June30Art

A bit of blind contour… where you look at the object, not at your paper… long day, tired and not feeling creative tonight at all.

June29Art

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, was very popular when I was in high school.  I still find wisdom and inspiration in the words, so today a much longer quote on my page.  Used my Pentel Pocket Brush pen for the seagull flying and inktense pencils for the color.  The 'big' words were done with my green 3.8mm Pilot Parallel Calligraphy pen, the rest of the quote was written with my Lamy Joy Calligraphy pen with a 1.5mm nib loaded with Noodlers Lexington Gray Ink.

June28Art

Went to Staples today to get an ARC system notebook, so that I can easily add watercolor paper or my tinted papers, card stock, pretty much whatever I want.  Spent way longer at the store than I would normally, because they had the school supplies out.  I love looking thru the cool pencil boxes, and crayons… I got these puzzle erasers was thinking of using them as stamps… maybe I'll just take then to work to play with while waiting for jobs to run.

June27Art

Got James Gurney's Color and Light, and before I knew it, I looked up and it was 10pm.  Watched a John Muir Laws video on painting trees today… great resource and what a great teacher he is.  Surprised to see on video that he's a very young man, for some reason, in my mind he was an old man… reading his book on birds and looking at his website… didn't prepare me at all to see him.  I guess I naturally assume everyone is my age… BIG mistake.

June26Art

My favorite mop, it holds tons of water and paint.  Used my inktense pencils again on this.  Thinking of ordering a few more open stock colors, I'm missing a good red and really could use some more yellows and oranges. Also looking at hardware to convert one of my cigar boxes into a sketching box to take to the mountains.

June25Art

Don't see this commercial much anymore, but it still resonates with me, every Wednesday… HUMP day… whoo whoo.  Used Inktense pencils for this, I'm really liking these pencils, especially the rich colors.
Urban Sketchers Marc Taro has a book being published.  Check it out on his website Citizen Sketcher. http://citizensketcher.wordpress.com/books/

June24Art

Dismal turnout today, less than 10 % of the registered voters showed up today.  I do not understand the total lack of interest by the people.  Don't they realize that voting is a privilege some people in this world WISH they could do.  I'm really disappointed in my fellow citizens today.

June23Art

Dug out the pastel pencils (that I bought thinking I was getting colored pencils), to do this Blue Bird.  We have a blue bird that enjoys our bird bath, so Ron and I are thinking about putting up a nest box… and trying to entice them to nest in our yard.  They are such beautiful birds, I'd love to get better at drawing them.

June22Art

Afternoon thunderstorm forced the cancellation of the picnic, so we have a huge crock pot of baked beans now transferred to the freezer.  I see lots of beans and hot dogs for us this coming week. Did get a bit more painting done on my pansies, funny when you count on watercolor drying much lighter, it doesn't.  So now to compensate my darks, will need to be MUCH darker.  Enjoying getting some paint on white paper again.

June21Art

Loaded my new Palette this morning, and got a bit of paint on paper.  This afternoon I tackled my overloaded closet.  Two huge bags of clothes that don't fit and if I ever get that thin again, well I'll want new clothes. Still haven't finished but made a really good start, thankful we have a party to go to tomorrow so the closet will have to get cleaned next weekend.

New Palette

Loaded my new Palette with some of my favorite colors this morning, used my new Kilimanjaro Paint book, that is the same size as the Palette 5 1/2" x 10". Forgot to rough up the mixing area with steel wool before I loaded it with paint, now I have to figure out how to do that without messing up my paint.

June20Art

Lots of art goodies arrived on my doorstep today, 2 new sketchbooks I ordered after reading Roz's blog post about them. Click here to read her review of the Leuchtturm 1917 sketchbook, if you order 2 of them the shipping is free, so I got an orange one and a gray one.  Also got a box from Cheap Joe's  with 2 Kilimanjaro Paint books, 5 1/2 x 10 in 300 lbs and 140 lbs watercolor paper, a new palette (ok, ok, I don't NEED another palette but I did want one) some Schminchke Naples Yellow, and Joe threw in a set of sketching pencils for free, they do that kind of thing at Joe's, which is another reason I love doing business with them.

June19Art

My daughter loved Sesame Street and the muppets when she was little, I liked them too, still do.  I find movies so disappointing these days, rehashed remakes mostly, not an original idea in the whole industry it seems sometimes.  I still enjoy animated children's movies, like "UP" and "ICE AGE", and even without a small child (for cover) we often go to see them more often than movies made for adults.

June18Art

Garden is starting to produce lots of banana peppers and jalapeño peppers, along with a few tomatoes.  We have lots of habaneros still green, not orange yet.  We have a few cucumbers, but none ripe enough to pick. Went to the dentist today so my toothache is under control.

June17Art

My tooth has been killing me all day today…. so far I've put off calling the dentist, but if it isn't better tomorrow… I'm going to have to call and get this looked at.

June16Art

I LOVE Lemonade in when the weather gets hot, since my husband and I are both diabetic, a sugar free version that includes some actual lemon is our favorite.  Bags of Lemons that sold for $1 last Summer are $3 now, hopefully the price will come down as Summer progresses.

June15Art

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads… last spoke to my Dad on Father's Day 2005, he died just a couple of weeks later.  I'm glad I got to tell him 'I love you' one last time.  Cherish your Dad if he's still here because you will miss him when he's gone. I still miss my Dad.

People say I have his smile and his eyes… he was a handsome man and passed that handsome face on to my brothers too.

