Tough Times Hit Home

My son was one of 80 people laid off from his job today. I think he is planning to take advantage of this "one door closes, another opens" situation to go to school. How much longer can we wait for an economic turn around?

Meanwhile, I am trying to focus on the positive in my life also. I have gotten behind on my watercolor journaling class assignments, and spent a little time this morning to get a few done. These are really enjoyable, much more enjoyable than the color mixing ones.




I am also planning to finally make a background using some type of plastic wrap method on a large piece of watercolor paper that I will then cut into 4 x 4 fat pages so that I can begin my whimsical cats. I am so looking forward to this swap. I find cats fun to draw, especially when you get to be whimsical.

I intended to clean up/reorganize my art room yesterday, but spent all my cleaning time in the house proper - I just love a clean house. I am hoping to spend a couple of hours in this room before I begin my large background piece. I can be so much more productive when my surroundings are organized.

I am going to an open house tomorrow with my daughter. She is getting excited to begin her search for a home for herself and her two girls. The pictures online look really nice and it is quite close to a very good friend of hers with little ones that her girls like to play with.

The baby was up most of the night crying so none of us got much sleep. DD took her to the walk in clinic this morning and found that she had a double inner ear infection. Poor thing - no wonder she cried every time we tried to lay her down. We are all sleep deprived today. It is a gray windy Saturday, so a good day for a nap.

But first I have to do my upper body workout with 5 lb weights and then do my 30 minute, 200 calorie walk on the treadmill.

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!

More Dominoes

Sorry, I haven't been keeping up with the blog, but I've been very busy and have a dandy head cold that is keeping me down. And, if truth be told, I am reading a really good novel that is keeping me out of the art room

However, today the postman delivered my domino sized stamps from The Enchanted Gallery and I couldn't wait to try stamping. I will try adding some color tomorrow, but really wish I had some chalks. They could certainly be left black and white (or tan and black in the case of the bamboo tiles), but I think I would enjoy coloring them.

The hubster and I bought a treadmill today and it is being delivered and set up tomorrow. I absolutely cannot wait to start using it. I think I will start at 30 minutes or so at first and work up to an hour. Or maybe I will start out with about 1.5 miles and get up to 5 miles. After some time I would like to try some intervals of walking and jogging. Since the girls moved in with us I haven't been doing my workouts and have gotten sloppy and Rubenesque (fat).

I'm getting anxious to start my watercolor journal on January 1 and a little later in the month my Chinese Brush Work group. I really should also be drawing every day, but I'd better not bite off more than I can chew. My priorities are this: first - treadmill and art every day; clean house when necessary; eat when hungry; sleep when too tired to do art or clean house.

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