It's All About The WHIMSY!

More Snow???

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!  

Winter and more winter

Clearly the pattern of repeated winter storms continues here in New England...at this point a yard stick won't do to measure all the snowfall....It is winter,and this is coastal New England. All this snow should be no surprise.  We've been spoiled of late with mild winters, not so this year.

Adirondack chairs hold the promise of Spring, a reminder that winter too will pass soon...All those footprints in the snow are from the deer and other critters who come seeking food...the snow is too deep for a reasonable person to venture to the woods.  

 garden pathway in the snow

 

The advantage of all this snow is an opportunity to spend lots of time in the studio, and so I have.

cat in a box

 

And now off to the market for bread and milk, because for some unknown reason that's what we do when a storm warning is issued.  A very happy Valentine's Day to you!

 

Welcoming in February

Another week of winter and another winter storm...definitely one for the record books.

I do enjoy watching these sweeties from the studio window while painting.  The snow is so deep I'm filling the bird feeders once a day and tossing handfuls of seed on top of the fresh snow.  

 

Although the colors for February are not much different than January, they seem more cheery with a splash of red and pink for Valentine's Day. 

Pink is the color for this month in No Excuses Art Journaling. It is such fun to focus on a different color each month.  More importantly it is forcing me to move out of my comfort range in color choice and explore different shades.  

If you are counting, and I think many of us are....it is 44 days until SPRING!  

 

Winter scenes

It's been quite a week for weather!  First a blizzard and now extremely bitter cold with another storm on the way...

Which does not mean the garden and woods have been silent!  I had quite the stare down with this buck, I think he won..

We've had lots of visitors looking for food and warmth.  Youngsters watching me watch the above Buck. 

 

Sometimes the best you can do is puff up and hide in a shrub against the house.

 

There is such beauty in a winter day. 

Hello Monday!

 

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!

 

Sketchbook journaling

Now that the weather has improved,THANK GOODNESS, I am spending most of my day out of doors.

So wonderful after the very long winter. And there is much to be done in the gardens. So happy to see these beauties springing up from the ground.

 

Not all discoveries are the good kind..came across this poor dear in the lawn yesterday...No visable damage...maybe just old age?

 

And with the improved weather I take my sketchbook with me.  This weekend documented.  

 

I do hope you are enjoying Spring, if you are so located on this lovely planet!

Morning view

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!

Is it Spring yet??

What is this?  A glimpse of green grass after months of snow...a wonderful promise of Spring...but not just yet.  Another winter storm headed our way this weekend..this morning when Miss Maggie and I walked out the door at 6 AM it was -13.  I wish the Polar Vortex would go home...

 

 

Sprout #2 for No Excuses Journaling, let's add a little color to our lives!

I used it as my theme for the entire week, a welcome change from the muted colors of winter.  This makes me long to be in the garden playing in the soil...

 

and dreaming of nests full of colorful eggs...

Have an artful weekend!

Winter continues...

 

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!

Winter is now upon us

It seems that winter really arrives here in southern coastal New England in February.

 It comes and goes before then...teasing us.

The birds are huddled in the trees trying to stay warm and waiting

for their feeders to be filled.

 Working fast is key because the deer will soon drift out of the woods to join them..

And I am in the studio with this for inspiration ( yummy)

while I read this fabulous article from Landlore Magazine

Such an interesting and talented lady.  LOVE her!

Then on to my No Excuses journal!

 

Keep warm out there!  Hope you all have power!