release and bless with love.

I'm always amazed how much San Jose has changed.  We spent the afternoon at Santana Row in Santa Clara shopping.  I've been wanting to go to this MaiDo which is a rather cool Japanese stationary store.  I was on a mission to see what the Midori Travelers Notebook looked like and what accessories I could buy to put in the notebook.  They have an online store where you can buy the same products, but much cheaper and they offer free shipping. 
 

On Monday I flew home.  My dog kids were so happy to see their momma, greeting me with kisses. I missed them and my husband too!

Koi fish

I was inspired by Claudia Nice in her new book  "Discover your world in Pen, Ink, and Watercolor", especially  a section in her new book on painting koi fish.  She made the process so simple.

Meadow and trees

Quick sketch of a meadow.

Misty

Before I was a dog person I had cats.  Misty and Smokey.  Misty had no voice and was rather independent.  She'd always be hiding somewhere in the house and the only way I could find her was to open a can of tuna and shout "Tuna Misty" and she'd come running.

Flowers from my daily walk

One of the many flowers I see when I go for my morning walk.