Finally Finished

Here are some I did with templates from the book

This has been a good week for me in terms of finishing up a few creative projects that have been keeping me busy lately.  The first one I want to tell you about is my ebook - Seeing Stars: a Zentangle Constellation. It is my 3-D ornaments class in book form.  You don't even have to know Zentangle since I there are 3 different versions of each: one is ready to color and 2 are already done for you so all you have to do is cut and fold.

But the absolute best part of this book is that each one sold feeds a hungry child. See the details on yesterday's post.

The second big project is my painting of Mendenhall glacier. This thing has gone through many iterations and growing pains. It will never be my favorite piece of art, but it brings back wonderful memories.

If I hadn't done it on a gallery wrap, I think I would have cropped it:

Have a great Paint Party Friday, everyone, and Merry Christmas!

Getting There

Happy Paint Party Friday!
I've been painting like crazy for the last 2 weeks.  It is helping me stay sane as I have had a sick child, injured husband, houseguests, and the beginning of a new book.
Two weeks ago, I painted this for my brother-in-law.

It is by far my favorite work so far.  The only thing I don't like is that I didn't take the original photo.  I hate working from someone else's art.  It was really hard to give this one away.  It was even worse because I forgot to take a good picture before he took it home.  I guess I have a reason for a trip to Michigan.
The last week, I've been trying to capture Mendenhall Glacier on canvas.  It's tricker than usual because I'm trying to combine 4 different photos.

I had something that was going along pretty well:

I should have just finished the little island in the foreground and called it done. But I was so fascinated by the mist that I really wanted to see if I could capture it.

Even though I really like my sky, I think I should have left well enough alone because now I have a Caribbean blue sea in mistyAlaska.
 
So, I have 2 questions for those kind people who've stayed with me so far.

1) Should I try and change the color of the water to match the sky or put back my blue sky and paint out the mist?

2) Should I paint in the tourists over by the waterfall?

Thanks for visiting. Happy PPF.

More From Hoot

Today was a great day at the HOOT conference. We did more make & take tangled shell necklaces.   It can be a bit difficult trying to draw a straight line on a lumpy surface, but we told them that there are no mistakes and to just "let go and let Zentangle."  I was really impressed with how well these newbies did.  These ladies love theirs and were great ambassadors for Zentangle.  We had a lot of people come by to make their own.

Alexa and I also got to tangle on porcelain. The nice ladies from Porcelain Treasures of Ohio wanted to see how Zentangle would look on their wares and gave us a few gratis to try. Wow. The texture is simply fabulous. The ink spreads like cream and it has just enough tooth to allow for some great shading.

I love Birdie's cross. 

Finally, the highlight of my day was a private painting lesson with Donna Dewberry.  

She's doing oils now.  Fun!  Have a great weekend.

 

Travel Sketches - Alaska Cruise

I spent 5 days at 2 different Zentangle retreats last week, plus the better part of a day waiting in the Atlanta airport. Since I have a water brush, Sakura Koi field kit, and a small sketchbook, I can work just about anywhere.  When I got tired of tangling, I painted.  I don't love all of the sketches, but I am tickled pink that I got 10 pages done.  

 

 

 

 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

 

Long Enough to Have a Baby

I knew it's been a long time since I partied with the Paint Party Friday people, but I was shocked when I noticed it's been over 8 months. That's long enough to have a baby!  I guess you can say I did, in a way, since I have published a book since the last time I posted anything for PPF.  It felt so great to have a paintbrush  in my hand instead of just pen and pencil.  

Here are the first 3 sketches from my travel sketchbook of our Alaska cruise last August. 

Happy PPF everyone!

Passing the Time

This has been a busy week for us.  Birdie has had 4-hour rehearsals every evening at Ohio State. I decided that since it is 40+ minutes to drive her there,  I would stay and find a way to amuse myself on campus. The first day, I brought a few books and thought the 4 hours would never end.  The next 3 days, I took ran errands and went to a movie.  I thought it might be fun to see "adult" movies.  I learned that I don't like R-rated movies.

Finally, last night, I brought my art supplies.  The time just FLEW by!

Birdie made a rubber stamp of her uncles.  I colored two of them and did pen and ink shading on the third.

I'm not particularly happy with the results, but at least I was happy while I was doing it.

A Friend for Nemo

Hello PPF friends,

It's been such a busy day that I completely forgot it was even Friday until about an hour ago!  And I painted early this week.  That's probably why.

I just got the fall schedule from my art teacher and found out that she won't be having adult classes any longer.  I can't say that I blame her, since she didn't have enough students to justify the time.  But I will really miss them.

