Playing With Blog Design

I just wanted to tell y'all that I'm working on the design of both my blogs trying to get something that I'm happy with, so if when you get to either one of them and they look different a few times, they're under construction. The content will be the same, but I'm playing with all the other stuff.

Got all my Christmas shopping done yesterday, with J's help. YAY!!! We were too tired to unload the SUV last night, and J is gone after cattle feed this morning. I should have already had the car unloaded, but I've been playing with my blogs all morning, so I better go get er done before he gets back. We have presents to wrap!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Artyz Girls-Small

This week's challenge at Artygirlz is Small. I absolutely lovvvvve small things and miniatures, and i have a large dollhouse full of things to prove it. LOL Therefore I love atcs and inchies. Unfortunately, my eyes aren't what they used to be, but I still enjoy making them.

I'm sharing an inchie and an atc. Both are mixed media on cardstock. The inchie has a shiny finish plus metallic copper glitter and threads and didn't photograph as well as I'd have liked, but it's one of my favorites that I've made. The atc figure is a photograph of a doll in my collection downsized to fit against the stamped background. The stamp is from The Montage Collection and is quite a bit larger than the atc. The quote says, "When the wind stops you smell the fragrance of the orchid."

Hope you enjoy them. Have a great day! :)

IMT Challenge-Dress

For this week's dress challenge on IMT I thought I'd share one of my favorite dresses ever.

It probably looks like it needs throwing away to you guys, but I wore this little dress when I was about a year old, and it is well worn. I feel very loved when I look at this little dress. It's about 58 years old and after I outgrew it mama put it in the cedar chest with some other baby dresses, which were a little fancier and more delicate, but this one is dearest to me. She gave them all to me a few months ago when she was cleaning out things. I only wish she had saved the ones she made for me.

My paternal grandmother, whom I adored, made this little dress, just for me, out of a cotton flour sack. I had many little flour sack dresses and diapers, but this is the only one I still have. It was made on her old treadle sewing machine, I'm sure without a pattern. Faded from the many times mama carried water, washed it on a rub board, and ironed it, it's now also yellowed with age, torn under both arms and has a few loose stitches from much wear. The little placket opening in the back never had a button and was held together with a safety pin.

It may not look like much to anyone else, but to me, it represents a lot of love. And, yes, I was a chubby baby. :)

Inspire Me Thurs & Tissue Carnation

The challenge for this week at inspire me Thursday was a handmade gift. I'm running a bit late on it. I was dressing an art doll to share, but ran out of time.

Yesterday, I got to thinking about my grandmother teaching me to make paper flowers when I was little (I'm going to write an article on my other blog about it soon), and wondered if I could still make them. I didn't have any crepe paper or colored tissues, so I used a white tissue, dipped in wc and let dry, then folded, cut, tied, and seperated into this little carnation. I used a wire bread tie, because that is what I had handy, and I put it in an old glass Vicks Salve jar. It just may turn up ON someone's gift at Christmas. :)

Have a great day!

Arty Girlz & Happy Holidays

This is my entry for the Arty Girlz challenge this week, which is our favorite medium. I don't really have a favorite. I love playing with them all. Lately, though, I've learned to love drawing, watercolor, watercolor pencils, and inktense pencils.

Through these doodles I have learned to relax and have fun when drawing/painting instead of trying to make everything look perfect, which is stressful. I am a dabbler. I love oils, pastels, clay, making art dolls, miniatures, ink, printmaking, stamps, trying new supplies and techniques, and I have an obsession with decorative papers, esp unruyu rice paper. Maybe if I could choose a favorite, I might be a master of one. But then I would get bored. As it is, I'm never bored. :)

Anyway for this challenge I used watercolor/pencils, since that's what I've been into for a few months now. The Christmas ptg above is actually a page in my moleskine journal, and a quirky sketch, but now that I'm looking at it on here, I may print some off for Christmas cards.

The one below, which I titled "Goldfish," is an atc on wc paper, where instead of drawing doodles I let different colors of wc flow into each other, then splattered a black inktense pencil onto it. When it dried it made me think of goldfish in a little pond.


