Catching Up

This set has moons as well as flowers.  The bird was in the ink shape, I just helped him be more defined.

All the flowers.  The center bottom is inspired by some morning glories I see on my morning walk.  I don't think the large piece at the top is finished yet, but I'm not sure what it needs either.

These colors asked for something more tropical.

These were drawn with a gold resist paint.  Once that was dry, I filled in with watercolor as well as Mermaid Marker and ink filled water brushes.  Fun!

I had a summer, how about you?  After spending the last two summers dealing with treatment and family, this year I was actually able to spend a little time in the studio.  I took a great online pen and ink class with Get Messy, and I combined the techniques I learned with the 1,000 mandala project I've been working on since the beginning of the year.  Most of these are on 6" x 9" 140lb cold press watercolor paper, because that's what I have a lot of, and because this is a nice portable size to add drawing to when traveling or hanging out at the local coffee shop.

I'm also participating in the Blog Along for September, hosted by Effy Wild  It seems like a fun way to get back into this blogging groove, as well as touching base with all y'all.  Maybe you want to play too?  Check Effy's page for more details.

See you tomorrow!

Intentional Summer

I love summer, I always have.  The sweet smell of honeysuckle on the breeze, sitting on the porch swing and watching fireflies at night, barbecues and sleeping in under summer quilts that have just enough weight to keep the boogie man away, but aren't so heavy that you roast under them.

Each summer since my kids were little, I tried to have some sort of summer plan.  One year we made tie dye shirts.  Another year we had a water balloon fight.  As they grew, my plans changed as they started finding their own fun with friends and family.  I painted fabric under the trees, and worked on art journal pages, or just spent the summer reading books and dreaming dreams I couldn't find time for during the school year.

This year my final baby graduated high school, and things are finally sorted after a hard few years after my mother passed away and my own diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer.  It has been hard to find my way back to myself, but I can feel my hope and joy and enthusiasm returning, with the help and support of family and friends, and a few creative communities online.

One of those communities has been Creative Bug, where I have followed art journal and sketching classes by Lisa Congdon, Pam Garrison and Dawn DeVries Sokol, among others.  Creative Bug's app really made it convenient for me to watch the classes even on days when recovery had me laying on the sofa with low energy.  And it got me back to playing with my art supplies.

Another community is the Get Messy Art Journal Community.  I had signed up last year but wasn't able to keep up (ie I kept forgetting I had a membership and didn't use it).  This year I learned about Seasons, and I just finished playing along with Season 14: Contrast.  I didn't really follow along strictly, just used the community as a place to touch base and see that other people out there were also playing with supplies and color.

As summer approached, I was searching for this year's summer project, and Get Messy's Season 15: Color sounded like the perfect fit.  I have been enjoying playing with the rainbow, and I think this season mixes with summer's ease and joy for me in the perfect timing.  I plan to post my experiments here as a form of accountability and as a way to get back into this blogging thing.  I welcome you to come along for the ride!

Ground Control to Major Tom

Dipping my toe back into the blogger waters.  More coming soon.