Pink is Not My Favorite Color

Pink as in pink eye, that is.... I seem to have gotten conjunctivitis (pink eye) from my darling little girls this weekend. It is quite annoying, but not serious. Yesterday I woke up with my right eye stuck shut and it oozed and burned all day. By last evening both eyes were stinging and running. I don't think I will have to be seen for this (I hope), but I should be able to get a prescription for the eye drops called in.

Meanwhile, I have some art to show you today, and not just mine. I had a "guest" artist in my studio over the weekend and she produced some lovely things as well. Here she is hard at work on a butterfly she is making:

She also produced the following on an 8 x 10 canvas panel. Here is her background that we left to dry for a couple of hours.

And then here is the second step:

As a final step she added a variety of upbeat words using varying colors of Pitt brush pens. The words included fantastic, fun, art, happy.... She has taken it home with her, so I am unable to get a final picture of it, but I think you can see there is an artist blossoming here.

Now on to the art I produced this weekend - I am afraid it is not nearly so colorful, but I am after all just a beginner. My young artist friend featured above has all the confidence of the very young and I am trying to recapture that feeling.

Here is my background:

 And here is the second step:

I probably should have stopped here, but I thought he was too one dimensional so I added more layers of color, made his tail a tad longer and the white of his eye a tad smaller. I don't think he is done yet, but I am not sure.

I like the breast area better and the eye, but the underside of the tail needs work and I think he is too blue now. Of course, he doesn't have to be a real bird does he? I do think that before I decide he is done I would like to add a bit of greenery to the branch/tree in which he is perched.

I have also started another page in my art journal. I forgot to take pictures of the process, but I began with color and paper scraps (including a dove chocolate wrapper) and then began to write words and smear white paint with a credit card. I have no idea where this is going, but my hands are itching to paint a face over this - sometimes I am not sure whether my head or my hands are in charge of this art.

 I actually think I see a piano player on the left with funky hair that is trying to get out.

I have the backgrounds of two 6 x 6 book pages I am making for a Yahoo! group exchange done and will work on the main art work today. I will not be sharing these at this time in case the intended recipients should be reading my blog. Suffice it to say I am pleased with the beginnings and have a ton of ideas that would suit the desired theme.

I am also working (only in my head so far) on 9 black and white themed inchies that are due in February and am continuing to practice the alphabet with my left hand. My young artist friend (the oldest of my grandgirls featured above) thinks it is silly, but cool and compliments my on my attempts.

My Mom arrives for a week's stay on Friday. My cupboards are bare, my house is filthy, ACK! I am planning a trip into town to do the grocery shopping later this morning. The house cleaning will get done a room at a time beginning some time this afternoon. It is a treadmill day (I have been walking at 3 mph at varying inclines for an hour every other day) and I am looking forward to that.

The hubster is leaving for a funeral in the thumb area tomorrow morning early, my car needs to go in for 100,000 mile servicing, I need a haircut, I need to make my daughter's favorite chicken soup, I need to strip beds and do laundry. I think I'd better get started!

xoxo