Getting Organized and CED2009

I spent much of the morning straightening my art room - it had gotten really out of control. It is so much easier to get some work done when I can find the things I am looking for.

The treadmill got another workout today. I did program 1 again and am not even tempted to hang on. It is not easy yet, so I think I will continue to alternate this one and the walk/run one that I have been doing. When program #1 feels easy, I will move on to #2.


I finished a color chart for my watercolor class, and practiced more Chinese brushwork. I also did another 2 page spread in my journal. I started out painting a couple of layers of color the second one with a credit card and then stamping randomly. When it came time to add some collage, I rummaged through my stuff and found several containers and labels and was thinking something along the lines of "Candy's dandy, but liquor is quicker", but that didn't really fit my mind set today, so I put in a line from Steven Wright (one of my all time fave comedians) that I have always liked and it is about painting, haha!



Just one more day of work this week and then a 4-day weekend. I was tentatively planning to drive over to my sister's house, but we are currently under a winter storm watch - 8 to 12 inches of snow predicted. I really don't enjoy driving in bad weather or on less than pleasant surfaces, so I probably will wait for a better weekend.

My goal for the next four days: 1) finish the valentine swap that the 5 year old and I are involved in and get them in the mail; 2) do my 25 winter themed skinny pages (4 x 7); 3) do some head scratching and wandering through stores to find products that I can do a lampoon on for the wacky packages ATC swap; and 4) try my hand at drawing some whimsical cats for another ATC swap. I also have plans to make my mom a bamboo pin and a domino refrigerator magnet and send pix of the girls, along with a crossword puzzle book and some Yahtzee score pads. She really likes getting personal mail. It sure beats bills and fliers.

It's 12:14 AM, so I suppose I'd better get these old bones to bed; until I "see" you again, don't forget to live in the moment!

Exercise, Memories and CED2009

I tried out a new non-program plan on the treadmill on Wednesday. I warmed up and cooled down at 3.0 mph and for the in between 21 minutes I alternated walking for 5 min at 3.5 mph and then running for 2 min at 5 mph. A very nice workout.

I also had a good mail day today. I joined the North Light Book Club and placed my first order for 3 free books and a 4th for 14.99. The club I joined is all artist books. Here is a picture of my first 4 choices.


I wrote another whole page of memories from my life before age 10 in my art journal. Some of it was not really for sharing, but it felt really good to get it out. That lead to the free writing on the right hand page. I spent my school days at the Ursuline Academy with the nuns - brutal! Since it wasn't really to share word for word I lightly gessoed over it so it is not quite so readable.


After that I tried a self portrait in a different watercolor journal, but didn't realize you can't erase on watercolor. It just eats the paper. I am used to doing my faces on smooth paper. At any rate, neither attempt turned out very well, so I gessoed over lightly so the faces show through a bit and then collaged how I felt. I don't think these pages are done yet, but it was a good start.


I need to do some more practice of bamboo stalks for my Chinese Brushwork workshop. I seem to be using too much ink. For now, it is 12:11 am and I am in need of some sleep. As for you, don't forget to live in the moment!

Memories and CED2009

I read a journal prompt somewhere (sorry, I don't remember if it was in a book or on a blog) about drawing a floor plan of a house where you lived as a child. I tried it and it really did bring back a flood of memories. I stopped at the end of the two page spread, but I am pretty sure I am going to write more on the next page because the memories just keep coming.



For my watercolor journaling class I am supposed to make a color chart. Either I am doing something wrong or this is a really tedious and labor intensive assignment. I have 12 colors in my travel palette. I made a chart with each color across the top and along the side and then drew lines to make a grid. I used a water brush to mix each of the colors with the other trying to get a 1-1 ratio. But every time I used the brush for one color I had to clean it before getting the other color. This means that the brush kept running out of water and I would have to get up and go to the other room and fill it up. I only got 2 complete lines and 1 partial line before I was called for dinner and when I went back, I didn't have the heart to continue, so I drew a pear instead and played with some lettering. I posted that to my watercolor journaling class instead of the color chart.



After that, I went to my room and changed clothes and got on the treadmill and did the first Weight Loss program. This program alters the incline to 6, 7, and 8 degrees and alternates the speed between 3.0 and 3.5. I was thrilled to finish it without hanging on (There were moments while I was doing this program where I was tempted to either cancel it or hang on, but I persevered.). Needless to say, I was very pleased with myself when I was done.

