Where Did March Go?

It is April already and I am in a bit of a funk. While I am loving the warmer temps and having windows and sliding doors open, I am unable to get any art done. I think my muse is playing on the tire swing in the back yard, or maybe catching frogs in the creek.

We had the family here yesterday for an Easter egg hunt and a mid afternoon meal. It was nice to have them all together.

I am going to my sister's house again today and will stay until Thursday. Then on Friday I think I have all three girls. They are on Spring break this week. I have some deadlines to meet so will take some of my art projects with me and hope to get some of them done or at least roughed out.

One of the projects I am involved in is colored mandalas. I need six of them and only have one done. They are due by the 15th, so they are my first priority. I am also participating in an ATC exchange in which the theme is Bob Dylan lyrics. I couldn't help myself - I had to get in on this one. They aren't due until May 24th so I have a bit of time to decide which lyrics I will choose and how I will sketch the cards to match them.

Meanwhile, I got outside yesterday with the camera and found a few interesting things to take pix of. Here they are:

A custom bench the hubster made for a customer.

A cute pair of boots I found at a second hand store for the little one. She loves them.

Pretty tulip beginnings.

Pretty Spring color in the front garden.

Traditional Easter Lilies on the dining room table. They smell fantastic!

I am not sure I will be posting while at my sister's house, but I will try. I will surely share any art I get done while there.

Until then,

xoxo

Ahhhh Spring!

Yesterday was for me the first REAL Spring day. I drank my morning coffee on the swing on the screened porch - without a hoodie - and was in heaven. After my coffee, I took my camera with the long lens on and took a few pix. I used to take pictures all day every day, but spending time in my art room has taken priority. It felt really good to spend time in the yard with the camera. I am going to have to do more of that.

I have chosen a few of my favorites to share with you. I hope you like them.

The tulip tree is just about to "pop".

I just love how this "different" one stands out.

And what would Spring be without the frogs in the backyard creek.

Official frog catcher. Papa gave her a net and she loves to catch frogs, bring them to the porch to show us and then let them go. I just love it when my little redhead wears pink.

That's it for today.

Bye!

And the Winner Is.......

What a lovely Spring we had today. A perfect one for an outing with a friend. In the beginning, things didn't look so good - I drove to her house to pick her up and when we came out to my car and I turned the key, nothing happened; I mean, nothing. No noise at all. She got out of the car and called her husband on her cell and I stayed in the car and called the hubster on my cell. Between the two of them they figured out that I had a dead battery. After all it was the original battery and was about 7 years old. So we got my car out of the way and she drove.

We did lots of errands including a stop at Michael's, a bookstore, lunch at Appleby's, Toys 'R Us, the Dollar Store and Kroger. We had a lovely time and will certainly not forget who drove last when we next decide to have an outing. We generally take turns driving and the passenger buys lunch. It is a good arrangement.

I have been working on my domino pendants because I finally found some pendant bails on eBay and the farmers' market season is almost upon us. I am hoping to sell some of them so that I can afford to make more.





Meanwhile, I have used the online random number generator to select the winner of the Chinese Painting book giveaway and this is what I got:




Congratulations Katina! I need your snail mail addy so I can send it to you.

That's all for now. Bye!

Another Rainy Spring Day

I went for a short walk around the yard with the hubster this morning in a fine mist. By the time we had only walked around about 1/2 of it, the mist had turned to rain. It sounded like Spring, it looked like Spring and it smelled like Spring. Ergo, it is Spring.

Yesterday morning I decided to mix up my workout a bit, so instead of doing Cathe's workout, I got out a ball workout and did that one. It was a great workout and I am a little bit sore today. I used 5 lb weights for the lighter weights and 10 lb weights for the heavier weights. The woman who leads the workout has a British accent and at one point while working on the glutes, makes a comment about how this exercise is so great for the "back yard". I love that expression for referencing the bum, don't you? I followed up the ball workout with a 30 minute walk on the treadmill. I am really getting anxious to see this month's results when I do the weigh and measure next week. I am reminding myself that muscle weighs more than fat, so the number may not have changed much, but I am expecting the measurements to have changed considerably! We'll see. At any rate, I am addicted to working out every other day now and that is not going to change regardless of this month's results.

