Red Cardinal

Red Cardinals are the state bird for Ohio.  I was looking at some pictures that I took of the cardinals when I was in Ohio several years ago to visit my husband's family.  This guy was painted in my no-sew journal, using Derwent Intense colored pencils and markers.

Bird and butterly

New drawing of a bird and butterfly in my new no-sew watercolor journal.  I used Derwent Intense colored pencils and markers.

Zentangle

When I need an exercise to quiet and clear my mind, I do zentangles.

abstract of colors

Playing with colors and shapes.  Watercolors, markers, and white gel pen.

Old Town Pasadena

On Saturday I went to Old Town Pasadena for lunch and shopping. The weather has been rather cold in the high desert, so it was nice to drive down below for warmer weather and yummy food.

This outing was a to celebrate my wedding anniversary.   Whenever my husband and I go to Pasadena, we always seem to go to our favorite Italian restaurant "Mi Piace".   It started with an Arnold Palmer to drink, Mi Piace salad, Vegetarian lasagna, and finishing it off with Express bread pudding.  Because the portions are always so big, we split everything.

After lunch we went to Dick Blick art store where I picked up some acrylic ink and more water brushes.  Next it was onto the Paper-source where I bought 3 sheets of handmade paper to bind books and a macaroon rubber stamp.  We ended the shopping portion by going to Surla Table for a donut mix and tongs.

We had a nice time just being together and celebrating the many years we've been together.

The best part, for my anniversary I'm finally getting a flat paper file to store all my handmade papers I've collected.  It's on order and should be here in a couple of weeks.

IF -- Wings

“The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings”

                                                                                                James Matthew Barrie 

Two birds different direction

This abstract was done using gouche and markers in my 5" x 7"  journal.  I think I'll be working in the size doing more abstracts for a while.

Inspired by Flora Bowley

I discovered Flora Bowley website last year.  I had missed taking a live class with her, so I was really happy to discover that she had a book coming out later in the year.  So I  pre-ordered her book:  Brave painting  intuitive.   When I finally did received her book, I briefly glanced through it put it aside for when I had more time to read it.  I kept on picking up the book and flipping through it not sure if  her style of painting  would work for me, especially since she works in acrylic and her canvas is really big.  I was attracted to the colors and I think that's why I kept on coming back to the book.

Well last night I picked up the book again and decided to let myself go and paint.  Instead of using acrylic, I wanted to see if I could do the same type of technique using watercolors and markers.  This painting was done in my 5" x 7" journal.  The size was just right to explore without having to invest in buying a big canvas. I really enjoyed the process that I stayed up last night and worked on another painting.

 I think I want to call this bird in flight.

I believe that this is...

A Zinna flower....

A page from my 5" x 7" journal.

Daisies

I never get tired of painting flowers.  A page from my 5" x 7" journal.

One of the many flowers of the day

Quick watercolor of flowers of the day.

Purple flowers

Everywhere I went this weekend was bursting with different flowers.

Amaryillis

Flowers from my journal.

I'm dreaming of Spring

I'm dreaming of Spring and warmer weather.

IF -- Myth

Are unicorns real or a myth?  What do you think?

Making journals with Washi tape

For the past few months I've been making all kinds of journals.  Big or little, I just love the process of making  journals.  I've also discovered last year Washi Tape.  My collection has grown from just a few rolls to well over a 100 rolls of different Washi Tape.  So I decided to combine making an easy no sew journal with Washi Tape and clear packaging tape.

I started with 2 sheets of 11" x 15" watercolor paper.  I cut the 2 sheets in half.  I then folded each piece of watercolor paper in half, creating a signature.  I use my bone folder over the center crease.  I now have 4 folded signatures.  Next I put two signatures together.  I then apply clear packaging tape onto  the inside seam as show in the photo below.  I flip the inside signature over and do the same thing of applying  clear packaging tape to the other inside seam.  I now have two signature attached to each other.  I do the same process with the two remaining signatures.  When completed, I will have 16 pages to create on.  To finish, I apply  Washi tape over the edge of each folder.   The size of my completed little journal is 7.5"  x 5.5"; just the right size to carry in my purse.

Feathers

I had wanted to sign up for a workshop today on drawing them, painting them, and collage them.  It's been so unbelievably cold that I haven't wanted to leave my house. So instead of driving down below for the class, I decided to have my own little workshop for me.  Best of all I can stay in my pj's and create art.  

I started with just a fine tip black sharpie and just drew away at lots of feathers.  After creating a journal page, I uploaded the drawing onto Adobe Photoshop.  I got creative and changed the colors and then changed the background to black.  I really like the way this journal page turned out.  Might be even nice to use on a card.

UPDATE:

I went back into Adobe Photoshop and added more feathers. 

splashes of color

When I went to the SF Bay Area for Christmas, I went to my favorite art store, Dick Blick in Berkeley.  I wanted to try this Pelikan 12 pack of watercolor set.  As usual, I will buy art supplies and it takes me a while to finally open and try them out.  Today was the day....

 This set comes with 12 transparent colors, a mixing palette and two water containers.  When the paint set is closed, the two water containers fit on the ends, not only making it compact, but making it easy to carry.





As for the saturation and color, well
I wasn't too impressed with either. The colors lay down vibrant,but once they dry, the color is a little dull.
This set might be good to carry in
the car for quick watercolor studies,but for my larger pieces, my Daniel Smith watercolors are still my favorite.

Abstract bumble bee

Today I saw a bumble bee. It was to precious not to record the moment.  This is my abstract interpretation of that sighting.

few more pages from my recycle journal

Here are a couple more pages from my recycle journal.  I'm finding that I like working in a 6" x 6" journal format.