Easy - No Sew Throws for Christmas!

I've made four of these for Christmas gift giving and plan on doing at least two more. Here's how!

Purchase 1 1/2 yards each of fleece in a print and a solid OR you can do two coordinating prints or two solids -- doesn't have to be a Christmas print. Trim the selvages off of each piece of fleece. Lay out the the pieces with wrong sides together and make sure they are the same size - some trimming may be in order. Using a piece of 2" x 4" cardboard for a template, cut through both pieces of fleece making 2 inch wide and 4 inch length "fringes." On the corners, you will cut out a 4" x 4 " square. Tie the front to the back by tieing each "fringe" into a square knot. I cut one side and tied it and then cut the next side and tied it and so on -- it broke up the cutting and tieing and helped to rest my fingers. The finished size is approx. 46" square and it took me right at 1 hour from start to finish!

Gate 3

Well. . . ANOTHER lesson learned! I had visions of a clean, crisp metal gate with wonderful golden rolling hills behind it. I very mistakenly thought my Sepia Pentel Brush Pen was waterproof. . . thought I'd checked it out months ago when I purchased it. The first step I took was to use this brush pen on the metal gate, after all it would make it so much easier to paint the rolling hills in the background if I could just paint right over that gate - LOL! As we can all see, as soon as I started painting that sky, I had BLEED!! Rather than trash this little scene, I decided to continue painting it anyway and to just chalk it up as another lesson learned. So here it is!!

Gate 2

My immediate goal with painting is to have fun. I'm not striving for perfection, I'm just "playing." As I started painting this gate, it occurred to me that I had goofed BIG TIME on the first gate and all of my online art buddies were too kind to point it out. Well folks, I realize now that I had mixed up my cool and warm placement and put the cools in the foreground and the warms in the background - Yikes!! What in the world was I thinking. . . or rather NOT thinking!! LOL!!

This gate is from a ref photo I found on Yotophoto and it is of a gate at Stevens-Coolidge Place, Andover, MA It is done on Lama li and I used all WN paints. One major flaw I see is the rock fence on the right looks like it's on the ground -- just didn't get the perspective right or something on that. Possibly it's fixable, but I'm ready to go on to the next gate!!

Gate 1

I've been away from my blog for far too long! Several reasons why. . . my daughter, who lives in Las Vegas, had her first baby on Oct 27. A beautiful little girl they named Katie after my mom. I stayed with them for three weeks to help out. What a joy it was!! Another reason I've not done art is simply because I ran into a HUGE creative block. Actually it was more than a block. . . I really questioned WHY I spend time on something that will not bring any financial gain and that I probably won't even use as a tangible gift to friends/family! While in Vegas, I had one of my periodical read-a-thons. I read 8 novels, which I enjoyed immensely. As I was reading, it occurred to me that reading is not going to bring me any financial gain and it's not producing a tangible gift! So, if I'm willing to spend time on reading, why is it that I'm guilt ridden with time spent on art? I learn things when I read, even it it's fiction. I learn things when I do art, especially when it is nature---intense observation brings knowledge. So I started looking through some of my art books with a freedom that it's OKAY to do something I enjoy just for the pure pleasure of it all! I got inspired to work through another book, then I got inspired to work on a series. I found some good reference photos for gates that got me excited and so this is my first gate. It's done on lama li and I used all WN paints.

Huntington Gardens - Agapanthus Path

This is my second attempt at this scene. The first was posted in July. I wanted to try it again and think I've gotten a better sense of depth. I also wanted to see it in a higher key. It was painted on Arches CP block using DS paints. I think the canopy of greenery is wisteria and I would like to paint this same view when it is in bloom---the agapanthus will not be in bloom, but the hanging wisteria should be just beautiful!

