Learning New Things

Having a blast with sketchbook Skool once more.  I don't know what it is about this course but I just love it.  The people teaching are amazing artists dom all over the world and the classmates are just the best.  All so encouraging and fun. I mean we even have our own T shirts, mugs and such.  How much fun is that. This time I am taking 2 sessions, one on seeing and on on storytelling. One started two weeks after the other one which is helpful.  This weeks teacher is from France so its been delightful listening to him talk, and seeing his sketchbooks and learn from him.

This was drawn from a magazine image.  Pencil, then ink and inktense pencil for the color.  Its small created in my Japanese moleskine journal.

I had been wanting another fountain pen that had a finer nib than the one I have so I ordered this one from jet pens.  In an earlier class I learned if you turn over the nib you can get a lighter line. Its a pretty cool technique.

In the Seeing course we are doing self portraits all week.

This was done looking in a mirror.  Really hard to do. I think it looks like I am 12.

So then I took this picture and drew my next portrait from it.

At least I look a little older here, but it still doesn't seem to look like me.  Other people seem to see it but I don't.

Here is selfie #3, drawn by looking in a smaller mirror.

Do you feel like your self portraits look like you?

Kate

Going With The Flow In Your Art Journal

We have all heard that old adage "going with the flow", sometimes we know what it means and other times we do not. How does that relate to Art Journaling? Does it means to just follow your intuition? What happens when we are stuck?  Its hard to go with the flow then. All we can think of is not flowing. I think it has a lot to do with letting go of expectations and to just keep at it.  If a page is frustrating just let it be for awhile.  That is how both of these pages came to be.

In this particular page the beginning of what the page was is shown in her dress, everything else is covered in layers of paint. They were all the result of leftover colors on my palette. They were not particularly lovely colors either. I kept layering new colors whenever I had them. Then I saw the figure in the background and brought her to life. I painted over the entire background once more.     When we add layers its like excavation in reverse, instead of digging through them we are laying them down. That makes the content richer.  That is something I need to remember when I get stuck on a particular page.

This background was created the same, it was black with all these brown and pinks and I really hated it. It only took covering the whole thing up, to adding stamps for texture to make me happy with it. I haven't done very many self portraits lately and really do like adding them to journal pages.  I took this one the other day to show my new curls. My hair is as straight as it can be. Always thought I would go and get a perm when it is long like this. I finally did it and I am really liking the look.

Remember when I shared the link about the woman who does post on benches.  Her new post on for Worlds Ocean Day is up and features this photo I took in Cannon Beach, Oregon last year. Its a fun post.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... It is raining and we expect three days of the same. I am enjoying hearing the sound of rain. It is so soothing to hear the sounds of water.

I am thinking that I haven't shared a self portrait in some time, so I snapped one yesterday

I am thankful for the richness of my life.


In the kitchen there is not much going on, just a little cleaning up to do.

I am wearing yellow and green starred pajama pants, a sage green top, and my crocs.

I am creating lots of journal pages in my altered book journal. It is almost complete just a few more pages and I'll be moving on to a new book. I love completing a book and of course I love starting a new one too.  They are always filled with possibilities.

I like the old world feel of this one.

This chronicles my creative dilemma  on some days.

You may recognize the crow, well I decided to add a house to the other side of the page.  I used all the paint samples I had picked up to paint my weaving studio.  Even the white for the window came from paint chips.  What a great use for items I would have thrown away previously.

I like to think of these three as my guardians or helpers, or maybe they are just friends who stand by me.

I am going to town in a little while, a trip to the Dr's to get my BP checked, a workout at the gym and a stop at Michaels and Tuesday Morning as I need a birthday present.

I am reading The Discovery of Witches, its a big thick book and a very good story so far.

I am looking forward to getting my loom warped, all 830 threads, it may take all week but I want to get working on the project so I have to get to work on it.

I am hearing Van Morrison in the background.  I love the new software Spotify, it lets you listen to anything.

Around the house all is quiet, Dave has gone to work out and Sarah is still asleep.  Its just me and the animals and the sounds of the house and the rain outside.

I am pondering when I will be able to work in some time to work on my e-book.  I seem to have lost the excitement about it.  I need that back to finish editing it and get it out into the world.

One of my favorite things lately is to spin yarn and watch Doc Martin on Netflix. I am getting lots of spinning done as I work my way through all the episodes of this fun British comedy.  It is set in Cornwall so I am loving the setting as well as the story and all its fun characters.

A few plans for the rest of the week: The usual, laughter yoga on Tuesday, meditation on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday includes my Spirit Book club where we are discussing After the Ecstasy the Laundry which is an awesome book.  Friday I get to go to a Birthday Party Tea at the Stillwater Mansion.   Plus some time for art and other creative projects in between it all.  It will be a fun week.

I hope you have a fun week as well, you can check out other posts of this type here.

Its all smiles from now on

This is how I have been feeling this week. Its just all smiles since I started the Queen's Castle. I also just decided that I really miss the Self Portrait challenge that used to be so big a few years back. I think I will start one on my network. You know I think the old me would say are you nuts starting another thing that you need to come up with an idea for. Now what I feel is no pressure at all.  It seems that all I am doing and dreaming about this new venture just makes me happy. It all seem right and things are flowing so well.  That is what happens when you have a dream and start following it. You can join here

My friend Kim aka The Queen of Arts posted the other day about wanting to rid herself of the idea of being broken. She is the most inspiring wonderful women that I have met online. I had done this page last week and just wanted to show it so she knows she is far from broken. She inspires me with her posts so often and it was her rock that really pushed me off the fence to take this leap that has made my life so joyous this week.  Thanks Kim for all the love you spread.

As you can tell by the picture its gotten really cold here. I am just not ready for coats and hats yet. I thought I'd share another portrait where I am not so giggly with it all.  Its hard to find those now days which I am so grateful for.

What are you grateful for today?

Look what I got today

I got this baby in the mail today. I have missed having a point and shoot camera since my cat broke my old one. I loved that Panasonic Lumix and really missed it. So when I could afford a new one I got an updated version.















It will be great to have a camera that I can take anywhere.  It was  hard taking self portraits with my Canon Rebel XSI camera.  I had to use a tripod or prop the camera on my fireplace so as a result I pretty much stopped doing self portraits and missed it.  So here is the first of many to come.

SP Wednesday

Its only when I take a close up like this that I remember I have freckles. Funny how I never see it when I look in the mirror.













For some reason I liked the light in this picture even though it is out of focus. Maybe it shows me in a different way.


















I love how the trees are blurred in the background. Here you can see our new windows. We only replaced two windows and now I want the whole house done. Maybe next year.

I saw this on Patti Digh's site this morning at it is so awesome I had to share.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.