Techo Tuesday

A quick post to say hello to my

T Tuesday friends, and share

a cup of coffee and some doodles...

These pages follow my hubby's

week-long stay in the hospital.

He's doing fine now, but had a

very uncomfortable several 

days stay. So glad to go home

and get back to a 'semblance'

of normal! More doctor's 

appointments and tests will be in

our future, but expect him to

fully recover. Now off to a

doctor's appointment this a.m.

so  I will be back to visit the

 T Tuesday gang a bit later.

Random Tuesday Views

I've been enjoying the views of our

Fall foliage in Ohio... 

Linking this post to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's

T Tuesday blog hop,

where we share a beverage and a

variety of interests and activities.

This is a lunch in Panama City Beach,

Florida, where I enjoyed a beef pasty, 

back in February. The restaurant was called

Eat My Pasty. The food was tasty,

but there were exactly two pieces of

meat in my pasty, along with the 

potatoes and carrots. Not exactly plentiful.

I thought the flavor was very good, but the price

for what you received was high.  I 

suppose we were paying for the novelty

of authentic (?) British food. It IS a tourist

kind of town, especially in March when the

college students arrive for Spring Break.

We were looking for something fun and

different...you don't know until you try it, right?

I think my beverage in this photo was water.

Maybe not exciting, but trying to be healthy.

Our food tray was lined with deli paper

printed to resemble a London newspaper.

I got a kick out of some of the decor in the

tiny restaurant. This Dr. Who quote is classic:

"People assume that Time is a strict progression

of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear,

non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball

of wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff."

The "No Muggles Beyond This Point"

was a sign over the door to the kitchen.

Fun!...I wondered how many of the 

retired 'crowd' that are in residence during

the month of February

had any idea what these posters referred to...

the Harry Potter series of course!

Not sure if I showed the cover of my

Hobonichi Techo, that I finally finished.

It's painted fabric just wrapped around

the planner, secured with a bit of elastic.

It does the job just fine, without a

big price tag.

Here's a page in my Planner...yes, I drink

coffee from my Santa mug year-round!

I've been doing a challenge this month,

which gives a list of items to draw or 

write about each day. #7 was Butternut

squash.  The 72 seasons of Japan is an

interesting app that I downloaded to my

Smart phone. Every week or so, a new

season from the ancient calendar of Japan

is explained. I am enjoying the illustrations

included with the articles, and reading

about the flowers, vegetables, and

seasonal fish each season. 

Japan is blessed with weather that allows

Camellias to be blooming in November!

The U.S. election is today,

and I will do my duty and go vote.  I am

 ready for the country to move on. 

I hope you have a wonderful week,

and success in your creative endeavors!

Hobonichi Techo Pages

Drawing daily in my Hobonichi Techo

with Sharpie pen or Smash pen

and adding watercolor with my

Prismacolor watercolor pencils and

water brush.

Click on any image for an

enlargement...

Someone once asked if I journal the" bad things"

 too. Well, yes - sometimes. I am conscious of 

whether or not I will be posting it online. You

don't need TOO much information...

And I'd rather focus on the positive.

These pages aren't completely in order by date...

the computer saved them alphabetically by

the title I gave them!

Happy Halloween to those who 

enjoy celebrating it ...and Happy Autumn!

Garden Therapy

Tuesday Therapy...

a garden retreat is 

food for the soul, as well as

tomatoes for your tummy! 

Belatedly showing swap pages sent

to Chris of PearShapedChris*

whose book theme was 'anything

in a garden.'  Above, a peony that I

painted in watercolor, then cut out and

created a large pocket for tags.

Flowers embroidered on fabric, with

a bit of running stitch, lazy daisy, and 

French knots. Mounted on watercolor

paper. Couldn't resist adding the

cross-stitched bee.

Folk art flowers in watercolor

with a quote...

and more watercolor ~ with 

flowers adhered from napkins, as well

as watercolor painted flowers.

Since Chris had specified 'anything

in a garden - except frogs' I decided

to draw a little mouse just for fun!

The arrival of these pages took way

longer than it should, due to my inexperience

with shipping internationally. Thanks Chris

for being so patient! I hope everything 

arrived in good condition.

Linking up with Bleubeard and Elizabeth

for T Tuesday...yes, I have still been

journaling in my Hobonichi Techo!

Above, tiny sketch of biscuits and coffee,

to qualify as my T Tuesday

 photo reference!

Yes, we were crazy enough to go

tent camping at our age!

Stop by to visit the other 

T Tuesday bloggers to

see assorted shenanigans...

Long Overdue Swap Art

Finally showing some swap art that

I made for Annette. (Scrap Happens Here)

The theme for her book was

'Proverbs.'  The page above says

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

(click on any image for enlargement)

"The early bird catches the worm,"

with fabric, lace, silk greenery, buttons,

and my watercolor of an American Robin.

Small pamphlet-stitch book to go in

the pocket of

"You can't judge a book by its cover."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,"

created with scraps of cardboard,

paint and paper. The charm unfortunately

caused the scan to blur the details

of the image.

"One woman's trash is

another woman't treasure." 

I used a discarded 

music library card, brown paper

bag, scrapbook paper, and the gentleman

in the bathing costume is from a carton

of hard cider I believe.  Multiple

layers of paint were applied to the collage,

along with the spiral clip, beads

 and a vintage charm.

"A smooth sea never made

a skilled sailor."  This is made from

some pretty scrapbook paper that

has an ocean/fishy theme.

Tags in the "sailor page" pocket.

Many thanks to Annette for being so patient 

and understanding about the late arrival

of her package. Hopefully, it is a case of

"good things come to those who wait!"

Autumn Techo

People need art, 

whether they realize it or not...

I am still doing

Hobonichi Techo drawings, with

 Sharpie pen and watercolors.

"We don' need Bed, Bath and Beyond

dentist-office art. We need

weird stuff."

County Fair Sketches

I attended the (Ohio) Fulton County Fair

a couple of times, and managed to

get some sketching done.  I used a 

Sharpie pen, Prismacolor watercolor

pencils, and a water brush. After finishing

the goat sketch, above, I began second-

guessing my rendering of the goat's legs,

and their proportion.(see my notes

on the page, click to enlarge)

 I tried to focus on the face, and awareness

 of the page layout. I want to break up

 the space on the page in an interesting way.

I signed up for Roz Stendahl's on-line class called

By Design: Creating The Intentional Page, 

which you can learn more about on her blog,

Roz Wound Up.  I like that the class is "at

your own pace," as life has a tendency to throw interesting situations at us at 

unexpected moments.  So far, I am learning

a lot about how to make a variety of page

styles, the impact of how the text is placed

on the page, and the impact of dark and

light areas in the overall composition. A lot

to think about, but it gets easier and more

intuitive with lots of practice!

Animals tend to move around...especially

just as you are trying to capture a 

particular feature! This cute Netherland 

Dwarf Rabbit was so fluffy, his face reminded

me of a toy teddy bear.  Of course he hopped

to the opposite side of the cage about half-way

through the drawing.

I'm still faithfully jotting down notes

and drawing in my Hobonich Techo.

Here's one of the days we went to

the fair. Entries were drawn before we

left, and then the next day.

Hoping to get back in the swing of posting

to the blog more regularly.  Trouble with

technology, and life transitions can make 

it difficult.  Daily art journaling helps

 keep me sane. Or, at least what

 passes for sane at our house! We all

have our own quirks...