Scales...

I wanted to try out my new Copic .03 black marker with my DS watercolors. I wasn't sure if the marker would bleed, and it didn't! Yeah!!!

I'm finding that my confidence has grown a lot with painting daily. I think like anything, practice really makes the difference. I've enjoyed experimenting and for me, that is the key of not getting bored with my art.

Koi Fish @ Huntington Garden's, Pasadena

During the summer I got an opportunity to visit Huntington Garden in Pasadena with my friend Brenda @ Amber Ridge Desert. It was rather warm while we were there, so I took lots of pictures of the beautiful Koi fish that they had in their Japanese Garden area.

One white bird

Another bird to the collection. He's rather white and had difficulty in getting his true color scanned.

Everyday Matters

I seem to be in a revolving door lately with doctor appointments and doctor's offices that do not have good magazines to read. So I thought I would start doing the Everyday Matter Challenges and take my Moleskine Plain journal that is roughly 9.5" x 7.5", my new Sailor 1911 Bordeaux Extra Fine nib fountain pen that I won on an Ebay auction and use my Copic Sketch markers to add color. I own about 50 Copic Markers and I wanted to learn how to shade using them, so I thought EDM challenges would be a great place to start. I kind of got these out of order and started with my hand first since that was the easiest to do.

Chinese Brush paintings

On Saturday I took my once a month Chinese Brush painting class. Focus of the class was magnolias and birds. On the painting with the bird, the class was just focusing on drawing an outline of a magnolia to get the feeling and volume of the magnolia. The bird on the branch was an embellishment that the teacher showed us how to add afterwards.

On the second painting...this was done on really pale green paper using white paint for the bud of the magnolia and then adding detail with the green paint and a rather water down brush of paint.

I found working on these two painting was very Zen and relaxing.

Two sweeties

I thought these guys looked sweet. I never realized how colorful birds could be.

Can we talk?

I really loved doing this painting. These birds remind me of two people having a conversation.

I'm not sure...

I'm not sure what type of bird this is...probably a parrot, but then too could be a parakeet. With this bird I got to use some of my newer Daniel Smith WC...cobalt teal, blue orche,and lapis. I had wanted to use some Golden fluid acrylic, but when I went to Joann Fabric to buy a couple of colors for some reason I couldn't remember where the art department was in the store. I finally remember about midnight last night.

I have my eye on you!

I've always have liked this photo when I've seen at Wetcanvas in their photo reference library. Something about birds and their bright color feathers and menacing eyes. His head feathers were time consuming...one stroke at a time.

Drama

I should of realized something was amiss yesterday which would set the tone for the rest of the day. I went to Kinko's to get 12 photo copies made and just as I pulled in the sky opened up with a down pour of rain, with a lightening shower in the distance. I made it inside without getting terribly wet. It was after making all the adjustments on the printer that I got 2 copies made before the power went out. I waited around for 20 minutes thinking the power would go back on,but it never did.

When I got home my dog Bella was contemplating her next move!

Then around 11 o'clock as I was winding down for the night I find my husband doubled over in pain and couldn't get up. I ended up having to call the paramedics and they took my husband to the emergency. I'm lucky that the paramedics gave good directions to this hospital because I arrived there before my husband did. It was a war zone at this emergency. If you ever want to see the dark side of a town visit your local emergency room...very scary. After waiting for 2 hours the doctor finally came into to see my husband. I was not impressed with the doctor at all. I could visually see on his face that his mind was racing to the next patient, listening,but not listening. Tests were ordered and finally 6 hours later we were told my husband had a kidney stone. I was relieved that it wasn't too serious to keep in the hospital and that he could go home. Talk about having drama in one day. I'm so tired that I think I could sleep for a week. I'm just thankful that with drinking lots of water and resting the kidney stone will pass.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be a quiet and relaxing day.

Birds,Butterflies, and Fish

I always like the beginning of the month because I get to work on a new subject. As much as I loved painting horses, September will be the month of exploring Birds, Butterflies, and Fish.

So to kickoff September here is my first bird...a Red and orange parrot. I've been reading a few watercolor books...wet-on-wet and decided to try mixing my colors on the paper, instead of traditionally on the palette. Dropping the paint on the paper and seeing what the puddles will do is an interesting way to paint. If anything this might loosen me up.