Painting the Background

I was looking forward to painting again today and got set up in the back yard.  But the house painters are back and I was having a hard time focusing what with them blipping in and out of the backyard where I was trying to paint. I think I'll take a break and go back out in an hour or so.

Shapes and Colors

Now that being sick is behind me (I hope), I spent today outside painting as much as I could. I didn't quite finish the painting but here is what it looks like so far.  Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow if my hands aren't too sore. I hope I can use this design on fabric.

Stopping to smell the roses. The crazy new apartment owner wants to rip out this rosebush I planted, so believe me, I appreciate every bloom.

I love color. Can you tell?

Do you like it so far?

I got pretty far in one day. I just have the background to finish.

Wallop wanted to come out and help. He forgets he's an indoor cat.

Painting and Knitting

Today I was determined to do some art one way or the other. I wanted to start a new painting, but it took me so long to draw the underpainting, the painting itself will have to wait until another day.

My Facebook pal Ren sent me a sweet metaphysical style knitting book, along with a handmade card and letter. That's so thoughtful. I wish we knew each other in real life so we could be 'crafters in crime', as she put it. But I'm happy to know her via Facebook.

Happy Memorial Weekend

I feel mostly better today. I'm sad I missed all the big Memorial weekend events like Portrero and the Petaluma archery shoot. But I think I'm well enough to do art today.

Thanks to all our vets past and present. You know who you are. Remember that peace should always be our first choice. But until everyone else makes that their choice, it's good to have a back up plan.

A.C.E.O.'s for a Mere $1. Plus Postage

I think I just about have this cold whipped.

I'm planning on making some ACEO's (Art Cards Editions and Originals). In the hopes of getting lots of my art out there and making it affordable for anyone to have original art, I'm dropping the price of each miniature art creation to $1 for the card and $1. for shipping and handling. These aren't prints. They are mini drawings, paintings, or collages. In the past I've sold these from $8 to $20 per card. But I could never find steady buyers. I'm thinking of making a million $1.00 ACEOs.  Of course if you want to buy 100 of them, I'm not going to charge you $100 for shipping. LOL. I'm sure I can do combined shipping.


If you do buy A.C.E.O.'s from me or anyone else, read the descriptions carefully.  Make sure you know if you are getting a print or an original. And a print (as made on a copy machine or computer printer) is not considered an original piece of art, whereas a linoleum block print or a letterpress print or a Gocco print is an original work of art. If the artist is applying ink to a surface, then pulling prints one by one those are considered originals and are often numbered like 1/100 (one of one hundred).

I haven't started the new ACEO's yet, but here are some I've done in the past. Remember, if it's not 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" it's not an A.C.E.O. If this is all new to you, I wrote an article on it here:  Designing and Collecting Art Cards.

Used Tool Swap Meet

The weekend was kind of a bust as I managed to get sick and missed the archery event. I stayed home and read A Cast-Off Coven by Juliet Blackwell instead. I want to finish that one before I start reading the Hunger Games.

I did go to a used tool swap meet on Sat. We had to get up at 5 AM to be in LA as soon as possible. My boyfriend got five or six draw knives, some calipers and some odds and ends.
There was one vendor selling old rusty tools for $1 each would have been great for assemblages and restaurant decor.

Making Time to Draw

Sometimes I just need to get out of the house, go somewhere quiet, and gather my thoughts. And so it was I found my way to the patio at McDonalds. I had my camera, and as usual, photos that I struggled over and that I thought would be great subjects were only so-so, and yet other things that I didn't have much hope for came out in a way I really like. The sparrows were busy doing their thing.  I love the contrast of the red fence and the green foliage and the little bird with a mouthful of nesting materials. I was quite far away and zoomed way in, so I didn't think I'd get a decent shot.  It turns out it's my favorite.

I also spotted a bird's nest in the eves. I tried and tried to get a shot of the mother bird, but every time I moved my head, she'd fly away.  But at least you can see the hole were she was nesting.

And I drew this purple art.  I'm going to add some green eventually.

Bird Silouette

Self portrait

Sparrow Nest

Purple art

Purple drawing

New sunhat

I love this photo! I love the red against the green, the strong geometrics, the bird holding the twigs.  Love it.

My hand. If you don't know what to draw, you can always draw your hand.

Alien looking playground.

Palm tree and sky.

Now that I might have to move out of CA I find myself obsessing over the things like palm trees. I love the way the building frames the tree and sky.

Suncatcher #2 With Seashells

Copper wrapped gourd.

Tumbled glass with looping techique.

