What’s in my bag…

I like to read blogs and watch videos about what art supplies that artists like to take with them on the go. So, I thought I would throw in my two cents and show you what I bring with me on road trips. Even if I am driving, I still like to bring these items with me because you will never know when the mood will strike to create something. I will admit that this isn’t too exciting, but for now it is everything that I need or want to bring…minus the snacks of course 🙂

I still have a love/hate relationship with watercolor at the moment but I am hardheaded so of course I have a few supplies to curse at while I’m on a trip.

Strathmore Watercolor Pad

Water Brush

Winsor & Newton-12 half pan travel set

My first love….Drawing….can’t forget that!

Casemate Sketch Diary-

General’s Kneaded Eraser

Black Pearl Eraser

Faber Castell Pencils – HB, 2H, B, 2B, 4B

Faber Castell Typewriter Eraser

Blending Stumps

Click Eraser

Pen Mate Duo Expert Lead Pencil

Kol-I-Noor – 24 Color Woodless Pencils – (Artist quality pencils are too fragile for me to bring along. They would probably be okay but I don’t want to risk it.)

Years ago I use to be into calligraphy. Modern and Brush Calligraphy has really caught my eye….So, have been playing around with that as well. I may want to Zentangle too.

U:create Smooth Paper

Speedball Calligraphy Set

Tom Bow Brush Pen – hard

Tom Bow Duo Brush Pen

Sukura Brush Pen

Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen

Pencil Case- Made for me by SIL Vicki Welsh (isn’t it pretty)

Not pictured that I will usually bring is:

*travel pencil sharpener

*a couple of paper towels

And I can’t forget my kindle and a bit of knitting.

It seems like a lot of projects to bring a long and I may not touch a bit of it but it is there if the inclination hits me. Its better to have it and not want it than to want it and not have it, lol

So what do you bring along with you on trips? What are your must haves?

Be Well and Happy!

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Extra Protection When Posting Your Art

Owl 2015 I belong to a few on line groups and over the years I have heard some horror stories about artists getting their images stolen on line. It almost makes you afraid to post anything these days for fear of being ripped off. An artist can watermark their name across the whole image and somehow thieves find a way to photo shop it out and display it as their own. (If they only used their powers for good, huh?)

The way I see it we only have two choices: One to post and the other not to. Personally, I like seeing all the beautiful art in the blogosphere and I love sharing my art. Its scary knowing that there is no full proof way to protect yourself before the art gets stolen. But we can after… and have been doing something to protect my work if it gets stolen. Now as far as I know no body wants it, lol….but you never know!

Over the past couple of years I have been embedding stuff with in my drawings that can’t be cropped out like my signature or a traditional watermark. I mean it could be anything, a word, a symbol, a tiny picture, just anything your heart desires. But it has to blend in using the same medium and so discreet that no one knows it is there, but you have to be able to find it. I use to embed different things, but it was just getting too hard to remember what I did where, so now I use the same thing over and over. Say, for example you are working in acrylic and you chose a heart to embed in your art. So you paint a hidden heart in your painting. Sounds easy, but it is pretty hard to do. Because although it can’t be found by anyone at the same time it has to be proven intentional when it is found.

The owl above is embedded (and no I won’t tell you what or where it is, lol). It is completely obvious to me but I welcome you to try and find it. Enlarge the picture as large as you want…I bet you won’t find it 🙂

I hope you guys find this helpful and that you all have a great weekend and wonderful week!

What do you do to protect your work?

Be Well and Happy!

A Book Review For You….

I am very proud to say that I have completed quite a few of my resolutions and we are still in January! I have A LOT of resolutions this year for some reason. But once I write a goal down, it might as well be tattooed on my skin for the whole year. One aim for the New Year that I really need to tackle and tick off is what do about my slumbering blog. And after much thought and ideas from my family, I decided to do things a little different. Yes, I will still post content about art when I have it :)….But I do have varied interests that I’d like to share and at the same time let you know that I have not fell off the face of the earth. It is my intention to post something at least a couple of times a week, but it is my hope to post everyday. We will just have to see how it goes 🙂

Creative Colored Pencil by Vera Curnow

We are going to start off with an informal book review of one of my recent purchases. Being such a novice in colored pencil, I think I can provide a perspective that is in line with other artists that does not have a grasp of this medium. And I know just enough, to be smart enough, to say I do not know anything about colored pencils.

When I ordered this book, I was extremely excited. I am starting to have a great love drawing landscapes and there are not many colored pencil books out there that are strictly landscape how to books. So to come across this little gem was a WOW! I have got to have it! kind of moment. But when the book arrived and I read through it, I was extremely disappointed.

Do not get me wrong, this is a well written book showcasing beautiful artwork from various artists that we all know and love. But it is not a how to book. Page after page you will see a thumbnail line drawing perspective from an artist with the corresponding color palette and a blurb of what to do (or not do) in a certain aspect of the painting, but that is all you are getting. And I think, sadly, the book description is misleading the readers. It in no way diminishes the beauty of this book and if you are accomplished in this medium, but wanting to branch out into landscape, I can see this being very useful. But for people like me? It’s a look book.

Just for fun!

