Pages

Friday, September 11, 2009

Watercolor and Another Giveaway

The library called me yesterday to tell me that several of the books that I reserved through Melcat were ready to be picked up. Among them was Painting Watercolors by Cathy Johnson. It is a lovely book that explains things quite nicely and just looking through it got me all fired up to try watercolor again.

One of my Yahoo! groups had a watercolor journal workshop that I began, but at the time my daughter and her two little ones were living with us and I was babysitting full time, so I didn't finish the class and had a hard time keeping up with what I did get done.

I have a picture of a lovely oriole singing at the feeder in my sister's front yard which I am currently using as the "wallpaper" on my computer screen so that was the picture I decided to paint. I began by lightly sketching it, then I used a few layers of watercolor, but I am not very good at mixing colors to get the shade I want, so I switched over to my Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons for the final layers.

Also, while checking in at Sitemeter to get the stats on this blog, I noticed I am closing in on 10,000 visitors. I expect to hit that number sometime next week. That seems like a great reason to have a giveaway. This one is a little different as I want the winner to choose from a number of possible prizes instead of selecting it myself.  
The prize will be a book, but the winner will get to choose from these topics: making handmade books, digital photography, Photoshop CS3, origami, Chinese brush painting, or digital scrapbooking.
Here is how it will work: 
1. Leave a comment on this post and tell me which book you would choose if you won.
2. If you would like to be entered twice, post about this giveaway on your blog and come back and tell me about it and leave a link to your post.
3. Be sure to check back to see if you've won.
I love having giveaways and wish I could give something away every day, but the postage costs would put me in the poorhouse.
Tomorrow I am riding with my dear friend, Tina, to Muskegon to play with art all day long. I will tell you all about it.
Bye,

23 comments:

  1. I think Chinese brush painting :)

    I'm going to Muskegon tomorrow too! My first time and I'm looking forward to it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would choose Chinese Brush Painting. I am a watercolorist and think it would certainly add something to my work. Thank you for this opportunity.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your Oriole is cute, you should definitely continue to use watercolors - it would be nice to see some more..
    arlene

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations on 10,000 visitors! That's an amazing achievement. Thank your for the opportunity to enter your giveaway. I think I would choose making handmade books.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats! I am heading to Grand Haven tomorrow- hope we all enjoy good weather on maybe our last summer fling ;-)
    I would love to have a book about making handmade books- I have been interested lately in trying this...thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would love something about making handmade books. I love the header on your page...and 10000 visitors is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love your painting! Birds are hard to do! If I won your giveaway I think I would pick Making Handmade Books. Marva

    ReplyDelete
  8. congrats on 10,000 hits. i would definitely choose the book on making handmade books. i have only dabbled in making easy ones with a few pages. would like to learn more.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congratulations on 10,000 visitors.
    I would love to have a book about making handmade books. How neat to choose your own book. Thanks.
    CindyB

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congrats on reaching 10,000 visitors! And thanks for running a giveaway, what fun. I would also choose a book about handmade book making.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love your oriole! You are so generous with your give away! Thank you! I would like the book on "handmade books".

    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congratulations! I would choose making handmade books - something I have always wanted to learn.
    Thanks for the chance!!!
    Linda B.
    lindaablkb@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your art day sounded like such fun. Good for you for making a day of it! !0,000 visitors...yowser! That's awesome. I am just closing in on 1,600! I think a book on Chinese brush painting would be a nice addition to any art library =)

    ReplyDelete
  14. HI, I'm glad I found your site! I can't wait to see the scrapbooking store in Muskegon. If I won I would like a book on digital photography. I love your blog, so well written and great tutorials.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh my! I would love to win! Thanks for sharing and success on your next 10,000 visitors!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Congrats on reaching 10,000 visitors ! I think I'd choose digital scrapbooking, as it's something I don't have any books on yet.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Awesome! so many visitors!! I'd chose the Photoshop book, as I am presently taking a Photoshop class and am a bit lost. LOL- Linda

    ReplyDelete
  18. woooo hoooo 10,000 visitors!!! magnificent!! congratulations.

    gwenny

    ReplyDelete
  19. WOW!!! 10,000! Congratulations! I think I would chose something on digital scrapbooking. I'm interested in increasing my digital skills and I think the scrapbooking book might have techniques that I could learn quickly and transfer to other applications.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You are so talented. I love the colors, design elements, and depth of your work. Please continue to share your beautiful creations with us as they are a great incentive for the rest of us. Darlene

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a great and colorful blog - and your watercolor is so sweet. If I won, I'd choose the handmade journal book!

    ReplyDelete
  22. 10,000! How Cool! I like making handmade books, but i like them all!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Congratulations Vicki! I would pick the CS3 book because I really need to learn PS especially since I want to work on a website/blog myself.
    Lisa C

    ReplyDelete