I hope they made you smile. Thanks for visiting. Have a great week! :)

Arty Girlz - Frames

Here is my entry for the Artygirlz Challenge this week, which is frames. I decided to share my atc view finder frame (hope this counts), which is laying on a work in progress cloud painting, inspired by Alex Shur in her article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors a couple of issues back. I've gotten it to this point and can't decide where to go next. The technique is fun. I just haven't fully grasped it yet. Still working on it though. :) Check out her blog to see how it's supposed to be done.


Cloud Inhabitants--WIP-pencil, sharpie, gesso, watercolors on wc paper--quite a concoction of souls, huh? :) Can't decide whether to cut it up into smaller paintings or leave it whole with enhancements. I'm using the view finder frame to see how many atcs I could make from it, but at the same time I hate to cut it up. Decisions, decisions! :)

Ms Mouskette (see post below or visit group) was voted the honor of being on the Mojoart group home page until the next challenge. This challenge was "Celebrating Women." She and I appreciate the votes and the honor. :)

IMT-Tables

The Inspire Me Thursday challenge this time is Tables, so I thought I'd share my art/writing/dining table with you. It's a little messy, but that's how I like it. It looks really good in this picture compared to what it looks like right now. :) I usually do my computer stuff and writing on one side of the table, my art stuff on the other, and other necessary "stuff" gets mixed together in the middle. :)

On second thought, I'll show you what it looks like right now (the bottom two pictures-sorry about the quality). Should I be ashamed? LOL

Needless to say, we do very little dining on this table. :)

Thanksgiving

This is TT (Tiny Target because she has bullseye markings on her side like her dad (Target) and her mom (Little Target). She is small for her age and darts around like a chipmunk. She's a hoot and I'm thankful for her too. :)

I would like to list all of the people and things I am thankful for, not just today, but every day, however, it would take forever, so here are just a few:

I am thankful for God, my friends and family (both mine and my husband's), that I love and am loved, my new friends in blog land, my cats, cows, Sammidog, the passion for art and writing that I have, and all of the lovely people I've met through those and other hobbies, a warm, comfortable house, art supplies, the 4-wheeler, Sammidog's new insulated house that Spotty-Butt (the kitten) shares with him, the military that are away from their families trying to keep us free and safe, and the list goes on..............

Take time to stop and count your blessings. What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving. Have a safe and happy weekend.

Artygirlz Challenge-Favorite Colors

"Hot Chocolate Anyone?"-quirky wc on sketch paper

This weeks challenge over on Arty Girlz is to use our favorite colors. I love most colors, but two of my very favorites are turquoise and red-orange or terra cotta. I tend to use those a lot, or a soft blue and a creamsicle orange. The heart in the photo is actually more orange than it shows up. Hot chocolate also happens to be one of my favorite winter drinks, preferably home made with lots of marshmallows. :)

Mojoart Challenge--Aren't We Women Fabu-mouse!

The theme for this 2nd challenge at the Mojoart group is Celebrating Women. I thought Ms Mouskette might do. Hope she makes you smile. :)

"Aren't We Women Fabumouse!--quirky journal sketch-wc/pencils, black sharpie on paper

Blog Award!!!

I just received this Proximity Award from Crissi. I'm a little excited...and a lot honored. Such a nice unexpected surprise and it's beautiful. :) I love the meaning behind it. Thank you so much, Crissi.

This is the message for the award. It is to be passed to 8 other bloggers for the sentiments below. This award states that:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers

I'm passing it on to these wonderful bloggers:

Charlie, Marie, Alberta, Lisa, Pretty Me, Jen, Jessie, Jolene

IMT Challenge

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge is to use an Einstein quote. I chose "The most precious things in life are not those one gets for money" and digitally placed it on a favorite photo that I took through the dining room window one day. The photo quality is not great, but the scene kind of fit the quote, and it's true, the best things in life can not be bought. A noon day siesta in the shade with a loved one is one of those things. :)

I couldn't help but smile when I looked out the window and saw Tigger Top and Greybo spooning on the concrete rabbit bench in the shade. Yes, there are two cats on the bench if you look closely. The one behind is a light gray. :)

Artygirlz and Mojoart Challenges

This is my entry for the Artygirlz challenge this week, which is to use a quote or verse with your art.

