Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A Book of Flowers...

Above is the 
 pencil layout of my art in my friend Barb's book...
Judy's work is on the pages to the left.
 Now...getting ready to play with paint!!!!
 Voila!
The pages in order above are Barb's, Judy's, then mine.
 A close up of my pages...and then
...the formal scan.
This book was exchanged in June
with my art girlfriends in our local art studio in Arizona.
exchange I am in.
As you might notice by the calendar above
that
I am trying to catch up with
all my art postings.
Sorry for all the timeline bobbles...:)
Click on any image to enlarge.

“To achieve great things, two things are needed;
a plan,
and not quite enough time.”
~Leonard Berstein

Saturday, August 25, 2012

A Thistle...

and a hummingbird...
a card
specially requested by an artist friend in
New Zealand.

"There are no days in life
so memorable
as those which vibrated
to some stroke of the imagination."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Shoe Book...



...and every gal should have one!
Above are photos of my flip flop shoe pages in
Judy's shoe themed Maruman.
See... I really do own a pair of these!

Is it time to go home yet?
I keep clicking these damn shoes, but nothing happens.”
~Robin Hecht

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Some More Telly Sketches...


"What do drawings mean to me?
I really don't know.
The activity absorbs me.
I forget everything else
in a way
that
I don't think happens with any other activity..."
 ~John Berger

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Zen Play...

...fidding and diddling with some
new pattern options
while watching the telly...
and filling in some blank spaces in my
Zen calendar sketchbook.

“To understand is to perceive patterns.”
~Isiah Berlin


Saturday, August 11, 2012

A Stardust Seeded Pod...

truly...a unique "star finder"...
made especially for you by my artistic Muse.
Supposedly it is perfect for
viewing the big meteor shower this weekend.
According to msnbc.com:
"The Perseid meteor shower peak
occurs Saturday night through Monday night.
The best viewing conditions will be Saturday night,
with a forecast of clear skies.
According to space.com,
up to 100 "shooting stars" per hour
will be visible Saturday night.
Start looking after sunset, especially in the northeast sky.
The meteors are easier to see after 10 p.m.,
with ideal viewing between 3 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.,
which are the darkest hours before dawn.
Viewing away from city lights
will triple the number of meteors you can see...
Increasing your chances of seeing
100 per hour.
You can help NASA
by letting them know how many meteors you count,
and there's an app for that.
Download the free app, "Meteor Counter"
on your iPhone or Android.
It will guide you through the counting process,
and turn in your findings to NASA."
Personally...
I think I may just keep it simple
and merely gaze upward in awe...just like I do
almost every single night.
I will let Mother Nature take its course...
no apps needed...
and let her shower me with some soul filling
deep "ahhhs" and dreamy "mmmmms".

"For my part
I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars
makes me dream."
~Vincent Van Gogh

Thursday, August 9, 2012

My ZIA Sketchbook Exchange...

It all began one day this past February when I taught a
Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA) class
at my local Art Club.
 A good time was had by all...and as a result
ten of us decided we would enjoy
exchanging sketchbooks
with each other.
We decided we would complete two pages
in each others book
 and then pass the book to the next artist in line.
Pictured above are several of the group members
who were present the day
of our first exchange April 16th, 2012
We chose to use the
wonderful Maruman Japanese fold sketchbooks
for our exchange.
Japanese fold sketchbooks expand like an accordian
and are fabulous for this type of
a communal exchange.
I love the size and paper quality so much better
than the Moleskine Japanese fold books.
The Maruman books
have
a nicely toothed paper
which can take a lovely watercolor wash and
are simply delightful to work in.
I highly recommend them.
We bought ours online from Jerry's Artarama.
We each chose a theme for our books.
My theme is a
Zen Inspired Imaginary Garden
filled with luscious flowers drawn larger than life
and filled with
rich patterns and textures.
We made little instruction pages for
each artist to follow.
The tags above and below are the guidelines for
my book.
Click on any of these images to enlarge.
My pages also had a little fold out piece
with an inspirational quote attached.
 Above is a photo of my first pages in my own book
with the quote showing...
and...
...here are the pages with the quotation flap folded down...:)
The last photo is of the back cover of my book,
 the little packet of instruction guidelines for my book,
and
the ribbon tie to hold it all together.
Sooo...
to bring the project up to speed...
we are now on our fifth round of exchanges...actually
it will be taking place this Friday in Arizona.
I will post all of
my art in my friends books in the next few weeks.
The themes each artist has chosen
and
 their finished pages are simply wonderful.
There is soooo much good art
going on here...
and I am lovin' absolutely every
minute of it!
Mmmmmmm !  :)

