Art with the Grandgirls and Watercolor Landscape

We had a very full day here yesterday. Miss P and Miss M stayed overnight on Sunday and we spent a couple of hours at the kitchen table with gesso, gel medium, paper napkins, magazines, scissors, wax crayons and acrylic paints. We had a blast.



These are Miss Morgan's pages. She is four and loves to color. The bunny is a paper napkin and the girl at the mailbox is an image transfer.

These are Miss Payton's pages. She is nine and is definitely an artist in her own right. The wrapped up money is an image transfer and the butterflies are a part of a paper napkin.

And I got some work done in my altered book as well. I added to the first two below that I showed in progress before. And began the bottom two.

And I turned in my homework for the Going Green class. I am not altogether happy with the landscape, but there are parts of it that I like. I can't wait to try another one. I added a digital mat to set it off.

I took the girls to the library for a comedian/magician show and they had a blast. Afterward, we met their Mom at her house and we all went to Kohl's shopping. Boy is Miss P a good shopper. She and her Mom helped me pick out several shirts and pants and were the best judges/critics. I hate shopping and typically end up with an armload of clothes in the dressing room and then after an hour I am hot and irritated and don't find anything I like. I actually came home with a nice selection of nice casual summery clothes. I find since I retired I mostly own kick about clothes, most of which have either paint or gesso on them.

Nancy and I are going into Mason this morning to play with our iPads at the booksellers/coffee shop and I will actually have something besides my khaki capris and pink print shirt to wear. Don't get me wrong, I love that outfit, but it was about the only thing I had to wear except jeans and t-shirts and it is way too hot for jeans.

What do you have planned for the day? Are you sweltering in this heat? Or are you too cold on the other side of the world? Whatever your situation, I surely hope you can find the time to do something for yourself - maybe something creative you can share....

xoxo

What Happened Wednesday

When I finished posting yesterday, I ate a quick breakfast (whole wheat toast with peanut butter and sliced bananas) and then spent an hour on the treadmill. I did a slow jog for a mile and a half and then walked at 3 mph at an incline of 3 for about 20 minutes and finished off with what I call a dance step for the last five minutes. What a great way to start the day!

And then I got a phone call. My daughter was trying to catch up from her week of sickness and had the day off and would appreciate it if I came over to give her some motivation to get started with the catch up. And her water pump on her well was leaking and making funny noises so someone was coming over to check it.

I took a quick shower, packed up some homemade pea soup, a dozen clementines, a handful of apples, and the laundered clothes she'd left here when she was sick and headed for her house. The girls loved the clementines especially Little Miss 3 who found she could peel them herself. I sat with the little one while her Mom started picking up the house. After some time Mom got in the shower and then asked if I minded if she ran to the grocery store. No problem. When she got home she asked if I would stay until the water man came in case they had to run to a store to buy supplies. No problem. As it turned out, I didn't get home until almost 5 pm, starving and with a headache. No art play yesterday. I've already blown my latest resolutions.

Late last evening, DD called to ask if I could take the girls today around noon and keep them overnight and until she gets off work around 3 pm Thursday. No problem. That means that my alone art time will be severely limited again. However, I have a plan to do some art while the little ones are arting (I know, here I go making up another word). Usually I am so caught up in what they are doing I don't do my own art when supervising them. That is about to change.

When I got up this morning before I even turned on the computer, I got out my sketchbook and my watercolors and made myself do a bit of quick art. Here are the results:

I didn't draw him in white on orange paper; when I scanned him my blind contour foot drawing was showing so much through the background that it was a great distraction. I opened it in Photoshop and put a dark background behind it and then used blending modes so that the foot drawing didn't show through.

I don't think I am really happy with the results of this playing, but I am very pleased with myself that I not only put watercolor to paper, but that I am sharing it as well. I would really like to take another watercolor class.

I woke up this morning with a huge headache and every time I sneeze it is intensified. After a couple of mugs of coffee it has subsided a bit and I don't think I am going to have to take any medicine to tame it. I really hate taking medicine and I find that sometimes when I do I get rebound headaches.

My only goal for today is to enjoy my girls and try to produce a bit of art while we are all playing together. I'd like to combine a sketch with a bit of watercolor and see what that looks like. Here's hoping for a fun-filled, arty day with my girls.

I do need to clean bathrooms and the hubster is taking down the tree today, so I will vacuum and rearrange the living room. I love how big the room looks after taking the tree down. 

I have a couple of cornish hens thawing in the refrigerator and maybe the little girls and I will make some interesting stuffing and plan a feast for dinner. Stay tuned......

xoxo