"You Never Know What A New Friend Might Look Like"-- Quirky journal sketch on WC paper --WC/pencils, pencil, black sharpie, digital text on quote "Of all possesions, a FRIEND is the MOST PRECIOUS." by herodotus



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Mojoart Group Challenge 2--Merry Holidays--This one is for a challenge for the group I belong to. We are having two challenges this time, but I haven't decided on one for the other one yet. This little guy just seemed to fit the holiday one, even if he looks a little lonely or shy. ;)

"Happy Holidays" --Quirky penguin--WC/pencils, pencil, black sharpie, digital text on WC paper-

Hope you enjoy my efforts. :)

Sammie-Dog Finds A Home

On the right of the blog (right under Loopy's photo), and here, is a picture of the newest member of our family. This one is the day he came to us starved. The one on the right is after he'd been here a few days. We are blessed that he found us.

Go here to read about him and see other pics: http://scribblesfromrabbithop.blogspot.com/

Inspire Me Thursday-Coffee Break

Entertaining myself in a 4th floor motel room in Paducah, KY while Jim (hubby) was attending classes for his job, I was doing one of my favorite things; drinking coffee while looking out the window daydreaming. :)


Anyway, I started playing around with my camera, my hand, my coffee cup, and the morning light. I came up with several interesting, at least to me, photos. I like the first one the best, but the silouhette in the second one is kind of interesting too, even if it's not a particularly good photo.

For this week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge I'm sharing my quiet time with you.





"Coffee Dreams"-Photos

Arty Girlz Challenge-Blog Inspiration

This week's challenge at Arty Girlz is using inspiration from someone else's blog or our own. I found inspiration for this atc, as well as all of my quirky art journal sketches, from Judi Russell's website and her art journal technique, especially the earlier ones that look like patchwork in some of my older posts. I have gradually developed my own style, but she opened up a whole new art world to me, and I'm having a blast. :)Untitled--Artist Trading Card-Quirky Journal Ptg-Pencil & WC on WC paper

Remembering Daddy

Tulips were one of daddy's favorite flowers, so this little watercolor painting is for him. He left us unexpectedly on Nov. 11, 2004, four years ago, and not a day goes by that I don't miss sharing my life with him. All the little day to day things. He is always in my heart and I feel his presence around me continually. He was a good dad, and though I'm a senior citizen now, I'm still his "Baby Girl." Always will be.

IMT Challenge-Open Topic

This week's challenge at Inspire Me Thursday is open to anything creative that you want to share, so I thought I'd share this little painting of a girl and her bow that I did last week. I like her and I hope you do too. :)

"The Bow's Not My Only Problem"-art journal sketch/ptg-watercolor on wc paper, black sharpie -She was born of another one of my doodle sketches and she's about postcard size. The background is actually more of a minty green. I couldn't get it adjusted, but maybe she doesn't look too bad.

Perhaps that's why the frown. She's afraid she doesn't look her best. :)

Arty Girlz Challenge #59-Hand Drawn Elements

This week's challenge at Arty Girlz is hand drawing an element in your artwork. Most of the artwork I create is hand drawn, at least partially, so pretty much anything on my blog would fit the challenge. Even Mollie B. Muse (the art doll) has a drawn/painted face under the porcelin mask. Bet ya didn't know that, did ya? :) But I wanted to play so I'm sharing this little drawing (a favorite of mine) that came out of a page of my doodles. I'd love to do a painting of this one sometime. I think it would be great for a child...or my best friend, who is an animal lover too. :) Hope you enjoy it too.