June14Art

June 14 1777... the flag was adopted... 237 years ago. The Army is 239 years old today. We are young, a very young country America.  Will the USA last? Will this experiment in government of the people, by the people for the people survive? Will people give up their liberty for a little safety and security? Will Americans let the 'elites' in the government raise our children, supply our needs and decide who lives or dies? Or will the Republic for which this flag stands continue... and grow stronger and freedom and equal justice for all prevail? Or will we crumble and Fall and be a paragraph in the our great, great grandchildren's history books, the Rise and Fall of the United States of America?

June13Art

This time I kept working on it, and didn't paint over it with Gesso, my only green pencil, was way too green, and I tried to tone in down using red and blue, and finally left it, whose to say what color the t-rex really was anyway.  This is closer to the color of the little green lizards in my garden, so it is possible for a big lizard too yes?

A tiny glimpse of my messy desk… only a tiny glimpse allowed LOL.

June12Art

I first read Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged' in high school, I've read it countless times since then.  I love the movies they've made, and part 3 is coming out this Fall, I'm hoping it comes to a theater near me, as I'm eager to see the latest installment.
Put a layer of Gesso down, and let that dry, found some colored pencils I had forgotten I had, used the lemon to lay down the yellow (it is supposed to be a post-it note).  Used Lexington Gray ink in a fountain pen to write the famous 'Who is John Galt?' message…. I know who he is, do you?

June11Art

The LA Kings have dominated this Final Series, NY Rangers have been lack luster and disappointing to say the least.  Tonight they came out and took a 2 point lead in the first period, LA has answered… and the score is NY 2, LA 1 so far,  if I'm awake at the end of the game, I'll post the results, LA champions, or another chance for NY?  Looks like NY hung on, and will have another chance in LA next.

June10Art - Primary Election Day

Drew my new water spray bottle, spent the evening trying to get election results.  So happy that Tim Scott won handily, I knew he was very popular here in the Low Country as he was our Congressman before being appointed to the Senate.  Glad that the rest of the people of SC feel the same way about him that we all do.  Still don't know the results of the primary for the 6th District (which is where I was gerrymandered to this past census).  Been an interesting day, with history making defeat of Eric Cantor in Virginia, forgot who he worked for I'm guessing.

June09Art

Tomorrow in South Carolina, we have our primary elections, the names listed above are the people I will be voting for tomorrow.  Good luck to all the candidates, I know they have worked very hard, it is all up to the voters now.

June08Art

After several trips to Lowe's today, for first one thing then another, our new microwave is installed, and our new range is installed too.  In time for us to pop something in the microwave for dinner LOL.  While Ron worked on the microwave I took two cabinet doors outside and while sanding them I got a splinter in my thumb.  I can't decide if I want to paint the cabinets a pale butter yellow, or a color I call 'green' but Ron and the paint guy at Lowe's called gray… anyway, the plan is to prime and paint these two doors, from the little paint samples the paint guy at Lowe's made for me… then we'll decide which color.  

June07Art

Most pictures I see of cardinals, are in Fall or Winter, with snow more often than not but I have cardinals in my yard now, as Spring winds down and Summer is just around the corner.
Sadly California Chrome didn't win today, so no triple crown winner again this year.
Ron and I spent the day (well mostly Ron) getting ready to install our new microwave and our new stove.  

June06Art = 70 year anniversary of D-Day

Thought I'd include my preliminary sketches, done on the back of a report that I'll end up putting in the shredder.  I watched some of Sean D'Souza's You Tube videos, good stuff and inspired me to try this cartoony elephant.  See Sean's videos here  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3AgPlntx0DWO4VHsjjrZwQ

June05Art

I took photos of the ducks, peacocks and chickens on a visit to Magnolia Plantation last year. Used one of those photos to draw this duck, made his head way too big so had to leave off his cute feet. I loved the tilt of his head as he eyed me and my camera.
Used gouache white, a touch of ultramarine blue, quin. red, gamboge for the beak and paynes gray for his eyes.

June04Art

Seven years ago, I had surgery to remove my right kidney and a golf ball sized clear cell carcinoma inside it.  I found this poem inspirational back then, and thought I'd share it again for anyone facing down cancer today.

June03Art

Some days, nothing goes well.  I would have said nothing goes according to plan, but I had no plan. This page started out as an ink drawing of a T-Rex head… it was so bad, I decided to try out that jar of Gesso I bought.  What I had heard about gesso, is indeed true you can cover up an ink drawing with it.  So now I have the while blob in the middle of my gray page… so I sketched an egret, I see a lot of egrets around here and have drawn them often enough to do a reasonable outline from memory… I then added intense pencils to the page.  When I use them NOT over gesso, they don't streak.. as you can see especially over the bird's tail it streaked. Lessons learned… turn the page, tomorrow will bring new things to learn no doubt.

June02Art

I love Charleston SC, even the street lamps are quaint and beautiful, so on this busy Monday, it was all I could muster… and I ran out of room, so I couldn't include the whole thing.  We are actually having lower than average temperatures around here for the last several weeks, we are enjoying it while it lasts.  Summer will be here soon enough.

June01Art

Gracie is the 'baby' she is not the youngest dog in the house, our lab Dixie is the youngest.  Based on her size, she weighs less than 15 pounds… at the age of 10 we still think of her as the baby.  She was the runt of the litter, and the last puppy left.  We were not planning to keep a puppy, I was working in Tallahassee Florida at the time a couple came to see her, they played with her, and held her and then decided they did not want her.  When my husband called me to tell me about it, I said that's it, we're keeping her, how could anyone spend 30 minutes with that sweet puppy and not take her home?  So Gracie stayed with us, and we have loved her very much.