Wild Background

I like to sketch REAL birds every now and then…

These quick sketches inspired today’s hat wearing weird bird:

I like how the wild background makes the pencil sketch stand out.

What do you think?

On a sad note, I recently had to say goodbye to my sweet kitty, Jack who I have blogged about in several posts.

This picture shows Jack lying on the dried Catmint in our yard. One of his favorite spots to soak up the sunshine!

Jack is no longer in pain but I miss him a great deal. Always hard to loose a furry friend.

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks…

What are you thankful for?

I am thankful for many things, especially “nature” and its ability to soothe my soul in all four seasons in the Pacific Northwest where I live.

I try to get outside for some fresh air each day, even if it’s just a walk to the mailbox.

My cat, Jack walks around the backyard with me on the days when the sun is shinning.

I recently created an autumn themed mandala in watercolor using some leaves from my yard as inspiration. I also added iridescent watercolor for some sparkle.

I finished my piece with color pencils. I think I will frame this one!

Many thanks to each of you for your likes and kind comments on my blog this year.

Wishing you a day filled with Giving Thanks!

Cheers! 🙂

Santa Claws…

The gifts are all wrapped

And under the tree,

We’re hoping Santa Claws

Let’s each of them be…

The twitch of his tail

And gleam in his eyes,

Means he’s been in the catnip,

This is no surprise!

His message to you,

This Christmas Eve night…

Never leave a catniped “Claws”

Out of your sight!

Meowy Christmas my friends!

May your day be filled with happy surprises!

Cheers! 🙂

Cat Napping

I’m amazed how relaxed my cat can be…

When sleeping on the couch like this, you see:

I wonder how he can be so unaware,

Yet seems content when I take his photo there.

I thought this was a funny pose for my cat so I had to share it with you.  If we could all sleep so soundly and comfortably.  Lol!

Cheers! :-0

Cats And Doodles

My cat, Jack wouldn’t eat this weekend.  Three agonizing days were spent trying to get him to eat!  Sigh…

Finally, a fresh can of tuna was the winner!  Hooray!!

Sometimes life catches us off guard and we must find ways to unwind… like this doodle I started awhile ago…

I completed it this weekend when I needed a distraction from a sick cat:

I’m so thankful the cat is back to his old self and now I can start a new doodle!

Cheers! 🙂

Jump Ahead…

Hello Friends!

I’ve been enjoying time off from blogging and working on my Alphabet Journal.  You can read more about my project here:  Creating A Recipe Of Fun…

I am posting “an alphabetical recipe” with watercolor each day on Instagram but I have gotten a bit behind on the collage part…

Today, I decided to jump ahead to the letter, “J”:

Letter “J” is for creating art with JOY of course!

I had fun drawing this illustration, painting it in watercolor and adding an abstract collage.

I will post my letters “E” through “I” when I add collage to them.

I hope you are all well…

Cheers! 🙂

Weird Monday?

I enjoyed creating with my hand-painted collage papers over the weekend.  Carla Sonheim gave us a fun assignment to cut out random collage shapes from our own painted papers with our eyes closed!  Who knew this could be so fun and freeing!!

This cat and mouse showed up first:

Then Louise…. Louise loved to dress with lots of color and patterns:

I just love Louise’s sense of style, don’t you?!

And lastly, this friendly beast made its appearance:

It is a Rhino-leaf-a-rear-as!  The children loved to ride this beast at the strange animal zoo…

I hope this silliness gives you a smile today!

Cheers! 🙂

Cat Napping

Comfy warm blanket…

Black cat sleeping on the couch,

Move over kitty!

I thought my watercolor pattern from my last post looked like a fabric quilt so I painted an image of my black cat, Jack with Sumi ink on a separate piece of paper.  I cut out his shape, added some shading and placed him on the pattern.

Seems like a good day for a cat nap, how about you?

Cheers! 🙂

Bird Watching

I think I saw a Mountain Chickadee on my Crabapple tree yesterday morning…

That was before my cat, The Bird Watcher scared it away!

It was my inspiration for a page in the art journal that I told you about in my post here:  The Art Of Noticing

I must say, it was super fun to color with my Prismacolor pencils in a rainbow of colors!  I felt like a child again.

What creative activities help you feel young at heart?! ❤️  I hope you share them with me.

Happy Bird Watching!  🙂

Carnivals, Clouds And Cats

My blog title sounds like it could be part of the lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s song, “Both Sides Now.”  😉

However, my post today does involve some illusions… and imaginary fish!

The Carnival Fish was created by making copies of my “Bearded Hat Fish,” that you can find here:  What Rhymes With Weird?!   My copier was about out of ink so the fish is more yellow in color than my original.

I made two copies of my fish and lined up the images together in one stack.  I then cut 1/2 inch strips being careful to keep my images in the order of my design.  Next, I glued the two exact image strips next to each other on a piece of heavier paper with a glue stick.  This gives it the affect that reminds me of the mirrors in a carnival thus the name.

The Cloud Fish reminded me of the lazy days of summer and seeing shapes in the clouds…  My haiku says, “Lazy Cloud fish swim, Above the sea in blue skies, Slowly passing by.”

I created it with color pencils and Copic markers.  What other images do you see in the clouds beside the fish?

My Jack Fish is a drawing of my cat, Jack – you can see a photo of him here: Why A Cat Needs An Umbrella    My cat loves to eat canned cat food – especially FISH!  (No, he doesn’t actually eat the whole fish but it makes for a good drawing.) Lol!

There actually is a REAL fish called a Jack fish!  Did you know that?!

I hope you enjoyed my imaginary fish!  Maybe they will inspire you to create with your imagination.

Cheers! 🙂