Cedar Wood Journal

Yesterday I went to a class at the Huntington Gardens to make this journal. This is my first experience with any kind of bookmaking and it was an absolute delight! The teacher, Wendy Poma, did a fantastic job of teaching. About half of the class were ladies who had taken some of Wendy's other classes and the other half of us were newbies! Wendy is phenomenal. . . she had prepared the materials ahead of time and each work station had every single thing we needed to make our journals. She even cut all the paper, the cardboard pieces, the faux suede - and we had a pile of cedar tiles from which to custom choose our very own. She laid out beautiful papers for us to cut for our cover sheet -- lovely colors and designs, as well as decorative paper punches and embellishments. It would take PAGES to describe step-by-step how we did these journals, so I'll just put it in a nutshell. The heavy cardboard front and back were covered with faux suede CONTACT PAPER - can you believe such a thing exists? It is amazing to work with and really feels and looks like suede. It comes in a roll - just like regular contact paper. Wendy got hers at The Container Store in Pasadena, but she said she'd heard that Lowe's carries it. Then we covered the cardboard spine and then using 1/4 inch super sticking double stick craft tape (NOT scotch tape) we attached the spine to the covers. Using the same double sticky tape, we laid five rows of strips down on the front cover and placed our cedar tiles - VERY carefully and then pressed firmly into place. We used water based varnish to finish the cedar tiles. Wendy had cut all the paper and each of us had enough to make two "pads" for our journals. We got our stacks of paper (with a light cardboard on the back and our decorative cover paper on the front) into nice, neat stacks and then held them together with large binder clips. Then we painted on a nice substantial layer of "Padding Compound" onto what would become the spine -- and this is really cool. . . we moved the binder clips to the padding compound painted side and then set our stacks upside down using the grippers of the clips as legs -- how cool is that? The padding compound is thick and doesn't run easily, but setting it upside down assures that it won't run too far into the pad. The next step was to use strips of the faux suede and wrap the "pad" of paper and then decorate the cover sheet however we wanted. One pad was glued (with strong glue stick called UHO) onto the inside back cover. When the pad is filled, you just grip it and pull it off of the back cover and then you can glue in the refill.

I did a google on "padding compound" because I really want to use it for making watercolor journals and found it on Amazon as well as several other places.

If anyone lives in southern CA and would like to take a class from this incredible teacher, she has classes on Sept 22 to learn Embellishment Techniques and More at Mimio in Pasadena (phone number 626-685-9090) and on Sept 29th is a class on Double Slide Closure Journals at Stampin' From the Heart (phone number 310-391-0466). Then on Oct 6th at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena (phone number is 626-449-5320) is another class on the Double Slide Closure Journal, on Oct 13th at Descanso Gardens a class to make an Organizer Journal, (phone number is 818-949-7981). She also has an all day Embellishments Class on Oct 27th at Stampin' From the Heart (phone number 310-391-0466). In November, on the 3rd is a Pleated Spine Journal at the Univ. of CA, Riverside (phone number 951-827-1637) and on the 10th of Nov a class to make Three Gift Books at Glendale Community Collegee (phone number 818-240-1000 ext 5015).

Kate Johnson's online watercolor 2 class - week 4 is on Weathered Wood, Lichen and Moss. This is my "moss" exercise done on Cotman 8 x 5 watercolor pad using WN paints. Some of this is wet-in-wet and some is dry brush. The slim portion of background (on the right) is darker in real life, don't know why it didn't scan true--the rest of it scanned just fine. I guess some pigments are more reflective? I've done trees and tree trunks before, but this is my first "moss." I am pleased with the result, but we'll see if Kate suggests any improvements. It's always amazing how she can find things that can be improved upon--usually just a little bit here or a little less there.

Week 3 - Kate Johnson's online watercolor class

This week's lesson is on "Earth, Pebbles, Sand, Rocks, Grasses and Weeds" and the reference photo I used is from Death Valley. I painted this on a Cotman sheet and it is 8 x 5. It sure was fast and easy to paint of this paper after working on the canvas and the hot press recently!! The pigments used were all WN and they were Burnt Sienna, Payne's gray, Indigo, Raw Umber, Sap Green, Cad Yelow Pale and Cad Orange. I masked the little plant, then I washed the background and then used several colors for wet-in-wet splatter. After the rocks were painted, and before I removed the mask, I dry splattered very finely with a toothbrush. It was a fun exercise and I enjoyed working on something rather simple.

Watercolor 2 Class - week 2

Week 2 of Kate Johnson's online watercolor class was about water, reflections, and foliage. The reference photo for this was one I took of a pond at Butchart Gardens. It was done on Arches block, hot press, 7 x 10. I absolutely love Arches blocks, but am not crazy about hot press paper. But, like many materials I don't care for, I am determined to try, try again!! This project was tedious - I used multiple layers of glazing in many areas and it was almost entirely done wet-in-wet. The foreground is supposed to be waterlily pads -- a plant I am very fond of and have not been successful (either here or on other works) at getting the foliage to look like what they are supposed to be!! On a positive note, I was pleased with the variety of greens I was able to mix - another of my weaknesses that I really worked on here.

