So now what?

 First up is Gracie at the dog park on Monday. We have been going every day due to the incredible, unseasonable weather. It will come to a crashing halt this week as winter returns. The dogs spent a half day at the Playground yesterday, so I had a lovely walk at Town Hall Park. There is a pond towards the end of the library trail, and I sat on a bench for a short rest before continuing. Took that pic to let my friend, Melissa, know how gorgeous it was. She works from home. I know how much she appreciates me telling her about enjoying the weather......as in she would like to smack me up the side of my head. 

The three fire/burning bushes I have in the front yard were brilliant with color this year. This is the one outside the kitchen. Most of the leaves fell yesterday in the high winds. I just love that color. Saw this mixture of using text cut outs with acrylic paint on Pinterest, and decided to try it. I used old dictionary pages to cut the leaves, and that was tricky due to the frail nature of the papers. Something different. And finally, yet another girl. This one done in layers of Daniel Smith water colors, with just a touch of Kuretake water colors for the earrings and background. Emphasized the eyes with a Derwent Intense water color pencil in dark Indigo. 

Back to feeling a tad stressed. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with trump. One never knows, does one? Linda

Onward

Beautiful color at work last week

Prepped pages from Saturday

And finished. Based on old Teesha Moore work from Pinterest

Mixed Media file folder to hold collage fodder

Gulfsprite gave us some downloads this past month. The girl is hers

Ditto on this girl

The leaves are falling, but the backyard was colorful yesterday. I raked.

It rained all day on Saturday, so I worked in art journals and on a file folder. The heat is on, and I had it set to 67, then bumped it to 68 because I was freezing my rear off, and the damn paint would not dry on the journal pages. Blasted all of them with the heat gun, and it still remained tacky.

I painted 8 pages solid colors, based on a video from YouTube with Teesha Moore, but actually only got 4 borders completed, and one entire page. When I feel like I have hit a wall with drawing and painting, I immediately go back to collage. Either the type above, or more abstract, and it never fails to clear the cobwebs and motivate me to try something else.

We now start the busy time of the year, and I have promised myself to take time to art journal. Or read. Or look through old magazines to cut out images or words. This is my grounding mechanism. It always works. This and walking the dogs around the dog park. Have a great day.
Linda

Watercolors and Collage

9x12.5 paper base

Found out the hard way that sewing baker's twine is not easy

This is also 9x12.5

I have 3 Fire bushes out front, and this year they are all brilliant

Grabbed a plain white mat from Hobby Lobby. What a difference!

This is a challenge, which I am always up for, and a fantastic learning experience. I found that the most expensive watercolor paper is NOT my favorite. Started another piece yesterday on Arches 140lb paper, which is pretty much universally rated as the best. I am having to fight it constantly. The paint wants to run where I don't want it to go, and I have been unable to lift the wandering puddles with a clean brush. My conclusion is to put this paper away and go back to Strathmore. The one directly above is on the yellow cover Strathmore paper, the 300 series. My personal favorite is in the brown cover, the 400 series.

Any artist will tell you that water colors are the most difficult medium to master. Yeah, boy. I doubt I will ever master them, but each project is teaching me something new. I purchased another Danielle Donaldson class yesterday. This is one of her older classes, expanding on the collage/storybooks and painting houses. Looking forward to trying that. Stay tuned.
Linda

Monday

Cox Combs, a very old fashioned flower, at Frazee Gardens in Brownsburg, IN.

Some of the pumpkins for sale at Frazee

He is cute!

This was an exercise in blending watercolors. It didn't work on the Dylusions journal paper

Another experiment with chalk paint, graphite and then water color. Didn't work either.

See? I really have been working

All Daniel Smith watercolors. Giant head, no shoulders. Really, Linda???

I really don't know what my problem is of late, but I have been wandering around in the art room working on this and that, hating all of it. The double page spread with the watercolor squares is from the Danielle Donaldson class, although not an assignment. She has stated that we need to learn how different water colors react on different papers. This was something I wanted to try on the Dylusions journal paper. Yeah, no. To achieve the soft, blended look that Danielle is teaching, you must use a water color paper.

That is not to say you can't do watercolors in one of Dy's journals. See the girl above. I was really happy with how the layering of colors turned out on her face. Her giant, bloated face.....

Today I will work on some mixed media and collage. Go back to basics to clear my head. Works like a charm.
Linda

Fall Color

Galena, IL October 2014

Nauvoo, IL October 2014

Nauvoo IL October 2014

We have little fall color. I thought the trees might start to change now that it has dipped to freezing at least one night, but not yet. Weird, weird weather. I blame trump.