I worked on my Face in progress yesterday and am pleased with the eyes and mouth so far.


The next lesson we will be using Neocolor II crayons to add another layer of color to the face and to shadow and highlight the lips. At least, that is what I think we are going to do.

I also spent a bit of time in my art journal last evening. It had been quite a long time since I felt I had time to play in it. I dropped some Rosy Posy craft paint on each page and used a scraper to move it around. When it dried I applied a bit of Sunflower craft paint and did a similar thing. I really like those two colors together - kind of Springy, maybe even Eastery (I know, it is a made up word, but you get the idea, don't you?). Later in the evening while trying to decide whether to paste cuttings from magazines or doodle (I am still anxious about trying to doodle, but am determined to just try it - some day), I decided to do a big face and then color the eyes, lips and hair using Neocolor II crayons. I purchased a cute set of alphabet stamps called Fun Type from Michael's yesterday (that's a whole 'nother story), and decided to give them a try. They are cylinders of wood with a letter at both ends. For all of the letters up to the "d" in haired, I just looked at the letter on the other end and if it was upright, I got the upright letter when I stamped using the other end. However, as you can see, even though I was looking at the "c" on the other end of the stamp in the correct orientation, I got an upside down "d" which looks like the letter "p". My 6 year old grandgirl thought it was a hoot!




I do like the look of the stamps, though!

A reminder, if you haven't left a comment on the giveaway post from several days ago, you still have time. I will be drawing the winner on Friday. Good luck!

Bye!

First Full Day of Spring and A Giveaway

Today is the first full day of Spring. It is overcast and 41 degrees; it was snowing a bit earlier. This reminds me that "the first day of Spring and the first Spring day are not necessarily the same thing".

I do have some crocuses up in the front yard and have seen lots of robins and red-winged blackbirds, so Spring is certainly here. Now if we could just have temps between 60 and 70 degrees for about 3 months, I would be in heaven. Unfortunately, in this part of Michigan, Spring's lovely temps give way much too soon to summer-like hot temps. I am hoping this year to have a long lovely Spring season.

I am working on an ATC swap called Yellow Pages. So far I have glued down parts of pages of yellow pages and am planning to put a light glaze over them and then hand draw something pertinent to that page.



Now for the giveaway. I have a wonderful soft-cover book called Chinese Painting Techniques for Exquisite Watercolors by Lian Quan Zhen. It is quite lovely and is about 140 pages of examples and hot-tos. To win this lovely book, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. I will be drawing the winner using the random number generator on Friday, March 27.



As for now.....the little one is a bit under the weather today and is clingy and needy. I will be spending some time cuddling and watching Elmo and other Sesame Street shows until her mother and older sister return some time later this afternoon. At that time, I will change into my workout clothes and do a 58 minute Cathe workout, Muscle Max, and then walk uphill on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Then for the rest of the day, who knows........

Can it be Spring?

We spent most of yesterday out on the deck with the baby. Gotta get that Vitamin D! I am hoping to spend some time out there again today. The difference today is that I have the day off, so I can come and go as I please. I don't really have any plans for the day, except to enjoy it. And I am definitely planning to have my afternoon coffee out on the screened porch - perhaps while listening to Adele.

I have done a little bit of art this morning and am hoping to get more done later today. I am planning to get the backgrounds of the ATCs that are due in mid-April done today and then begin finishing them. I would like to get them in the mail some time next week.

Can you tell I have spring fever!!!!????



I can feel every muscle I own today - and at my age, that means that tomorrow will be much worse. For some reason as I have aged, the greatest amount of soreness is no longer the next day but two days after a serious workout. Yesterday morning I worked out to Cathe's DVD from her Hardcore Series called Muscle Max. I wasn't able to do all the reps, but I really pushed myself and can't wait to do more tomorrow (if I am not too sore). After the 45 minutes spent with her, I walked at a 4 degree incline at 3.2 mph on the treadmill for half an hour. What a great way to start the day! If you are unfamiliar with Cathe Friedrich and you are into fitness, you gotta check her out. I own several of her DVDs and haven't found one yet that I didn't like. At 43 years old, she is in great shape and explains things wonderfully!




I am planning to get a hill climbing walk in some time later today and I am anxiously awaiting the new Faces lesson from Paulette.

