It's All About The WHIMSY!

We have a winner!!

We have a winner!

The lucky receipient of Gina Armfield's 

Mixed Media Collage DVD is:

 

Deborah M!

Thank you all for hopping blogs and joining in the fun!

 

And remember Gina's No Excuses Art Journaling

book is available to preorder at Amazon.com

 

 

Summer by the sea

 

Summertime has arrived in the Village.

Greetings from a local shore bird!  

These waders are quite common this time of year at the beach.

It is so amusing to watch them chase in and out of the waves.

 

 

This weekend the garden gifted many beautiful treasures.

The first water lily bloom!  Fabulous!  

Here's hoping the frogs leave it be...

 

A succulent all settled into it's stone garden.

I love the "babies" that shoot from the main leaves.

The Iris are glorious this year, but I will save that for next time!

Have a lovely Tuesday that feels like Monday...

 

Botanical journaling

Working on a few botanical journal

mixed media pieces on a very rainy Friday morning.

 

 

Textured background created by tossing kosher salt

into a watercolor wash..really cool effect!

 

 

This thistle piece is in my No More Excuses journal.

 

And remember you can still leave a comment to win

this fabulous DVD by Gina Armfield!

 

 

A winner will be chosen May 30th!

All you need do is leave a comment.

No More excuses....

 

Have a safe holiday weekend!

 

Related articles

No More Excuses Giveaway!!

No More Excuses Giveaway!!

 

Talented artist and excellent teacher Gina Armfield

has a new book being release later this year!

No Excuses Art Journaling.

There's a blog hop party underway to spread the word.

 

If perhaps you are a regular visitor to this blog you may know

that I began the No More Excuses journey three years ago.

 It has truely changed my artwork, and only for the better.

Gina's generous teaching approach has encouraged me to develop

a daily studio practice with great success.

Oh how I love my big fat yearly journals!

 

 

full of juicy fun!

 

 

 

 

To celebrate Gina has launched a new website for

No Excuses Art Journaling 

www.noexcusesjournaling.com

And two companion DVD's!

 

 

To celebrate, I'm giving away a copy of Gina's

Mixed Media Collage DVD. 

 

To enter to win please leave me a comment about your art journaling adventures..

remember..

there are no more excuses

I'll randomly draw a winner at the end of the week.

 

For more chances to win, check out all the amazing artists

participating in this blog party!

 

May 20    Jessica Herman Goodson

May 21    Dion Dior

May 22    Serena Barton

May 23    Chris Kalina

May 24    Kelly Kilmer

May 28    Pam Garrison

May 29    Jennifer Joanau and  LK Ludwig

May 30    Tracie Huskamp

May 31    Lesley Riley

 

A little sketching and color!

 

 

 

I do love veggies!

Botanical Journaling

Taking a new workshop with Gina Armfield

that has me working with the plant material in my garden, such fun!!

No need to travel very far...just walk out the door,

I LIKE that!

From photograph..

to drawing..

to color palette..

Next up..

watercoloring!

Early morning in the garden

 

 

Early morning in the woodland garden

 

 

Good morning Mr Frog!

 

 

A mossy Kitty..

 

A new arrival--an eastern painted turtle.

 

Jack in the pulpits springing up!

 

Happy Monday!

 

Weekend tales in the garden

          

 

 Sometimes a small job in the garden becomes a big adventure...

Do you see the shade field behind the lettuce bed? 

We did too.  And as we have been cutting down trees

around the property because of storm damage,

DH decided the tall white pine should go

to open up the veggie garden to more sun..

He is quite accomplished with a chain saw..

 

 

Sometimes, things don't go as planned..

The 30 foot tree came crashing through the garden deer fencing

taking with it the support posts and the tall gate.

As you might imagine the rest of the weekend was spent working on

a major repair.  Fortunately neither the DH nor the garden shed were

injured in the accident...

a few herbs did give their lives for the cause...

and a few bunnies had a lovely lettuce dinner..

 

crab apple in bloom

Fortunately there are many plants of great beauty

to distract the eyes from the resulting mess..

 

A stellar year for hellabores!

 

And a time for reflection and plein air sketching and watercoloring.

 

Ah the joys of Spring!

Tulip Love

Parrot tulips in full bloom!

Happiness in a vase!

Spring has sprung!

 

Good Morning Sunday!

Mateo has become my new BFF.  

Who knew the crumudgeon of the family would become a lap cat?  

Or shoulder cat in this case. Medicine does wondrous things

for his attitude.

 

On to the garden where wonderful things are happening daily~

This nest in the front yard is alive with activity.

Meanwhile back at the pond, Mr frog has swallowed

the last of the quite large goldfish...

note the fin hanging from his mouth...

the downside of observing nature. 

The other fish were consumed by Barry the barred owl

 

The veggie garden planing has begun.  Still too

early for major planting but a few goodies are coming up.

Enjoy the day!