Jan31Art

Put this page on the scanner before the ink was dry… the ink smears actually didn't happen on the page, but the scanner glass will need to be cleaned now.  It was a really good game tonight, we were behind 2 to 0 at the end of the first period but the boys woke up and went to work in the 2nd and 3rd periods.

Jan30Art

If you own dogs you have seen this tilt of the head when you are discussing world events with your doggie.  The tilt of the head the sincere look of curiosity and concentration, if your dog could talk he'd say 'Do what?'

Jan29Art

Well no snow in Charleston, we did have freezing rain, and some icy roads.  A few people I know lost power, but we didn't lose power at our house. They bridges to the islands were closed today, so folks were stuck at home today.  I work from home, and was able to work today, my husband went to work, but was turned away by the guard at the plant, telling him they were shut down.  We had icicles hanging from the roof, so I had to draw them… didn't do them justice, the longest one was maybe 3 inches long.  Going to be cold again tonight but I think the worst is probably over.

Jan28Art

Yesterday's 1 foot of snow, has become maybe 1 INCH of snow.  Cold and gray day today, but still above freezing at 36 degrees at 7:30pm.  It did finally start to rain, so we shall see if we get an inch of snow tonight or not.  We're watching a hockey game in Buffalo, New York, looks like they don't cancel hockey games up there for MAYBE 1 inch of snow.

Jan27Art

I can't believe it our hockey team (young men mostly from Canada or the upper mid-West) must be in SHOCK, it was 70 degrees today… and yet the hockey game scheduled for tomorrow night has been CANCELED due to the threat of SNOW!!!! I would have loved to hear the comments in the locker room on THAT today.

Jan26Art

Got caught up on our laundry today, final load of dog towels in the dryer now.  Bond-a-thon on the tv all day, every Bond film ever made, one after another all day today on BBC America. I watched a couple of painting videos on Art Network tv… but never managed to get to painting today other than this little page.

Jan25Art

Headed to a hockey game shortly… this is Pentel Pilot Calligraphy pen, touched with a water brush to get the ink to run… interesting and fun to do.
Spent the day doing laundry in my new washing machine that arrived this morning… didn't take long to get way behind.. I should be caught up tomorrow some time.  POST GAME report… Rays WIN 4 - 1 against Florida…Great game!

Sketchbook Skool

I'm going to sketchbook skool… check it out… it should be tons of fun.  Click on the graphic to visit Danny Gregory's blog announcement about the first semester. 

Jan24Art

VERY, VERY cold today, and getting even colder tonight.  The sparrow were all poofed out twice their usual size trying to stay warm.  I think our Southern birds are as miserable in this very cold weather as the rest of us. This is not what we expect our winter days to be like.

Jan23Art

Beau is in love, with our black lab Dixie.  Dixie is not the least bit interested in Beau… perhaps she would rather have a suitor more than 10 inches tall, or maybe she is just not quite ready.  A week of pining and misery for Beau is ahead, you'd think at his age he'd be over it… but the biological imperative to pro-create is alive and well in that 10 inch tall 16 year old doggie, bless his heart.  

Jan22Art

The sparrows are checking out my kitchen window again, they may come back since construction has cut down all the trees in what used to be the swamp behind our house.  It wasn't a huge stand of trees, but now that they are all gone, the birds and squirrels are moving into our yard.  I noticed the squirrels at the bird bath today drinking water.  Their source of fresh water is gone now, as the river near here is brackish with a mix of fresh and sea water. Progress for people, but not so much for our urban wild life.

How to Illustrate a Picture Book: Creating the Drawings

I thought this was so interesting… I hope you enjoy it too.

Jan21Art

After all the drama yesterday, today was very quiet.  Wind is whipping up and the temperature is dropping fast, it is supposed to be cold the rest of the week. I don't like cold weather… at all, it doesn't last long here, so I'm thankful for that.

Jan20Art

Well my day off was spent mopping up soapy water, then went into a closet and a plastic jug (holding 2 gallons) fell, hit the floor and dumped water all over the hardwood floors in the hall.  Off loaded the wet laundry and took it to a drop-off laundry service, so I can pick up Ron's work shirts tomorrow. When Ron got home we went to Lowe's and picked out a washing machine, that will be delivered on Saturday morning.  I was hoping to do day one of the watercolor a day exercises… but that didn't happen.  

Jan19Art

We rarely go to the movies, mostly because Ron snores thru most movies.  He didn't sleep a wink during 'Lone Survivor', this movie was intense almost from the opening… all the way to the end, where the pictures of the actual service men who lost their lives were shown.  It was a very good movie,  I didn't read the book, so I don't know if it followed the book or not. I'm thinking I want to read the book now.

Jan18Art

Stayed very chilly today, ran a few errands this morning.  Ron had to work, and look what I found peaking out of the ground, a speck of purple, one of my hyacinth is starting to bloom… hope it survives this cold snap. 

Jan17Art

We drove out to John's Island to Gilligan's for some seafood for dinner.  I had the special, which included Key Lime Pie for dessert… it was WONDERFUL.  I refrained from licking the plate but only just barely, our waitress took my plate away :-(

Jan16Art

Always exciting to start a new sketchbook, this is my 24th book since I started keeping a visual journal.

Trip to West Ashley this evening, to run a few errands and have some BBQ at Maurice's for dinner.  As we headed home over the Ashley River bridge the full moon was just coming up and lighting up the river, quite a sight. I usually start a new sketchbook with a drawing of my palette, but with the moon on my mind I had to capture that sight before I forget it.  Palette I can do later right?

