More Craft Books and Fabric.

Here is what I bought at the Medieval Marketplace yesterday. The stretch velvet fabric was $15 and is 60"wide and at least 3 yards long. The bigger books were $5. each and the rest were $1. each. My total was $30.

Medieval Marketplace in LaVerne CA

Today was a busy day. We went to an SCA event in LaVerne. I spent most of it painting a portrait.  The weather was perfect.  Late November weather is always risky, and we couldn't have had a more cooperative forecast.
I bought some craft and cookbooks at a sale, as well as some awesome fabric. The fabric will be great for a belly dancing costume, maybe as some harem pants. I don't even have time to sew right now but I'm an optimist.

Penny Art

I must try this: Penny Art By Oxidation. Did you know you can shine dirty pennies up by rubbing them with ketchup?

Drawing Exercises

I'm enjoying the drawing exercises in my new book '52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun' by Carla Sonheim. This is from Lab 6 Index Card Multiples on page 26. I was doing contour drawings of some ornamental gourds I bought at the grocery store. The point is to look at your subject and draw it while looking at the subjects, not at the paper, as much as possible.  In other words, the 2 that look 'good' are not the ones that I did without looking. This kind of drawing always looks more energetic and spontaneous than typical drawing, but it also looks more goofy and amateurish.

Carpenter's Pencil on Large Index Cards

Third Panel of Purple and Gold Series

I knew I wanted an interesting shape to add to the third panel of my semi-abstract painting series.  So here I doodled up a few. Drawing them ahead of time gave me the confidence to dive right in with the wet paintbrush. The doodle a day and painting a day are going well with each other.

Dancing Through the Cosmos

 

This is the second painting in a series of four that are meant to be hung as a unit on a wall. I've gotten great feedback for these on Facebook. When I started this project I didn't know if I'd be able to think of something different to paint each day, but so far, I can't keep up with the ideas that are flowing in from everywhere. I have 2 more of this series, but I already know what I want to do for the next one. It feels good to be productive.

The Dancer A Semi Abstract Painting

I wrote in length about today's painting here: Purple and Gold 

My last few paintings were so structured, that it was a joy to do something so spontaneous and free.

Point Shoes

My new painting for today has a ballet theme and was done with acrylics.  The foundation is bristol vellum covered with gesso. I may do another one with red shoes.

Square Foot Art Gallery

Today I went to the art store to get canvas board for my new daily painting project.  And then I found out they don't carry 12" x 12" canvas boards. Oh dear. The cheapest ones I could find were masonite for about $3.50 or canvas stretched on a frame for $4.  That would be about $120 a month just for canvasses. So I talked to a store employee and we decided I could go with Bristol Vellum, apply gesso and paint on that for a much more resonable price.  Then when I got home I checked at the Dick Blick site and they carry the size I need for under $2.00 each. Now that's more like it. So next month I'll order a month's worth from them. In the meantime I'll paint on the Bristol Vellum. I use the same paper for SCA illumination so I know it is a joy to paint on so I'm not worried.

I'm going to have an officially opening for my new Etsy shop on Dec. 1, 2011, where I'll list all the paintings I've done between now and then. So about 14 paintings if all goes well.

Pumpkin and Leaves Painting

Today I did two paintings. One is realistic and done from life. The other is a figment of my imagination.  I did them at a friend's house and so far I've only photographed the first one which is of a pumpkin and some autumn leaves.

Doodle Project Day One and Books

I must be tired because I put my art post in this other blog of mine when I meant to put it here. Doodle Project.

I'm so excited at the two books I just ordered from Amazon. One is a book I have been wanting for a year of miniature illuminations that is a reference for SCA scrolls.  The hard cover is very expensive but I found a nice used soft cover for around $15.00.
http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Gaston-Phebus-Manuscripts-Miniature/dp/1872501974/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321254862&sr=1-1

						The book that attracted me to Amazon in the first place was one I saw last week and decided I can't live without. It's called Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists. The third book is one my boyfriend ordered that will soon be in print. It's about making gourd bottles. It comes out in a few days so we pre-ordered it. We have several books by the same artist and they are always excellent. I don't even need to flip through it first.  I just know I'll love it.

Getting Organized

I hit a great Veteran's Day sale at Joann's yesterday.  Then I headed over to the dollar style store to get more storage boxes. I decided to sort my burlesque and belly dance trim into boxes by color. It's not a perfect system.  Do I only keep the unfinished parts in there, and then put the finished pieces in even more bins? And what happens when the bra is both pink and blue? Then which bin does it go in?  And then I was going to put all the bins in a cardboard box.  Great plan except I wanted to put six bins in there and only five fit. And two have to go sideways and the lids are not that secure, so I may have to put ties around the containers. Truly, being organized is not my forte.

My find of the day was some black fishnet style fabric with silver metallic thread shot through it.  I think someone had hidden it away to come scoop it up once it was on sale because it was shoved sideways behind all the other bolts.  But I have hawk eyes and ferreted it out. I almost got it in white too, but honestly, I wear black over white nine times out of ten.  So with the sale price I paid $3.00 a yard for 2 yards, and since there was only 3/4 yard left she gave me that at a deeper discount.

So today I'm a wee bit more organized but not by much.

Red Garter

I do my best to create something every day. So today I made something simple but I'm thrilled to have it.  I made a red garter. I haven't found a store bought garter that would fit me since about the middle 1970's. Next I need to modify some fishnets with more stretch lace so they fit me.

Plans for November and December

We've had some unexpected rain which put a damper on my plans. Also a wind storm the day before the rains tore down our shade canopy on the back porch. It's too hot to work out there without it and too wet right now, so no outdoor crafting was done. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled for an end of season sale on canopies.

We got invited to a craft fair in December but have decided to turn it down. I just don't think they'll get enough of a turn out to make it worth all the work of setting up the booth. It's in a remote canyon. And it's a first time event.

Sunday we have an SCA event but with the rain it may get cancelled.  Even if it doesn't rain on Sunday the fields might be too muddy for the sword fighters. We'll see.

DIY Burlesque Article

While my burlesque costume was fresh in my mind, I wanted to write an article about how to do it. Since I wanted the article to be part of National Blog Posting Month, I posted it here: Burlesque DIY. I can't wait to work on the red and black version that I bought the velvet top hat for. Coming soon.