Happy Holly Holidays!

I took these photos of American Holly sprigs earlier in the autumn, and knew they'd be great reference photos for future drawings.

I invite you to use them to create from -- sketch, draw, paint, collage or whatever you like.

Happy Creating & Happy Holidays!

Art for Self-Care: Art Journaling

 
I recently began following The Unexpected Gypsy on YouTube and Patreon.  Her willingness to share her art process and to speak authentically about her life & emotions has inspired me, taught me new techniques, and encouraged me to trust my own creative process. As a result, I have created an art journal.  I relish my time listening to music, sipping tea, and playing with colors in my journal.

For the longest time I resisted art journaling, thinking, "I have a nature journal, a gratitude journal, a writing journal, and lots of materials for art-making, why should I add one more journal?"

Here's why: I am free to create anything I want in my art journal.  I don't have to share any of it, and because it is dedicated specifically to uncovering my own true self -- my creativity, my ideas, my dreams, my struggles, and the images my soul needs to express -- new types of art pop out. 

Sometimes it's just quotes that speak to me and give me a starting place to play with designs & materials.  But often, I find that I start with colors and shapes, like this liquid watercolor painting on gesso.

And then other ideas rise up -- here I added white acrylic paint and white gel pen. Each added layer uncovers more within me. I'm learning to trust my intuition as I create.  

Playing is vital to creative development in any art, and this new art journal has become my playground.  

I recommend finding a blank journal or sketch book to turn into your own art journal and creative playground!

Hiking Day

Doak Field is still dressed in winter colors.

Saturday afternoon the clouds cleared from the sky, and I had free hours to slip on my backpack and traipse out to the woods and fields.  I carried two nature journals -- one is 9" x 12" with plenty of white paper to fill up, and the other, 6" x 8", is filled with brown paper.  The little, brown journal is my primary nature journal -- small, friendly, and easier to balance as I walk and sketch, it provides a midtone starting place to work lighter and darker into the drawing.

From my journal:

I wander Doak Field realizing that this time in the sunshine under the Bluebirds' sky is precisely what my soul needed.  A Song Sparrow's call bids me welcome. Wish I had my tea thermos like I had back in my Oak Openings days.  

Sitting in Doak Field watching the bluebirds hunt.  Perched on a low limb of a cherry tree, their impossibly blue wings catch the sunshine as they sail to the mowed earth after their prey & then flutter back up to their branch. 

Bright sunlight made every line crisp and had me reaching for pen and ink to capture the scene. 

A Fresh Face for My Bullet Journal

A night of splashing bright paints on paper to create Valentines with led to unexpected inspiration and a new cover for my old bullet journal.  This time of year, my eyes are hungry for bright colors!

The old look -- plain and ordinary.

The back cover.

Let the paint splash!

Larch Cones

Larch trees are unusual for conifers in that they lose their needles every autumn just like maples and hickories do.  This time of year, the trees turn golden yellow, and glow in the late afternoon light.  I'm taken by the tree's needles -- so much softer than prickly evergreen needles -- and by their cones with the curling tips on their scales.  So many contours!

A good friend sent me a photo of these cones, and it inspired me to tape some watercolor paper to the kitchen counter and paint at the breakfast table.  While the background washes were wet, I sprinkled on salt for added texture.  Once the painting was dry, (& I brushed the salt away) I couldn't resist using Micron pens to pick out the details.

A Day of Sandhill Cranes and Sunshine

Today I had a rare day off.  And, serendipity granted me a lovely, sunny afternoon to sit outside on an old wool Army blanket south of my house and paint the scene before me.  The sky was clear as a Robin's egg shell, spanning ultramarine to cerulean blue, and I delighted in watching a half dozen Eastern Bluebirds hunting in the Staghorn Sumac shrubs around my home.  A gentle breeze made the dead aster stalks dance and nod, and I simply relaxed and took it all in.

This morning at just after 10 am, I stepped outside and was surprised to hear the trumpeting call of a hundred Sandhill Cranes flying high overhead.  How remarkable that I could hear their wild voices as far as they were from me.  I snapped these photos of the majestic birds on their migration, and offered up Palo Santo incense and a prayer for their safe travels south.  A charmed day.

Sandhill Cranes form two loose V's.

A Rainy Autumn Afternoon

Why is it that a rainy day seems to bring out all the fall colors ? The wet sky today had such a palette of colors -- indigo, magenta, violet -- as the sun sank in the west.  The cottonwoods seem to find the slightest breeze to wave their golden leaves, and they stand in stark contrast to the stalwart spruce trees.  How privileged I feel to have spent the last of the day's light with a paintbrush in my hand.

Inktober All Over

Inktober has been seeping into my daily planner.  Here are some glimpses.  Amazing how much life a few simple sketches add to a boring list of tasks.  Even a grocery list can be livened up!

A Sketch-potition

 My sister-in-law Dianne, once gave me a little sketch book for "sketch-potitions," or expeditions whose sole purpose is art.  I had a summer afternoon to dedicate to hiking and sketching, so I filled a backpack with supplies and set out on a watercolor sketchpotition.  My feet carried me down the trail to this charming Adirondack shelter deep in the woods in our local state park where I painted the view from the shelter.

Daylily painting

Day lilies

The summer rains have produced prodigious blossoms on the day lilies on my hilltop home.  Down by our little pond, a lovely clump of bright orange flowers inspired me to grab my paints, some (free) mat board and an easel, and create this painting.

I notice that the mat board absorbs more paint, but holds up well to being worked over with watercolor paints & brushes. Now I have a moment of summer captured for the howling winds of winter. That's the beauty of playing with watercolors. An afternoon of splashing paints on paper can still the sunshine and save it for a day when you need to be reminded that July will come again, and with it foliage and blooms and lazy summer afternoons. Blessed are we to have the privilege of being alive on days like these.

Painting down by the pond.