That's it for now.....

Background for my Faces class

After watching the second video for my Faces class, I made a background on which to draw a face as my focal point. I am a bit anxious about drawing on it, but feel sure Paulette will explain it in terms that I can deal with.

I almost made my background with teal and purple (my absolute favorite color combo), but instead was thinking Spring and decided green and mauve was the way to go. At first I thought it was a bit too busy, but have decided that I like it and I think my face will be covering much of it anyway.



I think that sometime today I will get the backgrounds prepped on the ATCs for swaps that I am participating in that have deadlines in mid-April. One is to be 3 hand-drawn art supplies and the other is to be yellow pages themed.

I will post them as I get them started.

I am not feeling very well today. My head is full, my throat is sore and I am feeling overall wimpy. I think I just need to stay focused on something other than how I feel - or maybe after I do a little bit of art, I will take a nap.

See you later....

I'm Back - Surprises in the Mail

I had a lovely time at my sister's house. We played cribbage, Scrabble and Yahtzee to our hearts' content. She also passed on a bag of novels she had read for me to read and pass on to others. It rained most of the time I was there, so when we went outside it was for the purpose of going shopping.

I returned home to find the house dark in the middle of the day - blinds drawn and silent. The hubster was sick and apparently had been sick the entire time I was gone. He is feverish and achy. I immediately offered anything he might need/want, but he didn't want anything, so I picked up, swept and spot mopped the kitchen and put on a pot of homemade beef noodle soup.

Once the meaty bone and cut up veggies were in the pot, I went out to get the mail - oh how wonderful - two parcels. One had been ripped open during mailing and the postal service had placed plastic around it with a note of apology. Luckily no damage was done to the two books


a special and gorgeous bookmark





and lovely papers




sent by Amy Nelson of An Li Na Designs. I was the winner of a giveaway on her blog. If you are not familiar with her blog, you must go over and see it. She is in the process of making a Draconis for a quilt she is making. She also sometimes has tutorials and of course giveaways.

In the other package was a beautiful ring-bound journal with a cute bear and a 3-D bee with a great message on the cover and really nice paper inside.


It is the perfect size to carry with me to sketch while I am out and about.

It was wrapped in a brightly colored, stunning tissue paper. Can't wait to use some of that in my current artwork.



I won these in a giveaway at Peggy Gatto's blog. If you don't know Peggy, you should stop by her blog. She does all kinds of art and takes lovely photographs.

So even though I am feeling sorry that my husband is feeling so miserable, I am at the same time brightened by these lovely gifts. I have also been contacted by the winner of the Keith Smith book given away here on my blog and will try to get it in the post tomorrow.

I am thinking that perhaps the first day of Spring (not necessarily the first spring day) will be another good day to have a giveaway. Stay tuned!

As the World Turns

Catchy title, huh? I can't help but be reminded how the earth tilts on its axis this time of year to get us closer to the sun. The sun actually has a lot of warmth in it as it shines through the car window, and if you can find a spot out of the wind, it feels heavenly to feel the sun on your bare skin - skin that hasn't seen the light of day without cover in a long, long time.

I am feeling hopeful that this long, snowy period may actually come to an end sometime within the next 6 or 8 weeks and am so looking forward to spending time in the open air. My body craves the warmth and fresh air after being cooped up indoors for far too long.

I began my day today by sitting on a stool in front of the mirrors in the bathroom and drawing a blind contour self portrait. I had read that these were usually simian in appearance and mine certainly fits that description. I am going to have to spend time with lots of different objects doing both blind contour and regular contour drawings until I begin to 'see' better.



I finally began to develop my background to be cut into 4 x 4 pieces for my whimsical cats. I have sprayed it with a dark green and a medium yellow so far. I think I need to add something darker and am thinking of a wine color - not much - maybe just filling a paintbrush and spattering it randomly.




I have an art friend coming over this morning and we are going to make a trip to Hobby Lobby and other points as yet undetermined. We will have lunch out and talk about art and other things. We were trying to get together a couple of times a month, but family health and holiday seasons got in the way. I am looking forward to a lovely day. Although it is only 23 degrees right now, the sun is shining and the predicted high for today is 48 degrees. YAY!

Don't forget to enjoy this time and live in the moment!