EDM #44, 10, & 245 and CED-Connecting

This doodle cat emerged from a page full of lightly drawn shapes, lines, and swirls in my journal. It is for the EDM challenge #44-Draw an animal. I call him Cat-Man 3, and I like him a lot.

These little pink ladies would like to remind you that it's breast cancer awareness month. As you see in this entry and the next two, I've been playing with my hands, the ink pad, and a sharpie. Don't mind the smudged thumb print at the bottom. She was just passing by. ;) This is EDM #245-Draw your choice

Best Friends Forever (there will be writing on the bottom) and my partial right hand print. The whole print is actually there, but only half scanned. Was just playing around.

Someone on EDM shared a site with a doodle hands project and I loved it. Of course, I had to try one. This one was done quickly in my sketchbook with sharpie pens. It was a lot of fun, and it's my #10-Draw your hand. My hands are not small and delicate, but they have always served me well. It's kind of hard to tell, but the leaves are green. I toyed with the idea of putting a couple of mounds of red on the palette and decided not to. Looking at it on here I think it might have added to it. Oh, well!

The background on this page in my journal was made by using leftover fluid acrylic paint. I had some left from a canvas project and didn't want to waste it, so I swirled it on the pages. After it dried, I stamped the linoleum block print onto it. Can you see the heron like swirls behind the swan? I may add more to this when something comes to me. Until then, I'll enjoy it like it is.

I thought I'd show you how I'm decorating my journal cover. It's not a new idea, but one morning I was having a banana for breakfast, and I peeled off the sticker. For lack of a better place to put it, I stuck it on the front of my art journal. I did this for a few mornings in a row, and I like it. It reminds me of an old suitcase with the travel stickers all over it. Anyway, I just felt like sharing it with you.

The Creative Every Day challenge this month is connecting, and I've been connecting with both new and old friends, new art ideas, challenges, and experiments, emotions, pets, and many other things. Lots of connecting and re-connecting in both art and life. It's a good thing!

I haven't been working on the 40 inchies project for the last few days, but when I get back to it, I hope to finish it, and I will share it then.

Hope at least one thing made you smile! ;)

How To Sneak Up On A Mouse

Grizzle, the old tomcat, is intent in his endeavors to catch that pesky mouse that's been toting off his Meow Mix. The evidence is in the crumbs strewn across the floor to a small crevice in the wall by the kitchen cabinet.

He often sits for hours staring at the crevice. He has seen the mouse dart into it several times. He's determined to catch him and eat him for supper this time.

Grizzle is wearing his most ferocious look and is in pounce position. He can still move fast when he has to, and plans to sit there as long as it takes. After all, he has nothing else to do...and that little rascal has to come out sometime!

More doodle characters in WC in my sketchbook.
Hope they made you smile! Have a wonderful weekend! :)

IMT Challenge-Ghost

Two small fiery lights glared at her from the deserted Rabbit Hop Cafe. At least she thought it was deserted. It had been abandoned years ago when all the patrons were scared off by the large cats that took over the grounds.

The fading words spelling out the name on the painted top were barely visible in the pouring rain as she looked out the window.

A ghostly apparition appeared from the right as multiple orbs of light danced around the old Cafe in the dark cloudiness of the day. Nobody in the house believed her as she described what she was seeing.

The image of a coyote sat howling up toward the eerie lights. Shivers ran down her spine as the lights looked directly back at her, then bounced down and across the yard.

She was glad to be safely inside the house. It was real. The proof was in the pictures.

After all, pictures don't lie...or do they? *

Photo (no photoshop) and story by SP Pope

CED Check In-More Doodles

These pictures are a portion of the doodles I did this week in the CED challenge. I continued to do at least one a day every day, but I decided not to show all of them this time. I also did this one and this one this week on this blog and this one on Scribbles. Well, I actually did Ze Artiste a while ago, but I just decided to share her this week.

"Rabbit Ears"--is a Judi doodle. The image was drawn out of the shapes with a pencil and gone over with a black sharpie in the Moly journal. I will color him evenutally and write around him. Excuse Sammidog's face from the previous page looking over his behind. Too much sharpie. :)

"Sammidog"--is a Melissa doodle in the Moly sketchbook, colored with watercolors/pencils. I did add the toe divisions and the face with my eyes open. I forgot his face when I was drawing with my eyes closed. ;)

"Kibbles and The Cats"--is also a Melissa doodle, but in the Moly wc book. I added the ball and their whiskers after I opened my eyes.