I can still set aside a few hours a week to paint, but it is much harder without that studio time paid for in advance.  And I will miss the opportunity for critique.  Lucky for me, PPF will help with that.  I'm definitely motivated to paint so I have something to post on Friday.  Plus, I love all of the feedback I receive.  Please, don't hesitate to give me honest, constructive criticism.  Especially since I won't have my teacher for feedback.

So, I really need some feedback on this painting.  I started it a few weeks ago and "finished" it on Wednesday.  But, I showed it to a few people and they didn't think it looked done.

But, I do think it now goes well with Nemo.  He doesn't have to be lonely any more.  (If he could swim to the other painting, like they do on Harry Potter!)

Thanks in advance for any comments and happy PPF to y'all.

Cris

Painting Help and Contest

Hello Paint Party Friday Friends,

My PPF painting this week is inspired by Joanne Thomas's Watercolour Line and Wash instruction video. There are also videos on painting movement and using a palette knife. If you want to learn something new and maybe win $50 worth of art supplies, check out the challenge page. The contest ends on Sunday, July 8, so you still have a little time to enter.

I really enjoyed the line and wash technique, but I always end up frustrated whenever I do this kind of lesson because I expect my painting to look like the instructor's. Which is totally unrealistic, considering I doubt I have 1/10 of the experience!

I had the same problem this week doing my Zentangles. I let my expectations get in the way of my art. My new mantra will be: "LET GO and GO WITH THE FLOW." Expectations only lead to disappointments.

Despite this painting not looking like the Joanne's, I kind of like it and will definitely add this technique to my toolkit. Happy PPF. If you enter the contest, please let me know. I'd love to see your interpretation.

Trying Something New

When we were at the beach, we stopped in the QVC outlet and I found an oil-painting kit for only $8: Expressive painting with Anne-Marie Esson. I bought it and had so much fun with it that I am kicking myself for not buying 5 of them.  My nephew accused me of "cheating" since I copied someone else's work. My other nephew liked the painting so much that I ended up giving it to him.

I waited for two days so I could add some more layers, but the humidity was so high that it never fully dried.

Packing Light

I love my travel sketchbook.  I've only been keeping it since January 2011, but we've gone to many places since them and it brings back such fond memories whenever I get it out.

But when we were in New Mexico, I was so busy working on the Sketchbook Project that I only did one sketch.  And we're leaving for the beach on Sunday!  Catching up on my travel sketchbook is high on the priority list.  Right up there with packing :-) Luckily, I pack light.  Especially my art supplies.  My Zentangle supplies fit in a box the size of a paperback with room for my paints.

Here are all of my travel sketchbook supplies.  

Sometimes, I think I'd like to get something better, but this little $5 special holds my pencil, eraser, and water brush, while still acting as a palette and fitting in the pocket of my travel skirt.

So, while Birdie was at her 4H meeting tonight, I sat in the car and started a sketch of sunrise in Ruidoso, NM.  Mountains are a challenge to me, living her in the flat lands, but I am improving.

Steering wheel holding the iPad, painting on my lap.  

The best thing was that when I showed Birdie, she knew exactly where it was.  That makes me happy.

Happy PPF.  Hope your painting makes you happy, too.

My First Portrait

I want to thank everyone for all of the great comments on my first PPF last week.  I had so much fun reading your comments, getting inspired by your artwork, and learning from your advice.  Sadly, Nemo is still stuck in his unfinished state.  But it's just because last weekend was my God-daughter's wedding.
Which meant that I was finally able to give them their gift: a portrait I painted of her and her new husband.  I've been working on this since January and couldn't wait to see if they'd like it.  They did!  Yay.
First, the inspiration photo, taken last year

And here is the result:

It's my first oil painting, but I am planning on doing more.
My daughter Birdie also painted portraits of their dogs to go with them.

Aren't they a beautiful family?

Please Help Nemo

Here is my first Friday Paint Party painting.  It is an 18x24" watercolor and colored pencil affectionately nicknamed "Nemo."

I've been working on this piece for a few weeks and I'm stuck.  I thought I was done except for painting another small clown fish in the white space above the coral.

I like my anemone and fish by themselves:

and I like to coral on the right side by itself, but as a whole, I'm not fond of the composition. I don't like the space to the left of the anemone and I think I need some darker and perhaps more defined seaweed behind the anemone, but I'm not sure.

So,  should I

• leave it as is (once I put in the other fish)? 
• crop it into two pieces and make it into a group?
• leave it big, but paint some more?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as my art lessons are on "summer break" as of Monday.