IF- Magnify

My heart just magnifies with love for you!

Plum trees and monkeys Chinese brush

Yesterday I finally got to go to my monthly Chinese brush class. I haven't been able to attend the last 3 months, so I was happy to go. We did a review of Plum trees and painted monkey's which was the first for me. Also bought two new Chinese brushes...a fine mountain hair brush and a medium mountain hair brush. So it was a good day!!!

IF -- Caution

Taking caution not to drop the lantern!

Hand made art portfolio

I've been looking at art portfolio's to hold some of my art work that I've either finished or in process of completing. Most of the portfolio's I seen are your standard black covers and range in price from $15 to $50. So I thought I try making my own art portfolio in a size that would hold my 9" x 12" pieces.

Basically I cut down 2 pieces of illustration board to the size I wanted my portfolio . Then I picked out some really pretty Japanese hand made paper from Paper-Source. I applied the paper to the front of the illustration board with bookbinding glue. I sandwiched the boards between wax paper and then placed heavy books on top to allow the glue to set and my pieces dry flat. I let the glue set over night. Once the glue has completely dried, I turn over the piece and attach my ribbon on 3 sides. Next I apply board cloth in a matching color with glue and place the piece between wax paper to dry over night. Once the board cloth is dry, I applied 3" strips of board cloth tape to attach the two pieces together and apply inside the middle and the outside middle. Finally I sandwich the completed art portfolio between wax paper and put a ton of books on top and allow the glue to dry.

It might sound like it was labor intensive, but it wasn't. It was just a matter allowing the glue to dry between each steps.

Singing Pig collage

Last year I got to see watercolor artist Gerald Brommer do a demo on collages. I've always have loved his work and style, so I thought I might do a series of farm animals that I'll be colleaguing. I didn't realize how much fun tearing my paper and gluing over my original watercolor and then going back to add deeper values would be. If you've never tried collages...do it! You'll be surprised how fun and freeing the process can be.

Mixed media dog

I thought I'd try something new, using all my art supplies. I started with a 5 x 7 piece of pastel paper. I layered the following items...words rubber stamp using watermark ink, flowers, and then I drew an outline of what was suppose to be a French bull dog. Then I tried my gouache to add color to the dog and flowers. I forgot how opaque gouache can be and really didn't like how flat the color looked, so I went back in with my neocolor crayons dry, then using a wet paint brush to exploded the color. I continued to fine tune the piece until I did all that I could do. Didn't want to spend a lot of time working on this piece. Total time to create about 1 hour.

IF -- wrapped

Life is like presents...all pretty and wrapped in beautiful paper and ribbons.

Yorkie illustration that I'm working on

Here's what I'm currently working on...first draft for illustration that I'm working on for children's book.

The well was dry for a while....

The well was dry for a while. I've been taking the last couple of months to re-charge...dabbling in making cards, going to scrapbook expo's, reading, trying different mediums, going back to my first love of watercolor and working in colored pencil; so yes, I've been creating art. Some good, some bad, some experimentation, a lot not worth showing. I've also have taken an online portrait class and hope to take more.

In October I'm to going to Paris, France for 10 days of fun. Plan to take lots of pictures, do some plein air sketching, visit some of my favorite haunts, and of course go shopping!!!!

I've been toying with the idea of going to art school to study illustration, but not sure if I want to get into debt with hefty tuition...it's not like I need another degree...have plenty of those.

It wasn't until the other day when I was blog surfing I came across a blog called "Virtual Art Date" www.virtualsketchdate.blogspot.com which each month artist band together and sketch from the same reference photo supplied by a participant. As I viewed some of the entries, I got excited about wanting to participate. Not that I'd join, but just attempt to sketch reference photos that interested me. The first reference photo I choose was as Rhododendron bud submitted by Jeanette Jobson. I got out my treasured color pencils and have spent the last day and half working on this drawing. It felt good to draw and just be in the moment of art. So I hope to do more sketches from the site. I find it interesting to see other artists take on the same reference photo.

In the meantime, I was offered an opportunity to illustrate a children's book. I'm looking forward to working on the illustrations. So at the moment I feel happy and content and glad I took a much needed break from blogging...but it's sure good to be back!!