Summer Of Color: Week 2

Better late than never!  

For week 2 of Summer Of Color, the colors we had to work with were:  

Bright Orange and Hot Pink.  

My apologies on the quality of my picture, it is a bit too dark in here.
 I may have to retake them tomorrow, when it's a little brighter.
(I did add two more photos, but they still don't quite capture the color, it's amazing how different the picture can look from the actual piece, maybe you should all come over for coffee and goodies and we can share our art in person. :)

With my colors, I left them a bit subtle.
 Only coloring in her face and the dragonflies, going

for black ink and a little grey here and there.

As usual, I combined a woman with nature.  :)

I leave you with some Summer and a few pics of the sunset.

Have a splendid weekend!

Guess What Time It Is?

It's Summer Of Color Time!!!

If you don't know what this is, then you definitely need to pop on over to Kristin's blog

and check out this very cool, very fun, very exciting blog fest!  This is the 3rd Summer of Color and every year it gets better and better.  

It's a great way to meet other creative, artistic bloggers.  

Expand your own art and creativity.  

See some really cool ideas.  

Win some really fantastic prizes.

I'm super excited about it.  The great thing is, if you can't participate 100% (for instance, I will be out of town for a week), it's okay, you can jump in whenever you are available.  

Happy Summer Everyone!!!

:)

Tea, Aliens, Octopi and Other Things

A poppy in my yard, where I thought I planted Zinnias.  

Not sure what happened, but it's very pretty!  

 I live in a household of guys whom I love, but occasionally I need to embrace my feminine side, to counteract the testosterone.  :)
A whimsical tea party with girlfriends is a much needed thing, every so often.
Therapy for the soul.

I found some really great/easy/yummy cookie recipes.

After the tea party, my son and I went to an awesome Alien Fest.

Some of the aliens from the parade.

a little UFO.

this was quite fantastic.

love this.

a very groovy couple indeed.

stilts...perhaps.

very groovy indeed.

And now for the Octopi....

Lately I have had fun with drawing octopusses??

As you may recall, I have used them in other drawings in the past year.

Here are a few recent drawings from my sketchbook...

Octopus in waves.

I may try to do this on a larger scale and with richer colors.

I drew this awhile back, but decided to add more details.

Recently, I had an opportunity to do a mural at an elementary school.  It was a really

 great experience and I had some awesome people help me.  

This is what I've been up to artwise.  I also had some help moving my art space and it's so nice to have more space and organization.  Yay!!!

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Goodies and A Squirrel.

I have made some truly fantastic blog friends over these past two years.  One lovely thing about the blog world, is the friendships you create that last even when you're not so great at blogging consistently.  ;)  Another added wonderful thing is, trades/goodies in the mail.  I have traded art with some of my blog friends, I have won gorgeous little goodies and I have randomly and lovingly received  gifts...just because.  This week I was blessed to receive two goodies in the mail.

The first came from the bright and sunny, Kristen at Twinkle, Twinkle.   Her art is so full of sunshine, love, joy and wonder.  In this gorgeous picture, she added me, Danielle and herself.  We all got to meet each other last fall, which was a very fun and cherished time.  :)  Thank you so much, Kristen.  I am excited to hang this up where I can see it everyday!
P.S.  If you don't know Kristen, you should definitely pop over and check out her blog, she does this wonderful Color of Summer Blogfest, which will be happening in just 3 weeks.  Anyone can join and join you should.  It's wonderful.  :)

On the picture, she wrote... I Love Us.  We are talented, generous and real.  And our art - that intangible bit of fabulousness we create - allows us to blanket the world with joy.  Yay, Us. 

A couple of days later.....

I received this glorious bag that my other good bloggy friend made for me.  Am I spoiled or what?

Robin over at Rasz Art  makes these beautiful bags, as well as many other wonderful art pieces.  I love these bags...she hand paints them, and she makes/paints the fabric for the art that she puts on the bags, such as, dragonflies, roses, flowers, crosses, grapes, vines...etc.  They are fantastic, you should definitely visit her blog and look through her posts.  She has created many beautiful totes.  She also has draws and paints and takes pictures.  She is multi-talented.  And...she is a wonderful person that I have been very blessed to get to know.  Thank you so much Robin.  :)  

I'm using this tote to carry around my books/sketching tools and other little projects that I like to take with me.  Yay!!

I managed to capture this cute little guy the other day.  

Just thought I'd share!

Have a bright and happy week!

Cheers!!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you! 

I love old churches, they're so beautiful and of course, everything in Spring is extra lovely.  I took some Springy pictures the past couple of days, the weather was so wonderful, we had to get out and meander through the trees.  

Hope your Spring is joy filled and lovely. 

pussy willows

a boardwalk thru the woods

a large flock of geese

cherry blossoms

a sandwich eating squirrel (isn't he adorable?) 

a tree that I don't know, but it's quite lovely.

I've been working on a few projects here and there, 

all in various stages.  

I'm considering this for Free Art Fridays

(I was invited to join but have not yet done it)

a new "dream" picture I am working on

another trial picture using mixed media

very thorny, I don't like what I did to the background, so now 

I need to figure out how to fix it.

practicing cat's eyes.

And now you know what I've been doing, aside from the day to day stuff....working, cooking, cleaning, reading, going out with the guys, 

daydreaming.....

What have you been up to?

Many blessings to you!

sketchbook

I've been drawing in my sketchbook, not daily, but as often as I can.  

I definitely need more practice and to play with new techniques.  Here are a few of the recent pictures I've drawn.  Some are finished, some I'm not sure if I will finish them or not.  :)

Hope you are having a productive and joy filled week.  

Happy Weekend!  

p.s.  a few pics from the week too. 

wine sampler...oh my!

day dates.  :)

disc golf with the guys!