Creative Play

Sometimes it is just fun to play with color, patterns and shapes in my art journal.  I created these experiments with Neocolors Water-soluble crayons and watercolor:

The above shapes have an organic feel to me.  The ones below feel different…

You can tell I did them on different days…  It is interesting how our feelings can be expressed with color and shapes, even without thinking about it.

The one below reminded me of flowers and hummingbirds:

What do you think?  I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Experimenting!  🙂

Tulips In Winter?!

As winter approaches, I suddenly have Spring on my mind:

Above are rows of tulips from my imagination.

I would love to see the Spring tulips in Skagit Valley, Washington!

It is on my Bucket List!  😊

What is on your wish list to do before you die?!

I’d love to hear from you!

The Primaries

I’m not talking politically here…

Here are more faces on primary and secondary colors:

Luanne is dating Bob, Jon, Bill and Frank –

Who did Fluffy approve?

Hope this makes you smile!  😊

Happy Drawing!  🎨

The Old Neighborhood – Part 2

Do you remember my story of Ellen that previously posted here?

Today I want to  finish my story with a little poem – thank you everyone who helped me complete my story!

What DID Ellen see?!  Here is her response:

Did I see a little green man?

Or maybe a miniature unicorn on the corner stand?

A Super Mouse doll?  Oh, so grand!!!

Or perhaps a big hairy spider with two sharp fangs?

A little dancing statue that looks brand new –

Is that the god of Vishnu?  I have no clue…

A rather noisy Parrot, who keeps saying, “Moo?”

Or maybe a rare Hairy Bird, stuffed and glued?!

Is it Waldo, smiling over at me?

Did I FINALLY find him?!  Oh, no!  This cannot be!

I realize now as I sit here with glee…

What I saw in the corner was just a reflection of me!

Hope you enjoyed my story!

Happy Creating!!!  😊🎨💜

A Heart of Gratitude

I was playing in my sketchbook after a long day.

I added this favorite quote by Melody Beattie:

It says:  “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life!

It turns what we have into enough, and more –

It can turn a meal into a feast,

A house into a home,

A stranger into a friend.”

May you find gratitude in the simple joys of your life!  🌈

Happy Creating!  😊🎨

How Are You Feeling?

I love color!  It can brighten up my day when I’m feeling a bit moody:

I started this mixed media piece by painting shapes on a 140 lb hot press paper with a cheap set of watercolors and Neocolor wax pastels.  I softened the wax pastels with a little water to brighten the shapes.  After it dried, I drew a face with a Zig writer pen:

Next, I started adding circles of color with my Prismacolor pencils:

I kept adding more color pencil and watched how the colors affected the mood of the drawing:

This was a really fun experiment!  I hope it brightens your day!

Happy Creating!  🙂

Swirls of Fall

I recently purchased a set of Rembrandt Soft Pastels.  I have never done much with soft pastels so I wanted to experiment with them in my sketchbook.

I really enjoyed using watercolor with them:

The swirls of color reminded me of some photos I took after a frost:

Like this Dahlia – I love the brilliant blue sky next to the golden color!

The simplicity of the following design:

Reminded me of the swirling breath of Jack Frost as it freezes whatever lies in its path:

The beauty of these Dahlias still takes my breath away!

The circles in this design:

Reminded me of this bird bath:

A simple design of endless love I have for nature.

May you notice the beautiful shapes in nature’s handiwork today!

Happy Fall!  🙂

It’s A Real Hoot!

Today is “Draw A Bird Day,” that Laura at Create Art Everyday has continued as an art challenge on the 8th of each month.  Any medium is acceptable and all bloggers are welcome to participate.  I encourage you to do so!  🙂

I wanted to create something a little different for my bird.  Since it is the month of October, I decided on an owl.

I started by drawing the outline of my owl with a Zig writer pen and coloring it with Neocolor wax pastels:

I used a photo reference from a beautiful book I purchased from Amazon called, “Owls,” by Marianne Taylor.  It has “owl-mazing” color photographs in it!  I chose my own color palette of course…

I softened my neocolors with water and added white highlights to the eyes with a gel pen:

Lots of color!  Just what I like – it’s a real hoot, don’t you think?!

Happy Bird Day!  🙂

A List of Likes

I don’t know about you but I’m a “List Maker.”  I like creating lists because a) I have a poor memory and b) I like crossing things off my lists – as a feeling of accomplishing something – even if it is rather small.

The list I created here was a different kind of LIST.  It was an art form!

I created a list of what gives me JOY in an old book of names:

Sorry the light isn’t very good…

Here is a better photo:

I started with while chalk paint and wrote into the wet paint with a pencil.  After it dried I added a dab of this and that to complete my list:

Of course I have more likes than what is on this list!  Perhaps I will have to make another “painted” list…

This was a lesson in the Word Play Painting online art class with the fabulous, Lynn Whipple!

I would love to hear what brings you JOY!  🙂

Happy List Making!

What Do You Love?!

I finally got a few moments to START Lynn Whipple’s new online class, WORD PLAY!  I love playing with words so I know this class will be a so FUN!

I created this in an old dictionary using white chalk paint, water soluble wax pastels, Tombow markers and pencil:

If you could choose one or two WORDS, what do you love?

I would love to hear from you!  🙂

Happy Saturday!