Zentangle card

Among my various projects, I made time to do a zentangle card and envelope for a special friend. I'm wishing her good health and time to have some fun.

I also decided that the card needed a special envelope.

Permanent markers and colored pencils were used for this gift.

An Arty Weekend Part II

My friend Barbara and I got to play in her studio. We did small watercolor flowers and I experimented with squares of watercolor and colored pencil.

We certainly made time to go to some galleries and museums. The New Mexico History Museum was exhibiting the St John's Bible. There are several sites that cover this historic piece, but you might try: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/stjohnsbible/stjohns-exhibit.html. This is a "current" copy of the Bible that was spear headed by Donald Jackson. After three years of planning, the Bible, written on vellum, was started in 2000 and finished in May of 2011. It is all hand lettered and illustrated. In 1,150 pages only nine identified calligraphic errors remain. Quills were used and had to be sharpened after about one quarter of the page was written. There are stunning illuminations. The Benedictine monks at Saint John's University and Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota gave the go ahead for this project.

Margarete Bagshaw is a third generation of women artists. She had pushed the boundaries of "Native art" and does large canvases of abstract art in bright colors. Photos of her brilliant work can be seen at: http://search.aol.com/aol/image?s_it=topsearchbox.imageDetails&v_t=nscpsearch&imgsz=&imgtype=&imgc=&q=Margarete+Bagshaw

There were smaller galleries to visit and Monday, as I was leaving town we stopped to hear a talk by James Drake who does large pastels and/or charcoals. The Red Mirror was 136" by 256" (approximately 11'x32') was done on paper that was cut in irregular shapes and pasted on a canvas. This was done in red pastel somewhat in the style of Raphael. Info can be found at: http://www.artknowledgenews.com 12_11_2011_02_05_34_the_new_mexico_museum_of_art_highlights_a_solo_show_of_works_by_james_drake.html

I've included a picture of Barbara, "my sister" and me (on the right). Many thanks for a terrific weekend!

An Arty Weekend Part I

Oh my, there are times when life is very full and last weekend was one of the special happenings in my life. I was able to visit my girl friend who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Barbara is a lurker here at EDM, but I hope that she will soon create a blog. She is a talented watercolor artist, calligrapher, bookmaker, cook and more. She just retired as a volunteer fire fighter and EMT.

We played all day in her studio after watching by Shirley Trevena www.shirleytrevena.com/ who is not afraid of using color. She has two books out: Taking Risks with Watercolor and Vibrant Watercolors.

This chicken with attitude is Barbara's picture created after seeing the video and following the suggestion that we gather 3 to 5 objects and paint them. The lower picture is mine.

Well, blogger is not going to let me add any more pictures, so I'll continue the discussion is my next post!

A truffle a day

Moving right along to lesson two, I have drawn a truffle with a note card in the background. Hopefully, it looks good enough to eat. For me, there is much to learn about mixing colors and capturing the details in each piece.

Calligraphy was my calling for almost 30 years. After I retired, I have done very little lettering. However, I just had the "need" to do some lettering-to feel the flow of the shapes and to lose myself in the project. Guess that this is what drawing everyday is all about-the joy and peace that the action brings.

Watercolor Lesson

Recently I cam upon a book, Painting Realistic Watercolors by Dawn McLeod Heim. There are 10 projects and all of them are terrific. Sometimes when I have to remind myself that it is alright to practice on a already designed format. OK, just like coloring when I was a kid. But, it does help. Her detailed instructions and color mixing are very helpful. So, I have one lesson done. Well, it's a start!

Now to the second lesson which is a chocolate truffle. Yum. Of course, I have 6 other projects going, so we'll see how soon I finish it.

Catching up

Ahh, there are so many directions to take and so many projects that I want to try.For Christmas I received a couple of books on zentangles. This mandala was a result of studying the many designs.

I am continuing doing my "dot" designs. The quality of this pictures is not the best, but I hope that you can get the idea of a painted 14 x 14" canvas that has gold acrylic, foil collage and puff paint dots. So many more designs are racing through my little head.

I did go to Ohio which is about 2,000 miles from here to see the grandkids. There was snow that lasted for a couple of days. Hey, California girls don't see this this beauty. The 4 year old had to go out and touch the snow on the deck. His adventure lasted about 25 seconds. Notice that I took the picture from inside the house.

My violets

Yes, I've been doing many art projects, but had to settle down and prove to myself that I could do some sketching. One of my African Violet plants was the key subject. I have a journal in which I've chosen to just use a sepia pen. I was surprised (and disappointed) at how long it has been since I added a sketch to this journal. Even longer since it seems that I put the date as 2012!