"I Can See MUCH Better From Here!" said the cat on top of the sheep's head.-quirky sketch on bluish-grey pastel paper-pencil & Black sharpie --

Sorry I forgot to crop the picture. I have to get some better pictures made if I'm going to share them with you. I promise! :)

Waiting & My 2nd Blog Has Been Born

"Waiting" -quirky art journal sketch-pencil, black sharpie, wc pencils in sketchbook---Looks like they're getting impatient, doesn't it? :)

Drawing these images out from the doodles is still great fun to me. I look forward to getting up in the mornings to start doodling and sketching. It's become a habit that I hope I don't lose.

I did another brave thing, for me, yesterday (click on the Be Brave Project button at right-click for explanation). I've been thinking about a second blog for a while now, and yesterday I got up the nerve to give birth to one.

Moxie Blue will now contain my art related interests, photos of my creative experiments, etc., and the 2nd blog, Scribbles From Rabbit Hop, will hold my writing related interests, stories, personal experience pieces, things I've had published, etc.

I haven't been doing much writing on this blog except a little about my creative dabblings, but I've been wanting to. My other writing just didn't seem to really feel at home here. Now it has it's own home. I'm still getting things adjusted and set up, which may take a while, but I would love it if you would check it out sometime and leave a comment to say hello. Wish me luck with both my "blog babies." OK? :)

I've been trying for a while to get this post to publish correctly. The paragraphs are fine when I type and save them, but when I publish they all run together. I don't know what the problem is yet. Sorry!

Arty Girlz Challenge #58-Fabric

I'm sorry for any confusion I caused with my entry this week. I used a past post and I didn't know how to create the link for the addy in the comments, so if you went to my blog you saw a painted diva sketch, which had NO fabric at all on her. This is my entry, which is mostly fabric and also has attitude.

http://wwwmoxiebluecom.blogspot.com/2007/08/mollie-b-muse-doll.html

Thanks for looking, and again, I apologize if I caused any confusion. I'm still learning and I will do better in the future. :)

Don't Make Me Come Over There!

"Don't Make Me Come Over There!--quirky journal sketch-pencil, black sharpie, wc pencils in sketchbook

I have to get supper started, but I thought I'd share another of my sketches with you. I have to find a better lit place to make my photos. I like this one a lot. Doesn't she look like a diva? Hope she makes you smile. :)

Inspire Me Thursday Challenge-Nervous

"The Great Rabbitini"-art journal sketch in Moleskine journal-pencil & watercolor

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge is "Nervous." I thought this sketch might qualify. I would definitely be nervous in her shoes. :) This is my first time to participate in this challenge. The writing on the box is actually red. Don't know why it looks black.

I am also still participating in the Be Brave (click on button to the right) challenge by being brave about showing my sketches. This is the second challenge I've taken part in today. I'm proud of myself. It's a little scary. :)

Arty Girlz Challenge #57-Blue & Orange Combo

"Hearts Over Coffee"-art journal sketch in Moleskine journal-watercolor, pencil, black sharpie

This week's challenge on the Arty Girlz Challenge Blog is blue and orange combo. Since this is my favorite color combo I thought I'd get my feet wet by joining in this time. This is just a sketch, but it's orange and blue. :)

Sunday Hearts

"Heart's on my Sleeve"--quirky journal sketch in sketchbook--wc pencils, black sharpie (Sometimes I do wear my heart on my sleeve. Do you? ;)

Today is my paternal grandmother's birthday. She's been gone a long time, but I still miss and love her very much, as I do all my grandparents. Grandparents are special people. Happy birthday Granny P!

J (hubby) got home Friday evening and he's just cooked me a tasty breakfast (well actually it's noon, so I guess you could call it brunch) while I painted a new quirky sketch. Wasn't that sweet? We're just spending the weekend taking it easy. The chaos will start soon enough. :)

Hope you're having a splendid weekend, as well.

Happy Birthday To Me...Yesterday

"Wing Keeper?" quirky journal sketch in sketchbook/wc pencils (also one my very first and I think those could be little wings in her arms, couldn't they?)

