Watercolor Part II, Hand Carved Stamps, and Artistic License

I showed you a very insipid watercolor the other day and had already assigned it to the pile that will either have its backside used for a retry or will be cut up into smaller sized art projects. Then the lovely and talented Martha Lever left a comment saying it wasn't a bad beginning, it just wasn't finished, and that the addition of some darks would surely rescue it. I decided to follow her advice and have added some darks and put it in a digital frame and I think it isn't all that bad. Thank you, Martha,

I spent most of the last two days with the lovely, but naughty, Miss Z. She is such a delight, but is such a whirling dervish that she keeps me hopping all the time. She is talking up a storm and is so much fun to have a conversation with. She keeps me in stitches. She is definitely not a baby anymore. This photo is when she is fresh out of the bath and I've put her hair up into a high ponytail. Her hair is quite blond, but looks darker when wet.

On Friday afternoon before she arrived I tried my hand at carving a word stamp - much more difficult than a picture. I think maybe I need to make the letters wider or something.

And then after Miss Z went home yesterday and the Tiger game ended (a real nail biter, but they finally won in a walk-off Don Kelly sac fly), I spent a bit more time in my art room and carved a sailboat, some birch trees, and a fish.

And perhaps the most exciting news is that I received my Artistic License in Saturday's mail. I received it from Brenda Swenson after completing the 75 Day Sketch Challenge and it is gorgeous. When I sent her my information, I included a self-portrait sketch as my official photo. Here is what it looks like. Here is the license and the lovely card it was sent in

I used the spatter brush on my addy to keep just a bit of privacy.

If, for some reason, you don't know Brenda Swenson, you really should check her out. She is a fabulously talented watercolorist, with a couple of books and articles in many publications. She teaches both in the USA and abroad. I'd love to be able to spend some time in a class of hers.

Today is Columbus Day, so I don't think mail will be delivered, and I believe the banks will be closed as well. The hubster was planning a trip into town that included a stop at the bank so he will have to rethink that one. As for me, I am planning on attending my conditioning class this morning and then will check to see if I can do my personal training this afternoon and Friday instead of my usual Wednesday and Friday. This week is shaping up to be extremely busy. Tomorrow I have a volunteer stint at the downtown branch of the library and then am spending the night at my daughter's in order to get her girls on the bus on Wednesday morning. She has to be to work at 6 am. On Wednesday I have a haircut and then am driving to Brighton to spend some time with my lovely sister-in-law and am spending the night. On Thursday I have the dentist for a routine cleaning.  I think at this point I only have my personal training session on Friday. My weeks are usually quite a bit more open than this, so this feels very full. I will have to find some "me and my art" time in there, too.

What about you? How is your week shaping up? Are you finding time for creativity? cooking? painting? making cards? playing in your art journal? Do share...

xoxo