Oldies But Goodies...

...some more sketches from my

Illinois Sketchbook...

each drawn ink straight in...lead free...

quite some time ago...

but never watercolored or posted until now.

Click on any image to enlarge...:)

The Past Three Weeks...

...in quick review...

and

hopefully never to be repeated again!

3 doctor's appointments...

(one convenient care doc...one internist...and one surgeon)

1 CT scan...

4 abdominal x-rays...

4 kidney stones...

1 episode of diverticulitis...2 clear liquids diets...

2 extremely potent antibiotics...

taken for 10 days...

2 bottles of magnesium citrate...

 (followed by the hours of the distress it causes)

1 out patient procedure...

and, finally,

real food...pancakes at Egg Haven...

and

one cup of "Recoup Soup"

for dinner.

Thank the lord all is well and that is now OVER!!!

Yes,

I did the sketch while at the hospital...

ink straight in...lead free. :)

Sooo...does
"An apple a day (really) keep the doctor away"...???

"A Sketchbook Dump..."

...for your viewing pleasure.

These are remnants...

my unposted sketches drawn while waiting for flights

at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona.

They were all drawn ink first...lead free...

 in my Illinois travel sketchbook...

(check out the dates...)

and

finally watercolored a couple of weeks ago

and uploaded

today!

Click on any image to enlarge.

"I fly

 because it releases my mind from the tyranny

of petty things."

~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"Here, Kitty, Kitty..."

 I am severely allergic to cats.

I sneeze and get all itchy and terribly congested

whenever I am near them.

I take allergy medicine...but to no avail.

All that being said...

I don't mind drawing them...and actually am

extremely fascinated by their

beautiful eyes.

To me cats seem almost like messengers...spiritual entities...

if you will.

These photo are of my pages are, actually, yet another

"work in progress" for you to enjoy

They were made

in Cindy's "cat themed"

zentangle inspired

Japanese fold Maruman sketchbook.

Pencil outlines came first...above...

 ...then an ink overlay...

 ...some color trials...

 ...all followed by the first layers of watercolor.

 Next on the agenda was

 more layers of color...ever deepening the values.
(Click on any image to enlarge.)

Lastly,

a zen filled "Bali Cat" emerges all perfectly primped

and

florally blinged out

ready for a fun night on the town

and,

possibly, a special magical encounter.

You know...

I thoroughly enjoyed this project...

no sneezes...

no itchiness...and no congestion...

Purrrrr...:)

"I believe cats to be spirits come to earth.

A cat, I am sure,

could walk on a cloud

without coming through."

~Jules Verne

Designs, Doodles, Drawings...

...and some playful pen dancing...all done "Waterblossom style"

 in my

2012 Tangle*A*Day calendar.

All drawings are done "ink straight in...lead free"...:)

(Apologies for the quality of my Illinois scanner)

Click on images to enlarge.

“I dip my pen in the blackest ink,

 because

I'm not afraid of falling into my inkpot.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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.

It is part of the
Maruman Japanese fold ZIA sketchbook

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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

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

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