Moon Called by Particia Briggs

Mercy Thompson Novel Book 1

Yes, the secret is out, I will read just about anything. From Jane Austin and Robert Frost to Patricia Briggs and Gilbert Morris, I just love them all. But if you threatened me with a Taser for the truth, I would have to say romance novels are my favorite especially paranormal. The world is harsh, full of heartbreak and sadness. Sometimes a girl needs a happy ending 😉 Although, I never got the Fifty Shades of Grey thing. I did read the trilogy and thought it was kind of silly and for some reason women went completely wild over Christian Grey. I am thinking the reason women are so in love with Mr. Grey was because he always made sure Anastasia Steele ate and ate good! Personally, I do not need someone to tell me to eat or heap my plate full…I do fine all on my own, LOL

Moon Called is a pretty good read. I will not give a synopsis because there are plenty out there and written by a better class of writers. I do not care for the cover, it looks a little juvenile. Mercy ( the heroine of the book) reminded me so much of Kat vonD that she was one who came to mind while reading this book. I think to date Ms. Briggs has seven books in the series and I will definitely be reading the second one.

Also I’ve read:

Dark Storm by Christine Feehan

Be Well and Happy Tuesday!

Owl Finished…

“Owl”

Mixed media on gray card

As I was uploading this I noticed that the owl looked like he was in the middle of a dance step…“You want it, you got it baby, you want it, baby you got it ..Just bust a move” Phahahaha.

In my last post, I had said that I didn’t really know if I would be able to finish this owl. I don’t know how, but I managed to…..somewhat. I wanted and planned to put in a background which was supposed to be skies and blurred trees. Fear won out, and I ditched the background for a little limb and scratched in a little blue. I think next time I will do the back ground first.

Have a great weekend!

Hand lettering…

In my last post I mentioned Joann Fink’s Zenspirations. I really enjoyed playing around with her techniques and her take on hand lettering. What you may not know about me, is that a long time ago I used to be a hand lettering artist. Of course at the time I didn’t know that the “hand lettering artist” label even existed, I just did it. I would hand letter invitations, certificates, signs, buildings, banners and even race cars. I just loved writing fancy and manipulating letters. But that was so many years ago…and I’m so rusty..Hand lettering is not like riding a bike, if you don’t use it, you lose it. So, let’s just say I lost it, lol.. but I’ve been practicing and below is some of my efforts:

As you can probably see, my spacing is a little off but hey, I haven’t done this in like 18 years. So I’m not going to beat myself up over it.

After I finished Joann’s hearts and drew the letters I really wanted to do something cool with these. So, I decided to make these for my daughter and of course a set for myself

These are just transfers from my printer and ironed on reg. white t-shirts. I think they look pretty cool. Oooooo, if I had a screen print press I would be dangerous!

I guess I was Zenspired!

Be Well and Happy!

Marbles Part II…

Marbles

Colored Pencil on paper

This piece is the compliment to this piece that I will be making prints of for the arts and crafts show. As of right now, I am pooped and I think I’m going to take a break. I’m going to do some very much-needed housework and read a good book. I’m not complaining, so far this has been a positive experience and it’s been good for me to have goals to meet…I just hope it ends as a positive experience.

Thank you for all the well wishes and I will let you know how it goes:)

Putting it all together…

Barn

Graphite on Bristol Smooth

I put everything I have learned over the past few months and I was able to complete this drawing. Maybe I did get a little ahead of myself, but now I have a good grasp of landscapes and buildings. I feel much better about my upcoming commission of an old homestead which worried me to no end and it never hurts to expand your portfolio, right?

This is the only drawing that I have, but I’ve been very busy in my absence. I have been preparing for an arts and crafts show. Believe me when I tell you, that I am not a crafter. So this has been a difficult experience, but it’s also a good opportunity to sell my art. So I’m sucking it up and making a few crafts as well as selling some of my prints.

This is just a peek at the stuff I’m selling, but it gives you a pretty good idea. The glass is a lot of fun to paint, which was a pleasant surprise. ( If you have any ideas of what I can paint on these glasses, please let me know. I have a bunch more and I’m running out of ideas, lol)….I’m also selling rice bags, handmade cards, bookmarks, Zentangle art, jewelry as well as some prints and orginials….So wish me luck:)

Be Well and Happy!

Art Nouveau?

I’m still here alive and kicking! I’ve just been emptying boxes from “not the move” that we packed up when we were going to put the house on the market. As we speak, my living room and kitchen is filled with crap that we will send to DAV (Disabled American Veterans). Well it’s not really crap, and alot of things were extremely difficult to let go of, but I’ve made a vow not to touch anything and thank goodness it will be gone Saturday. When we were going through the boxes we found a couple of decorative plates that David wanted to put in the guest bathroom. I had planned on putting some abstract oil pastel in there, but David was right and the plates look beautiful. I had to admit defeat. With a little research I had found out that they were Art Nouveau..then I had to look up Art Nouveau. Although, I like a narrow margin of the work..I don’t find it all that appealing… Oh, do you want to know what Art Nouveau is? Here’s the link!

With trying to find something to complement the plates, I did manage to get a little painting in and I below are pictures of my project.

These are the plates that will hang in the bathroom

The next pictures are flowers that I painted in art nouveau (ish) style, that I’m hoping will look work. I can’t claim the designs, because I found them on the computer, it is supposed to be copyright free for up to 10 designs…We’ll see. I wish I had the link to share, but I didn’t save the site:( I did change some of it to adapt to my small 3.5 x 3.5 opening. I hope you like my frames…I’m so in love with them..

Well, I guess that’s about all I have to share today. I hope you have a great weekend!

Be Well and Happy!

November 30

Today is the last day of AEDM, so my last contribution to this challenge is a gold Christmas ball drawn in colored pencil from an old tutorial that I found.

In this past month, I have never had as much difficulty finding things to do and words to post in all my life. I think coming up with things to write was a lot harder than the artwork, beading and little crafts. I’m really not very interesting and I posted some things that I should have been ashamed for others to see. Still, I had absolutely loved it! It was a lot of fun getting acquainted with so many talented and sweet people. Thank you Leah for doing this! And hopefully, I’ll see you guys next year:)