Working Out and Virtual Travel

I've reintroduced myself to Cathe, an intense exercise instructor whose DVD I used to work out with years ago. I still have the DVD and yesterday I did the hour workout. It is a weight training workout, but I did it using only my body weight this time and intend to gradually add weight. Even though I didn't use weights, I am sore today, but it is a tolerable sore. I just know if I'd done my usual "jump in as though you are 25" workout with 10 pound weights, I wouldn't have been able to get out of bed. Does this mean that I am growing up? I'm not sure I ever wanted to do that. But it sure feels good to have a good overall ache rather than a huge soreness. I will skip a day as it is a whole body workout and do it again tomorrow.


Meanwhile, I did a quick sketch of Serena during a tennis match. I am telling you who it is because you surely wouldn't be able to tell if I didn't. I probably should have tried one from a distance and whole body to show it was a tennis player and then maybe she would have been more recognizable, but this one up close was on the screen for a bit longer than many of the far away shots were. I can see that her head is not wide enough. In real life her head is not so pointy. I may have to try to sketch her from a magazine photo in the future to see if I can capture her likeness sometime.

I've also been traveling.  The Virtual Paintout destination this month is Thailand and I was quite lucky when I chose a place to land. I was in the town of Chiang Mai and there appeared to be a bazaar in progress. I was standing facing a decorative staircase with vendor setups and dogs on the steps. The vista was much too wide and busy so I chose to "crop" it to get just one corner. I then used colored pencils to add just a bit of color.

I've been meaning to begin a vase of flowers in watercolor, but my room is such a mess from the altered book "stuff" that I don't even know where to begin. I must do a clean up in order to get the space I need. Some time ago, my sister took a photo of a bouquet from her garden for me and I'd like to do a painting of it. I am going to try for a loose representation, but then I always try to be loose and haven't gotten there yet. Perhaps this time, eh?

It is supposed to be over 100º today so I don't think I will be going anywhere, so I will certainly have time to work on the clean up of my art space. I will probably find things I'd forgotten I had to use in my mixed media pieces and hope not to get sidetracked. Do you have this problem? 

I hope you are staying cool today and that you are finding time to be creative. I can't wait to see what you've been up to.

xoxo