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! 🙂

Leaves Falling

I was out in my yard yesterday and noticed the birds leaves falling…

After all, it is FALL!

Several birds were in a tree and it got me thinking about my weird birds.

There is such a variety of leaf shapes much like birds!

Perhaps there is a leaf bird? Have you seen any lately?!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

A Marvelous Maple

The maple tree in our yard is turning many marvelous colors!

I took these photos on Wednesday when we had our first SNOW of the season…

It was a shock to many trees in our area that still have their leaves…

Many people woke-up to fallen branches and trees in their yards as the branches could not hold the weight of this unexpected snow. Always so sad to lose a lovely tree!

I experimented with my Gelli-plate a little more. This time I printed on a couple of garden magazine pages.

I will use the negative and positive shapes of this oak leaf in my art journal:

May you have a marvelous weekend!

Cheers! 🙂

Autumn Inspiration

I recently purchased a few Autumn decorations for my husband’s business as Hobby Lobby, a local arts and crafts store was having a sale.

They had pumpkins in many shapes, patterns and materials!

It gave me inspiration to create these watercolor pages in my art journal:

Pumpkins on the left and leaves are on the right. I was experimenting in color. 😉

I will doodle or add collage to my watercolor shapes and show you my progress next week.

Creating challenges like this one inspires my creativity.

What inspires you to create? I hope you share your ideas with me.

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! 🙂

Back To The Drawing Board…

Last week, I had counted my chickens before they hatched… or put the cart before the horse!  (I had expected the results before they had actually occurred!)  Sigh…

So this week, it is back to the drawing board – time to try, “Plan B” to get someone hired to replace me at my husband’s office.  I was thinking we had the “one” but this was not the case.  😦

I would like more time to create art and maybe, just maybe SEE if I could make it a successful business.  But right now, apparently isn’t in the stars… Or leaves!

So I will just “leaf it” and keep creating art and hope you enjoy it, friends!

Cheers! 🙂

Just Leaf It

We are having a really late Spring this year.  So I have been doodling leaves in my sketchbook, dreaming of warmer weather:

Perhaps you remember me starting this as a watercolor on a previous post?  If not, you can find it here.

It was a fun “branching out” and trying things in a different order.  However, I like creating the doodle first and then adding color, what do you think?

Cheers!  🙂

Dreaming Of Spring

We still have lots of snow on the ground but I couldn’t help but dream about Spring in my art journal lately…

I created this doodle from my imagination and memory of Nature with Micron pens:

Yesterday, I added watercolor.  I found this so relaxing!

It reminded me of this doodle I did last August, that you can find here.

So I started a new piece on the right.  I plan to doodle on top of the watercolor for this one!

How do you “branch” out to try something new in art?  I’d love to hear from you!

Cheers!  🙂

Birch Tree Inspired

I remember the big white Paper Birch tree that my parents planted in their front yard.  As kids, we took its lovely shade and beautiful white bark for granted.  It was a shame when it became diseased and had to be chopped down.

I planted a River Birch in my yard a few years ago.  It is supposed to be more resistant to disease.  It has a light pink bark that peels.  I love how it dances in the wind like yesterday when I snapped this photo.  It’s leaves are starting to change from green to gold and look dazzling against this brilliant blue sky:

It was my inspiration to play with patterns in one of my sketchbooks.

I started with loose sketches of leaves in Neocolors (water soluble crayons) and then painted yellow india ink over the leaves.  I also added a blue background with the india ink – using Dr. Ph. Martin’s colored ink.  I have never “painted” ink on before – how fun!

I finished it by gluing some of my Gelli-printed deli paper on top with a glue stick:

It was very relaxing to just “play” and I encourage you to give it a try!  🙂

Did you have a favorite tree when you were a child?  I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Experimenting!  🙂

Dye And Salt Nature Prints

A few years ago, I purchased this book by L.K. Ludwig on Nature Journals:

I fell in love with making nature prints with Procion fabric dyes and Kosher salt:

It was a really fun activity to do at the lake!  I had lots of natural materials and could work outside.

I had so much fun making the prints that I never got to making the journal!  Lol!

Then I found this old ledger at a thrift store so I started creating pages for it:

However, I didn’t get very far on the project.  With my renewed interest in creating a nature journal with my sketches, I decided it was time to “dig” this one out again.

Yesterday, I added some collage papers to some of my prints:

I had fun playing with color and different images… and will continue to add to these pages.

Have you ever created a “Mixed Media” Nature Journal?  I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Creating!  🙂