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm very thankful to have lived another year. It was a good day. Mama had an appointment at the eye Dr. to check her cataracts, so we did that first, then shopped a little, ate at Long John Silver's, shopped a little more, stopped at the Sonic for ice cream, and came home, where we then rode down to the pond on the atv to check on the cows. The new little calf is sooooo cute, as they all are, and the trees and foliage are beginning to turn all those wonderful fall colors.

I picked up two green throw rugs for my newly painted bathroom, but they're the wrong shade so I guess they'll go back to Wal-Mart. So much for judging color without a swatch of what I'm trying to match. :) I also picked up another flash drive for my pc, some blank music cds, and hubby some new pajama pants to lounge around the house in when he gets home.

J (hubby) was away working, but he got to call and sing happy birthday to me before we left, plus I had good wishes from my friends in the MojoArt group. J asked what I wanted for my birthday. I told him I had already ordered and gotten in some new art supplies, including the wonderful Moleskine journal mentioned previously. :)

When we returned I found cards from my three best friends in the mailbox. We've been friends since grade school (one of them since diapers), and it's wonderful that we're still as close in our, as one of them put it, "golden years." It was a beautiful fall day, full of blessings, spent with my mama, whom I love very much, even if we don't always see eye to eye. :)

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, & The Downright Weird

" Rabbit Head"-art journal sketch in sketchbook

(There are two rabbits on her head. Can you see them?)

I am still doing my art journal sketches, but now instead of doing just 2-3 drawings and leaving the painting until later, I'm doing one a day and painting it. I am up to 247 drawings/paintings now, so I have a bunch waiting to be painted and photographed. The one above was among my first, when I was leaving the doodle lines all in. Somewhere along the line I stopped doing that.

I have decided to show you the good (cute & fun), the bad (not so good), the ugly, and the downright weird if you want to see. I never know what image will come forth. So be prepared! :) As soon as I get photographs I plan to mix in photos of other artwork along.

I do know about color, perspective, proportion, shading, etc., and practice them when I'm painting seriously, but I am having way too much fun with these, just drawing and painting with the abandonment of a child. I am much more relaxed about drawing/painting than I was, which is a good thing, because the tenseness showed in my paintings before, which is not a good thing. :)

I finally broke down and bought one of the Moleskine journals that I've been reading about. LOVE IT! and I see why so many people are hooked on them. I got the largest landscape size which is 5 1/2" x 8 1/4", I think. So for the last few days I've been doing the art journal sketches on a two-page landscape spread in this journal. I'm thinking this is not the last one of these I'll buy. :)

Anyway, I hope some of these sketches make you smile. I have to get started cleaning house now, which doesn't necessarily make me smile like my doodle sketches do, but I'm thankful I'm able to do it. :) Y'all have a good week!

Happy Sunday!

"Bunny on a Windy Day" quirky journal sketch

Partial Internet Service

"Stubborn" quirky journal sketch


I got up Tuesday morning with no internet service and didn't have time to see about it 'til that night. I tried everything I knew to fix it that night and the next morning (Wed). I finally called the internet provider, which also happens to be my land phone service provider. The service rep could hear all sorts of growling, dripping, whistling noised in my line and said that could be affecting my dsl modem, so she put in a work order to have it checked out. No internet Wed either since the service man didn't get here.

The very nice service man came yesterday morning (Thurs) and worked all morning checking lines. He even replaced one down the road. Turns out that the clicking noise we've had on the phone for years is caused by an electric fence bleeding over somewhere down the road. Can't stop that. I doubt the neighbor is going to unplug his fences to stop my phone from clicking. He has a lot of cows. He did get the growling stopped. Still no internet service.

The first dsl modem they sent wouldn't program, so they had gotten me another one and turns out it was bad, so they've ordered me a third one, which should be here by Monday. I asked if bad modems were a problem and he said no, that it rarely ever happened. I guess I was just lucky enough to get two in a row.