Because there are no pretty trees here yet, I am posting old fall photos. In the mood, I guess.

Have a great weekend.
Linda

Colors of fall

pumpkins for sale at Anderson Orchard in Mooresville, IN

I had to get 3 little guys to put by my sign out beside the front door

The far corner of the back yard

Yes! Yes! Yes!

So the new fence is up, the gate works, and it is paid for. I know this is an optical illusion, but when standing in the yard the space now appears to be larger. One of the fence guys said yeah, wood privacy fences will do that to you. I love it.

Jake was stressed the past 2 days due to all of the men around. Jake thinks it is his responsibility to protect me, and he can sound threatening. Last night after everyone had left, and it was just us in the yard, he calmed down. Laid in one of his favorite spots and just looked around, like always. Gracie, however, was on border patrol. She paced the perimeter over and over. She will get used to it.

There was drama with a neighbor, and a revelation with two other neighbors. Suffice to say the time had definitely arrived for me to spend the money and do this. Privacy and protection. Spring time the fence will be painted, and I will start on landscaping the yard more so we have our own garden of tranquility.

Enjoy your day.
Linda

Election Day

Burning bush alongside of my garage

Shanghai Comic Con. Nathan Fillion with a fan

Stella McCartney on Instagram yesterday

Vote!

Vote!!

Vote!!!

And could someone please tell me why Asian women living in Shanghai have their faces covered by silly graphics when a photo with Nathan Fillion is posted to Twitter or Instagram? I think this is a form of suppression from the Chinese government, but not sure. Thanks.
Linda

The Falling Leaves

We went to the dog park yesterday afternoon around noon. Stayed for over an hour. It's kind of nice when we are the only ones there. I get a chance to walk them around all three sections, so they can sniff to their hearts content. On the way out, I looked across the road at Washington Township Park. It was also empty, so I pulled over into the parking area to snap a few photos from the window.

I would have loved to walk the dogs on the trails, but my back was bothering me. And at this time of year, the squirrels are running around. Even with head harnesses, the two dogs together can pull hard enough to get away from me. So Jake had to accept vibrating with anticipation, looking out the window. Gracie was also on full alert. Too funny.

Have a great day, and don't forget to vote. Vote. Vote. Okay?
Linda
Go Cubs!

Hmmm

Not my usual style, but it's always good to try new stuff

On my sugar maple in the back yard

Last spring I watched, once again, an old video of Christy Tomlinson's on how to do background on a canvas. This was on YouTube, and I honestly don't remember which one it was. Christy is the artist that first got Cathy and I involved in mixed media. Let me clarify that: Christy hooked Cathy, who dragged me into it because she still had the store at that time. Cathy was ordering supplies that she wanted, I became curious, and down the rabbit hole I went. It has been a good rabbit hole, full of adventures, lots of learning and teaching, and new friends.


With Christy, as with other artists out there, she starts with tearing up coordinating color/patterned scrap book papers. Yeah, I have those, I have enough scrap book papers to start a store. Something about scrap bookers: we never, ever throw anything away. But in the videos she had us using Mod Podge. I still have a jar of that. Mod Podge is a glue that dries to a clear, semi gloss finish. Even if you use the matte version, there will still be some shine. There is one advantage to using Mod Podge, which Christy pointed out: you can use Faber Castell Big Brush Pitt Pens to shade, and you have a 20 second window to wet your finger and float the Pitt Pen ink around. To this day I still use my Pitt Pens, although the Mod Podge is sealed shut. Completely.

Mod Podge can get sticky, even when cured and dry. I have moved on to using Liquitex Matte Medium for light weight papers, Liquitex Get Medium for putting down anything that might be stubborn. You can still shade with the Pitt Pens, but the ink doesn't move as freely.

This canvas with the background complete sat in the studio for months. I loved the pink and greens, didn't have any ideas what to do with it. Then I saw something this past week, and did the hand drawn squares border, and cut a butterfly image out on printer paper to used as a mat. I sponged Golden's Titanium White paint around the paint, leaving some of the background still slightly visible.

 I outlined the squares with a Montana medium size paint marker. I let it cure for 2 days, then decided to seal the canvas with a light coat of Liquitex Matte Medium. Guess what? The Montana paint marker doesn't seal, is not permanent. What you see in this photo is before the final seal. The canvas now has a slightly black shading effect. Once I realized what was going on, I controlled my brush movements to minimize the damage. But damn. Lesson learned. Not all paint is permanent, and test everything, never assume. And that is the reason for this long post. Wanted to warn you not to make this same mistake.

Have a good one.
Linda