EDM 2017 Finale

I made it! I finished the Every Day in May drawing/painting challenge. I did have to double up a couple of times because there were a few days when things were just too busy for me to find time to do even these small sketches. But, I finished and even surprised myself with some of the sketches as they were so out of my comfort zone.

I don't imagine I will do this challenge again next year as May is such a busy month but I am glad I did it this time. It was interesting to come up with some of the subjects and I am very thankful for the internet for supplying reference photos for a number of things.

So thirty-one little sketches are done and put away in the memory file; now it is time for more gardening and more Watercolour Painting Parties.

Too Much Going ON!!!

I feel like I have been on a treadmill with no way to get off! Life has been so busy between yard work, building a rock wall with recycled cement and stone, dentist and doctor appointments and, of course, my first Watercolour Painting Parties of the year.

  I had a super group of five lovely ladies for my first party on Friday. A few of them had done some painting before but every one did a marvellous job with their painting - experienced or not!

Jewelle with her log cabin in the swamp

Marg with her cabin in the swamp

Judy with her foggy lighthouse

Another Judy with her lighthouse

Deni with her windblown lighthouse

These fog paintings don't really show up well when they are this small but , believe me - all of the paintings are super!!!

My Saturday party was much smaller; only two participants. We were gong to paint 'Little Guys' and both of them decided to paint the same scenes. This made my job much easier and we even had time to take a walk out in my yard and enjoy the lovely weather, the music from the creek and the birds and the flowers that are in bloom.

Eileen with her 2 paintings

Heather with her paintings

Heather and Eileen had such a great time that they are going to join my June 25th party when we will be doing vignettes.

I love it when things work out so well!

Plant Inspector

We had a surprise visitor this morning; one who insisted on checking out my plants. I followed him around the house and took some photos.

from the kitchen window

 Of course, I stayed in the house to take the photos. Although I thought briefly about opening the door to scare him off, I decided he wasn't hurting anything.

from my studio

another from my studio

by my front door

This one is hard to see but he is up on his hind legs again checking out the hanging basket by the living room.

He actually took a taste of the Rhododendron but moved before I could get that picture.

walking past the front porch

and back to my studio

He had a nice walk around the place but didn't do any damage and then he quietly continued on his way into the forest. The joys of living in the country!

More EDM Sketches

I have amazed myself by keeping up with the Every Day in May drawing/painting challenge. Some of the things I have to draw are so far out of my interest zone  that I have been tempted to just throw in the towel. But I have stuck it out this far and hope to finish, although tomorrow's subject is a bicycle - yeek!

I think an explanation is needed for the bottom drawings on this page. May 15 is my 'favourite' tool - a mat cutter because it saves me a lot of money  - lol. The teal 'snake' is actually one of my Hot Weather Scarves for 'something I made'.

Yesterday's subject was the hardest so far! I mean really - feet? with or without socks - who comes up with this list?

A quick update - We have had a few days of decent weather and I have started putting my plants in the pots. It will be so nice when things really start to bloom. I can't wait!

Waiting for Warmth

It may be Spring but we sure haven't had much warm weather. My bedding plants have grown nicely and I am chomping at the bit wanting to get them planted. But, there is still snow on the mountains, way too much rain lower down and it is still too d... cold.

The plants are happy in the greenhouse but the heater is still coming on at night and I don't think they would do well if I planted them out. Most of my flowers go in pots around the house. I find that pots don't get weeds like flowerbeds do and I don't have to bend as far - lol.

All the pots ready for flowers; there are about 50 of them but they have a lot of space to fill. Here are some photos of the yard when the pots are full and in bloom.

backyard coutryard

front yard flowerbed

While we are waiting and hoping for warm weather, we have been doing some work around the yard - between rain showers. One thing just completed today was a new gallery Open sign at the end of the driveway. I am lucky enough to have a very handy husband who can do so many things and is also willing to do them.

And here are a few pictures of what visitors to the gallery see as they come down my driveway.

Oh, wait, Bob is not usually standing in the middle of the drive - lol. Anyway, there are still a few turns before reaching the house and people are often concerned about what they will find at the end. They needn't worry as there is lots of space to turn a car around.

Anyway, that is what Spring has been like so far this year; we go out wearing winter jackets or stay in the house waiting for warmth.

EDM and LYA

How is that for a title to confuse? For those who don't recognize the abbreviations they are; Every Day in May - a drawing/painting challenge, and Liberate Your Art postcard swap.

Here are my my sketches for the EDM for May 5 to 12

Some things are a lot harder than others to do, mostly because of lack of practice on those subjects. As I am not into automobiles the truck was just out of my head and how often have you painted an eraser or elastic band?

I have surprised myself by managing to get a sketch done every day considering all the other things going on in my life - thankfully they are small!.

I received the final two cards in the LYA side-swap, both lovely pieces.

This super piece is from Sherry Harmes in Alaska and I thought it worked well with one of my winter scene paintings. I love the quote from Mae West that Sherry wrote - "Too much of a good thing is Wonderful" Isn't that a super way to think? Check out Sherry's Facebook page

The second card is from Tammy Wilson. I admit it took me a while to figure out the subject of the photograph - it helps when you look at thinks right side up. I thought the merry-go-round worked well displayed with my twirly holder for my quilled ornaments.  Here is the link to Tammy's Facebook page

The LYA swap has been a great experience and I have made a number of new 'friends' I am sure I will participate again next year.

Now I am off to do today's sketch then I will be working in the yard - no rest at this time of year!

Catching up!

I just attended a weekend workshop and have spent the last few days catching up with all the chores that didn't get done while I was playing!

I have to say that I think the Graham Flatt workshop is the best I have ever attended. I learned a number of new techniques and a different style and approach to painting. Here is a link to his FB page - Graham Flatt - check it out!

Here are the paintings I did at the workshop.

#1032 - Birches In Autumn - 5 x 7 watercolour

#1033 - Autumn Journey - 7 x 10 watercolour

#1034 - Strays - 7 x 10 watercolour

#1035 - Orange Glow - 5 x 7 watercolour

It will be interesting to see if I incorporate the things I learned into my future paintings, after all, old habits are hard to break - lol.

Definitely Crazy!

That's me, definitely crazy. As if I don't have enough to do with my Watercolour Painting Parties, my garden and flowers, and visitors to my home gallery - I just had to go and decide to do the 'Every Day in May' drawing/painting challenge.

May 1 to 4

Granted the paintings aren't large but they still take time. I took my smallest sketch book and divided the pages in four which limits the size and forces me to work small and quickly. The list for the challenge includes a number of things I would never consider painting so it is a double challenge. Have a look and see - maybe you will try it too.

This weekend I will be attending a 2 1/2 day watercolour workshop and I am looking forward to it. But, I still want to get a few more things made for the table I will be setting up for the Bird Festival. The quilled hummingbirds have been popular in the past  and so have my cards that feature hummingbirds so I hope to make a few of each.

This is one of the quilled ornaments I make using 1/4" paper strips and it is the 100th ornament I have made. As I hope to do a few Quilling Parties this year, I was pleased that I was able to time myself while doing this piece today. It took just over an hour to complete so my estimate that novices will be able to do two simple quilled projects in 3 1/2 hours sounds about right (I hope). It also means I will be able to get a number of quilled birds done by next Friday.

Oops! just remembered that I have to go close up the greenhouse. Thanks for stopping by!