Watercolor and more

No surprise for me, I've been going in many directions. Sometimes I wonder if I'm stalling from doing one project by becoming busy with something else. After a long delay, I decided to continue my projects from Dawn McLeod Heim's book, Painting Realistic Water Colors. This is lesson six. Because I don't know enough, I haven't really decided what type of watercolor I like to do.

Meanwhile, I found these quilt patterns at a bargain sale and couldn't resist making the blocks. They are the Kitty Cityseries, each about 10" x 13". I have realized that I like to do pieces that make me smile and these characters with names such as Mona (with the paint palate) and Carmen (with the fruit basket) are so cute. I have given them to our Community Service program which will make them into quilts (probably two quilts) and give them to children in the hospital. Don't ask why the background is so different, just one of those days.

Last week this huge mosaic was revealed on the side of a new building downtown. I love this gecko/lizard (the feet are different on the front and back, thus the double name).

Later I'll share the silk that I painted and am now quilting, plus lesson 7 in watercolors, and more on the garage zentangle project. Humm, I do seem to keep busy. Oh wait, on to Ohio to see the grandkids:)

Garage Zentangle

OK, this is one of the projects that I've been working on for some weeks. It will be many more weeks before I am finished, so I've decided to show you the progress. We had our garage sheet rocked and suddenly I had a blank canvas. So, I started painting two foot squares with left over house paints.





Trying to guess where I used all these colors in the house got to be quite a game.



This zentangle is my profile and it's located so that I know exactly where to park the car. I just pull in, look to my left and can tell the right spot. Of course, after many years in this house I finally hung a fluffy netting so that it touches the windshield when I park the car. Anyway, I have used Sharpie pens and have discovered that the markers do slide on the more glossy paints.



This pictures gives some perspective on how little I've done. However, there is no timetable and it's fun to spend a few minutes adding to this piece of art!



Giant flowers are going to grow on this part of the wall. I must admit that today the temperatures are to reach 106 so I may skip the outsides activities today.

Zentangle mandala

A New Year's Resolution was to do a mandala each month. Oops! I missed April. However, one was finished by May 31. Sharpie pens were the tool of choice.



Now, the above mandala is just fine, but I decided to push the envelope just a bit. So, I took a light blue watercolor and filled in the circle. Well, as you can see below, the red ink smeared (the sample piece stayed true).



OK, I could hand the pink glow. Then I decided to do the area outside of the circle in a darker blue. Now I know how to do an even wash, but it just wasn't happening. So, I cut out the mandala and glued it to this gorgeous paper.

Is there a right or wrong? Does it matter?