Kate Johnson's Watercolor 2 Class - Lesson 1b

Now THIS was fun!!! It's done on Yupo, which I haven't worked with in MONTHS and it was just a delight. Same reference photo and same DS paints as the one done on Canson--what a difference that Yupo made. For those of you not familiar with this strange watercolor "paper," it is not paper at all, but plastic. The paint obviously cannot soak into the plastic and so it just kind of floats and flows basically wherever it wants--I DID control some of it by tipping the sheet. I'd never tried salt on Yupo, so this was a first. I did the water first and loved the salt on it so much, I repeated that technique on the greenery of the mountains. The other technique I used is a bit of spatter on the mountain on the left. I used DS Buff Titanium for the misty clouds and dropped some pigment down on the mountain tops after they had dried completely. Since Yupo is plastic, it's a bit tricky to add layers because as soon as you put a wet brush on the dry area, the existing paint rewets and wants to run all over again. I did this tricky "layering" on the water also. I love the darker areas on the mountains and those were created simply by letting the paint flow and settle -- just a little coaxing on my part by tipping the paper. This affect is purely a Yupo kind of thing, which is why I really delight every time I use it. It certainly makes me loosen up any "control issues" I have with my painting. LOL!!

Kate Johnson's Watercolor 2 Class - Lesson 1

This week's lesson is on the four "S's" -- spatter, scrape, salt and sponge. The reference photo, taken during the Alaskan cruise my dh and I took at the beginning of this month, is of a misty fjord. This version is done on Canson watercolor paper and the techniques I used were sponging, scraping and salt. It was done with DS paints, which are just yummy!! I had some struggles with this and it DOES look a bit overworked. I used DS Buff Titanium to try to get the misty clouds at the mountain tops and got a bit more "run" than I wanted. Sponging in the greenery was tricky as it was such a small area to try to control that sponge in - ha ha. I DID tear the sponge up into small pieces, but oh my!!

My friend, Lin, over at View From the Oak gave me this award! LOL! I don't know how "rockin" I am, but I'm flattered she thought so!! Here's how the game works. . . I need to give this award to four of my friends. All of their blogs are on my blogroll, please do pay them a visit!!

Irene, who was a blogging art buddy and moved to a MERE 6 MILES FROM ME so now we are face-to-face art buddies! Check out her wonderful blog, Just Crazy About Dogs.

Mary, at Emma Pod blog, we share a past life of working in the medical field and therefore having a rather sick sense of humor sometimes!

Andrea, who lives in Wales and reminds me so much of an old, dear friend whom I lost to cancer several years ago. I always smile when I visit her blog, Andrea Joseph's Sketchblog, and see her invitation to share a cup of tea!

Casey, from rue Manuel bis blog, is a huge art inspiration with her ink and loose watercolor style that I envy so!

So ladies, you are hereby Rockin' Bloggers!!

P.S. I don't know if I did it right, but it worked. . . I saved the photo icon in My Pictures and then uploaded it to my blog.

Alaskan Cruise

My dh and I are off tomorrow morning for a cruise to Alaska. I'm taking some art supplies and plenty of SD storage for my camera! We fly from southern California to Seattle tomorrow and then set sail on the 3rd. I'll have time in Seattle tomorrow afternoon to grab a taxi and take a trip over to the Daniel Smith store -- I just might be as excited about THAT shopping excursion as I am about the Alaskan excursions!! I'm looking forward to all the sightseeing and with our hot summer temps, I'm also looking forward to coolness.
We'll be celebrating my birthday while we are gone--actually we'll be in Victoria on that day and Buchart Gardens is on our schedule. So YIPEE!!

Lidzey exercise.

I did this simple painting THREE TIMES! It really gave me some fits. Then. . . when I finished it, I realized I hadn't done it as directed in John Lidzey's book, "Watercolour Workshop!" It was supposed to be a small area of my garden (which it IS) and using only Fr UM, Cad Red, and Cad Yellow (which it ISN'T). Actually, I didn't use ANY of those pigments -- aaghh. I think I did do the first two correctly, but it was weeks later that I finally did this one and I erroneously did not re-read the instructions. Ah well, I actually like this one the best. I'm still striving to get dimension and depth and also a looser style. This was a very quick sketch and an equally quick watercolor--lots of wet-in-wet and I pretty much let the paint have it's own way. I was busy with some other things around the house that enabled me to leave this alone while each layer dried thoroughly. I know some watercolorists do not use black, but I like black and I used it--just little itty bits dropped in to give depth to the underbush part. The white blossoms (it's an oleander bush) were masqued out to protect the white paper during the painting. Then after removal of the masque, a very pale wash of cobalt blue was dropped in here and there to give some shading.

