My Classes and a Bob Update

Can  I  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  that  I  signed  up  for  Christy  Tomlinson's  She  Art  Class!    The  first  week  was  jammed  pack!!   And  she  starts  with  very  basic  designs  for  the  girls--she  shows  3  examples,  and  one  of  them  is  an  angel  which  immediately  appealed to me.  So  I  decided  to  make  some  She  Art  garden angels--

I  love  her  energy  and  enthusiasm,  and  she's  very  organic  with  her  designs,  which,  for  the  most  part,  I'm  not.    But  her  technique  of  creating  rubbed  off  on  me,  and  I  just  worked  along  with  her,  and  I  love  the  way  these  girls  turned  out  in  such  a  short  amount  of  time.   All  of  the  layers--

And  the  textures--

I  highly  recommend  this  class--although  registration  is  now  closed,  I'm  pretty  sure  I  read  that  you  can  sign  up  again  in  April--I  can't  wait  to  see  this  week's  lesson!

And  my  other  class  with  Alisa  Burke,  I'm  also  enjoying--Sketchbook  Delight.  I've  just  watched  the  first  2  weeks  of  the  class,  and  I  have  to  say  that  I'm  not  the  world's  best  sketcher,  but  I  do  enjoy  it.   And  in  these  lessons  she  gives  us  permission  not  to  be  perfect--I  know  that  sounds  silly,  but  you  when  you  hear  someone tell you  this,  it  makes  you  feel  good  about  sketching  no  matter  what  your  sketches  look  like.

And  she  tells  us  to  draw  what  we  like  to  draw  and  what  appeals  to  us.   Well,  I  like  to  draw  faces  and  collect  them  as  well--so  that  was  the  natural  choice--

This  was  so  relaxing  to  me.   She  encourages  us  to  fill  up  the  page,  which  is  never  a  problem  with  me--this  is  what  I  like  to  do  anyway.   And  these  pages  are  done  mostly  with  colored  brush  tip  pitt  pens  and  outlined  with  micron  pen (one  of  my  new  loves).  Her  choice  is  watercolors,  which  I'm  planning  on  trying  (she  has  some  great  tips  with  watercolors).  I've  never  used  watercolors,  but  have  always  wanted  to-so  now  will  be  the  time.

And  speaking  of  Alisa,  not  only  does  she  have  some  great  art  tips,  I  also  found  a  very  quick  recipe  on  her  blog.

These  tiny  red  potatoes  are  so  darn  good.  I  actually  ate  them  as  my  main  course.  In  her  recipe  she  also  added  pearl  onions,  and  a  variety  of  fresh  herbs.   I  didn't  have  the  onions  and  all  I  had  was  the  fresh  parsley--still---DELICIOUS--and  the  fastest  dish  you  could  prepare.  I  don't  like  to  cook  either.  You  can  find  her  delicious  recipe  HERE.

Okay,  and  more  thing--Bob.  His  Mom  and  Dad  were  in  a  wedding  yesterday,  and  apparently  it  must  have  been  an  adult  only  wedding,  because  Bob  couldn't  go,  and  they  didn't  want  to  leave  him  alone  just  yet.   So  I  had  a  visitor  yesterday--

He  looks  a  bit  worried,  doesn't  he?   He  kind  of  was once  his  parents  weren't  there,  but  then  he  settled  in  fine  and  made  himself  at  home.   As  you  can  see,  his  leg  is  just  about  healed.  But  he  kept  going  up  and  down  our  stairs,  and  by  the  end  of  the  day,  he  was  having  trouble  keeping  his  leg  on  the  ground--it  was  probably  a  little  sore--poor  thing.   Monday  will  be  the  first  time  in  2  weeks  that  he'll  be  left  alone.  I  think  they're  going  to  have  a  whole  new  set  of  problems!!

Inspiration

Before  I  started  my  blog--way  way  before  I  started,  I  always  visited  other  people's  blogs--in  particularly--angel  artists.   And  thinking  to  myself,  that  I  would  love  to  paint an  angel,  but  thinking  that  I  couldn't.   I  have  made  a  few  angels  in  the  past  but  on  a  smaller  scale  with  very   little  detail--they  didn't  even  have  faces  on  them.   But  then  came  my  blog,  and  the  encouragement  from  all of  you  and  then  my  online  classes,  and  I  felt  a  little  more  confident   and  just  DID  it--instead  of  wondering  if  I  could  or  not.  (Remember  to  click  on  this  to  see  all of  the  textured  details!)

She  first  started  out  as   just  a  face  that  I   drew  in   my  sketchbook  and "demonstrated"  at  my  show  last  week--

I  wouldn't  really  call  it  demonstrating--I  never  looked  up  once  and  when  I  finished  sketching  her  face,  I  just  put  it  away--it  sure  did  pass  the  time  quickly  though.  It  was  on  Sunday,  and  near  the  end  of  the  show.  I  wasn't  really worried  so  much  about  the  face  as  I  was  (and  this  may  sound  silly)  the  wings  and  halo.  As  many  angels  that  I've  seen,  I  always  look  at  them  as  a  whole  and  never  pay  a  whole  lot  of  attention  to  the  wings  or  halo--more  specifically,  the  positioning  of  them.  So  I've  been  going  to  all  of  these  generous  angel  artists'  sites  and  paying  more  attention  to  these  aspects.   And  I  found that  it  doesn't  really matter  where  you  put anything---it's  just  your  own  style.  So  I  want  to  say  a  big  Thank  You  to  all  of  you  angel  artists  out  there  for  inspiring  me,  and  chances  are,  if  you  create  angels,  I've  been  to  your  site!