Tapo Campground

I spent a pleasant day on the porch making another suncatcher. This one has a copper wire wrapped miniature gourd, tumbled glass, lampwork stars and beads, seashells and fanciful butterfly beads. I didn't have time to take a photo but I will take one tomorrow and add it in. The branch I used was one I picked up at Tapo Campground at the Conejo archery shoot.

Wire wrapped green glass.

Suncatcher and cool shadows.

Suncatcher against a green background

It's hard to get a good photo of these, but you get the idea.

About Blogging

Me in front of Starbucks and Subway.

A new batch of arrows.

I follow and read other blogs almost every day. I have a long list but sadly, many of them have died.  No posts for months or sometimes years. It takes a lot of commitment to blog day after day, week after week. I suppose the novelty just wears off for some people. Or they think they'll get 1000 followers in a month and it just doesn't happen. Blogs are also becoming more and more commercial, with less new content and more 'curated' content.  Curated being a fancy word for re-posting other stuff and not adding any new text or photos from your own experiences. If I follow one of these 'curated' blogs, my reading list quickly gets inundated since these types of blogs tend to do from 5 to 10 posts a day. So I've unfollowed the two worst offenders. They clog up my reading list and then I have to scroll many pages to the blogs with original content that I want to read. It's just something to keep in mind if you are writing a blog. Are you sharing yourself? Or are you just 'liking' other content and posting it to your blog?  Just a thought.

A new sunhat for a hot day. How did I manage to wear orange 2 days in a row?

Drawing at Starbucks

Yesterday I went to Starbucks so I could sit down and draw, read and write. Of the other five people in the room I was in, they were each sitting alone and everyone was on a laptop. So much for socializing at cafes anymore.  The only time people ever spoke to each other was if they needed a spot on the table or a place to plug in their electronics.

Before that I went to Dollar Tree and scored 3 wide brimmed sunhats in denim blue, natural tan, and dark brown. I like that they are plain because now I can fix them up with ribbon or faux flowers or feathers.

The Brown Sunhat

Buena Park Mall across the street from Starbucks

Starbucks on La Palma.

Angel Painting

For Mother's Day Guy wanted to make a special dinner for his mom, so we took the rotisserie over to her house. Two hours later we were all enjoying asparagus, chicken, and corn on the cob.  I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

Here she is with an angel painting I gave to her for Mother's Day.

Saturday Swap Meet

We went out to the swap meet this morning. We got some sweet corn and some asparagus for the Mother's Day meal we are fixing tomorrow out in Monrovia. The fletcher got some more Exacto style knives. I wish I had taken the camera because we strolled through the community college and I saw some nice vignettes.  We saw a cool old plow hiding in a shady alcove. We also saw some characters wandering the rows at the Swap Meet.

Granny Squares

To soothe my jangled nerves from the chaos the new apt. owners are creating, and against all logic, I started making granny squares for an afghan or something.  The repetition of crochet is soothing. The tactile experience of holding them in my hands, selecting colors, and seeing them appear right before my very eyes has a calming effect on me. Learning to crochet may be frustrating, but once you have the skills it will reward you in many ways. I keep my yarn needle handy, so I can weave in some ends when I need a break from the motion of the hook. I took some photos of the work to show you. I'm not sure what's going to become of this project when we move but I'm living in the now.

Paper Dolls

This post got me to thinking about paper dolls. I had many happy moments of my childhood cutting out paper dolls in the pre-made booklets. I also took to making my own by cutting out photos from fashion magazines, adding tabs as I cut around and then designing clothes for them. I'm sure there are tons of websites now where you can just print out the dolls on your printer. It would be fun to design some original ones though.

I'm back from camping but I'm missing the nature already. Here are some photos from the trip last weekend. 

Tapo campground and the Conejo Valley Archery Range.

Covered in blooms in the spring.

Click to see the large photo.

A suncatcher I made while tending the archery booth.

Suncatcher and Granny Squares

During a slow time at the archery booth this weekend I was able to work on beadwork on Sat. and crochet on Sunday. On Saturday I made a nifty suncatcher from beads, seashells, and copper wire. On Sunday I had a lot of people swing by to chat, but somehow managed to get 2 granny squares crocheted.  I got another one crocheted on the way home.

Quite a few of our members won awards in the archery shoot. I'm so proud of them all. I just got home and I'm pretty wiped out from tearing down 2 booths and the campsite, so photos will have to wait until tomorrow.

Granny Squares On the Go

Many big changes happening for me. This weekend I'm taking my granny square project along and hopefully the next time we speak I'll have a whole stack of them to share with you. Crocheting granny squares is a great project to take on a road trip.

Now if I don't go finish packing my craft bin I'm going to get left here.  So see yah. Have fun this weekend.