Today is a babysitting day, but I do have the morning before my daughter goes to work, so I am planning to clean up my art room - it is scary messy - and try my hand at another art journal page and perhaps more practice with the bamboo stalks that I started yesterday for my Chinese Brushwork workshop.



Also the 5 year old and I are working on a Valentine ATC swap. I will post pix when they are done.

For now, don't forget to live in the moment.

CED2009 and A Wonderful Day

Today was my first day off in a week. I slept in a little late and was awakened by the little one coming into the bedroom and saying, "Nana, Nana" and giving me a kiss. I gotta tell you that is a wonderful to wake to a new day. I took a quick shower, ate a toasted whole wheat bagel with soy cheese (at least I ate most of it. The little one always has to share in anything edible.) and headed for Hobby Lobby.

I had a list with me and was successful in almost everything on it. I bought a large pad of watercolor to cut into 7 x 10s to get my winter themed skinny book pages going; a pad of newsprint to use as practice for the Chinese Brushwork workshop; a small watercolor pad to cut up and bind for a journal; a sketchbook; alcohol inks, blender and blender tool; a set of sepia Pitt pens; sumi ink and a set of 3 Chinese brushes; a package of 51 (what an odd number) round magnets; an embossing stamp pad; and a Lucy Wang Art of Chinese Brush Painting book. JACKPOT!!

I wasn't able to find the foam mounting sheet for unmounted stamps or the white pens I was looking for, but overall, it was a very successful shopping trip.

In the exercise department - after dinner, but before late evening, I hit the treadmill. This time I was planning to just walk 1.5 miles at 0 incline, but while I was walking I got more creative. First I increased the incline to 2. Then I decided to jog a bit. I did a 1 minute jog at 4.5 miles per hour. Then walked at 3.5 for awhile, reduced the incline to 0 and then did a 1.5 minute jog at 4.5 mph, then walked for a couple of minutes at 3.5 mph; and finally jogged for 2 minutes at 4.5 mph and then walked the rest of the 1.5 miles at 3.5 mph and 0 incline. It felt really good and I think I am going to try to get to the point where I walk half of the time and jog half of the time. Who knows maybe I will get to the point where I jog for the entire 1.5 miles. YAY!!

In the creative department - when I got home from Hobby Lobby, I made a pot of beef vegetable soup with orzo (I had stopped at Meijers and bought a meaty beef bone and some veggies), and then retired to my art room to try out my new stuff. I played with the Adirondack alcohol inks and the dominoes for awhile and then worked in two journals. In the first one I finished my first assignment in my Beginning Watercolor Journaling class, which was to write in the shape of a person or animal.



After that I used the girl whose shape I had used in the above assignment and some clothing I cut out of a magazine to write about the change from style of dress in my early twenties to my preferred style of dressing now. It was quite fun. At first I worried that I should add more color instead of leaving all that white space, but I decided I liked it the way it is.



Now it is after midnight and the hubster is planning to take me out for breakfast tomorrow (we have another day off), so I should retire for the night. As for you, don't forget to live in the moment!

CED2009

I took Sunday off from the treadmill. I am planning to do six days a week, alternating between a program one day and a no incline 3.5 mph for 1.5 miles the next. I am not planning to step on the scale or take measurements until the end of January. That will give me an entire month of walking and doing the programs to see what the results are.

Meanwhile, I had the girls all day yesterday, but did get in my art room near the end of the day and made a two-page spread using circles and colors. For the most part I wanted to play with my Neocolor II pencils and my water soluble oil pastels. Both of these are quite fun to pay with. Once I had the circles drawn and colored in the different sections, I cut words associated with color from a magazine and glued them to the pages using PPA. I then used PPA to adhere the color words in the shape of a flower. As a final step, I wrote "colorful" words in the centers of the circles. I left the middle of the entire drawing blank. I am not sure what will go in this spot, but when I find it, I will recognize it and will add it.



I am planning to go to Hobby Lobby today to pick up some supplies to do more work with the dominoes I am working on and to purchase some Chinese brushwork supplies. I also need some watercolor paper for a swap I am in with art techniques. I am to make 25 winter themed pages in 4 x 7 size. This is for a skinny book and they are due at the end of the month.

For now, don't forget to live in the moment!