I'm excited that Kate Johnson is offering a Watercolor II course online and, of course, I was one of the first to sign up! We will be using her book, "Creating Textures in Watercolor" and I'm very much looking forward to getting started on Aug 12th. I'll try to get a few more exercises done from the Lidzey book before then.

Agapanthus Path at the Huntington Gardens

Life has been busy and kept me away from art for a month! It felt good to fill up my water containers and dip those brushes again. Irene, from Just Crazy About Dogs blogspot, and I went to the Huntington Gardens last Thursday and then to Dick Blicks - talk about a wonderful "art date!!" I did attempt a plein air at the gardens, which I'll not post here - ha ha. I took some photos and this lovely path was a photo I took. It is on Lama li.

My home remodeling is done, I still have to touch up the paint on the baseboards and also need to paint a bathroom. I am so happy with the end result and am anxious to get the final decorating items in place.

Lidzey Exercise 4 - Still Life

The book, "Watercolour Workshop" has exercises, demos and projects. . . I'm referring to all as exercises and assigning numbers just to keep it all uniform on my computer. Having said that, this was really a step-by-step demo. It's done on the Lama li paper - which I'm getting a bit more used to - and several pigments were used. I'm fairly happy with it, as always there's bits that I'd do differently if I do it again. I guess that's what learning is all about anyway. Ever since I worked through the Pike book, I've gotten more comfortable with flat brushes and find myself using them more than my old beloved rounds! It's always nice to step out of our comfort zone and find we like the alternative as much as or even better. I did NOT like the flats the first several times I used them, but I perservered and it's been worth it. I'm also using as large a brush as possible for as long as possible. I do think that has helped me get a bit looser, although I've quite a ways to go to attain the level of looseness I desire.
Well, the wood flooring FINALLY came in and was delivered yesterday. The workers are scheduled to start on Monday -so, yipee!! I'll be in a mess again all next week, but we are in the final stretch and I'm SO READY!!
I took our new (2 week old) grandson to the doctor yesterday as he's got a head cold and we were starting to get concerned. He doesn't have congestion in his lungs (which is what I was fearful of) and my "home" remedy of using saline solution and an aspirator is exactly what the doctor said to do--so we will continue with that care and watch him CLOSELY! I'm afraid I was rather firm with his mom -- ABSOLUTELY NO SICK VISITORS!! I'm picking them up and bringing them to my house today -- maybe it's my "control" nature, but I feel better if I see him for myself and administer some good ol' fashioned granny care.

Lidzey Excercise 3 - An Exterior Door

The wonderful photo reference was taken by Karol and you can see it here http://www.flickr.com/photos/byrdiegyrl/24267911/in/set-72157594219948621/

Thanks, Karol!!!

This was painted on lama li and while I really LOVE the texture of this handmade, cotton rag paper, I found it was too absorbant to get the tree branch shadows to bleed well. I think I'll give this a go on some good Arches sometime soon! I almost just gave up working this particular painting, but decided today to just "do it" and get it finished I didn't do a tonal study of this before I did the painting and I'm really sorry I didn't. Honestly, I just didn't think about it--I guess it truly is by mistakes that we learn!

I'm so behind on artwork and am finding it quite frustrating. Just too many things going on, life can sure get busy and overloaded. Our house remodeling is at a standstill as we wait for Lowe's to go cut down some trees to fill my wood flooring order - at least it seems as if that's what they are doing. It's SUPPOSED to come in today, at which point I will have to schedule the installation with my contractor. I still need to get up to Northern California to see my mom. My sisters have been helping her tremendously as far as going through Dad's stuff and getting his truck, motor home and boat sold. I feel guilty that I've not been able to help. I'm still not regulated on thyroid meds--hopefully the next dosage change will be the "one" that works. I'm too busy a person to be tied down with fatigue - ha.

Our new grandson, Austin, is such a sweetie and I've been helping with him the past few days. He's not quite 2 weeks old and got a cold. We are watching him closely! You can see my little sweetie on my flickr here http://www.flickr.com/photos/brendas_watercolors/

Hopefully, it won't be WEEKS before I get some art done and posted. The next Lidzey is a still life and I'm looking forward to it.

