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! 🙂

Sweet Summer Time…

Summers in the Pacific Northwest where I live, seem sooo short!

I can’t believe we are already in the middle of July…

The lake water is FINALLY getting warm with SUN at last!

I have decided to take a short blogging break and enjoy –

Sweet Summer Time!

And paint! I look forward to sharing more discoveries in my watercolor nature journal with you:

Happy Summer!

Cheers! 🙂

The Aim Of Art

“The aim of art,” according to Aristotle, “is to represent not the outward appearance of things but their inward significance.”

I used a melon baller, seed pod and seashells for my inspiration in these imaginary flowers:

I started with watercolor.   Next, I added layers of paper collage with matte gel medium, watercolor, and white gel pen.  I finished my piece with the quote from Aristotle:

What is the aim of art for you?

I think my aim for art is to create it!  I just love to explore new materials and discover how I can create it into something new for me – and maybe you too!

Cheers!  🙂

Pizzazza

Sometimes it is fun to add a little color pizzazz to objects that are not very colorful.

I added a little “pizzazza” to this bouquet of white lilies:

I started with a watercolor background.  Next, I created a sketch of the vase with a brown Inktense color pencil, added some of my green watercolor painted collage paper to the vase with a glue stick and then dazzled it up with Neocolor water soluble crayons.

It kind of makes your eyeballs go, WOWZA, huh?!  😉

I also did a study of seashells in my own colors:

These shells were done in watercolor, Neocolors and Prismacolor pencils using REAL shells for my reference.

Wishing you a fabulous day with a little pizzazza!  🙂

Silver Shells

Do you need a last minute gift idea?

I was recently inspired by my blogger friend, Magny Tjelta’s post on making flowers for decorating gift wrapped presents.  Be sure to check out her video on her blog:

http://yourartisticjourney.com/2015/12/15/last-minute-wrapping-idea/

This got me swirling my watercolor paints around and look what appeared:

Yep!  Seashells!  🙂

This gave me an idea to create a garland of shells for a Christmas gift for a good friend of mine.

After I painted my “imaginary” shells on 140 lb hot press paper, I cut them out and added white gel pen accents and glitter!  (I was so excited to find 30 different colors of fine glitter on sale at Michaels!  I also found a glue pen to apply the glitter.  So fun!)

Here is a close-up of the starfish – it looks a little like a cut-out sugar cookie, doesn’t it?  🙂

Next, I made these little tabs out of leftover watercolor paper.  I folded the paper in half, punching a hole in one half and gluing the other half to the back of the shell:

I strung some glittery, silver wired ribbon through the holes on the back of the shells.  It helped to tape the ends of the ribbon so I could fit them easier through the holes.

I was surprised to have an 8 foot garland with 22 different shells!

So I put them in a box – don’t they look like candy?

And wrapped them up for my friend!

She opened them today and loves them.  YAY!

Happy Gift Making!  🙂

She Sells Seashells…

I collect vintage postcards.  This one has an one-cent US stamp on the back:

Last summer I learned to paint a crab and seashells from Fred Lisaius:

I found a photo online for the black starfish.  I used photos or real shells for ideas and the rest were imaginary.  It was so fun!

Fred is a very talented artist and a wonderful teacher!  I recommend you look up his work online.  He is teaching an acrylic painting class in July.  You can find out more from this link.

I hope to paint more seashells by the seashore (lake) this summer.

Happy Creating!