Yay me!

A good first day back, I'd say!

A few days ago, I had circles in my mind.  Then I saw Daisy Yellow's new workshop:  circles.  Then I noticed her Index Card A Day challenge.  So, I thought it appropriate that I start back with an index card of circles.  And I like how it turned out...

Then I hated the second one.  I used Portfolio 24 Water Soluble Oil Pastels, which clumped up quite a bit.  This picture was taken when it was still wet, but all it really did was soften up the edges.  Hmm, I'll have to play with the pastels more, but I'm really not fond of how they clump up... 

I went out with Iraida today, and it was nice to practice some English and Spanish...  Here's a card with a word that I learned today.

And I found a couple of old index cards.  I don't remember doing them, really, but it was nice surprising myself...

And we have some artsy-fartsy time scheduled for this weekend!  Yay!

SUMMER'S HERE!

Nothing to post, but summer IS here, and there is so much going on!  I need to come up with a plan to get back into the swing of things...  so much to do, and so little time.  I'm running around in circles like my head's been cut off, and really getting nothing at all done -- sound familiar?! So, I've gotta plan, gotta schedule, and gotta make it happen!...

A Sketching Workshop and Some Clippings

First, my updated goal calendar...  Not so much artsy stuff.  I'll have to make it in my bigger journal next month...

It will feel great when it's all filled up!!!  That said, I purposefully took this weekend off to let my legs rest a little.  I was going to wait until Thursday night to ride again, but then the Bikin' Bettie's seem to have a fun ride planned for tomorrow night.  And I have bike club.  ...  We'll see what happens.  (I'll have to take Thursday night off from riding if I make it out with the Betties tomorrow.)

So - mini-goal:  Check out at least one online workout this week!  I've been meaning to do that for a while, and I've had a couple of opportunities, but have still put it off.  

I took a Travel Sketchbook workshop this Saturday, 2 hours at Jerry's.  I took some notes, and she had us do a couple of activities: blind contour sketching (my red pepper) and a label.  She talked to us about design elements of a page and how she plans for it, how she adds stuff in to make it look like a neato page...  It was pretty cool.  As much as I know about desktop publishing, I'd have thought that I could do an artsy-fartsy journal page, but it's two totally different things...  You can't clip and maneuver stuff on a page in your sketchbook like you can with stuff on a computer.  She should really write a book.  She could have a chapter for each element you add to the page.  I tried to take notes on my page:  the drawing, the title, repeated doodles, colors, writing... and there was more, but that's all I got on my page.  

And now for clippings and pages from my school sketchbook...  

Art and Journaling

So, I've got goals.  Not important goals, but important-to-me goals...  maybe.  At least, I have goals...

Anyway, combining the two, art and journaling, has never really been a goal of mine, but why not?  I've certainly seen some stuff that I like, so maybe I can start getting it together.  And, let's start with a very small step: a calendar.

So, I drew the calendar by hand, watercolor pencil first, then watercolor...  And now I'm tracking my goal for the month: working out.  I'm motivated by seeing what I've done, so I'm putting in mileage.  And what I already know that I've got to do is find a way to do more workouts during the week.  But, honestly, it's hard:  I've got to get my face time in with the kiddo, then make dinner, then bedtime routine, then I'm exhausted and I try really hard just to stay away long enough to pump!...  One would think I could work out during this time, but I have to pump at 10:30, and if I workout just before I get ready for bed, meaning in that time between getting the little one to bed and pumping/going to bed myself, I would have a really hard time falling asleep!...  so, it's hard.  

But I digress.  

I'm mixing art and journaling.  We'll see what happens.  Probably not much to start with, but maybe I'll get more art into my journaling one day soon.  Wouldn't that be nice?  :-)

Maybe I need bigger paper?  

Then I'll have more space to paint/draw artsy fartsy stuff into my calendars...

Back to Work!

Working on working out, being active.  That's what I'm focusing on this month.  That said, our Girlie Group has homework to work on goals.  So I brainstormed.  And at the top of the list was "Art every day."  So I figure I should get back to working on that...  

And, yesterday, here's my art that I did with one of my students...  I want to show Ms. Lopez, the art teacher.  And I want to do more stuff like this...  just do-ing it.  

And now, I'm back!!!

2 More Assignments done.

Here are two more assignments from the SketchBook Skool Playing class.

Dot drawing... checking out what happens when you lay one color over another.  I used primaries.  

I suppose it's a learning experience, but I found it unexciting.  

On the other hand, I loved making INK MONSTERS!  Blow some ink around, and then do something with it!  It was fun.  And I was surprised how scared my kiddos were to be creative.  They had no problem blowing the ink around, but then had a hard time turning them into monsters.  I think they wanted the blots to be something, to look like something.  But I had fun being creative with the blots, and I think I'll have to do more in the future!




And a quick sketch for the day...  my google smile!
Back from when I was pregnant and didn't even know it yet.  (I may have been days pregnant at this point, and it was already affecting me -- I remember how wiped out I was after that bike ride!)

I've got some catching up to do!

Yikes!  I didn't realize that I'm 2 weeks behind!!!  I have loads of excuses, but let's just skip them...

Here are two that I found at work today cleaning out my desk...

This one was the one that I had done at school, and it went along with the watercolor pencil one that I did at home.  I used markers since I was at school.  I should do more of these; it really is quite relaxing and fun.  

And this is one that I colored around Halloween, so not original, but coloring is Artsy-Fartsy too!  For this one, I used my Faber-Castell Pitt Pens.  

I still need to find the journal I had for school.  So many drawings in it that I didn't record here.  That said, I may have brought it home.  I should look in both places, and really try to get it back.  

Taking another class...  Craftsy's "Sketchbooks: Drawing the Everyday"

Here's my blind contour drawings of my left hand.  

I also added another flower to my bouquet, a quick watercolor sketch of a bluebonnet.  I have one more flower to go before I can frame it for my mom and abuelita.




And here's the actual "bouquet" - which I started doing with a prompt from Illustration Friday who knows when.  Obviously, I did not finish the assignment that week, but I'm okay with that...

So I thought I had counted the number of things I've done, and I was comparing it to the calendar.... in fact, I'm sure I've done that.  But I thought I'd already recorded it in the blog, and I have not.  But I did a count tonight, and I'm about even for the month of January.  But I need to start making up for what I've missed in February.  And I need to remind myself the reason I need to do something everyday...  it's not so that I can actually [accidentally] create a masterpiece one day.  But you journal or paint or sketch every day so that you can get better.  It's the process, the learning that takes place.  Each day builds upon the previous day(s).  And any days spent away from that process, I feel, are like taking two steps backwards.  You don't just pick up where you left off...  

Keep at it, my dear -- talking to myself now...  Truck through it.  Keep artsing.  Keep fartsing.  Keep learning.  Keep growing.  Just keep on keepin' on...  :-)

And one last one... just playin'...