September 12, 2017

I have been negligent in my blog posting because I just haven’t been painting anything. Nope nothing at all…..wait..I take that back. I have been painting, just not in my journals, paper or canvas. Nothing like I’d been doing in the last few years.

I’ve always wanted to work with wood and do a little upcycling. The idea of turning a flea market find into something cool has intrigued me for a long time. I have to thank Pinterest for keeping my interest piqued. At the same time a fear of power tools that could cut off fingers, hands, or poke an eye out held me back…until this year.

I decided I was going to make a medicine cabinet from the case I brought home with me after we cleaned out my parents home when they passed away. I didn’t have high expectations that it would turn out good much less great, I just wanted to learn something about woodworking. My idea was that this would be my practice piece for the medicine cabinet I would build for my bathroom remodel.

I used every resource I could find from Pinterest to YouTube and everything in between to teach myself the skills I needed to make this cabinet. I watched videos from tool reviews to how to use a router and a chop saw. My favorites were about how to make use of a pocket hole jig and how to cut crown molding. Now you can see why I didn't have time for "art."

Well enough babbling…here is my “practice” medicine cabinet. It’s hanging in the bathroom we have recently remodeled. I love it so much I don’t know if I’ll build another one. It also has mirrors on the inside door; I tip I got from looking at my husbands purchased medicine cabinet.



Bath remodel 2017

December 27, 2015

2016 Weekly Planner

The 2016 Documented Life Project is about to begin.  I made it through 2015 with a simple weekly planner, not too fussy.  This year I wanted a little more. This is what I came up with:  If you like this planner, you are certainly free to use it; there are links to download all 12 months is below…for personal use only.

My Weekly Planner

Print a test page to make sure you like it before printing the entire year. Then you’ll need a minimum of 4 per month…you can print the months individually.

Link to download weekly planner. Please leave me a comment if you can't access the file.


October 18, 2015

Has it really been 30 years?

While I was creating my interpretation for the week 40 of the Documented Life prompt, I was reminded of how my husband and I met.

We had a chance meeting at a dance club here in NM 30 years ago and it was love at first sight.  The club was named after the car on the page but alas the club no longer exists.

We lived away from NM for 25+ years and since we moved back 5 years ago, we haven’t been able to figure out where the club was located.  Did it ever exist or was it just magic? Hum….

Love at First Site

September 29, 2015

The Last Face…or is it?

Here are the last faces drawn for the 29 faces challenge. I just love this challenge and I try very hard to complete it each time I participate.  Well, this time I didn’t make it to 29. I only made it as far as 27. I have one more night to finish but no more time, if you know what I mean. Other duties call.

Where did I leave off?  Oh yes…#25

Face25 #26 Face26 #27 Face27

That’s it.  I can’t wait for the next challenge…in February 2016, I believe. Thanks for stopping by.

September 27, 2015

Another Set of Faces for the 29 Faces Challenge

 

#17

Face17

# 18, 19, & 20

Face18-19-20

#21

Face21

#22 Drawing with my left hand.

Face22-left hand drawing

#23 & 24  This is my favorite of all I’ve drawn.

Face-23-24-web

September 18, 2015

29 Faces – 5 more faces

Face #12

Face12-web

Face #13

Face13

Face #14

Face14

Face #15

Face15

Face #16

Face16

September 17, 2015

29 Faces– 8 more added

 

Oh geeze, I’ve been posting the faces to the Facebook 29 faces page and I totally forgot to update the blog.  Here are the next 8 faces I’ve done.  5- 8 are small and were done when I came down with a cold so they are not great. 

Face #4

 Face 4

Faces #5-8

Face 5-8

Face #9

Face 9

Face #10

Face10-web

Face #11

Face11

I’ll post the rest tomorrow morning.

September 2, 2015

It’s time for Sept 2015 29 Faces Challenge

 
 
29 faces

 

Is it really time for 29 Faces again? Where does the time go? 

My thanks to Ayala Art for hosting this wonderfully fun challenge.

The first three days are done. For your perusal:

Face #1

DLP Wk-33 and 29 Faces #1

Face #2

DLP Wk-34 & 29 Faces #2

 

Face #3 – This face will be a part of a larger painting that will include at other faces.

Face 3

Thanks for visiting.

August 20, 2015

DLP Week 32

I haven’t been keeping up with posting to the blog, I guess I don’t have a lot to say recently.  But I did just finish my week 32 DLP page yesterday.

I have actually kept up with my DLP, or Documented Life Project,  journal and honestly that’s quite an accomplishment for me.  I have a tendency of starting but not finishing projects because I get distracted by another glittery project.  But this time I swore to follow through and I have….so far. Only 20 weeks to go. :)

The challenge for the week was characters. I drew this interpretation of the opening scenes in Thumbelina. 

Wk-32-web

close ups:

Wk-32-Girl-in-tulip-web

 

Wk-32-web-bird

So, what art projects have you gotten involved in?

May 10, 2015

A book review of "Daily Painting" by Carol Marine

 

DailyPainting

I recently received "Daily Painting" by Carol Marine to review. I really enjoyed this book, so I’m anxious to tell you about it.   This book strives to help artists become more confident and successful by painting one small painting every day. It gives you the benefits of painting small and often, with the objective of selling your art online. The middle chapters include everything that goes along with painting from art supplies to selecting the subject matter and it utilizes artist interviews to get it’s point across in some chapters.

The book indicates that the author paints in oils but with the exception of Chapter 8, the tips included apply to other mediums as well. Chapter 8 does delve more extensively into the use of oils and I have to admit, I initially skimmed chapter 8 looking for information pertaining to the medium I use. But there are portions in chapter 8 that are worth reading even if you do not use oils. However, since reading the book, I have become more interested in trying oils.

I personally got the most out of chapter 3, which was about selecting a subject matter for your daily painting exercise. Although there are many subjects to choose from, the author chose the following categories to discus: still life and flowers, landscapes, animals, people, cars and buildings, and abstracts. This selection of topics was based on the most common subjects used by other artists on her website, Dailypaintworks.com.  While there is no in depth discussion of each subject each one has a brief introduction, an exercise for you to try and includes other artists discussing their reasoning in choosing the subject matter they did.  The thing to keep in mind here is that the subject you choose for small paintings might be completely different from what you might paint in your larger studies.

Chapters 4-7 give you invaluable insight on the use of Value, Color mixing, Drawing and proportion, and Composition. For example: in the section on color mixing the author gives you the theory behind mixing colors and then discusses the main reason why some color mixes don’t turn out like you’d hoped, color leaning. About color leaning she says “Unfortunately, the reality of paint is a little bit more complicated than the theory, because there is no pure color in paint!  Every color leans toward other colors - in other words, every color has little bits of other color(s) in it.”  She gives several examples such as: “cadmium yellow lemon -yellow with the little blue in it, cadmium red medium- red with a little yellow in it.” And goes on to say, “If you want to mix a saturated secondary [color] you have to be careful which colors you use since, if you inadvertently add a third primary [color] to the mix, it will become more gray and less saturated.”

Chapter 7 discusses composition but the gist of the chapter is that it takes time to get the right composition so don’t give up too quickly and listen to your instincts. 

Chapter 10 gives you the basics on photographing and editing using photo editing software.  Chapter 11 gives tips for better online sales. There are a few benefits I hadn’t thought of such as the use of auctions to help you value your work. However, I wouldn’t buy the book for chapters 10 and 11 as they were too basic and didn’t include very much information not found in many other places online.

Overall, I think this is a good book for amateur painters who wish to delve into the world of the professional artist. 

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

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