Spring and yard work

Lesson from Patreon with Gulfsprite, using a Crayola marker and a wet brush

I came home from the dog park injured and angry. Story below. Hence, Buzz Off, Rude People

I am so into collage now

Fountain pen ink drawing with collage that I then decided I didn't like

So I painted over it. 

Jake wanting his legs rubbed

Daniel Smith watercolors with some pencils and pen work

Patreon lesson with Gulfsprite

Step one of a Patreon lesson

And this is what the above became. Creating backgrounds, or just abstracts

Just messing with paint and collage

Pissed off about all of the mass shootings, but this last one was here in Indianapolis

A second attempt at the technique Christy taught, but with some additions. Story below

And another Patreon lesson about using brown paint as a neutral. I used 4 shades of brown

 I have been busy. First off, the Buzz Off, Rude People page. If you journal using a fountain pen, chances are you can smear the ink with a wet paint brush. I was able to unload the anger and frustration I felt, yet blur it so no one else can read my comments. I was at the dog park with my two, and there is a gentleman who shows up in the mornings with a rather aggressive German Shepherd. He tells people to go to another part of the park (there are 3 distinct fenced in sections with gates) so no one gets hurt. I am also a dog owner very aware that my two senior spoiled brats do not get along with every single dog there, so with reluctance I entered the other large section. My friend Cheryl was there with one of her three dogs, a German Shepherd, and another woman was there with her young, untrained German Shepherd. 

For once, Gracie and Jake were behaving themselves, just thrilled to be out, and we started walking down the length of the park. Jake was approached by the other woman's dog, and he barked at it. I called to Jake to come, and he did, but so did Bear, this slightly aggressive younger Shepherd. Bear broadsided me, a full body slam, and I went down to the ground, hard. On my artificial hip. Then Bear started dancing around my head, sticking his nose on me, and I yelled for Cheryl to get him off, afraid of damaging my chest. I am so fearful about the remnants of the heart surgery. The dog's owner stood quite a distance away, not helping or saying anything. Cheryl helped me up, and this dog kept coming over to me. I immediately grabbed the fence to steady myself, and called my dogs. My intent was to leave, go to the third section. I started walking back, and this woman got ahead of me with Bear and they left. Not one word. Not one apology, no commands to the dog, nada. 

We can't sue the park. It's in our contract when we pay our annual fee. We can call the authorities on another owner, and are obligated to control our dogs by entering the park. I didn't report her, but damn, I was pissed. I would not have been so angry had this woman at least said, "Are you alright?". But nope, she ignored me completely. 

Which speaks to the overall rudeness of today's society. I am a firm believer in taking complete responsibility for my own actions, and therefore for the actions of my dogs. I will voluntarily segregate them from a potentially volatile situation. It is NOT someone else's fault all the time, is it? But you bet your sweet bippy (aging myself here) that that women thought her dog knocking me down was my fault. Get a life.

Onward. We have been playing with resists, such as matte medium, on our art journal pages. I also pulled out some very old Prima paste effects. I bought a box on clearance probably 3 or 4 years ago, and even though it was never opened, the paste has hardened. The blue on the double page abstract is that paste, applied with a palette knife. To stop it from flaking off (it was that dry), I sealed it with a coat of home decor wax intended for chalk paints and furniture. It works! I mention all of this because if we are hoarding supplies (Tracie), they can go bad (Tracie). Long distance hugs.

One final note. Blogger has told me that if you are signed up for email notification of posts to this blog, the emails will stop as of July 1, 2021. No explanation. And I have read recently about two women who had their Facebook page frozen, for no apparent reason, and are now unable to access it at all. There is something going on. The first woman is a commercial artist who was using Facebook to release information to her followers. The second woman is a published writer, basically the same thing. Neither have received an explanation nor help from Facebook support, so they have abandoned the social network. I am mentioning this as a public service announcement. There were no complaints against either one, nor did they have any political posts. One never knows......Linda