Jan15Art

Last page in this Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.  This is the first Moleskine I've ever used, in the past I avoided them because they were so much more expensive than other sketchbooks.  My favorite cheaper sketchbooks are global arts Hand-book journals, my next book will be one of those, they cost approximately half what a Moleskine costs.  So I liked this journal, but I'll be using the cheaper sketchbooks until I win the lottery, need to buy a ticket to win the lottery though, so it may be a while.

Jan14Art

Only 1 page left in this sketchbook, I have a hand-book watercolor journal for my next one to use.  I'm excited to try to paint the cover, an artist friend KDBlados painted hers, and it turned out fabulous… so I'm trying to decide what to paint of the cover.  The orange on this page is Translucent Orange by Schmincke. one of my favorite colors.

Jan13Art

Meeting of the Elephant Executive Committee tonight, I'm off to the meeting. I get to drive the Smart Car… it is so much fun to drive, I don't drive it much since it's Ron's daily driver.

Jan12Art

We had a BIG late lunch at Olive Garden today, then we did our weekly grocery shopping.  Before I knew what happened the day is gone and it's time to feed dogs and get ready for bed.

Jan11Art

Well I had an embarrassing Senior moment tonight.  I dressed in my hockey fan jersey, earrings, necklace… ate dinner early, husband went to get the tickets… (oh and he had changed from his work clothes for the game too)… and well no tickets, no game tonight… ooops, I was positive there was a game tonight, but I was positively wrong.

Jan10Art

Fried chicken and biscuits for dinner, leftover biscuit for breakfast tomorrow.  I love biscuit toast, split the biscuit in half add butter, pop in the toaster oven… toast on high…. add your favorite jelly or jam… cup of coffee… yummy.
Thanks for all the good wishes yesterday, today I'm feeling much better, still not quite right but much, much better.  Lots of vitamin C yesterday did the trick I think.

Jan09Art

I'm so glad today that I work from home, otherwise I'd have had to call in sick today.  Since I'm working from home, I could cough and sneeze and blow my nose and basically be sick without infecting my co-workers.  This can't be the flu, I took a flu shot back in October.  I'm not running a fever (yet anyway), just headache, stuffy nose… and feel horrid.

Jan08Art

Spent 6 hours at the US District Court house today… didn't get a chance to draw anything.  It was grindingly boring, and after all that I did not get picked for a jury.
I thought I'd share my new teeny tiny plastic pallet, got the idea from a fellow on Flickr.  It's an SD Card holder (like for your camera or smart phone), with a dab of  color and a bit of label for very limited mixing.  Colors in this little pallet are French Ultramarine Blue, Verditer Blue, Mineral Violet, Scarlett Lake, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna, Quin. Burnt Orange, AZO Yellow, New Gamboge and Sap Green.

Jan06Art

Faithful blog followers may have noticed the lettering on my pages has gotten bigger and more colorful.  I've been trying to teach myself Calligraphy, a friend Elly in New York has helped me a lot, sharing charts and practice exercises. I practice a lot on junk mail envelopes.  This Pilot parallel pen is my largest pen, but I have even larger Zip Calligraphy markers in several colors, as well as a smaller 2mm Nib on a Lamy Joy pen.  I spend time copying letters over and over some letters are easier for me than others.
Tomorrow I have jury duty, no phones, cameras, iPads allowed in the courtroom… hopefully a pencil, pen and sketchbook will be allowed.

Jan06Art

The warmest part of the day was around 5am when it was 63 headed toward 18 tonight… that's just CRAZY COLD.  I live in the South because I DO NOT like cold weather… it is only supposed to last for one day, and I don't have to leave the house tomorrow.  I will be letting dogs in and out all day, but other than that I can sit and work at my computer in my fuzzy slippers all day.

Jan05Art

Quiet day at home today, out for dinner at Gilligan's on John's Island, love their local shrimp.  Almost got up to 70 today, was 67 and 7pm tonight, but the cold weather will be back this week.

Jan04Art

Hockey again tonight, but my favorite Jack Russell Terrier napping at my feet was what I chose for my journal today.  When Ron got off work we went grocery shopping, home in time to shower and go to the game.

Jan03Art

You can't win them all, and tonight we didn't even manage a single goal.  We beat Gwinnett in Gwinnett yesterday, 4 - 1… perhaps our boys thought tonight would be a push over, but Gwinnett came to play and they out did us on every turn.
Folks it is COLD here in Charleston… I DO NOT LIKE cold weather, the high tomorrow will be in the 50s, 60s on Sunday… in my opinion that's cold enough.

Jan02Art

This is my new pencil/pen case from JetPen.com http://www.jetpens.com/Lihit-Lab-Teffa-Pen-Case-Book-Style-Orange/pd/7667
Inside are 3 Fountain Pens, Lamy Joy with 2mm nib, a Preppy with Medium nib (my favorite drawing pen) and a Pentel Pilot Parallel  3.8 nib (used to letter this page). Three water brushes a Holbein Large, and Niji Medium, and a Pentel Aquash. Three gel pens, black, purple and white Uniball Signo.  Two elegant writer felt tip pens a 2mm pen and a 4mm pen (ink NOT waterproof). Micron pen in size 01 and 08, a Pitt Calligraphy pen 2mm in brown.  A Bic mechanical pencil .9 lead size, extra leads and erasers.  A Lyra 5b pencil, a Derwent Blue Grey Watercolor pencil. A Sharpie fine black marker. A small Altoids tin with my kneaded eraser and pencil sharpener in it.  A small 3x4 sketchbook, and my credit card sized pallet and a piece of terry cloth for brush cleaning… quite the load for this little bag.

Jan01Art

We did not do the traditional New Years collards and black eyed peas… we had pork chops, green beans and creamed corn.  A few doable goals for 2014… need to add a couple of countdowns, to my 2014 pages… I find they keep me focused on the daily tasks.