September 28, 2011

Artsy-Fartsy Foto Day

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There’s just something about looking at art supplies that revs-up my creative side.  And there are so many people out there that take such wonderful pictures of their supplies in use and/or a beautiful mess of color. 

Well, since I don’t really paint, it’s a little hard for me to take a picture of my paint brushes and palette.  But I’m not gonna let that stop me from taking fun, artsy, pictures when I come across them.

Above, is a picture of my liquid acrylics ink.  I haven’t used them much lately….but now that they are out…I’m seriously considering it!!  I love the white one which is Dr. Ph Martin’s Bombay White India ink.  It’s basically white-out for artists!!  LOL!

And below I’ll show you some of my other favorite artsy-fartsy photos that I’ve taken over the last year or so.

SONY DSC

You’ve probably seen this a time or two, since I’ve put it on my blog header before.

SONY DSC

This one just makes me want to learn how to draw with colored pencils.  The pic above is of my watercolor pencils which I’m just starting to figure out.

SONY DSC

Took this picture in January on my deck, around 4-5 pm.  The sky was gorgeous and the sun was bright.  I’m pretty proud of this shot.  It even made it on Flickr Explore/Interesting list (top 500 uploads) for January 5, 2011.  It made page 41…..so it’s ranked around 410-420 that day!  Woo-who!

I would love to see shots you guys have taken (or been inspired by).  Please post a link in the comment section and I know I’ll go take a look Open-mouthed smile

September 27, 2011

Prep Page Three



I prepped this page a couple weeks ago for a trip.  I finally got around to the journaling part since I ran out of time while away.



I think this is a fun way to think thru stuff and to just have fun with color, shape and text.



I used the waterbased Sharpie poster paints for the green in the words above WORK.  But I forgot to wait for them to dry and smudged a bunch of letters!  Ugh!



Just some other random thoughts.



I DO drive myself crazy sometimes!!



I almost gave up on this page, until I colored in w.o.r.k.  Then I liked it!  Go figure.

September 26, 2011

Ok….to try this at home



I was a little bummed that when I flew to Newport I didn’t bring my good DSLR camera.  But when your camera bag is falling apart and 20 years old, it’s best to leave the whole kit and kaboodle at home, don’t you think?

Armed with a $100 gift card to Best Buy, rewarded to me for some purchases a couple months ago.  I knew what I would spend it on…..IF I could find a camera bag that appealed to me.  You see, I’m all about color and patterned material on my accessories!!  I hesitated purchasing a colorful camera bag on line because I couldn’t feel it….test it out.  See if it was made of durable material, you know…stuff like that.



Well, I was out of luck in the fun-color-patterned camera bag selection.  The bags were mostly black, but durable.  And I found one not too oversized and a back-pack type too. 

Then I got an idea. I’ve seen alisa burke decorate her stuff all the time with fabric paint. So, off I went to Michaels to get some paints in different colors.



I grabbed a couple of stencils and my WHITE gel marker.  (I couldn’t see black sharpie lines on this very well). 

I really liked the look of the white only designs.  And I almost kept it this way.



But the other colors felt a little left out.



So for now, this is all I’m going to do.  I’ll have to see how these paints hold up.  The straps are made out of a nylon material so unfortunately I’m not going to decorate them.  Not sure how they’d take the paint!  Darn it!



The inside of the bag even has a place for my ipad!  How cool is that?



Lots of adjustable protection in here. 



I used the Tulip Slick fabric paint line.  Now, it’s a little less boring.   Have you decorated anything with fabric paint before?

September 22, 2011

Prep Page Two…..complete



On my flight out to Newport I would overhear snippets of conversation, so I started a list of what I’d heard.

Well, the word got out that I was keeping a list and before I knew it, I had lots of help in the comment-list-keeping department.  The quote above was spoken by someone very dear to me and it even had the shop owner cracking up!



What can I say, sometimes I gotta be reminded!



I adore Chicago, always have and always will…..the accents, the winter hats, the toll ways (don’t adore these, but they are very Chicago), the shopping!  But mostly the family!



Very poor picture quality.  Too lazy to re-take!



This one probably has a lot to do with growing up with 3 older brothers!  What can I say?



Another quote from last weekend.  I believe….it’ pretty universally true (I think).



Having some word-play-fun with Cheese!



If you refer to anything and everything as “the thing”….then you’re right there with me when I say, “Sometimes I can’t think of the nouns”.  Or really….I don’t want to stop and think of the nouns!  Just easier to say “thing”.

September 20, 2011

Newport NonSense…..



My flight was un-event-ful!!  Which is the way I like it!!  LOL!!
I did not Art Journal as much as I thought I would!  Darn-it!!

LittleManNewport

The non-sense all started when “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” was allowed to come out and sightsee.  There is so much to see in Newport, RI….. how could I not let him see it all too?  They have the mansions (The Breakers, Marble House, RoseCliff) directly off of the cliff walk.  We didn’t do the tour this trip, but if you’re ever in the area I would encourage you to take it.
NewportWater

If you’ve got a wet-suit then you can have a lot of fun in the water at this time of year (well…actually you may need that wet suit year-round to enjoy this water).  Little too cold for my tastes.  The surf wasn’t very big, but I was impressed that there were surfers catching waves.  The pic in the upper left corner is showing 5 surfers actually staying on their boards.  Wow!!  Probably about 20 surfers out there that day.  The bays are very beautiful.  Lots of people enjoy this part of the country with their water toys.

