Holiday Punch

In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, sometimes it is nice to enjoy a quiet golden moment or two…

And some holiday punch!

The simplicity of punching circles of various sizes, colors and patterns…and cutting circles around the punched circles with scissors was very relaxing for me.

Arranging them into my art journal in a pleasing pattern was fun too:

How do YOU relax and get into the spirit during the holidays?  I hope you share it with me!

Cheers! 🙂

So Noted…

I have discovered two fabulous ways to get one’s creative juices flowing as warm-up exercises in art making.

I learned these ideas from Anita Lehmann in her online class, Translating Landscapes, hosted by Carla Sonheim.

The first idea involves creating marks with a variety of art mediums and tools.  One “natural” tool was a stick!  I had so much fun dipping a stick into ink and “making marks” with it… And using a variety of materials to create this piece:

The second idea was making marks while listening to music.  I created this piece while listening to Eva Cassidy and Natalie Merchant:

I enjoyed both exercises.

So noted, my favorite was the one with the music!

I encourage you to turn up the music and create!

Cheers! 🙂

Gelli-Plate Prints

Many of you know how much I LOVE to print with my Gelli-Plate!

When Carla Sonheim announced that she was going to teach a NEW online class on How to use more of your Gelli-Plate, I immediately signed up!  🙂

The class starts today, so if you want to learn more about it, check out her online class at CarlaSonheim.com

I’d been wanting to purchase the larger 9 x 12 inch size Gelli-Plate so I splurged when Dick Blick Art Supplies was having a recent sale.

I decided to do a test drive (so to speak) of my new Gelli-Plate so I made these prints using Golden fluid acrylic paints, stencils, leaves and household items:

I have A LOT more prints but these were a few of my favorites.

Which one do you like best?

Cheers! 🙂

Rainier Cherries

I so LOVE the blushing red and golden yellow, sweet cherries that are considered a premium type of cherry in the Pacific Northwest!  Yesterday, we received a box of them from a friend.

According to Wikipedia.com, Rainier Cherries are a cross between “bing” and “van” cultivars.  This sweet cherry was developed in 1952 at Washington State University by Harold Fogle… I did not know this! 😉

This cherry is named after Mount Rainier.  This mountain is the highest mountain in my state, located 59 miles south to south-east of Seattle.  It has a summit elevation of 14,411 feet.  Mount Rainier is of the Cascade range on the western side of Washington state… I live on the eastern side (close to the Idaho border).

I found these cherries to be a good subject to paint in watercolor for the letter, “C”:

I enjoyed creating this colorful page… the quote is one of my favorites!

Cheers! 🙂

A Nature Study

Last Friday, I had a little time to create one of Carla Sonheim’s assignments from the year long online class I’m taking from her.

We were to collect some items from nature and arrange them in a pleasing manner:

I collected the above items from my yard.  🙂

Next, I drew them quickly with pencil:

I added oil pastels to my pencil sketch by starting with a light color and layering a darker color on top.  I added details by scratching into the oil pastels with a wooden pencil.

I wasn’t totally liking the oil pastels so I scraped white acrylic paint over it:

I like the muted look better… I’d like to try my nature study in watercolor too!

Happy Monday!  I hope your day is blossoming into a good week…

Cheers! 🙂

May And June Square Projects

Perhaps you remember my watercolor circles I created in April:  My April Square Project…

After my black and white doodle, I was ready for some color!  So I decided to use my black and white doodle for April:  Finding Balance

And I moved on to May and June!

I recently did this playful watercolor from my imagination:

After cutting it up, I mixed it with my colorful circles:

And got not just one… but TWO month’s projects:

And of course I had to see how they looked next to each other:

So fun to play… wishing you a creative day!

Cheers! 🙂

A Lazy Daisy Day

Yesterday, I had a lazy daisy kind of day…

I was at the lake and the weather was very nice!

What a difference a week makes!  The photo below on the left was taken last weekend and the photo on the right shows how the beach chairs would NOW be under water!

The sunshine feels wonderful but we don’t need the snow in the mountains to melt too quickly!  Flood warnings are now in place…

Oh, the balance of nature… glad I’m not in charge! 😉

Hope you had a lazy daisy day too!  What did you do?

Cheers! 🙂

Welcome…

I was looking for a Welcome sign for my front doorstep the other day… And I discovered this sign at Hobby Lobby.

I didn’t like the colors of the wood birds so I unscrewed them and darkened them with acrylic paints.

Hubby helped me hang it on the siding of our home… it looks more inviting now…

How do you welcome people to your home?!  Do you decorate your doorstep?

Cheers! 🙂

My April Square Project…

My April Square Project is running into May…

Yet, I’m OK with it – don’t sweat the small stuff, right?! 😉

I finally got my watercolor painting completed that I showed you the other day; you can find its beginnings here:  Art As Meditation

Last night I cut it up!  Don’t worry, it was intentional:

This time I cut larger squares and circles to add variety to my monthly project.  (See A Square Project under my categories on the right of this screen).

Next week, I hope to show you my completed collaged piece.

Until then, I’m going to have fun taking photos of these shapes… they are like a puzzle!

And if they don’t all make it into a collage, perhaps they will become part of something else?!

What would YOU do with them?

Happy Friday!

Cheers! 🙂

A May Day Basket

I remember as a young child making paper baskets and filling them with a simple bouquet of flowers from our yard.

Next, I would hang them on an unexpecting neighbor’s door handle, ring the doorbell and run!  It was so fun to give a gift of kindness…

My watercolor reminded me of those simple times as I worked on it yesterday:

Perhaps the swirls of color could be ribbons on a May Pole?

Happy May Day!

Cheers! 🙂