Back in the Studio!

I took a few days off after the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge but it wasn't long before I was back in my studio. I figured I wouldn't want to do any more abstracts for a while but there was a canvas just sitting there crying out for some paint - what could I do?

#1097 - Day and Night - acrylic on 20 x 24 gallery wrap canvas

I really thought that after doing 30 abstracts for the challenge that I would have a better handle on how to do them. I have watched numerous videos - they make it look so easy - but I am still struggling. What really gets me is that in all the videos they say they don't use anything but water to thin and blend their paints. At any rate, this is my latest painting - let me know what you think.

I have also been doing a bit of quilling for a change of pace; nothing exciting or complicated, just for fun!

quilled paper lighthouse ornament

quilled paper fish ornament

Thanks for stopping by to visit; it is always great to hear from you!

Thinking Christmas

It has been almost a month since my last post and I have been focused on making some quilled paper ornaments that I hope will sell at the Wynndel Christmas Craft Fair on Dec. 2. I have managed to do one mixed media piece with quilling and watercolour...

#1059 - Strutting his Stuff! 5 x 7 matted to 8 x 10

... but the rest? See for yourselves.

Rufous Hummingbird with glitter - 1/4" paper

Calliope Hummingbirds with glitter - 1/4" paper

Fantasy Hummingbirds - 1/4" paper

Gold Snowflakes with glitter and faux gems - 1/8" paper

Gold and White Snowflakes with glitter and faux gems - 1/8" paper

Mauve Angel with faux gem - 1/8" paper

My Rainbow of Angels - 1/8" paper

Christmas Traditions Ornaments - 1/4" paper

Well, I may not be painting but I am having FUN!!!

A Fabulous Fall

The weather has cooled down, leaves are falling and people are getting back to their fall/winter lives.

For me that means Painting Parties, lessons, workshops and thinking about Christmas Fairs.

Yesterday I held my second painting party of the season with five party-goers and we had a great time.

Everyone did two 5 x 7 paintings. Mary Mae brought her granddaughter up this summer for a 'mini' painting lesson and found out about the painting parties then.

 So far, Eileen has attended four of my parties - I guess that means she has been pleased every time.

Abby saw my posters at the recent Art Club Fall Show and left her name and contact info. When I got in touch she asked if there was room for her sisters; there was and they all came and had a good time.

All three girls chose to paint the scene with the Skimmerhorn mountains but Darcy also picked the Lake at Sunset picture. It is too bad that the photo doesn't show all of the colour because her sky is lovely.

Heidi chose the Winter Sunset scene as her second piece and it was fun to see her expression to the effect of salt on the wet paint. Again, it is too bad that many of the details do not show.

I haven't been doing much painting myself but I have been making some quilled ornaments as I am thinking about November's Christmas Craft Fair.

 So far I am just focusing on hummingbird ornaments as they are very popular and usually sell well.

I have added a few new patterns and I have started adding glitter on the neck of some of the pieces. Sigh - glitter really doesn't show up well in photos!

For the rest, my cataract surgery went well, I have started cleaning up my flower pots and gardens and I am enjoying the fall colours in the world around me - gotta remember to take some photos! My first classes of the fall start this week. Then, I will have my (possibly) final Painting Party of the season and the next weekend I will attend an acrylic workshop on Contrasts. There are other things on the list too but then, I like to be busy and all these things make this fall just fabulous!

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!

Another Busy Week

My husband and I are always saying that it is a good thing we are retired because we don't have time for a job. We also don't have time for that other problem - boredom. There is always something to do!

I currently have three private students and, although the snow two weeks ago cancelled classes, we are back on schedule. Most of the time I don't get a completed painting when I am teaching because I am demonstrating the techniques. But, last week I was able to do a painting that I really liked.

#1009 - Sunset Memories - 7 x 10 watercolour

We worked from a photo my student found on the internet. I made some changes to my painting while Ed stuck with what he saw in the photo. BTW - Most of my students don't like me taking photos of their work - especially a WIP.

Something else that has kept me busy for the last while is adding labels to my blog posts and putting hashtags on my Facebook and Google+ posts. Using hashtags is new to me and I have trouble remembering to use them, but I think they could be a good tool. When someone clicks on a hashtag a number of posts from different people, who also use them, will be accessed. This potentially gives me a wider range of people who will see my paintings, not just my friends and followers. The labels are a bit different; they only refer to my blog. However, this can be useful too. For instance, when I briefly mentioned starting my bedding plants this year a couple of people asked me about that. Now, the labels will take them to a previous post all about that subject.

I have also been doing a bit of quilling lately. Using some photos from the internet as reference, I made some new Christmas ornament designs and some new cards.

Quilled Dragonfly with Poppy Card

Quilled Dragonfly with Primrose Card

And finally, I have signed up for Kat Sloma's Liberate Your Art postcard exchange. If you haven't heard about this you can find out about it here - Kat's page  Luckily I have lots of cards on hand that I was able to modify to fit the postcard guidelines and they will be in the mail later this week.

That is just a few of the things that have been keeping me hopping. I keep wondering when life is going to slow down but I figure that busy is better than bored - lol.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment.