flowers for this week…

Here are my current entries for the May Flower Challenge. I haven’t been keeping track of how many I have posted.  This past Saturday was my birthday.  My hubs went all out this year and got me a dozen white Roses.  They have been so pretty but now the petals are starting to droop.  This first photo is one of the blooms:

These next two photos are wild flowers that grow in our area.  I don’t know the name of the daisy-like flower…I have heard some say they are Black-eyed Susan.  The white flower is Queen Anne’s Lace.  These are very common along the roadsides, fields, and along the edges of some yards.

This next photo is my neighbor’s Hydrangea Bush.  It can’t decide which way to go…having both pink and blue blooms and shades in between:

These last three photos are some pieces I’ve made the past few days.  The first one is started with collage pieces that had been painted and inked.  I glued them onto a small page in my big journal.  I used watercolor and pen to define some areas.

Wallpaper flower with a doodled background:

As you can see, this isn’t a flower.  I glued some pieces of security envelopes, junk mail and scrapbook paper in my small Strathmore watercolor journal.  I used two kinds of pens to doodle…one being my old standby: Sharpie fine point marker.

Faces today…

The first three faces are mainly watercolors.  I am trying to use more watercolors…they are still a mystery to me… I’m learning as I use them.  These three are in my Strathmore watercolor visual journal.  The first one was drawn with a Prismacolor purple fine line marker pen.  Then I used watercolors and finished with a fine line black pen.  The last three are drawings in the old book.

 

 

Flowers Today…

I have four florals for the May Flower Challenge.  In a few days, I hope to post some faces for the 29 faces challenge. This first one is a photo I took this morning.  These are some lilies my daughter gave me for Mother’s Day about three years ago. I’m not a photographer and I use a litte Canon Power Shot camera.  I did do some alterations with PicMonkey editing program…I should have left the photo like was origianlly

The next one is a flower doodle in my old book:

Watercolor and acrylic background with stencil and pen work:

….and the last one is a mini embroidery piece I put onto a quilt block:

Postcards and pages…

I have received five postcards from Hanna’s postcard swap.  I’m showing four of them because the fifth one came after I’d taken the photo.  I’ll show it later.

Hanna sent me the first card from Sweden.

The second card came from Oregon and was sent by Diane.

Number three was sent by Cyndee.

The last card in the photo came from Fanie in Canada.

Here are two more pages in my Book of Days journal that has morphed into my “big journal.” The second page may not be finished…I was playing with Tombow markers and watercolors. It was an experiment and I’m thinking I’ll just move on

Final Note:  I did join Pinterest.  My user name there is Mary/joyfulploys…if you want to check out my pages.  I also received an email from Pinterest last week stating that they have changed their agreement terms and they are now clear that “selling content was never our intention.”  Some artists are leery about joining Pinterest for various reasons and that was one of them.

Postcards

I read Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last week. I’m reading the second book in the trilogy.  If you are interested in fast-paced action adventures….then these books are a must read for you.  The books are actually written for young teens but people of all ages are reading them.  The movie Hunger Games will be out a week from this Friday.  I hope we can find a theater near us that will be showing the movie.

I finally finished my postcards yesterday for iHanna’s yearly postcard swap .  Last year I made cards with collage and acrylic paints.  I wanted to do something different this time.  The faces and giraffes were drawn with my non-dominant hand using a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen or an IDenti-pen(extra fine).  I used a Sharpie fine marker on most of the floral doodle cards.  I colored those with watercolors and Tombow Brush Pens.

 

Watercolors & Doodles…

Nice sunny day here…nice but windy.  Arkansas, thankfully,  did escape the tornadoes that went through some states last week.

I was playing with my pens and watercolors this morning.  I was inspired by Jennifer Mercede’s work.  I was reading about her over at Pam Garrison’s blog.  Pam has posted some of her own beautiful art work…click on the link to take a look.  Jennifer has many unique giraffe doodle drawings, among others,  over at Flickr.  I attempted to draw a giraffe.  I haven’t used watercolors on it yet.  I need to see about getting a better set of watercolors…my set is  Prang…choice of eight colors.  The pen I used is a bold Pilot G-2 (07).  It isn’t waterproof but I kind of liked how the ink mixed with the watercolors.  I’ll be working on postcards the rest of the week  for iHanna’s yearly postcard swap.

 

 

Journal pages…

Here are some pages I have finished. My Book of Days has morphed into a book of some days   I have been absorbed with the “Letter Love” class for the past two weeks. I was thinking to myself…how ironic that I’m taking a lettering class when I don’t use words on my journal pages all that often… but maybe I will now.  This page started with collaged pieces.  Then I used  gesso, colored pencils, and watercolors.  I finished with some marker and pen work. I’m not all that happy with it but I’m learning to move on and not dwell so long on one page. 

 

This is a fabric collage page I made while I was working on my quilt blocks.  It is four thicknesses of fabric that I stitched together on my sewing machine. Then I hand stitched it onto a tab in my journal.

 

This last photo is the stamp practice page that I wanted to save, so, I decided to stitch it onto a tab in my journal.  I really like my new Xyron sticker machine. I am using it to make my own paper tape.  It will take paper up to two inches in width.

…more letter love practice

I’m really enjoying the Letter Love Class with Joanne Sharpe.  We are half way through the class.  We have had a video or photo tutorial every day except for Sundays.  I need lots of practice making different kinds of letters.  As you can see with these practice pages…I am into the doodles…letters… not so much

I am also working on carving a set of alphabet stamps.  Julie’s Stamp Carving 101 class is over after this week. It will be open as an ongoing class for a long, long time, according to Julie.  I endorse both of these classes.  If you are like me and have taken a class or two that were total duds…I don’t think you will be disappointed with either or both of these classes. 

 

 

 

Dr. Seuss Inspired – Strathmore Journal

I tried to use some of the techniques I learned in Carla Sonheim’s class.  I don’t really like how it turned out so I probably won’t try this again….at least on a bigger piece.  I started with a paper collage base…gesso over that, and next,  two layers of watercolors. I used another layer of gesso and colored markers in certain areas.  I used a soft charcoal pencil to do some shading but I need to get some vine charcoal that Carla suggests using.  

I found out about Elizabeth at  Lost Coast Post when taking “Full Tilt Boogie” workshop.  She has a some great journal pages….definitely worth a look.  She did two mixed media works on canvas that are part of  “out of the journal’ challenge.  Below those posts are her “boogie” journal pages.

Sweet Adele – Strathmore Journal

My FTB journal is finished now, so, on to other things.  I have been working on Carla Sonheim’s class this week. I’m behind on ICADs for this week. I’ll  post some over the upcoming weekend.  Here’s a page from my Strathmore Journal.  Adele was one of the first names to pop into my head.  The name Adele means noble.  I started with a watercolor background.  I used white gesso and painted a few patches all over the page.  Then I used my acrylic and India inks to draw the face and swirls, etc…it’s not easy drawing with the dropper.  I used three color of inks…raw umber, cherry red, and aqua.  I finished with more lines with my Sharpie pen.