1. If you've been reading my posts lately, you will know that I have been bit by the "sketching bug". Well, I just did not have a pen that I liked for sketching, but now I have a new 6 pc Sakura Pigma Micron set in black! I am excited to get started sketching with these and we'll see the results.
2. This morning I received a sweet comment on yesterday's post from Ronni over at Monday Artday. She has a wonderful weekly art challenge to sign up for and some of the participants work is really good. Thinking I might give that a try......will be fun, anyway!
3. While fighting with this nasty cold all week, it has been such a blessing to have fresh garden tomatoes for dinner every night! Yummmmmy! A dear old friend loaded my hubby up with them earlier this week as a gift for little 'ole me.
Yes, I still have this yuchy cold, but I'm managing to play with my paints and brushes in-between naps.
Oh, Peacock Feathers!
WC, 5 x 16
I have thoroughly enjoyed browsing through many artist's blogs and websites and viewing their watercolor sketchbooks. So much so, that I have been "bitten by the sketch bug"! So, yesterday my 4 (yes, 4) Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbooks arrived and like a child in a candy store, I immediately began the task of filling it up. So much fun! and the pressure to perform with perfection was not present at all. As you see here, my first sketch is that of a peacock. The paints I used were from my Sakura Koi Pocket Field Box. Of course the whole thing was experimental.... my first impression of the paper in the Moleskine is not real good, but I'll keep experimenting. The Koi paints also are not my favorite, but I do like their intensity. I'm just not used to working with pan paints. More experimentation is called for.
I also ordered a 3 x 5 Moleskine Daily Planner, specifically for the purpose of "re-loading" it. I've never done any bookbinding before, but Martha at Trumpetvine Travels has inspired me with her sketchbooks and complete instructions to "re-loading these little Moleskines with watercolor paper. I'll let you know how it all turns out, once I find the time to give it a try.
Well, off to Bible study and then to my watercolor class this afternoon!!!! Have a wonderful day!
5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a pink (yes, I said Pink) Dyson vacuum. Just imagine........! Go sign up now.
These are exclusively available at Target. With every pink Dyson purchase, Dyson and Target will donate $40 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
I am not very "puter literate" and this blogging sometimes gets the best of me. Getting visitors to my blog is always a bit mind-boggling to me. I know that in the blogger world, that is the whole point...getting people to your blog! So I'm going to give this fairly new thing a try.....Nancy Standlee, over at her Art Blog turned me on to Blog Rush and I'm going to give it a try. It's all about driving traffic.
Fall Fenceline, WC 5 x 7
Between outbursts of coughing and blowing my drippy nose last night, I managed to get this little watercolor done. Hope you enjoy it! More is coming, so check back soon.
Carrie Louise at Organized Chaos is a wonderful artist and today she gave a sketch away in a random drawing. I tried to get in on the fun, but was one day too late! Maybe she will do another drawing in the future. You have to check her out!
Hmmmm.... I am having great difficulty focusing this week, as I have come down with a most terrible cold accompanied by the dreaded cough and achy bones. Yesterday, I spent all day in my jammies and mostly curled up in bed. As I wrote in an earlier post, yesterday was the day I was supposed to go on a jaunt with my dear mum. This cold was a great disappointment, since I didn't want to share it with her and I get to spend so little time with her. But, I think I'm coming around this morning, so I think I'll be taking some time to paint today.
1. It has become a ritual (of sorts) that early each morning, just before the sun creeps over the mountains to illuminate the day, I step out on our front porch. I like how the steam from the cup of coffee swirls up around my face as I slowly sip on it. Here is where I begin my day in prayer and listen to the world around me waken. The past few weeks I have watched a woman walk by rather briskly every morning. I know it is part of her "new weight loss routine" and if I had the nerve to speak to her I would tell her "You go, girl!", but it is actually dark at that time of morning, and I fear that if I spoke to her from the front covered porch, I might actually frighten her, so I don't. This morning, I saw her coming up the street a bit slower than usual and I wondered if she was losing her "spunk" or if perhaps she had injured herself. I was thrilled to see that it was not an injury to body or spirit, but tagging along behind her was a new little black & white puppy, no bigger than a teacup. I was glad to see that she has acquired a walking buddy!
2. My mother and I were out running errands a few weeks ago and while in a store, she wanted to look at the selection of puzzles. She told me "Winter is coming and I want to have a few on hand" Well, to my delight I found a collection of puzzles (88, to be exact) in the home of a friend who is just as delighted to part with them as I will be to take a few off of her hands. So, dear Mother, I will be bringing you a winters worth of puzzles!
3. When I begin to moan about my aches and pains, I just observe those around me who really have physical ailments that cause them pain and suffering and then I see my complaints with new perspective. In the past 3 weeks, two of my dear friends have broken hips! Oh how blessed and thankful I am to be young and healthy!!!!!
Ran across this wonderful poem, Dust If You Must
It reminds us all that sometimes you absolutely must take time for yourself and others and to not worry about the small stuff, like dust particles.
1. Yesterday a dear old friend (and I do sincerely mean old-er at 81) asked hubby and I to come over this morning to pick up a little something he had for us. We went over to visit him earlier today and to our surprise he had built a picnic table for our front porch!!! Thoughtful and ever so kind is he. After bringing it home we proceeded to sit down at our new picnic table, drink iced tea and watch the world go by in our little neighborhood. Oh, how sweet are the small pleasures in life!!! Only to get better when our dear old friend can join us.
2. The Lord has blessed me with dear friends 'round about me! Liberty lives on the other side of our backyard fence and she is the proud owner of Cuthbert, the rooster, that I wrote about in an earlier post. I love to sit and just chit-chat with her; I love to listen to all the wonderful and funny stories and glean bits of wisdom from her.
3. Thrilled to receive an invite to go on a little jaunt with my mother next week!
I have found myself scribbling away with the new widget I placed here on my blog a week ago. To get your own widget for your blog, go to Offtype.Net . I will be posting my "scribbles" weekly under the Scribbles topic and you can see what fun I'm having. Please feel free to scribble away and then let me know in the comments.
This is an amazing video of Ethan Winer playing 37 separate cello parts to create one song. He even plays the percussion parts on his cello. It was recorded on 23 tracks using 37 plug-in effects. He spent hundreds of hours on this project so its worth a listen.
