Saturday... and I'm headed home!

It's been a productive and fun week in Atlanta but I'm ready to head home now.  Last night as my insomnia was at a fever pitch (and speaking of fever pitch-- how 'bout those Cardinals?!?!?!--what a season!), I spent some time just doodling away. 

and now, trying to upload it before i hit the road, i've run into a few snags.  this week, i've been stuck with just taking pictures with my cell phone and sending themselves to myself to get them uploaded.  how do most of you upload your visuals of your art work?  Do you scan it?  Do you photograph it?  Do you do any editing before uploading?  Interested in any and all comments on the subject!

And don't forget to head over to Just Journals and Show and Tell Saturday and see what those amazing artists are doing this week! 

Enjoy the weekend!!

My Garden of Luuuuve...

Too many days and nights away from my sweetie this week and this gray day here in Atlanta is just making me more ready to head home.  Doodled through meetings today with thoughts of home...

Looks like the freeze warning at home is going to make snuggling up with my sweetie and a cup of hot chocolate the perfect homecoming! 

Don't forget to check out what everyone is doing at Paint Party Friday!!

TGIF!

Atlanta

Traveling for business this week so even less time then usual to doodle.  Atlanta is a fun city, though.  Wish I had more time to explore this time...

Hope everyone's having a happy hump day!!

front porch weather

what a gorgeous weekend we've had!  the weather has been perfect.  this is definitely porch-sitting weather!

I'm really trying to focus on making my sketches look more realistic and less cartoony so this week I tried to focus on perspective a bit more, something that's a real challenge for me.  also, i love seeing how others add such vibrancy to their sketches with color, but i think that i need to focus on the drawing first and not ruin it with too much color. so, although i've had to practically sit on my hands to keep myself from whipping out my watercolors and brush... i'm going to leave this one alone as just a pen sketch...  at least for now.  :-)

check out what others are doing this week over at sunday sketches!

Weekend!

No matter how busy my weekends shape up to be, they are always the highlight of the week.  Staying up later, sleeping in, running errands, working on whatever projects strike my fancy and date nights with my sweetie.  Does it get any better than that? 

I tried to capture some of the excitement and vibrancy I feel on the weekends in this journal page. 

I will also be checking out what others are doing this weekend at Just Journals and at Show and Tell Saturday.  Be sure to check them out!!

Fall is here...

I have to say, I'm absolutely loving fall this year. In past years, I've dreaded it. I've viewed it as the death of my beloved summer and the onset of the winter blahs. This year, though, the cool, crisp temperatures are drawing me outside more than ever and the vibrant colors are practically a religious experience. I just can't seem to get enough. I may have a new favorite season.

I've been using my Doc Martin watercolors to try to capture some of the amazing colors out there...

head on over to paint party friday to see what others are painting this week.  

Sketching

i have several friends who are urban sketchers and i am in awe of their talent.  the fact that these artists can plop themselves down on a street and, with the mere flick of micron pen and a splash of watercolor, render the most beautiful scenes in no time at all, is just astonishing to me.  i can look at a scene and recognize the beauty of the architecture, the glory of the natural setting, the vibrancy of the people, but ask me to capture that in anything that looks like more than a 1st grader's refrigerator sketch and i'm lost.  nevertheless, i so WANT to be able to do that... so, i'm going to work on it.  i post this here as what i hope will someday be my 'before' sketch. :-)

Art store finds

is there anything better than just meandering through your favorite art store, finding new things that you can't possibly live without?  i must admit, most of my friends can wander through clothes stores or shoe stores until they can barely stand.  i don't have the patience for that.  but put me in a good bookstore (preferably, with a hot cup of coffee in hand) or an art store, filled with all those heady, artsy smells, and I can easily while away an afternoon-- or even a full day!

this past weekend, as i was meandering through one of my favorite local art stores, i came upon these itsy bitsy, teeny weeny visual journals from strathmore in three different types:  90 lb watercolor, 100 lb bristol-vellum and 140 lb watercolor.  these tiny little gems are only 3.5" x 5" and were on sale for $2.50 each!  i have to say, i'm loving them.

i don't know what it is about me but i am having a very hard time working in what seems to be everyone's favorite sketchbook-- the ~8x5" moleskin.  while i love the idea of them, i find the size all wrong. it's as if it's not big enough to really spread out and get my doodle on and not small enough to force me to mentally restrict myself.  I end up feeling like i don't have enough room.  and the larger moleskin journals have paper that's just too thin for me to work on.

as counter-intuitive as it sounds, i rather like the teeny weeny 3x5 format of these little journals.  they seem to make me less inhibited, since how much can you really screw up on something the size of a small index card??  and at 2.50 for a whole 'pad' full of watercolor pages, i don't mind screwing up a little anyway.  as a result, i've had lots of fun just doodling to my heart's content and then playing with the bold colors of my dr. ph martin's watercolors. this one was done on the 90 lb. watercolor paper.

i also splurged on some pan pastels, which i've seen lori vleigen mention before in some of her lovely art. (i may need to stop looking at her posts-- she's far too inspiring!)  i bought a set of only 5 and have played with them a little but must admit i like the vibrancy of my watercolors better.  but, i think i might just need to experiment some more to figure out how to better blend with them. 

i do like the fact that you can erase them... and create some interesting effects that way!  definitely something i'll keep playing with! 

hope everyone's having a great week. happy hump day!

Autumn planting- Sunday Sketches

what beautiful autumn weather we've been having lately!  perfect, cool days, with a glorious breeze.  the leaves changing, creating a landscape so fabulous it looks painted on... and with that comes fall planting.  i absolutely love those first signs of spring, when the daffodils and tulips start peeking up through the soil made damp by traditional april showers... and in order to ensure we have plenty of those friendly little suckers sprouting come spring, it's bulb-planting time now!

this week, i found a fabulous group of folks who are artists across all types of media and have linked up with them at Sunday Sketches.

I believe...

i love collecting quotes... in part, because of their wisdom, or their humor, or their brutal look at the some truth or another.  in part, i love quotes because they're far more interesting than just writing the alphabet over and over again! :-)

sometimes the best quotes come from the unlikeliest of sources.  although I've always been a big fan of audrey hepburn, i just recently came across this quote and it really resonated.  i believe, too!

A View of the World

The death of Steve Jobs last week has left the whole world talking.  He had such an amazing impact on the world of technology, but also provided a wonderfully creative outlook with virtually everything he touched.   It's always sad to see someone's life cut short.  My thoughts have been and continue to be with Steve's family, friends, coworkers and the millions of people whose lives he touched with his technology, his creativity, his philanthropy, his humor, his perseverence... 

TGIF!

spent a wonderful day with my BT today... and am thankful the weekend has arrived. have had lots of inspirational ideas floating through my head this past week but not a lot of time to act on them... am excited at the prospect of taking a few classes... love the idea of learning new things! 

hope everyone has a great weekend!

Monday Monday...

Can't trust that day...

Got some disappointing news today.  Trying not to let it get me down.  I'm a firm believer in the fact that things happen for a reason and when something doesn't happen as you want, it's just because something better is around the corner...  here's hoping I'm not just a cock-eyed optimist.