Day 24- Red Bartlett pears!

I love to paint fruit and vegetables for some reason. Their colors are amazing, so clear and refreshing! When I happened upon these red pears I was so excited! My husband thinking I bought them to eat but then coming to find out I had other plans didn't surprise him! After all these years he knows! I am painting them tonight so he can eat them while they are still good! What beautiful fruits are you finding this time of year at your local market?

Day 22, sharing the fun!

I have the kids and we always do art projects. Today we went to google and googled Hello Kitty Coloring Pages. They love to pick from all the different pages then color and cut them out. Then they grab the tape and tape them up on the pantry wall under the bulletin board. 

The best day of creating is only made better by sharing and doing art with fellow artists!

Day 20 & 21- Fun fall cards

I needed to create some Fall cards to send out so I grabbed some paint, some leaves and some of my favorite stencils and managed to get some done.

My Fall Cards

I used a leaf and some watercolor to get this effect. Simply painting the leaf then pressing it onto the card and adding more color and some outlines. 

Stencils and gel pens!

 There is nothing better than getting a note from someone unexpectedly. I was the recipient of just such a card! I met with Alyson Stanfield a few weeks back. We met to talk about my business plan for my art and some other things. It was a great meeting and I am now taking her organize your art biz class which is going great! I needed someone to whip me I to shape! Yesterday In the mail I received a card from her with our picture together from that meeting!

Alyson and I in Del Mar

What a shock! And it also came with a nice note! It reminded me how these little acts of random kindness can make such an impact on our friends, family and clients! Why don't you join me and send a few cards out this next week! And just for the record I fulfilled my create for the day! 

Day 18 &19- To tired to post yesterday so here is a BIG Post!

I worked all day yesterday on my newest grandsons mural for his bedroom. My daughter has decided to do it in frogs and wanted a cute mural. I searched high and low for some inspiration on the internet and found very little I liked. I managed to find something that inspired me to paint and made some preliminary sketches first. I do murals a bit different these post Jennifer's accident days. I used to fly all over and paint murals and do faux finishes. My clients were anything from home owners to doctor offices to interior designers and model homes. It was an exciting time in my life and I loved it. After the accident I started painting some of my murals or images on masonite and cutting them out and shipping to projects. This way they could be put up by the people doing the installation and removed after for reuse. It also let me still work, for awhile. It also was great for some applications but not for others. Full wall murals obviously didn't work to well but for the smaller image type it was okay. When I did Nathan's room I painted the whole room as a mural and it turned out great.

Remember I didn't pick the subject, the parents choose the theme and I did as they wanted. This is Nathan's room, done with a tiki, island feel. 

In the sand I added a message in a bottle and all of his favorite little toys I painted in the sand.

I think you can read it, a gift of fantasy and fun for my boo! Dated 2007, makes me cry to look at these pictures. The mural is gone when my daughter lost her house. Its hard to think about the changes we all face and how fast the babies grow and change!

 Melissa, the one who is having our newest grand baby likes the option to remove or move the masonite so I am painting some of the characters on Masonite and then they will be cut out and put up with screws. When Blake was born we did stuffed trucks and cement mixers. We later added some signs that  said dumping station etc. The room turned out really cute and she loved it. I don't seem to have finished pictures of his room, I will have to find some!

So as I said she wanted frogs for the new baby's room so I am working on those now. His name will be Bryce Scott and here are the prelim paintings before cutting out and finishing for the wall. I will take pictures of the finished room when I put everything up at the end of the week. 

This grouping will be next to the changing table and looking up at the baby! I am having the frog handing her Butt paste! LOL I am also debating about putting safety pins in the turtles blue spaces, like a pin cushion. 

This will be Butt Paste

Sorry its blurry, my eyes were blurry by this time. This will be above the crib, two frogs in a pond and dragon flies over head pulling a banner with the babies name on it. The colors are to match the preselected bedding.

Day 16 &17, viewing the world through rose colored glasses.

I got a little behind but hope to double post today! Well I suppose that it's a good thing to be able to view the world through rose colored glasses, and the older we get the harder that becomes. I accidentally found that my phone now has filters which allow me to take the picture with the filter or just apply a filter to an existing picture. You may be laughing if you think I am the last person to find these but I have been having fun playing with them. Today I did a sketch of a ceramic pumpkin in my entry, I then applied a few filters, fun! I think I sometimes do this to some of the events in my own life, cover them or tint them in a different shade or light.

Original sketch

one of the filters on my phone

another variation, subtle but okay

  Once I got the photos to my computer I opened them in photoshop to apply some more filters and see what I got. Here are the results. Its fun to take even a simple pencil sketch and apply these filters that can totally transform something average to awesome. I like the cutout filter the best, what about you.