The service guy was nice enough to leave me a loaner to use, but it's only a tester and doesn't have wireless, so I can't go online on my laptop where I have everything. I'm having to use the desktop, which doesn't have my password saved to get my email, and I can't find the paper that I have it written down on. It's buried on my kitchen/art/writing table somewhere, so if you've written me an email since Tues night, I haven't gotten it yet. But I will as soon as my new modem gets here. At least, I hope the third one works. I could have paid $14.95 to get it here overnight, but I couldn't see being out that expense when it should be here by Monday anyway. The weekend made it take longer.

At least, I can blog and I can pick up my yahoo email and visit my group. So I'm not totally in withdrawal. :) And I may find that paper where I wrote it down yet!

Music and Jesters

Quirky Art Journal Sketch-"Jester"

I discovered two new musical artists this weekend that I thought somebody might enjoy.

One is Dana Fuchs. I watched the movie "Across The Universe" last night and she plays the landlord/rocker in it. The movie is set in the 60's amidst all the turbulance and is a love story/musical featuring Beatles songs, so if you enjoy the Beatles music you might check it out.

If you like the blues, Dana is amazing. Reminds me of Janis Joplin, only better. I found and added several of her songs to my playlist on the right. You may have to scroll down. I also found some videos of her performing on utube. I had never heard of her, but I'm glad I watched the movie. I love the Beatles' songs and enjoyed the movie, but Dana really stood out in it and I became a fan.

Then today on Just Be Connected Melba posted about what she's been watching, reading, and listening to and she had a link to the Foiled album by Blue October. I had heard of Blue October but wasn't familiar with their music. She enjoyed it so much that I followed the link and had a listen for myself. I liked them, so I also added a few of their tracks to my playlist if you want to have a listen, or follow the link to Just Be Connected and read what Melba and others are reading, watching, and listening to. You may discover something new to try. You might even want to add your own list in the comments. Enjoy!

I joined the Be Brave challenge the other day and have faced a few things that scare me and did them anyway this weekend, but I'm too sleepy to write about them right now. Maybe later.
Click on the Be Brave button to the right for an explanation of the challenge. It's inspiring.

Today is the first day I've missed for a few months doing a quirky journal sketch and it feels odd to me. Just didn't get to it today. However, yesterday I colored one and started painting another one, plus I started a painting based on Alex Shur's technique which is featured in the Sept/Oct Cloth, Paper, & Scissors magazine, so I guess it's ok. I do love doing them and I missed my morning doodling though. :)

Hope the little jester makes you smile. She was one of my first. :)

Mojoart Challenge Entry/Quirky Sketches

"Walls"-Pencil, Sharpie, WC Pencils on Drawing Paper

I don't really have time to write much today, but I wanted to post so I'll share the two sketches I have entered in this month's Mojoart group challenge, which is Abstraction Satisfaction. Not sure if these qualify as really being abstract, but I wanted to participate, so there they are amongst some REAL abstract paintings. Plus I had a lot of fun doing them. :) Members work entered will be voted on in a couple of days and the winner's work will be displayed on the homepage until the next challenge is over.

"Snuggle Bunny"-Pencil, Sharpie, WC Pencils on Drawing Paper

Quirky Art Journal Sketches/Technique

I had some interest in how I do the quirky journal sketches, and I finally got time to post it. First, let me say that I learned the technique from Judi Russell, whose link I followed from Megan's post on links that she had discovered on Just Be Connected a few months ago.


Judi had a page teaching her technique on her website. She has recently taken it down, but she has a gallery of her paintings and journal entries (drawings and writings), which is very interesting. Some of her paintings derived from her art journal drawings. Visit here to check out her journal pages.


I don't have permission to write her version here, so I'll show you what I learned and took from her page. I appreciate so much her sharing the technique, because it has been so much fun for me, plus it's really helped me to loosen up and enjoy drawing. You don't have to worry about everything being "correct". Just go with it and have fun if you decide to try it.


Judi does three pages of stream of consciousness writing first to clear her mind and prepare her heart before she starts drawing the shapes, which would really be helpful, but I tend not to do that because of time. It would make it more meditative.


