One Drawing A Day (the book) - Day 26 - Draw Clouds...

I don't talk politics, so what else can be said of January 2017? Here in the Mid-Atlantic region it was warmer than usual, and there was one sunny day. The rest of the month was cloudy, mostly cloudy, or at least partly cloudy. Connie shared her outstanding crayon drawing of clouds with me and I was inspired to give it a go myself. The resulting clouds do not resemble the gray clouds that I was looking at but that is quite alright with me because they were just plain fun to do. And I may just do more! After all "I make stuff to be making it - not to have made it." ...Danny Gregory. 

This is the book that I borrowed from the library:

One Drawing a Day: A 6 Week Course Exploring Creativity with Illustration and Mixed Media by Veronica Lawlor. Day 26 is sketching cloud shapes. The variation is to use watercolors and pastels. 

I used crayons. Wow, look at the texture! Done in the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal.

First layer was made with Crayola True to Life Twistables. They are colored pencils/crayons with two or three colors swirled in each stick. They blend to get interesting color variations. You could call these "precious art supplies" because I don't think True to Life colors are made anymore. Couldn't find them on Crayola.com and on Amazon they are $49.99. I know I only paid a few dollars for them.

The second layer was made with Crayola crayons.  Coloring is not just for kids!

Happy New Year! 2017 is the Year of the Fire Rooster...

Happy New Year!

2017 is the Year of the Fire Rooster

Roosters are very confident in themselves.

Neocolor II crayons and Sakura Glaze pen in Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media journal.

Winter is here....Meteorological winter and Astronomical winter.

"Winter is here." 

George R R Martin A Game of Thrones

We are in the "Dead of Winter". In the Mid-Atlantic it's the time of the lowest average temperatures, usually during the middle of January. Meteorological Winter is based on the weather. The further north you travel the earlier this happens. Astronomical Winter is the time from the Winter Solstice to the Vernal Equinox.

Watercolors in the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal from a reference photo . Done in Kay's kitchen last week.

And that is all.....

Today is January 26, 2017. 

It is very windy outside. 

There is no snow on the ground.

I doodled some flowers.

And that is all.

Started with globs of watercolor that I blew into fun shapes. Doodled the flowers with Sakura Glaze pen. Added more marks with various sparkly pens. Splattered watercolors on the background and then painted it yellow. Finished it off with a border and journaling with more sparkly pens. In my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal.

Yay! I got a new pencil for Christmas and I drew two owlets...

Nature Journaling at the North Museum, Lancaster, PA with Carol and Connie. Santa put several art goodies in my stocking last Christmas and one was a Kimberly 9XXB pencil. I used the pencil for the first time to sketch these two Great Horned Owlets.

The pencil is wonderfully large and chunky. It makes dark marks that are not too shiny. You can create great texture with multiple layers of scribbling. 

Met Connie, fellow Sketchbook Skool Skolar, for the first time in person! So happy to meet an Art Friend from Skool.

Connie is busy sketching from one of the many 100+ year old bird specimens at the museum. The table is set up with art supplies so anyone visiting the museum can sit and join in the journaling fun!

Looking over Connie's shoulder watching her work. You can see one of the Great Horned Owlets in the case. 

So blessed to be able to share our sketchbooks and enjoy each other's creativity!

Looking forward to another Sketch-Meet-Up!

Blooming Ink-A-Doodles

Pasted a piece of Yupo paper into my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal and played with alcohol inks.

Searched the inky color shapes for flower forms and doodled in some blooms.

The 3-dimensional Sakura Glaze Pen looks so good!

Smudged a bit of white gesso in the background to make the flower colors pop. 

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."

-Pablo Picasso

In stitches over what I put into my journal...

These Turkey Oak leaves (Not Southern Turkey Foot Oak, non-native Quercus cerris.) were painted on fabric and then machine stitched, hand stitched, and finally pasted down into my Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media journal.

Placing some cotton material into an embroidery hoop, I put some old fabric markers to good use.

Added more color with the Derwent Inktense colored pencils.

After painting, I removed the fabric from the hoop, placed some batting underneath, and quilted around each leaf. I did this "free style" by removing the foot on the sewing machine and dropping the feed dogs. 

Some hand embroidery for texture. I think these are called seed stitches. 

The material is a dark natural hue. I decided the project needed more color and added some blue and white to the background. Oh yeah, who could resist a touch of Spectrum Noir sparkly autumn colors markers.

Well, what can I say besides "That was fun." 

Oil Pastels (Why did I buy these?): Calla Lily

Don't remember when, don't remember why, but some time ago I bought these oil pastels and then put them away. Well, I got them out a few days ago and

took them with me along to Kay's kitchen to try an oil pastel sketch in my journal. She had a large faux calla lily that I used as a model.

First I lay down some color and then used a brush and Turpenoid to move the color around. I put down more color and used my fingernail to scratch into it to add texture. I think the fact that I gessoed the page first helped to add even more texture. 

After the page was complete, I read somewhere that oil pastels NEVER dry (Can that be true?), so I just sprayed some Workable Fixative over the page a few times to seal it. 

Just Journaling: A Page for the New Year 2017

Waste not, want not,

Waste not, want not,

Use it up, wear it out,

Make it do, or do without!

"Waste not" in 2017 will mean "dig into the closet, find the art supplies that were bought ages ago but never used, and use them!"

"Want not" in 2017 will mean "do not run to the store (or the internet) to purchase every new art item that I learn about."

"Use it up, wear it out" in 2017 will mean "there's the art supplies - now make some art!"

"Make it do, or do without" in 2017 will mean "be creative with the art supplies that I have - explore their range of possibilities!"

Lots of layers of collage, acrylic paint, gesso, and Sakura Glaze pen in Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Sketchbook.

Cloud Report: January 4, 2017

Lovely cloud vignette: blue sky over an even bank of white clouds that turned grayer and darker in the lower layers.

Dangerous looking dark streamers! (Love this bit.) Gouache in Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Sketchbook.

Art and Oatmeal: Doctor's Order

Messing around with oil pastel resist and watercolors during oatmeal today. Here's the mess -

Here's the oatmeal with sliced Honeycrips apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

Here's a close-up of the oil pastel fun.

Here's some art supplies. Derwent Oil Pastels and WN Travel (apparently just to the kitchen) Watercolor Set. Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Sketchbook.

Sketch everything everyday!

Narrow Depth of Field: British Soldiers

Cladonia cristatella "British Soldiers" Fruticose Lichen

Creating bokeh background: masked off the page with painter's tape. 

Scribbled in a background with Derwent Art Bars. Then painted over the page with a waterbrush being careful not to blend all the colors away.

When dry, used a stencil to add circles. 

Lichens were painted with acrylics. Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media sketchbook.