Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Thoughts for the New Year









Still drinking from my Santa mug...and wondering
when I will find the energy to take down the
Christmas tree.  Every year we joke about making
it a Valentine tree...
Linking up with Elizabeth's Tea Tuesday party
and having some green tea.

Best wishes to all for a 
Happy and Prosperous New Year!




 ♦  ◘



Monday, December 22, 2014

Tuesday Greetings!

Watercolor and Sharpie pen 

Wishing you all a 
wonderful holiday...
whatever holiday you
celebrate.


Week 54- Documented Life Project:
put arrows on your page

May you celebrate it with
those you love, in joy and
thanksgiving.


Art journal page- travel mug; watercolor & pen

Linking up with the T Tuesday
link party, and having some
green tea  in my travel mug
this morning.
Have a jolly week!






Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Tree Trimmings



Sharing some stitched ornaments on our
Christmas tree...




I love making little ornaments, usually
at least one each year.  The
tree is getting pretty full, and that's
the way I think it should be!




Several years ago I started making
ornaments in primarily red and white.




We have an eclectic assortment of
glass balls, country style, cross-stitched,
crocheted, and hand-made ornaments
from artistic friends.  And of course the
traditional homemade ornaments that
my children's kindergarten teacher made
with their photos on them. Where, oh where
did those little children go?!
All grown up...




Well yes, I do like some pink with
my red and white...




A lot of Santas make an appearance 
every year.




Linking up with the T Tuesday party
over at Elizabeth's.  Here is my
Santa mug and its contents:
 green tea with lemon and ginseng.




Ho! Ho! Ho!
It's almost Christmas!










Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Tutorial: Doodle a Girl's Face



Here's a tutorial on how to draw
a girl's face. Just for fun...
you can click on any picture 
for a larger view.


Start with a U-shape--
the top ends are flared out a bit
instead of parallel.


Add a short diagonal line in the center
of the U- top to bottom and left to right.
Mine is a tiny bit below center...that's ok.
This is the nose. Trust me. It will work out.



Add some curving lines above the nose for
the tops of the eyes.  They curve up a bit at the
outside edges...suggesting eyelashes.



Then add a black dot under each eyelid, and a few
extra eyelashes on each side.  Make sure each 
dot is on the same side of the 'eye.'  Both on 
the right, or both on the left, or both in the center.



Add a flattened "M-shape" beneath the nose
for the upper lip.



Add a flattened U-shape beneath the upper lip
to create the lower lip. Add eyebrows above the eyes.



The beginning of the suggestion of hair. I chose
a side part for her hair style. And I prefer
asymmetrical. Too perfect and the same on both
sides just doesn't look right to me...



Add another curving line for the top of the hair, and
some shorter curving lines to suggest the part
 in the hairstyle. Notice how high up
 the hair goes.  The eyes should end up
being half way between the chin and the top of the head.
A common distortion that beginners make is that
they don't draw enough space or volume 
between the top of the eyes and the top 
of the head.



Add a few more squiggly, curvy lines 
for additional hair, extending the lines
 you originally drew.



Add lines to portray the neck.  These are
 placed beginning/touching the jaw line, and 
 placed below/at about the center of the eyes.




Add more undulating curving lines for hair, 
varying the curls at the end of the strands.
It's more interesting if some curve out
and some curve in.

That's it! You've drawn a cute 
female face, and it wasn't hard.  Just
keep practicing and have fun.  You could
add shading or color, flowers in her hair,
or even a halo.  Let me know how you do

T is for Tutorial today...linking up with
Elizabeth for T Tuesday. Sharing my
coffee in the snowman mug today...


and another taste of 
Christmas Greetings!








Tuesday, December 2, 2014

A Taste of Christmas



I worked on some watercolor greeting cards
this week.  Above, "Antique Doll Greetings."





"Play Some Reindeer Games"...
like monopoly!
It's always fun to mix up the
fonts, add shadows and dots,
and ignore the sometimes wonkiness
of the shapes and spacing...





An Artist Trading Card from a previous year.
The photo is a bit blurry -- the scanner doesn't
like 3 D embellishments.  This was my
'pink and light green' year...and I will
glue a button on just about anything.





My nod to a beverage for Tea Tuesday
is a 'revival' of a collage in my 
Scrappy Green Journal.
This wonderful gift from Elizabeth
already had random items 
adhered to the pages (including the
IceCafe' shown above) and then I
added even more stuff to the pages.
I do prefer coffee over tea, especially
if I add chocolate to the coffee!
Join Elizabeth for T Tuesday,
and see what projects the rest
of the participants are doing.







Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Thankful





The Documented Life Project,
Week 48:
"Show how you are thankful
in a creative way."  This is a 
traditional harvest illustration that
I did in extra fine-point Sharpie and
watercolors.  Though the image doesn't
portray it literally, I am most thankful
for my sweet family!




Sharing tea today with the T Tuesday gang
over at Elizabeth's blog...
I loved the illustration on the packaging for this
tea, but have to admit that the illustration is
better than the taste of the tea.  I normally
get herbal decaf flavors, but the only
pumpkin flavored option was caffeinated.
It's almost gone...what should I try next?




Love this vintage post card...
Thanksgiving Greetings 
to all who celebrate the day!




♦  ♥  ♦



Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Tabs on Tuesday




I am still keeping up with the
The Documented Life Project~
I can't believe the year is nearly over!
Above, the challenge was to add Tabs
to the page. I used some scrapbook
papers and a Loteria  card to make flaps
with tabs.




Click on the image for a better view...
I did a bit of collage on the underside of the flaps,
and added my own handwriting on
 the watercolor paper beneath the flaps.




The spread beneath the tip in shown above...
additional collage with scrapbook paper,
another loteria card, and things I've drawn.
You can see the adhesive number showing
that this was for week 45.




The orange, tan and yellow collage was for the
challenge to include fabric on your page.
Stitching, counted cross stitch, and papers
are accented with chalk pastels.




Linking up to Elizabeth's blog for T Tuesday, 
with a re-post of a tea collage, and
the snow man mug...




We had our first accumulation of snow
this week, and it's bitter cold!  Well, at least
to me it is...maybe folks in Alaska or 
Minnesota would scoff at 10 degrees...
but my car won't start.  We are thinking 
a new battery is in order.

Hope you enjoy your tea or coffee today,
and stop by Elizabeth's blog.




Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Little Things on Journal Pages


Art deco motifs and poetry quotes
combine to create this 
art journal page, above.




I had several restaurant meals
this week, and the temptation to eat
too many high calorie foods can
sometimes be avoided by 
drawing my food!




These colorful tea bag wrappers
went onto a journal page.  The
cranberry muffin recipe is a good one!
You may notice that I've substituted
applesauce for the oil in the recipe.
Still tastes great and less calories.
Now is the time of year when I stock
up on bags of fresh cranberries and
put them in the freezer, then I have 
them to use in recipes most of the year.




Sharing my coffee cup and art with
the T Tuesday link party over at
Elizabeth's Altered Book Lover blog.
She's making homemade tea bags...
what are you creating today?


I am looking forward to receiving
 my copy of the book 
Art Journal Kickstarter, in which
I have had one of my art journal pages
published.  You can see the cover
of the book here.  I hope you will
check it out when it hits the store
shelves, which should be soon.
I love art journaling, can you tell?