Okay, here goes: (my version)

Step 1:
Close your eyes, try not to think about what you're hand is doing, and with a pencil start drawing shapes, lines, etc. very lightly on your paper (dark enough to see, but not dark enough to be confusing). I've found that smooth paper, like sketchbook or journal paper, works best for me for these sketches. I tried them on watercolor and textured paper and the doodle lines were much harder to see, thus making it harder to pull an image out. All of my quirky sketches start out like the example above, just shapes jumbled together.

Step 2:
When you're finished open your eyes and look at your shapes until you see an image emerge that means something to you. Turn the page around if you need to. Sometimes an image will jump right out at you yelling, "Here I Am!" and sometimes they play hide and seek, taking a little longer to emerge.


When you find the image go over the lines and make them darker with your pencil. You can enhance the image by adding a face, feet, legs, whatever. If a line suggests something that you think it needs, draw it. I tend to leave as many original lines or shapes as I can, just like I find them.

Step 3:
Once you have the drawing like you want it, go over the lines with an ultra fine black sharpie. Write down any words, phrases, titles as they come to you while you work on it. These can be added to the sketch.

Step 4: "Magicians and Levitation" (colors are better in person)
Use watercolor pencils to color it in. Then take a DAMP brush and go over the colors to make them pop. You can use the sketch for ideas and you have a pattern to transfer to wc paper, canvas, etc. to do a finished painting if you want.


Step 5:
Write about what the image means to you or what message you get from it.

This is kind of a condensed version, but these are the steps.


Some of the images are more realistic, some of them are cartoon like, some are magical, fantasy, or whimsical, but they've all been a lot of fun. Kind of like Forest Gump's chocolates. You never know what you're going to find. :)

Sometimes I leave all the lines in so it looks like patchwork or stained glass kind of and sometimes I don't, which is why in the ones I've shared here and in previous posts you can see the pencil lines both in the image and background. Since they are journal sketches, and not finished paintings, I feel free to do that.


It's kind of like solving a puzzle and winding up with your own original coloring book. Plus it's gotten me into the habit of doing at least one drawing daily, thus exercising my imagination and drawing skills, and I'm much more relaxed with wc than I was. The added bonus is a ton of ideas for canvas paintings and short stories. :)


I hope you will try it at least once. If you do, let me know. I'd love to see what you come up with. I warn you though. It's kind of addictive once you get started. :)

Sometimes I Just Feel Like Dancing!

This is a page from one of my art journal/sketchbooks that I thought I would share today. I don't really feel like dancing right this minute (I am still half asleep), but this sketch always makes me smile, so I thought if it makes me smile, maybe it will you too. :) The resemblence to Dolly Parton with black hair was not intentional, but it's ok. I like Dolly. I had noticed it already, but it has also been pointed out to me a couple of times. Like I said, it's ok with me. Hope Dolly doesn't mind. :)

I learned a new "to me" art journaling technique 3-4 months ago, and I've had so much fun with it that I haven't missed a day since doing at least one, sometimes 2-3 a day. I've done about 220 so far, filling up about 5 sketchbooks, several loose pastel sheets, a couple of envelopes, and a couple of cards. I never know what the sketches will end up being and they have spawned tons of ideas for painting and writing for me. I never really enjoyed drawing before, but this has sharpened my skills and my imagination and I love drawing this way. The last post also contained a quirky sketch. They aren't meant to be perfect or even "correct." Just loose and fun. I'll share the technique with you, if you like, when things settle around here a little bit. Okay?

The picture quality is not good, but you get the idea. Hope it makes you smile.

I'm Still Around

I have been on kind of a hiatus from writing this summer, but I'm in the process of re-vamping my blog, hopefully making it better, plus sharing more pictures, art, and tidbits. Please do visit again.

Until then I'll share one of my quirky journal sketches titled, for now, "Red Birds", which started off as a page with a lot of shapes doodled onto it, then an image drawn out. I've left the pencil lines in the background on purpose. More about that later. Sorry about the not too good photo. Happy creating! :)

Iris...Is it Real....Or Not?