Not too much arting this week. I played on Facebook and with my mp3 player too much. :) I did take some of the clay, that I softened up to make a doll, out and played with it some. I think it's now too moist. It got all over my hands like biscuit dough, and I can't stand stuff on my hands. I had to wash it off that time, but I am going to work with it again. I'm determined to sculpt a doll out of it somehow. :)

Hope one of these made you smile. Have a great week. I plan to! :)

Introducing Ze Artiste

I thought I would share "Ze Artiste in Ze Raspberry Beret" with you this morning. She is one of my first Judi doodles in a regular sketchbook on thin paper. I was learning to use the wc pencils. Her colors are made with wc/pencils and a black sharpie. She loves the color blue/green and her raspberry beret. She feels every bit the artist in the beret and when she's wearing it she means business. Can you tell? :)

I just love her, and she always makes me smile when I see her. Did she make you smile? I hope so. Have a great day!

CED Weekly Roundup

This is a roundup of my creative journey this week. Besides the daily doodle drawings and blog reading for inspiration, I spend quality time with Jim and Mama every day.

Bear in mind that the drawings are works in progress, and are experimental playing. I may or may not ever finish them or use them, but I am learning a lot from them and am a lot more relaxed when painting or drawing now. I've learned it doesn't have to be perfect to be fun or make someone smile. So, I hope at least one of these makes you smile. :>)
Monday-I did this doodle drawing spread in my Moly sketchbook, and, using a round sumi brush and watercolor, swished some color in. I put added a layer of fluid acrylics to the canvas ptg, "Hart." I also took a creative fall over Sammidog. You can read about it here if you want. Also went grocery shopping with mama and Jim.

Tuesday--I guess I was feeling a little Picasso-ish on the top one. It's a doodle in Moly wc book, where I outlined all the lines in a black ultra-fine sharpie instead of pulling out a specific image. I was going to leave it like stained glass, but after I filled in all the spaces with watercolor, this head emerged, so I used white gouache over the background, outlined the head in heavier sharpie with a red inktense pencil line on top, and embellished the eye. I actually kept going back to it over 3-4 days and doing stuff to it, but I did the doodle today. :)

The rabbit is a doodle in the M sketchbook. The image has been pulled out with a heavier pencil line. There could be something else to pull out, but I like it like it is. Color will come later.

I also re-joined Facebook, per a friend's invitation and worked on setting up my page.

Chasing Rabbits
Wednesday--Touched up the Picasso-ish page above, drew doodle of the sleeping dog in M sketchbook, and studied it for more images. There may be some more to it when I get time to focus. Sleeping dogs seem to be a recurring theme for the time being. Could be because I'm a sleepyhead. Also spent time with a dear friend chatting, drinking coffee, and laughing.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Thursday--I drew and pulled the image above out of a doodle. I don't know what it means, but this was daddy's birthday and I was missing him so much. I also wrote a personal piece post on Scribbles about my week's mishaps. I've collected some very creative boo-boos this week. :)

Group Hug

Friday--Doodle sketch in M wc book, pulled out image, added watercolor to dampened page and let bleed together. Went over outlines with black sharpie and re inktense pencil, then spattered paint on, just for fun. I toned down some parts of the "Hart" canvas painting with acrylic washes. I made three photos of Sammidog and the cats, then painted another layer of acrylic on ptg, and we rented the movie "Max Payne" on PPV and ate popcorn. Pretty good flick.

2 Kittens and a cow skull

Dancing With The Moon

Saturday--I watched a video on Black-eyed Suzie's blog. It was from Etsy featuring her making doll portraits. Pretty interesting. I also played with my camera and made a bunch of dog/cat photos, then painted some more on "Hart" painting. The above image emerged from my doodles in the M sketchbook. These sketchbook images will all become journal entries as I write on them.

I Do Not Have A Nose Problem!
Sunday--Played on my Facebook page some more, pulled the above image from the doodle marks in the M sketchbook, made photos of drawings and uploaded, and posted to blog. Took a loooooong, soothing, lovely shower and ate a pancake breakfast with Jim while we watched the tractor pulls on TV.

Hart Strings

This is the second photo of the "Hart" painting. It is still waaaaay too intense, even for me, but I'm getting there. I thought I'd have it done for the Artygirls challenge this week, which is wire, but I'm not going to. I'm going to put copper wire for the strings on the hart that she is playing, once I get the rest to suit me. I'm thinking about adding a layer of white unruyu paper to it to add texture and to dull it down a bit. The colors will still show through, only not as intense. I'm still pondering though.

This is what I do. I get about half way through a project, then can't decide how I want to finish it. So I move on to something else for a while. Frustrating!

Oh, well, it'll come to me eventually. :) So this was my creative journey this week. Hope you enjoyed making the trek with me. Can't wait to see how my journey continues next week. :)

Have a wonderful, creative week!

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.

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. :)

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!