July31Art

My friend Gwyn's poem about daisies, inspired me to try some daisies.  Got out the Pebeo drawing gum and mixed some blues and yellows to create a background... while this was drying, popped over to the Honda dealership and bought a new (to me 2009) Honda scooter.  My old scooter died and there's no way to get it fixed... this one is MUCH bigger.  Going to take me a while to get comfortable with it.  Pictures ... in the rain...

July30Art

Some silly birds... to brighten this rainy day.  Feeding time at the zoo... then off to bed for me.

July29Art

Tried another oreintation of my conch shell...  Well Flickr is determined to change their very successful user interface whether the users like it or not.  They did wise up this time, they will not allow comment on the changes, and you do NOT have an option to view content in any other way.  It was a great place to share artwork and photos... for a while anyway.

July28Art

Got the idea for this page from an 'Art Journaling' magazine I got at the book store today after lunch.  Ron and I like to browse the Barnes and Noble store after lunch on Sundays...  I love books, and hope book stores and books survive.  I like my Nook books, but I still want actual books too.

July27Art

Rainy morning, followed by very nice afternoon.  Ron took the Harley for a spin up I-26, before the afternoon rains came.  We got our grocery shopping done and the laundry... so we can have a genuine day of rest tomorrow.

July26Art

My white crepe myrtle has been covered in blooms for weeks now, my pink/red one has finally gotten a few flowers on it.  We planted the two of them the same time and about 10 feet apart.  They both didn't do much the first year, but now the white one has taken off in the last 2 years and is taller than the house, the red one is still barely a bush.  It looks kind of sad next to the huge white one.  Looking forward to spending the weekend with my husband, his first Saturday off in over 5 weeks.

July25Art

Muggy and hot all day here, supposed to rain, and it has thundered some, but no rain yet.  Does my polar bear make you feel cool?  He brought me cool thoughts this hot and humid day.  Headed to the Citadel for last class.

July24Art

Danny Gregory's blog post lately about dealing with your inner critic struck a note for me... that monkey sits on my shoulder too,  screeching in my ear.  So thought I'd draw him tonight.

July23Art

The Mimosa trees in Charleston are in bloom, every time I see these trees in bloom I'm reminded of my grandmother Newman (my Dad's Mom), she had one of these trees in her yard.  She had a beautiful rose garden too.  This tree's leaves fascinated me as a child, because when you touch them they will fold together and stay that way for quite a while... then slowly re-open. I would touch a frond, watch it close up and then wait, and wait... what seemed like forever for it to open... and in a world before computer games and gadgets, I would occupy myself for a whole afternoon playing with the Mimosa tree.  Good memories of a happy time.

July22Art

What a day... finally there is silence in the house.  I got home today from Columbia, to find the roofers working on our roof.. glad they were finally doing it.. but what a racket.  They departed and we found out our satellite tv no longer was working so no tv tonight, the service tech will come tomorrow to reposition the dish... word to the wise, roofers don't know how to point a satellite dish :-)  Ron with a little help from me, got the blades on our new ceiling fan installed... whisper quiet it is... even with no tv... can't hear the fan at all.  I think I'll feed the dogs and call it a day.

July21Art

First page art supply drawing. .. color chart of the colors in my little business card palette.  After my on-line journalling class, I'm back using Micron pens again... I still like my fountain pens, and use them too.  New pentel water brush that I'm enjoying and my old Holbein water brush that I use when I really want to do a wash with lots of water.
I worked on sorting and going thru my pile of art supplies... this studio re-organization is going to take a while.

Book22-Title Page

Cantaloupe.. my husband's favorite summer mellon.  We still haven't gotten a watermelon usually get them in July, but they just haven't looked very good yet.

July20Art

Clouds bringing more rain, and cooler temps.  Humidity makes the air so thick you could cut it with a knife... and then it rains so that you can be completely wet and miserable.... or maybe go back to cleaning up the studio and doing laundry.

July19Art

I have several of these, but rarely use pencils any more... when I do use a pencil I prefer a mechanical one that doesn't need to be sharpened.
Almost done with this sketchbook, have a Stillman & Birns to try next same portrait format as this one.

July18Art

Watching a tv show about Bermuda... such beautiful water and beaches... I didn't get the pink sand right... mine is too yellow.

July17Art

Goofy little fish... for no particular reason.  Time to feed dogs and call it a night.

July16Art

I'm the newsletter editor for a club I'm in.  Today, I totally changed the newsletter template... it is completely different.  So far NOBODY has noticed... hum?  Maybe I shouldn't be spending so much time on these newsletters if nobody reads them.

July15Art

We lost Gracie's mother several years ago, due to liver failure caused by dog cookies from China loaded with plastic.  After Jill died, I went in search of dog cookies made in the USA or Canada... Milk Bones are those cookies. Added bonus the dogs love them.