NewportRock

As usual….our non-sense turned into a competition!!  Who could carry the biggest rock? 

NewportMaids

As much as we wanted to play all day, there was much work to be done by the newly licensed “Newport Maids”.  Even "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” had to pull his weight.



And for your viewing pleasure….Prep Page #1…..finished!  This is the only one completed.  What fun, I should do more of them!

My favorite little quote from above is “If you do not let me express myself, I will go crazy and I will take all of you with me!”  Can anybody guess which movie this is from?  Anyone?  Anyone?……yep….Beetlejuice!  This is so me….it just makes me laugh!

September 15, 2011

Prep pages



Prepping pages….this is a new one for me!  Since I will be traveling and you know how boring airports can be….lots of waiting, lots of people, no space, uncomfortable chairs, travel luggage, delays, deadlines, drudgery!  I’ll try to make the best of it!



Sometimes I find it hard to read a book at airports, too much going on.  I get too distracted to follow any decent story.  I like to “do” something besides just people watch, but I get a kick out of that too!



I drew a bunch of random circles and colored them in with watercolor pencils!  I thought the watercolor pencils will work well with these art journal pages, since I can write over them.  Unlike markers where the ink is too dense.



Prep Page 2. 



No real direction here.  And that thing in the middle looks like the loch-nest monster.  Maybe I’ll give him some eyes.



Chose to work with more white space here. 



Just a little pep talk here. 



This page isn’t done….hopefully far from it.  I think the best pages are those that have been enhanced, colored in, marked up and where you can glimpse a small train of thought.  The pages where you can hardly recognize the finished product from the base layer. 

With these pages all ready to journal on, all I’ll need is a few pens and markers.  I won’t have to lug around my usual stash.  What a relief!!  Now, to get over the shyness of  journaling in public.  Can you?

September 11, 2011

September 11 Done.…and a Giveaway!

firemen_flag

Photo credit by Thomas Franklin



Well, as you remember from my last post….I had to get rid of the head.  This is now my 3rd attempt at drawing this fireman’s face.  What bugs me is, my first sketch captured the expression the best.  Ahh well, what can you do?



Other than that face…..I enjoyed sketching this guy.



I can’t remember how many attempts I made at the stripes for this flag.  Finally, someone much smarter than me suggested that I use a ruler and evenly disperse the lines.  Now….why didn’t I think of that?

And speaking of the flag….if you go to the link above about Thomas Franklin they talk about the flag there.  That it was taken from a yacht docked on the Hudson River.  There was a flag signed by Giuliani and Pataki which has been displayed at Yankee Stadium and NY City Hall.  However, when the owner of the yacht saw the dimensions of the flag, she realized it is NOT the same flag that was hung by these fireman and she (Shirley Dreifus) has started a website in an effort to get the flag back.  Wow, interesting!



Here’s the finished sketch without the aid of my gray 0.05 Copic multiliner.



Much better once outlined.  I think I’m getting used to that tool too.  If my hand is soft then the ink doesn’t go down so strong.  Does that make sense?  And yeah, to state the obvious that troublesome Fireman #1 looks like he’s leaning back too far….yeah…yeah….

   OKAY…..NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!

Hard to make something good come out of this but I’ll try.  All you have to do is leave a comment that tells us what you were doing on 9/11/01.  Simple as that.  I’ll draw one name and the winner will receive my latest Doodle Directory Complete Set.  That’s 50 prints of 6 designs per print.  Only open to US residents.

Leave your comment by September 20 midnight.  I’ll pick the winner on the 21st.

September 10, 2011

Remembering 9/11….part 5



Most of Fireman #2 is  shaded.  I just need to go in and soften some of those creases.



Started the shading on Fireman #1.  Lots of little things are attached to his waist.  I have no clue what they are.  Just tried to imitate.

Sep18

The shading came a bit easier here for Fireman #1.  But that head angle is all WRONG, on so many levels!!

My-oh-my isn’t there some other things that could be adjusted?  Side by side is the best tool to seeing my flaws.  However, at this point I don’t think I’ll be fixing all of them!  LOL!



I’m sorry if this picture disturbs you….but that head had to GO….it was disturbing me every time I looked at him.
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By day...I work in the Healthcare field, where every .. i.. has to be dotted and every ..t.. has to be crossed. This blog is the place where I can let myself go and have some fun. I am on a journey. A journey I started a long time ago, but it has been a bit sidetracked with Navy Wife relocations and raising kids. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I have got some time for me. No, I will not be one of those moms walking around the house with Empty Nest Syndrome, I have got way too much to do, to learn, to create. Sure, once the kids are gone I will miss them....but hey, there is always the phone, the email, the texting and the Plane tickets! I love my life and my family and It is fun moving into this new stage. I am into Digital Scrapbooking, photography, journaling, Art Journaling and Drawing. I am a do-it-yourselfer and I am trying to teach myself to draw. I am finding that it takes a lot of patience, lots of practice and a good eraser! And if you're really curious there's a 3 part Interview by Eileen: HERE All the best, Eden