This one is real (see the rose from a couple of days ago). Mama found it growing volunteer in the end of the garden last week. Don't you just love the color? It's the large variety. Notice the fancy vase?

She has several flowers blooming right now. Her lilac bush is really pretty this year, and her little bunch of red tulips too. Her pink peony is loaded with buds, but her white one only has a few.

Irises are pretty, as are all flowers, but the white peony is my favorite. I absolutely love the white peony scent. The other colors don't smell the same, although they are just as beautiful. When my maternal grandparents were living they always gave me their first peony bloom every spring. If I didn't stop by, Papa would bring it to me. Now Mama does, and one of her first daffodils.

I have a white peony bush, but it doesn't do much. My fault. It hasn't been worked or taken care of for a few years. I'm surprised it's still living. It had a couple of buds this year, but the frost killed them. I'll just help Mama enjoy hers. :)

Most of my flowers have gone to flower heaven, as I have accumulated a few cats and they think I pot and plant flowers for them to dig in, lay on, or swing in. I even tried putting a long planter of cacti on the outside kitchen window sill over the sink. I got up one morning to find a cat laying on the cactus. He thought I'd fixed him a bed, I reckon. I just gave up trying. I miss the flowers (good therapy), but I like the cats too (also good therapy). I guess sometimes you have to sacrifice one thing in order to have another. Anyone know how to keep cats out of where you don't want them?

I don't know how I got from irises to peonies to cats, so I'll quit while I'm ahead...or behind...or whatever. :) Have a great week!

Inchies Swap Returns

I received my inchies from the first swap I ever participated in the other day and thought I'd share them with you. It was in the Mojo Art Group, and there wound up being only three of us playing, but that was okay. It was fun and a good experience. Each of us made twelve 1" x 1" square original works of art and sent to the hostess, Tammy, who divided them up and mailed us back twelve from the other players, thus I have twelve more tiny original works of art from friends to add to my collection.

Tammy also included a delicious bar of her favorite organic spice chocolate candy with the return. I had never eaten organic candy, so that was also a first experience. It was very tasty. I'm trying hard to save J (hubby) a piece of it. :)




Anyway, here is a photo of the inchies I received. Lori's are on the left and Tammy's are on the right. Click on pic to enlarge. Sorry, the photo doesn't do them justice (they have glittery accents), but aren't they gorgeous?

I selected twelve from the batch in the photo in the archives to swap. Just click on inchies in the labels list and it should take you there if you want to see them. Sorry I don't have a seperate photo of the twelve I swapped uploaded.

Thanks Tammy and Lori. I enjoyed swapping inchies with you. Maybe we can do it again sometime. :)

Rose...Is it real...or not?

Isn't this rose gorgeous? Our niece, Kristy, put it in my gift bag Christmas, and I just love it. She had even put rose scented oil on it to make it smell real. She is so talented and creative, and a sweetheart to boot.

Kristy, her mom, and a friend hand made over a hundred of these for Kristy's daughter's wedding last summer, which I didn't make it to. I saw the pictures when we got together for Christmas though, and it was a beautiful wedding. There were several arrangements made out of these roses, and they looked amazing.

Can you guess what they're made from?

I believe she said she saw Martha Stewart make them on her show and found the pattern and instructions online. After the petals were cut out, they were put together, hand colored, and scented to fool the eye and the nose.

The rose brought back memories of my Granny P teaching me to make paper flowers and leaves from crepe paper and colored tissues when I was little. I loved making them with her and taking them to put on graves at decoration time. Wonder if I can still make them. Good memories.

Have you guessed the material yet?

Hint: Most of us use one at least once a day, particularly in the mornings.

Okay, I'll tell you. :)

They are made from used coffee filters. Isn't that something?

Well, enough about the rose, but I just love it and I'm honored to be the recipient of one. I found a pretty little vase and though I moved it to make this picture, it's usual place is on the fireplace mantel with the family photos.

I had a rose bush this color once, and I couldn't wait for it to bloom every year. Now I have one that won't die on me. :)

Isn't the color beautiful? Bye for now.