July14Art

Wonderful peaches and strawberry breakfast, prepared me for the bad weather and worse traffic all the way back to Charleston.  Glad to be home.

July13Art

Got to Atlanta around noon, met Carol and JeAnna for lunch at Chili's... spent the afternoon shopping for shoes and just enjoying chatting.  Dinner at the local Italian restaurant... such good pizza. Stayed up late talking... wonderful day... this is one of Carol's stuffed dalmatians.

July12Art

Headed to Atlanta tomorrow morning to spend some time with my friend Carol and my daughter. JeAnna has come to Atlanta for 'Band Camp', haven't seen either one of them for a long time... so I'm looking forward to this little visit.  May not have a chance to post tomorrow... but I'll catch up on Sunday.

Final lesson page... I have REALLY enjoyed this class and learned so much. Sad it is almost over now.

This is what the double page spread looks like...

July11Art

I love this tiny palette with it's tiny magnetic pans.  It is a repurposed business card holder.  I actually have a business card holder exactly like it, but I did not make this.  The little pans will hold about an english pea sized glob of tube paint... which in a sketchbook can last quite a long time.

July10Art

Tripped over Gracie today and landed hard on my right knee... my knee is swollen and sore... Gracie is fine.
My clumsy day continued with me cutting my arm while flattening cardboard boxes for the recycle bin (pick up is tomorrow).  So black and blue with band aids in place time to feed the dogs and call it a day.

July09Art

I love Will Rodgers, for those who might not know he was a political humorist during the Great Depression back in the 1930s... here we are 83 + years later and the people in Hollywood still can't read the nonsense they write.  This crop of horrible Summer movies is proof of that.
On a happy note my yellow hibiscus finally bloomed... orange flowers coming soon (I hope).

July08Art

Party elected a Chairman tonight, I wish him luck controlling all these egos.   Been a long day for me... but at least it was a dry day... 2 days in a row with no rain, that hasn't happened in over a month.

July07Art

Hazy, Hot and Humid today... but so far no rain... yippee.  Afternoon enjoyed a sugar free fudgsicle... so good even without the sugar.

I'm so behind in this class and with my trip to Atlanta next weekend, I need to get as much done as a can before the class is over on the 17th.

July06Art

My mother is the fisherman in our family. She used to spend her Summer mornings sitting on the dock drinking coffee and casting her line into Lake Lanier.  More often than not fresh bass was had for dinner thanks to mother's success in the morning.  Being a 'flibity jibet' I couldn't sit still long enough to catch a fish.

Window Dressing... online class continues.

 I do LOVE the window boxes in Charleston, and I like the idea of combining the best parts of different ones to create a fantasy window.  Again, now that I've posted it I see I forgot to stipple the bricks... I always seem to forget that part. I went back to my pen to draw the awning and window... but only used the brush on the flowers... baby steps for me :-)

July05Art

Rain continues... Gracie ran away today because it thundered while she was outside, thankfully the neighbor down the street captured her and came to tell me about her... she wouldn't let him touch her, but he was able to trap her in his yard.  Poor thing is terrified of storms... so this weather is making her crazy and me along with her... we need a BREAK!

July04Art

Independence Day... Read the Declaration of Independence today... did you?  In school we read the first two paragraphs, but never the whole thing.  It is an amazing document Thomas Jefferson wrote and school children should read it and adults too.
Rain on and off all day foiled our picnic plans... we celebrated with strawberries, blue berries and homemade whipped creme... delightfully red, white and blue and very, very good.

July03Art

First time I've ever planted begonias, wasn't sure I'd like them or if they'd do well.   I do like them very much and they appear to be very happy under my dogwood tree.  Raining again most of the day today... cleared up a little but not for long.

July02Art

When I was a child my grandmother Blackmon (my Mother's Mother) had these huge hydrangea bushes all around her house.  The bushes were taller than me and covered in blue blooms.  Three years ago I bought a small hydrangea plant that had 3 blooms on in.  I planted it under my dogwood tree, it stayed there about 2 months and was not doing well at all, it obviously needed more sun than it was getting there.  So I dug it up and moved it to a spot at the corner of our front porch where it would get the afternoon sun.  The shock of moving it made all it's leaves fall off and we were afraid we'd killed it.  We left it there over the winter and the next Spring it showed signs of life and popped out a few leaves but no blooms at all.  This year I have two big beautiful flower heads and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it will survive and thrive now.

July01Art

Did the back stroke all the way to Columbia and back today.  Dogs are duck hunting in the back yard... if one of the neighbors starts building a boat (aka Ark)  in the back yard... well I'm just saying Charleston in under water and no end of the rain is in sight.  

I heard out West they are having record heat, and so sorry to hear about those 19 firemen who perished today in a wild fire.  Prayers for their families and friends... so young and brave... breaks my heart.