Sunday, July 31, 2011

Jul31Art

Ron and I drove to Dayton Florida today to pick up a composter he bought on eBay. Lovely drive down, nice drive most of the way home... and around Savannah Georgia the light show began... heavy rain and amazing lightening streaking across the sky, joining together and coming down to earth...booming thunder added to the show. Good to be home again, light rain falling here, no show here, just rain.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Jul30Art

Hot, hot, hot today... got this pad of different colored punch out letters at Wal*Mart on sale... very cheap... PITA to use... but at least they were a bargain LOL. Just doodles on the page while watching tv.. should be doing housework, or painting... not doing anything... now it's time for dinner...where did the day go?

Friday, July 29, 2011

Jul29Art

My hobbit name is Camillia... I kind of like that. I read 'The Lord of the rings' in high school, I enjoyed the books very much. I did not like the movies they made... mostly because the hobbits were teenagers and not hobbits. Anyway, John McCain put Hobbits in the news this week and so I drew a hobbit revealed my Hobbit name.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Jul28Art

I hit the jackpot today, 3 boxes full of art supplies arrived the same day from 3 different suppliers... amazing considering I ordered this stuff on different days.  So the inventory of my purchases... a new full pan metal palette from 'Natural Pigments'.. they also have a smaller 1/2 pan size that I already own as well as a tiny bijou box which I thought was only available in England.  I paid too much for the palette I found the same thing at Daniel Smith cheaper... oh well.  Arriving today from Daniel Smith paints that I needed, no new colors just replacements for used up tubes. The pens came from Dick Blick today along with a new hand*book journal, as well as some Starthmore Visual Journals in different paper weights, I  got the small ones to try out the 90 lbs watercolor, the mixed media and the 140 lbs paper.. Another sketchbook with mixed media paper, weight I believe 90 lbs as well... www.dickblick.com/products/holbein-multimedia-books/ It is made by Holbein. 3 new brushes too... See why I said last week I didn't need more art supplies? I had all this stuff on it's way :-)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Jul27Art

My toes are painted coral, and sometimes my fingers get the pink... but I'm much harder on my finger nails than my toes... so it ends up cracking and peeling...  and I can never find a chunk of time to paint them and let them dry... Fashionista I'm not.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Jul26Art

Duck weather in Charleston today, rained all day long... boy do we need the rain... Co worker had a cute duck head umbrella... I commented on it and we had a nice chat about the Peabody Hotel in Memphis Tennessee which is where she got the umbrella... a memento of a visit to see the ducks there.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Jul25Art

My baby brother, Dick gave me this little wooden sailfish for Christmas one year. The tail fin got broken at some point but I still love it... and every once in a while I have to draw it.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Jul24Art

I've been thinking about putting together a more limited palette... 2 reds, 2 yellows 2 blues 2 oranges and 4 earth colors... I may change my mind on the earth colors... they are different but not that different.  On the facing page I mixed these colors to get green and violet... as well as a nice grey.  I'll use this for a while and see how it goes.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Jul23Art

I've been seeing Dragonflies a lot lately... so today's page... a stylized dragonfly, because I'm way too slow to catch one with a camera or a pencil.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Jul22Art

Both South Carolina and Florida have the Palmetto tree as their state tree. The Palmetto is hardy enough to survive even as far north as Virginia. It is resistant to salt water, even if high tide covers it. It is NOT grown in nurseries, they dig up wild mature or young trees and then sell them for transplanting. The spiky area at the top of the tree caused by the dropping of dead fronds are called 'boot jacks' or 'boots'  because the triangular shapes the resemble a boot jack. Thus ends today's lesson on Palmetto trees :-)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Jul21Art

This is one of Beau and Gracie's chew/tug toys... I thought I'd draw it because it is so colorful... hard to get the spiky blue ball to look right... hurts if you step on it LOL

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Jul20Art

Went to Michael's tonight to buy another Micron pen... I wanted an 02, but all they had was an 05... it'll have to do.  I can't see ordering 1 pen online and paying shipping for it... and at the moment I don't need any other art supplies (did I just say that?)... I saw a photo of a sailboat on the beach like the little painting I did today... did this from memory of that photo.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Jul19Art

Cathy Johnson held a CD give away on her blog artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/ and I WON!! Today the CD arrived in the mail.  As you can see from this page, I NEED to learn more about drawing and painting trees... it has been a struggle for me for quite a while now...  I'm looking forward to the lessons on the CD and hopefully some of the advise there soaking into my thick skull :-)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Jul18Art

Had all this lavender paint mixed up so... I drew a couple of wonky plums to use up the paint.