Open Window
From the book, Watercolour Workshop by John Lidzey, this exercise was to paint a sunlit, open window from the outside looking in. It was to be done as a tonal study, which I did do and can be seen on my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/brendas_watercolors/
I decided to paint this subject again adding Cadmium Red to the Yellow Ochre and French Ultramarine Blue that was used in the tonal study. The brown of the window frame is a mixture of all three pigments. The reference photo is from Karol at http://www.flickr.com/photos/74227781@N00/18466845/ who is a fantastic photographer and so graciously gave me permission to use this for my study. For a real treat, check out her work!
I painted this in my new Lama Li sketchbook. I found the cotton rag paper to be very absorbant, which will take some getting used to. I DO like the texture of this paper and look forward to working with it more.

I've been tagged!

Mary, over at http://emmapod.blogspot.com/ and Lin at http://viewfromtheoak.blogspot.com/ have tagged me to list 7 things about myself that others may not know.
1) When I was in my early twenties, my grandmother taught me how to tat - I still enjoy this little hobby/thread craft and have even entertained the idea of teaching a class - then I look at my already full schedule and don't see how I can possibly add another activity!
2) I enjoy driving, even in heavy LA traffic. I especially like to drive in the rain, just so long as it's not a Texas style "raining cats and dogs" type downpour!
3) I love to read and usually am reading at least three books at one time. I go through periods where I feel like I'm going to run out of time before I can learn as much as I want. During those periods, I speed read and usually read at least one book a day - crazy huh?
4) I love to cook and bake. I collect recipes and cookbooks and am always sharing. I don't believe in keeping a good recipe secret. I'm almost always game to try new things -- DH and I just got home from visiting DD and SIL in Las Vegas, went to a fabulous Thai restaurant that served tempura dipped fried bananas with coconut ice cream - ABSOLUTELY TO DIE FOR!!
5) I was horribly addicted to cigarettes for 30 years - kicked that habit 7 years ago and know without a doubt that I will NEVER touch another one of those nasty things again!!
6) I would pick a camping vacation over a 5 star resort anytime, anyplace. I love being up close and personal in nature and enoying this wonderful world the Lord God has created for us.
7) I sincerely enjoy encouraging others. I don't get jealous of other's abilities and gifts, I love being challenged to improve my own skills and am thoroughly thrilled when I see growth in others as well.
I am going to tag Carol http://artbydabs.blogspot.com/ Irene http://justcrazyaboutdogs.blogspot.com/ Nelda http://nelsartmarks.blogspot.com/ Marilyn http://hrt2hrt4mike.blogspot.com/
I KNOW it's only 4 tags - but everyone else on my list has been tagged and double tagged!

Now, if you've read all these 7 things, that means you probably check in on my blog once in a while, so . . . I would like to add a little note. I've not been on my blog or the computer much of late because my dad passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on April 27th. He, my mom, and my youngest sister were vacationing in OK visiting family and friends. I had to fly from CA to OK, get my mom and youngest sister on a plane and then my other sister and I drove my mom's car home. It's been a very sad shock for us all. We have the comfort of knowing he is in heaven, but are still so saddened he's no longer here with us. Also, I've been eyeball deep in some home remodeling and naturally, not all has been going as planned! We've had a few setbacks, that basically just mean more time (and more frustration). I do hope to get back to my art, and especially the John Lidzey book ASAP!!

Lidzey Exercise 1

I'm working in John Lidzey's book, "Watercolour Workshop" and this is the first exercise. This was a "tonal" study and the first still life was done with French Ultramarine and Yellow Ochre. Great fun mixing and I was amazed at the variety of color and tone those two pigments gave me. The instruction for the second was to do the same still life, but with color. I decided to stick with the FrUm and YO and just added Cadmium Red. Isn't it amazing what just one more pigment can do? The coffee pot is straight FrUM, the apple is CR with just a teeny bit of YO and the shading has just a bit of FrUM. The background is pretty apparent, it is YO with a bit of CR. I used mask (spatter method) for the white spots on the pot. The first was done on Raffine, my first experience with that sketchbook and I really liked it - thanks Lin!! The second was done on Cotman watercolor - not my fav watercolor paper, but is the one I grabbed and it was the right size for scanning two books side-by-side.

The Lidzey book is going to be great fun! It has exercises AND projects. Rather that having a finished work to try to copy, as in the John Pike book I just finished working through, this book tells what type of subject and I'll pick my own reference. These subjects can be plein air or photo reference.