The color of the month for No Excuses Art Journaling is BLUE! I do love blue, well there's not really a color I don't like.
Sprout #44 feather~ and yes it too is blue. I seem to find a "pile" a day lately in the garden. This is the most recent victim of our resident owl, poor blue jay....
And a pretty little blue bird card peek!
The snow continues to fall...the poor adirondack chairs are disappearing. 26 days until SPRING, it can't come soon enough. Another round of storms this weekend following a sub-zero blast tomorrow...
Our resident buck has been sleeping under the pine trees in the garden. I think we've reached an understanding.
There are opportunities to be seized with all this bad weather, more studio time! This week's No Excuses Art Journaling sprout~ teapot. Some days you are just at a loss for what to draw and paint. I love Gina's weekly challenges, just the inspiration needed!
Card peeks for February, normally done one a week but as I'm snowbound I've finished them all. This month's color focus is pink. So cheery on a cold winter day.
This sweetie is a commission for a charity auction coming up locally next month. I can assure you our beach looks nothing like this today! Even the sand is buried in snow!
This captures the mood for this Monday...Here in coastal New England we are all preparing for the "blizzard of historic proportions". Out early for provisions~honestly, I did not buy any bread but always find the bread isle amusing pre-storm. How many sandwiches can anyone eat? We needed dog food for Miss Maggie, our elderly Labrador. She's been "under the weather" this past weekend and needs a special diet. Clever how I worked the weather in....
As the month of January comes to an end, the past week's painting has all been in shades of grey. The "sprout" for the week in Gina Armfield's No Excuses Art Journaling group above- a grey wolf.
Playing with grey in my daily pages....
Food for thought in the blank pages of my journal.
Talk with you all after the blizzard!
Sometimes stepping away from social media is a good thing, I had not planned to be away this long. Life happens..
With that I hope you will enjoy seeing what I've been up to in No Excuses Art Journaling.
This year's theme is a Year of Color and January is grey.
Zentangle designs seem to enjoy a touch of grey.
And the first "sprout" of the new year is a rabbit...well we all know I love rabbits.
And I resolve to once again post on a regular basis!
Happy New Year!
If you are looking for me, you can find me here!
A lovely gift from Judi that expresses this perfectly. We are making great progress planting the pond. It's a delight to watch greenery emerge from the water. Soon I'll post pictures of wonderful blooms.
Sketchbook Skool semester 1 has ended. What a great experience! Sketching with Tommy Kane was quite a process, encouraging hours focused on a single scene and adding all the details...much to learn but getting there.
If, dear reader, you are part of the No Excuses Journal group you are familiar with using a daily planner as an art journal. Gina Armfield's excellent book No Excuses Art Journaling gives pages and pages of prompts, examples and techniques. I try to use a different journal each year, it's fun to experiment!
a ledger style planner...
a soft covered planner...
But as one journal is never enough, I make my own journals using watercolor paper as well.
This journal was made with a recycled vintage book cover, binding with ribbons. A nice look and it can be as fat as you'd like.
I made this journal over the weekend..thank you to my sister Judi for the instruction and inspiration. Book board with a cloth cover and 7 signatures of watercolor paper waiting to be filled. Lovely!
I am also "playing" in the ARC system from Staples.
Big plastic disks will allow for a nice fat finished journal. The paper quality is nice and works quite well with wet media. I have not yet tried using copic markers but there is no leak through using pitt or koi brush pens.I love that you can easily add pages of any size you might choose using the ARC hole punch. I've been adding 140 lb hot and cold press water color paper to the stack of paper that came with the large set up; no difficulty turning pages.
I would definately recommend this for those who might still be looking for a No Excuses journal!
Happy journaling!
painted in Waterlogue
This morning as I sit admiring these beauties the promise of Spring seems real...until I check the local weather and read that once again a winter storm is on the way. Good news is that the worst will be off the coast but I fear we will be shoveling again..I guess Spring will have to wait, again.
Working on Sprouts in my NE journal. These are altered magazine images. Such fun! Overpainted with watercolors and sketched over in pen. Give it a try, you'll like it!
A few of the highlights of my week so far...
Last weekend a few brave crocus bloomed in the front lawn.
Evidence of Spring! Small and cheerful they offer hope for the end of winter...
This seemed to inspire Miss Maggie who decided to jump in the frozen pond, with resulting ice break up, for a little swim. What was she thinking!! We had a lovely indoor shower to clean off the scum and she slept the rest of the day.
I do think I was wetter than her!
This is my outdoor painting Lukas palette. As spring seems ready to burst forth and it is looking rather sad and depleted I made a trip to Jerry's Artarama for refill tubes of watercolor. I am proud of myself~I stuck to my shopping list and was not drawn in by the allure of all the lovely art supplies! It looks much happier now and I am ready to head outdoors when it warms a bit more.
And last but not least a few pages from my No Excuses art journal ..
I hope your week is going well! Think warm and sunshine!!
Winter continues to arrive in waves of snow, wind, freezing rain and occasionally just plain old rain. Rain falling on all this snow is not a good thing. Roads are a slushy mess and walking anywhere out of doors is difficult. I do love in this picture that you can see all the wildlife trails through the yard.
We've become a daily stopping place for all sorts of critters.
On the plus side this weather provides for quiet time in the studio.
A few pages from my No Excuses journal for the month of February.
I'm so happy I rebound my hard cover planner. Seven weeks into the year and it is already getting fat and happy!
Wishing for Spring to make an appearance..until then I'll enjoy the glorious sunset and order seeds for the veggie garden!
A new month and a new two page spread!
Still adding details but here is my beginning.
Loving that February's artist is John Singer Sargent! Just visited the MFA in Boston recently for a major showing of his watercolors. Amazing!!!
Postcard inserted is from the exhibit.
And how are your journals coming along?
Are we having fun? I do hope so!
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