SLOW, Mom's playing

I was wandering around Half-Price books children's section looking for a book that could teach me some fundamentals in drawing. I spotted a sticker book about SIGNS, so I grabbed it. The book is great! It's loaded with simple graphic designs. It was just what I was looking for. I was drawn to the "SLOW, Children playing" sign. Not only because I love the color yellow, but it made me think of my kids and how fast they've gone thru their childhood.

And well, now I'm in my second childhood!! LOL!! I feel like I'm a kid again, because I'm letting myself doodle, and play with paint and just indulge myself. Because now, I have some time. I think the hardest part for me is to just play with markers and paints. To allow myself to experiment with color and shape and to let it show that I'm a novice. It's so relaxing.

What are you doing that you haven't done since you were a kid?

Mandela and.....

I stumbled upon ihanna's blog and they were talking about Mandala's. Wow, lots of pretty mandala's out there. So, being the adventurous type I thought I'd give it a try. I think it's best if I limit myself to using no more that 4 colors. Because being a color-freak, I get very carried away and it's like mixing paint, if I use too many it'll start to look muddy.

Journal Quote (Norman Vincent Peale)
Believe in Yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy....Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture... DO NOT BUILD UP OBSTACLES in your imagination...Do not be awestruck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be You as efficiently as you can. Remind yourself that God is with you and nothing can defeat him.

Yes! The Weekend

I'd like to tell you this is where I'll be this weekend! I'd love to be going to the beach for Spring Break. I have big plans for my Beach Weeks! I'm usually lucky if I get half of what I set out to do accomplished! But what really matters does get accomplished. I come back refreshed, relaxed, a little tanner. Our family has a couple more stories from events. I find there is no place I'd rather go on vacation than a quiet beach. I get to dream here! I get to indulge myself here! I get to challenge myself as well!

But, this isn't where I'll be this weekend......
However, only in TWENTY short weeks, this is EXACTLY where I will be!

Have a great weekend everyone!

What are your TRUE COLORS?

I'm always such a sucker for the quickie quizzes that analyze personalities.
Because I truly believe that the hardest person to live with is the one in the
mirror. I think we can be our bestest friend or our worstest enemy. So, if I
stumble upon a little quiz that takes only a few minutes, I find I always have
the time.

Below is the analysis of my personality, just by answering about 20 word
choices. Here's the LINK. See what it says about you!

Your rainbow is shaded green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are an intelligent person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

These 2 feet

We had this picture sitting around and I was looking for something to do. So, I gridded it up and made a separate larger grid on my art paper.

I drew the outlines of the feet. I was awfully glad I had the squares to keep me in line. Hahaha. Then I traced the pencil lines with permanent marker. Erased the pencil grid and just started playing.


I used some markers and watercolor paints in the background. The paints give it a much more interesting look. They also can be marked over, whereas where I used marker in a colored section the paper tends to hold onto the marker color more. Doesn't lend itself to layering as easily.


I don't know if this is done yet. I'm fighting an urge to doodle all over the place here. I am finding I love using the black/white box strips. It's something that I enjoy doing and it tends to add a lot of POP to the drawing.

I came across this article by Anahata Katkin called "A grain of Salt" where she talks about "art journaling" and the way you use symbols I thought it was so interesting. She gives us permission to use and reuse any elements that we like in our art journals. Here's the Link, it's a really good read and gets my creative juices going. I think this can be applied to many other areas (digital scrapbooking, writing) too.

Unwavering Hope

Unwavering Hope
Originally uploaded by jenlemen

This lady Jenlemen has got some really fun art. I came upon her
thru Kelly Rae's
blog. I love the colors and the simplicity of these.
Just wanted to share.