Lavender Fields

The shapes on this one were easy wedges... big swipes of color with a big flat brush with detail added after the initial wash dried. This painting is one of the exercises in a WetCanvas online class I'm taking.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Jul17Art


I found the coolest thing at Wal*Mart today in the school supplies. A neoprene zipper pouch with a wide elastic band to secure it to a book. I bought it hoping it would fit my sketchbook. It does, and the pouch has room for my tiny bijou paint box a pen, a pencil and my waterbrush... I love it.


The pouch is small, but big enough for my tiny Bijou paint box, and tiny Altoids tin with my gum eraser inside, along with my waterbrush, Micron pen and Lamy mechanical pencil(still inside).

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Jul16Art

Strawberries, how I used to love strawberries. It's been about 10 years since I've had one.. and then I had an allergic reaction haven't had one since...

Friday, July 15, 2011

Jul15Art





Cooler today which was a welcome break. Went shopping and bought a bunch of incandescent light bulbs... since the ban stays in effect, I'm hoping to buy enough to last long enough for sanity to return to our government... that might be a very long time LOL.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Jul14Art

Rain, lots of rain this afternoon... since I rode my scooter to work everyone called to tell me it was raining... LOL Nothing to do about it, except wait for it to be over before riding home. Worked on my painting for class... it is horrid .. I don't think I'll be sharing it here.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Jul13Art





A quiet evening at home, should have worked on my painting for my wet canvas online class... but read a book and watched tv instead... I'll do it tomorrow.... yes tomorrow.... always tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Jul19Art





Saw Newt Gingrich tonight at a town hall meeting. He gave a rousing speech and fielded questions from the audience. I was not a particular fan of Newt but wanted to hear what he had to say... if he wins the nomination I could vote for him and I think he'd be a good president.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Jul11Art

My impatiens are blooming again, even some of them that I thought were not worth replanting, have rebounded and started to produce flowers. We've had several good rain showers lately and I'm sure that has helped too.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Jul10Art





I love boxes... and this box at Lowes has been calling to me for a while, today I couldn't resist any longer... believe it or not I have a collection of colored pencils, and watercolor pencils, and some charcoal and sepia drawing pencils... that needed that box to live in since I rarely use any of those pencils... the outside all around and the lid, has these stamped on pencils... it is just the cutest box for pencils I ever saw.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Jul09Art

Here's the red head quote, for all the ladies with auburn tresses out there. How about a song to bang around in your head... Doctor,.... Doctor...

Friday, July 8, 2011

Jul08Art





I loved this quote and I can attest to it's validity LOL I have one more picked out just for my red headed daughter and grand daughter...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Jul07Art

Finished off the watermelon we bought for the 4th, it was really good and sweet. I probably should have drawn watermelon, but I ate it too quickly.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Jul06Art

Looked like storms brewing... and yet none for my yard :-( So time to go give the flowers some water, and maybe do a little painting tonight.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Jul05Art





Got these plastic Adirondack chairs at Lowe's.. cheap, light weight, impervious to rot and very comfortable to sit in. My impatiens are making a come back, they are finally flowering again, now that I've completely dug out their flower bed and replaced their dirt... phew that was not an easy job in the heat... but it proved the right solution to the problem.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Jul04Art

On the 4th of July, we commemorate the birth of our nation and the enduring spirit of self-determination embodied in the Declaration of Independence adopted on this day in 1776.  This precious freedom, secured with the blood and sweat of generations, can never be taken for granted. 

While we are mindful of threats to our safety and security from foreign enemies, we must also remain vigilant to ensure that the very government our founders so carefully crafted does not evolve to become a threat to our way of life. 

As we enjoy this holiday with our friends and families and reflect on the many blessings we enjoy as Americans, we call on the Spirit of ’76, the Sons of Liberty, and all those pioneers who believed in self-rule and limited government intrusion. 

America remains the greatest nation on earth. 

Let’s celebrate it!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Jul03Art

Two Hundred and Thirty five years ago, a small group of learned men got together to found this country... men of wisdom and courage, unmatched by anyone alive today... they took on the most powerful empire in the world at that time, and they had no idea whether they would succeed or fail.... many of them lost their lives and their fortunes because of their stand.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Jul02Art





Went to breakfast in Berkeley County at the American Legion, our Congressman Tim Scott popped in to thank us for supporting him on Thursday. State Senator Larry Grooms explained his redistricting map and everyone had a hearty breakfast too. Good food, good friends, with a touch of politics thrown in to make it interesting.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Jul01Art





We went to Chill's for dinner tonight, and then went grocery shopping. We spend less if we aren't hungry when we go grocery shopping... at least that's my theory... let's us walk off dinner too.

Sullivan's Island Light on Canvas





This is an 8x10 panel, with one coat of Daniel Smith's Watercolor ground applied.  I've got another panel ready with 2 coats of the ground on to see if it'll handle more like watercolor paper... even after the paint is dry on this painting anyway, it lifts off when another layer is added, it doesn't accept spatter techniques very well either...
In spite of all the struggles with it, I'm not displeased with how this has turned out.