Brave

I've been feeling more brave lately. Very brave. I had to leave the index card space behind for the moment and stretch. Time to move to bigger spaces. I took a 25 x 25 piece of thin plywood and started to cover it with all kinds of paper. I've never been a scrap booker, but I had quite a collection of papers I had collected over the years, along with some of my own altered and distressed papers, and started tearing. Until it was covered up. Then I started playing with various paints, spraying, rubbing, adding gesso, spraying, rubbing again and stopped with this. I wish I had remembered to photograph all the steps I took in this but I didn't. The next step was to start building the city. It went through many transitions before I decided which I liked best. This was not the one I ended up with but you can see how I started laying it out. After much rearranging, altering, and meeting with city officials, (lol) this is what I decided I wanted. So, there you have it. the beginning of my city. Stay tuned.

In My PJs

Vacation day today. Yay for me! Get to hang out all day in my pjs if I want to and I do want to. I have art projects spread out all over the house at the moment between the upstairs and downstairs......... There's been a lot of thunderstorms in the evenings lately, and since my dog ,Buddy, is petrified of thunderstorms, and can't navigate the stairs because of his cataracts and long nails, I've been spending more time downstairs this week. Of course that means I have to move art stuff downstairs with me. Here are two more ICADS. I'm calling them River Valley 2 and 3 because they seem to be following the Icad from 6-16/12 which looks like this. I have another project I am working on, so I will come back later today and show you more. I hope you are having a good day. Thanks for spending some time here.

Silently Drawn

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. ~Rumi....................................... .............................................................................. Here are yesterday's and today's ICADS also in conjunction with The Sketchbook Challenge "circles" theme. And some closeups which I think are nicer than the full image. It was 105 today. Enough of this! Thanks for visiting.

Playing With Faces.

I am practicing drawing faces. I have never had any formal art classes other than what was offered in public school and IMHO (thank you , Robin. I get to use this now.)in my humble opinion, what was offered in art classes in the public school system was not saying too much. I think art teachers then told you that you must make the sky blue and the grass green and you got graded for staying in the lines or following instructions. So, yes. I am and have been very reluctant, hesitant. I get the heebee geebies when it comes to trying to draw faces. These sketches are mostly out of my head, other than a couple I worked from photographs. I see so many sketches of smiling, long haired-full- lash-and-lips- girls,(not women) all perfect, that I did not want mine to look like everyone else's. Not that everyone else's aren't good, but they all look the same to me. They're just so perfect and that's not realistic to me. Mine are pretty rough but they are mine and out of my imagination. I put a couple on index cards thinking I might go back and do some more with them later, maybe add some watercolor, which is new to me as well. So, here are some- in the rough, only on small sized paper for now. And speaking of faces, you've got to go check out this artist Check out how he begins the faces in the middle of the wall and fills the entire thing up. It's quite impressive.(IMHO) Maybe I should do that. I bet you I'd be pretty good at drawing faces by then. Thanks for coming by.

Catching Up

I'm playing catch up. I've been behind on my ICADS but I've caught up through today. When I was working on these I had in the back of my mind that I was also practicing drawing faces, as well as incorporating the theme of "Circles" at The Sketchbook Challenge. So, there is a mixture of things going on here. Putting a face into the picture changes everything. I am not in the habit of putting faces into my art as I don't do well with them at this time but hope to get better in time. So, I'm just going to keep practicing. Here are my ICADS for the last several days as well as some closeups. And finally here is a two page spread in the SMASH BOOK as in the SMASH BOOK overhaul. Can you tell I'm having a blast? I'm glad you stopped by.

Savoring

I decided tonight I didn't want to post any art. I didn't even want to work on an ICAD. I decided as I was driving home from work that I wanted to remember the things in this world that I love and love to savor. We get so caught up in this fast paced- I- want- it- now -instant- gratification- world, we may forget to stop and remember the little things that are special to us. Maybe, I'm just plain feeling sentimental, or maybe it's when I can hear myself think and breathe, when I can hear the quiet, I can remember these things. So, I thought I'd share with you a few of the things I savor. ~ The sounds of birds in the early morning hours. ~ Cobalt Blue. ~ The smell of fresh cut grass. ~ The smell of onions and garlic being cooked. ~ Morning glories and amaryllis. ~ Pachelbel Canon. ~ The smell of the ocean. ~ The roar of the ocean. ~ Having some money in my pocket. ~ Classical guitar music. ~ To dance. ~ My dog's brown eyes. ~ A good walk. ~ A baked potato loaded with butter, sour cream and scallions. ~ Book stores. ~ Art stores. ~ The sound of violin and cello. ~ Hearing my dog heave a great big sigh. ~ Books. ~ Seashells. ~ Seeing the snow fall at dusk or dawn. ~ The smell of patchouli. ~ Old, lacy, sheer curtains. ~ My daughter's naturally, curly hair. ~ The sound of rain when I don't have a headache. ~ A warm bubble bath. ~ Amaretto. ~ Red velvet. ~ The smell of Autumn. ~ Dark, black hair. ~ Mustaches on men. ~ Feeling the magic of Christmas. ~ A good story teller. ~ A good cry. ~ black licorice ~ A child's giggles. ~ Peace and quiet. ~ Crickets on a summer night. ~ My brother Jim's hugs. That's not too many things, is it? What are some of the things you really love? Thanks for visiting.