Abstracts and Florals

It seems that my journal pages have been following a certain theme lately….abstract shapes colored with watercolor pencils, intense pencils or Prismacolor markers and floral designs. 

Colorful Flowers 2

On this first page, I used Prismacolor markers on the right side and watercolor background on the left.  For the floral color, I used Intense pencils.  I used a Pitt pen for the zentangle doodles.  You’d think I would have worked in the two sides separately but No.  Both side were done at the same time. I really like the intensity of the color.

 

Colorful Flowers 3

The right side of this page was really a happy accident.  When I colored the page above with the markers, they bled to the other side of the page so I decided to make use of the color there.  It’s a little patchy and not as intense as the first page but I like it just as much.  

We Had Jungle Fever

This past weekend I went to help My Girl get a room ready for the new baby. “Little G” is due in a little over two months.  My Girl sweetly said that I inspired her desire to decorate the room in a jungle animal theme when I gave her stuffed giraffe and baby clothes with cute jungle animals on them.

So for weeks she searched for just the right pictures that we could paint on the walls taking into consideration our level of painting expertise and the time required to do it.  Because I’m not in the same town our time frame was short and the images had to be uncomplicated and easy to do. Not only did we only have a few short days to paint but we also had to shop for baby accessories to fit with the painting and go on a hospital maternity tour. (I’ll be with her and her husband in the delivery room.) 

The animals are not as detailed as I would have liked but we think it came out great. We had loads of fun and we worked out butts off getting the room done.  Here is what we painted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not too bad for a couple of amateurs.  We also got a lamps, rugs and other jungley accessories to round out the jungle theme.  It was a great bonding experience.

No Fabric Involved

Doesn’t this page look like a crazy quilt?  So colorful and happy.  I used both Derwent Inktense Pencils and watercolor crayons to add the background color. then added the doodle using my Pitt pen and more Intense Pencils for the flower colors.

 

I love the colors in this next page too.

 

 

Thanks for lookin’

If you could rewrite your past, would you?

If you could rewrite your past, would you?  Even in hard times I love my life. Yes, It’s a good life that I share with my guy.  That’s not to say that I wouldn’t like to change some minor decisions I’ve made but I’d keep all the major ones.

Then, of course, there are some decisions that can later make you feel like a prisoner to your circumstances.  Mine have to do with a career path I chose not take and how that decision affects my life now …. but then again had I continued on that path, I’d probably feel the same.  It wasn’t my calling.

Who would have guessed that the best decision I ever made was to reach out and touch the hand of that gorgeous man in the bar with the beautiful blue eyes? And who knew that I’d still be married to him after 23 years? Ah but marriage….The only work harder than being married is being a parent.  I don’t think you can have a really good solid marriage without some messy times. Times when you don’t agree on anything but decide that it’s worth the hassle to be together.  It’s hard a hard lesson to learn that you should both strive to work out your differences so that each of you gets a satisfactory result at least 1/2 the time. To be true partners because when you can work it out…well it is very lovely!!

 

Thanks to the Eagles for the use of their lyrics to Hotel California. As for the postcard, I found it when going through some old photographs and memorabilia. I bought the postcard in 1980 during a trip to San Francisco. Seems like an appropriate use for the card considering that was the year I graduated from college for that career path not taken. 

The photograph of the waves was one I took this weekend after our anniversary trip to Stinson Beach.

Do you ever pull out stuff from your scrapbooks and use them in your art?