And  also,  when  I  started  out  with  her,  I  deliberately  took  my  time.  I  would  work  on  her  for  a  little  while  and  stop  for  the  day   even  if  I  wanted  to  keep  going--I  just  enjoyed  the  process--

I  find  that  when  I  stop  and  come  back  later, especially  the  next  day,  I  can  view  my  piece   and  get  a  whole  new  idea  that  I  never    would  have  thought  of  doing  the  day  before,  and  if  I  rushed  to  finish  it,  chances  are,  that  I  wouldn't have  been  able to   add  the  little  touches  in  it  that  I  did.  This really does work!!   I know a lot of you do this already, but if you have never done this or are struggling--I'm telling you, it's like a whole new piece when you come back to it.

                                                                                                    

So  you  probably  can  guess  what  else  I'm  planning  on  doing  with  my  new    angel  image-- I'm  so  happy  with  her ,  and  I'm  also  happy  with what  I' ve  accomplished  from  last  year   : )

So  let  me  tell  you  another  inspiring  story.  My  son  Nick   is  very  good  about  taking  care  of  himself--he  eats very healthy (reads  all  those  labels!),  and  has  always  been  physically  active  and  exercises  routinely.   His  one  downfall  was  that  he  felt  that  he  could  never  be  a  runner.  He  never  did  well  in  school when  it  came  to  running around  the  track.  He  would  tire  easily, and so on  and  so on.  Well  4  years  ago,  he  decided  that  he  was  going  to  run  a  marathon-- not  a  half  one,  but  a full  26.2  mile  one.  So  he  went  on  the  internet,  found  a  training  program,  and   trained  all  year,  and  in  the  Fall  of  that  year,  he  ran  his  1st  full marathon  and  finished  it!  

Fast-forward  to  2010,  and  he's  still  doing  marathons.  He  runs  a  marathon  a  year.   Okay,  now  lets  talk  about  my  daughter  Jen.  She  didn't  want  to  run  a  marathon,  but  she  was  the  same  way.  She's  also  very  conscience  of  her  daily  habits,  and  always  has  some  exercise  regimen  going  on  in  her  life.  But  she  could  never  run,  saying  that  her  legs  would  get  sore,  and  mainly,  she  would  get  out  of  breath  easily.  Well, yes,  you  guessed  it--she  started  running  this  year, and is  now  a  regular  runner.   So,  let's  fast  forward  to  a  week  ago.   Here  are  the  both  of  them  at  the  Columbus  marathon--

Nick  signed  up  for  the  26.2  mile  marathon  and  finished  (his  2nd  best  time),  and  Jen  signed  up  for  the  13.1  mile  marathon  and  finished  it!!   ( and  don't  they  look  so  eager  and  ready  to go?  this  photo was  taken  afterwards!)  And  you  know  what  their  plan  is  for  next  year?  They're  going  to  meet  in  Chicago (the  largest  marathon)  and  they're  both  planning  on  running  the  full  marathon.  Needless  to  say,  I'm  very  proud  of  them,   not  so  much  that  they  ran  the  marathon (which  is  totally  awesome),  but  they  kicked   that  self  doubt  off  of  their  shoulder  and  just  DID  it.   So  all  of  you  doubting  Thomas's  out  there  who  think  that  you  will never be able  to  do  something--the  only  thing  that's  holding  you  back  is  you!

So  who  knows,  Nick  and  Jen,  maybe  I'll  be  alongside  you  2  running  someday.......Who  me?!   I  can't  even  run  around  the  block  ; )

Wings and Imagination

Wings is the the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday,  and a couple of weeks ago, I made my
garden angel. so this week for the challenge I made my butterfly angels--

 The butterflies are Dover images and I used my favorite garden book for the background again--

And when I was making this, I knew that I wanted to add text or a quote.  I don't really have a way with words, so I just went to Google and found this quote:

"Imagination will take you everywhere" 

The actual quote is "Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere."

I found it here:

Now, I'm really proud of this.  I was never able to figure out how to get the actual utube video up on my post--I'm still in computer grade school.  So with a little help from my son, Nick, via email, I did it.  My son is a college professor, you know (Dr. Salter), and he's been teaching me computer skills since I started my blog, but he'll only tell me how to start things  and then let me figure out the rest by myself.  Look Nick, I did it!

This video has really great quotes in it, that I know alot of artists like to use in their art, and also there are some amazing butterfly photos in it, or if you just want to be a little motivated, it's nice to watch.  Okay, if anything, at least put it in your favorites (after all this trouble I went through  to figure it out). There really are some wonderful quotes on here.  And I want to give credit to the utube artist Elaine Gilbert for putting this together.

Isn't the internet wonderful?  It has become such a useful tool for artists.  I can't even count all the techniques I've learned, and look, I'm taking a class that I've always wanted to take.  I really don't think there's a local Goddess and Poet class in my town. I think one of the best parts about it, is just interacting with other artists all over the world.  If I have a question or need help, I always know where I can go.  What was it like for artists when there was no internet I wonder? 

And in December, I bought myself a laptop for an early Christmas present.  The main reason was, so that I could have it up in my art room, because I knew that I was going to take a class, and it would be much more convenient for me.  But it's really become one of my art supplies that I can't do without--for instance when I wanted to find a quote.  She's become like my little art assistant. I call it a she, because there are days when she's a bit moody, and there are days when she can be a downright  ITCH with a B, but most of the time we get along very well and I've become very dependent on my little Dell.  And after reading what I just wrote, I  think that I'm spending WAY, WAY  too much time in this house and I think I need to get out more : )