“In art...
the hand can never execute anything higher
than the heart can inspire.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Keeping Track...


A bit of zen inspired illos
in my
"Tangle-a-Day
calendar.
A whole bunch of us in the art club
purchased these little books this spring
after seeing those of my Canadian friends
Lise and Evelyn.
The idea behind the book
 is to learn a different tangle each day...
and
document it in the space provided.
At first...that is what I attempted to do...
but, alas, my interest level waned and my over zealous Muse
stepped in and took control.
She saw the beautifully illustrated daily journal
my art friend Barb W. was making
and pushed me into keeping
a tangled version
 of a daily journal...as mundane as my daily
life encounters may be.
Actually this suites me sooooo much better...
just don't let my muse know
I told you.
Sometimes, she gets a bit testy...hee hee!
All entries are drawn ink straight in...lead free.
Click on images to enlarge...:)

“When my journal appears, many statues must come down.”
~Arthur Wellesley 

Sunday, August 5, 2012

An Elven Princess...



...the full reveal of Matt's moleskine...as promised.:)
The first photo is my completed spread...
the second photo is the transition
page between Audrey's art
and mine.
The third photo is the whole enchilada...
only one more artist to go before she returns home to Matt
in September.
Here is a bit of the back story to my pages:
She is an elven princess
of transformation and growth...
and
she is holding in her hand a crystal orb
reflecting the rebirth of Audrey's "heavenly phoenix"
from a ball of flames.
 She also brings with her
the magical auras of the changing seasons
as well as
the mysteries and starlight wonders of nightfall
to the elven forest lands.
Please click on images to enlarge...
especially the last one.

“The magic is inside you. There ain’t no crystal ball.”

~Dolly Parton

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Yep...Another Work In Progress...:)



These are some working photos
I took while designing
my 4 page spread in Matt's Elven themed moleskine.
This is for a international sketchbook project which
I am involved in over at
Illustrated ATCs.
Feel free to click on images to enlarge them.
Here's a bit of the process:
After deciding on my artistic direction
and
how I will link my art with the artist before me...
(which takes quite a bit of thought and time) 
I jump in and add
my first layer in pencil...
usually on blank printer paper first...
then, after I am satisfied with my decision,
into the actual moleskine itself.
 The next layer involves the inking of my illustration...
scary, but great fun...no place for erasures!
This is shown in the first photo above.
After that, I begin working with my color palette...
blocking in colors here and in the book.
Once that process is complete
I begin to lay in the color in the book...
and for me...that's
 when all the magic begins to happen.
I will post the final reveal of my work here for you
tomorrow...
Come on back
for a peek if you are out and about.
:) 

“If you reveal your secrets to the wind
you should not blame the wind
for revealing them
to the trees.”

~Kahlil Gibran

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

One Thousand...

...velvety black starry nights
decorated with artistic dreams.
1000 desert days
brimming with a sea of endless possibilities.
One thousand chances to stretch and feed my imagination.
1000 art works,
uploads,
and commentaries.
One thousand opportunities to share my world
and my Muse's view of it.
1000!!!
My! The time seems to have flown by.
Who would have ever thought
it a possibility
when
I
took my first step in this blogging journey of mine.
Thanks to each of you
for stopping by and being there...
whether it be popping in for a minute...
or staying around for awhile.
1000 times over...
I am indeed so very grateful
we have met and that our artistic paths have crossed
My world is richer because you are all in it!
XOXO times 1000!
:)
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
~Lao Tzu