A Page at Midnight

I made this page late last night. I used gelatos for the whole page and added some stamping on top.  The background and dress had water added to them to bring out the color. The face and hair I blended with my fingers.   I had another journal page to show from last week but blogger doesn't seem to like to file.  I have tried uploading several time and it errors out each time. It was not any spectacular so you haven't missed much.

For the next couple weeks I am going to have a lot of time to do art and other creative pursuits. I will be blogging either a little less or just have small posts.  I want to use the time to really work on some projects.  Hopefully I will have lots of fun stuff to show soon.

Sunday Sketches August 12

Here is today's sketch. I used graphite  in 2B and 8B for the sketch and some Graphitint pencils in the background.  You can check out what other sketchers did here.

A Diversion of Sorts

It's Friday already and time for another blog post. Usually by now I would have done some art but not this week. Oh I think I started a journal page but its not complete.

So its time to throw an animal into the post.  This is my kitty Boromir, isn't she sweet.

I saw this duct tape the other day.  It really brings a smile to my face.

Yesterday I had some plans but the hubby gave me other ideas. I threw all those plans out the window and decided to go here instead. It was a little hazy but you could still see the mountains.

The Grand Teton has a glacier this year. I love these mountains, they are so majestic. You can't help but feel good when you are there.

We stopped at the Menor's Ferry area.  Dave hoped the ferry was running but it was not.  Sometime when we go its going to be working and we will ride across the river.   The general store is still in business. It has all sort of fun stuff inside.

This is Jenny Lake, one of my favorite places to go kayaking or hiking. We didn't have our kayak's with us so we went on a short hike. It was a great escape for the day. When was the last time you spontaneously threw out your plans and did something fun.

Writing Wednesdays

Work in Progress:

I finished reading Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint by Nancy Kress and I found it very helpful. I am still reading Writing for Dummies by Randy Ingermasnon.  It has a lot of basic stuff that I am skipping over because I know it already. I found some good ideas too so I will stick with it.

I have been doing other kinds of research too.  Some of it involves this.

and this item too.

Yes, its archery.  I decided since my character was going to be an archer it might help if I could get a idea of what it feels like.  I talked to my husband who used to bow hunt, and he got out his old longbow for me to try out. I always thought that archery would be a fun sport to get involved with and I was right.

Day 1 - I could not pull the string back far enough. I also could not put the string on the bow
Day 2 - I practiced some more at pulling the string back.  I got it a little farther each time. It's a 40 lb longbow in case that interests you.
Day 3 - Pulled the string back and shot some arrows. Set up a target of a paper towel on some straw bales.  Shot too high or low but still had fun.
Day 4  - I was able to put the string on by myself.  Shot lots of arrows.  I managed to hit the paper towel once.
Day 5 - I couldn't get the string on by myself.  Don't know what happened there. Set up a target and shot some arrows.  Not too successful again, getting tired but tried one more shot, Ah success is sweet. the result is below.  I am happy about that this last shot. So I am getting better at it and will continue to do so.

So what have I learned this week you may ask. One is that research can be fun. Two that I like doing archery. Three that archery is a lot like writing, it takes quite a bit of practice before you can be good at it.

Travels Continue

In our campsite was this log. We both thought it looked like a dinosaur head.

When in Nehalem we saw this little store.  We thought it might be the usual tourist shop but we went in anyways.

We were surprised to find medieval helmets inside amongst everything else.
























I love this eagle on top of one of the buildings.

Here is Sarah at Hug Beach.

Once we got to the beach we looked to the right and saw this beautiful waterfall.

This rock reminded me of one we saw the day before  Sarah suggested we walk out to the rock to see what was growing on it.  It looked safe but of course when we got there a big wave came in and we were soaked.

It was a bit colder this day.  I loved all the colors in the rocks.

There were lots of rocks and the beach was virtually empty.

I liked this little alcove.  It wasn't big enough to hide in but maybe in another 100 years it will be.

Oh the shore all the rocks were covered with these litte guys. There were a lot of mussels, the black ones.

I thought these gooseneck barnacles were fascinating.  The look like dinosaur toes to me.

Then I saw this one with long extention coming out.

Then we touched the end of it and these things came out of it.  It was fascinating. We saw more of them like this., when you touched some of them they came out to see what was going on and others were scared and pulled back in.

After time on Hug Beach we headed up to Cannon Beach again. We walked among all the shops in town.

Don't you just love the idea of this place.  It started raining and then we got really cold so we headed into here.

It was wonderfully warm inside.  The oven for the pizza's gave the place a wonderfully warm feeling.  We felt like we were in a protective cocoon. Plus the pizza was fantastic.

Back to Art Journaling

This summer with it high temperatures has left me feeling like not doing art at all. Over the past couple days I broke the cycle and have been playing in my art journal.

Just give me some paper scraps and some glue and I am happy as can be.  This page is a hodge podge of scraps and was fun to make.

I used this map paper I made earlier this year and used it as a backdrop for this image. The words are some I wonder about often.

Here are more scraps again. There really is no meaning behind it. Maybe a little more time in meditation will lead to a wondrous discovery. I can dream can't I.

Two Journals and a Goddess

After taking Connie Hozvika"s course BIG I put a huge piece of paper on my painting wall. 6 sheets of 18 x 24 paper. I found it so intimidating that I just couldn't begin to paint on it. The other day I thought this is silly and told myself to paint on part of it. So that is what I did. This little goddess came out. She is 18 x 48. It feels great to have overcome that white paper and just paint again.

 Here is a little video showing a couple journals I just finished.

Writing Wednesdays

Work in Progress  this week.

I finished Nail Your Novel and I really liked it.  The author Roz  Morris also writes a blog of the same name. Nail Your Novel The posts are interesting and informative, if you are writing I highly recommend it.

There is a lot of basic information that I already knew in this book but it is also full of techniques on how to start editing an abandoned manuscript. She shares her plans and techniques from the very beginning to getting a novel published.  Its a great resource. I read it on my Kindle but I don't think I would do that again. I like thumbing through pages and the ability to go back and reference areas. That seems to be easier to do in a print book. I do realize I could add notes and bookmarks on my kindle but I still think a print book is easier.

I also realized I have this book on my kindle too.  I got it for really cheap when a promotion was going on, but never got around to reading it.

Its written by Randy Ingersmanson, whose claim to fame is the Snowflake method. He has an amazing newsletter that he also puts out that I have been reading for several years. So far it is really an easy read and seems very informative.

I am continuing to study about characters and emotion from the Write Great Fiction Series of books. Next on my list is this book on developing a good villain.

I spent way too much time on Pinterest today adding more pics to my work in progress board.  I find Pinterest to be a lot of fun but time consuming too. If you are on Pinterest you can follow me here.

I spent some time in the studio today but I haven't gotten any pictures to show. It felt to be working on art again.  I will have something to share next time.