This filter is called cut out, I like what it did to the sketch

This one I played with the hues and saturation

Diffused Glow, I like this too

Palette knife

This one is called Ink outlines

I don't know how well you can see the changes but they are really different and fun. If this happens with a simple pencil sketch think about what you could do with your nicer paintings or drawings. Thankful for filters and Photoshop

Day 15, Soaking up local color

On my walk the last few days I have been collecting fall leaves. I am so drawn to the colors and the magic that seems to be taking place all around me. I would come home with arms full of leaves if I could! Jennifer is great since she has pouches on her wheelchair that I can stick all my great finds and she will carry them home for me. Today I decided to paint them before I lost the magic that is fleeting at best. It really isn't even fair to try and capture the colors as they are as vast as the leaves themselves. Here is my ode to Fall and my insatiable love of color!

Here are a few of the leaves I collected on my walk, beautiful!

I then did a sketch and added some color randomly around my paper. While wet I add some of the leaves color.

I then start adding more color and some detail

More color and details

Making my way through the group

Da da, finished and I love it. My 2013 Fall walks frozen in time, they are leaves from a Chinese Pistachio tree, Crepe Myrtles, and some Liquid Ambers. Heaven

Day 14, New Beginnings!

Today was day 2 of an organizing class I am taking. It was all about accessing the mess, wow, there was a lot to access too. I think for most artists it is a constant struggle to make art and keep things organized. I find that my house often resembles a war zone before I go to a trade show. There is so much to do and no time to clean up after myself! I am hoping to get things better organized so I can be more productive. I am looking forward to starting the new year organized. So that is a new beginning of sorts and then there is Bryce. Bryce is my new grandson that is not here yet but is arriving the day after Thanksgiving! Our youngest daughter Melissa, is ready to pop! I always paint my grandkids murals for their rooms and this time Melissa is doing frogs. Today I did some preliminary sketches and tomorrow I will paint the murals on masonite and Randy will cut them out. This way they can be moved or removed when they are ready to change them out. I can also give them to someone else. Here are my sketches for the newest baby's room. I will post the finished paintings hopefully tomorrow!

 Trying to decide if I want the eyes on the top of the antenna or on the head, what do you think?

These are all really rough sketches but they are my create everyday challenge for day 14. I am so thankful for new beginnings and new grand babies!

Day 13, daily practice starts with a good breakfast

I love to start my day with my sketchbook and breakfast. I often eat outside since we are blessed with beautiful weather most of the year. I always have my sketchbook laying close by so that I can grab it when the whim hits me. I have been painting my breakfast, which is none too exciting. To make it more interesting I have painted it in different angles, different fruit, colors. To help change it up I added my shadows first then did the painting over them. I know many watercolor artists that paint this way, I usually don't but thought it would be fun to try. It was a great study in values thats for sure! Here is my Cheerios breakfast

My initial sketch

Added the shadows

Now adding some color

More color and details

Done! But I missed the two Cheerios on the top of the banana on the left!

Why don't you try this next time you paint in your sketchbook, it works in most paintings!

Day 12- Wonderful Watercolors are blooming in my Garden

Fall just screams out yellows and oranges and the cooler weather reminds us summer is over. During the heat of those long summer days my nasturtiums struggled along, blooming but not happy. Reminds me of myself sometimes, struggling to bloom when the heat is on! I could tell they were struggling, I nursed them through those hottest days to find them going crazy in this cooler weather? While other things are getting ready to go to sleep my Nasturtiums got a second wind and are blooming up a storm. I know once the frost hits they might be gone but for now I am loving the blooms which add so much color to salads, pasta and paintings! What is blooming in your garden right now? Thankful for Flowers

Original, signed Watercolor Available 

9"x7" so it will fit into an 8"x10" frame with mat.

Nasturtiums in Fall  $55

Day 10 & 11- Veterans Day, a tribute

I am doing both day 10 and 11 together, I was out of town and having fun! Today is Veterans Day, a day to honor all the veterans that fought to keep us free and safe. We are fortunate enough to live close to the Riverside National Cemetery where my father in law is buried.

 Sadly we lost him suddenly last year. He was so proud to be a marine and to have served his country. He was in WWII and Korea and left after 25 years of service.

My husband and his dad

I am working on a fiber piece that will have him in it and today I wanted to do a rubbing of his grave marker. It is my creative thing for today and I was amazed when we arrived at the cemetery to see all the flags and people. It made me cry, so sad to think that all these people, these brave soldiers are gone now. I will be excited to use this rubbing in my newest art quilt!