Monday officially sets the week in motion, and by Tuesday, I feel like I can best determine what kind of week it's going to be. Granted, things unexpected always happen, but this week Norah has a cold, which means a lot of play and a lot of snuggles. I need to keep my to do list simple and not expect to get everything done.
If she has a cold, I'm not too far from one, so self care (napping when she naps, eating well, etc) is just as important for me too.
Today I'm excited because I get to paint three lovely ladies sipping tea. I was going to do coffee (since I'm a coffee fanatic), but I wouldn't have been able to draw the wee tea flags that I adore so much. ^_^
Tuesdays are a day for creating. I do my best to reserve this day for painting or drawing. Sometimes if I am able, I will paint or draw Monday night to gear me up for Tuesday. Somehow that works for me.
Last night I was able to put 4 hours in (!!!) and got some Christmas art finished, and today is the reward by painting something fresh and new!
A very small and sweet story unfolded as I drew these.
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Its still 10 days away, but the next week will go by in a whoosh! of activities, so I thought I'd post now and have that one small thing crossed off my 'to do' list. (That didn't sound very festive, did it?)
Oh, I'll get festive. Sometimes it takes me a while. Its like before you've had coffee in the morning, and are not at all awake, then all of sudden you come to life and can function. That's how I am with Christmas. I kind of start the season all draggy, then at some point it kicks in and I'm good.
I finished my Christmas art! This is "Kitty's Christmas Tree". Its my first foray back into watercolors after a pretty long hiatus, and I had a blast. Of course I had to add some colored pencil to it too, for detailing. I could have done more, but decided to leave well enough alone.
And no, I did not count how many pine needles there are. If you are some sort of savant (like Rainman) you may do it for me if you like.
In addition to all the usual busy Christmas things to do, I'm getting a new fence put up in the back yard. They were supposed to start it today, but it was raining too much. (Wait, did I just say "raining TOO MUCH"?) Yeah. Drought for how many years, and now we've had storm after storm. Crazy. So hopefully tomorrow it won't be too bad and they can get going on it.
Tonight I'm putting up the tree, and am anxious to see how my newest kitty, Tracy, will behave with it. He's so young, and a real climber - I have a feeling it won't last long in the vertical position! Fingers crossed.
I hope all of you have a peaceful, healthy, joyous, warm, cozy, happy, (what have I forgotten?) Christmas or Winter Solstice or whatever else you may celebrate!
Summer hasn't officially started yet, if you go by the calendar, but if you go by the weather, its definitely here! It was 107 one day last week, and if that's not a reason to break out the popsicles, I don't know what is.
This is a little promo piece for my children's book portfolio. I thought I might break out the watercolors, but at the last minute reached for my colored pencils after all.
This was done with Caran d'ache Pablos (oil based) on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press paper. I'm still getting used to the grain of this paper. I love it - but its very different than Stonehenge, which I've been using for so long. Stonehenge has a kind of 'over all' bumpy, sandpaper-like grain - except its not at all like sandpaper. Its just an even, more 'dotted' texture. Fabriano has a more 'grid-like' back and forth, woven sort of grain. So the pencils make a different kind of mark on each of them. I work in a circular stroke (mostly), so there's been a bit of a learning curve in getting them to work the way I want them too. No complaints! Just sharing fiddly details.
Last night I found myself thinking about Christmas art. I know, right? Every year I wait until the last minute to get my act together, but not this year! I'm going to start
right now, as soon as I finish typing out this blog post. Really. No, I mean it.
OK, but seriously, there's a lot on the board - some in the planning stages, and some half or more than half done. The new website is almost there, but not quite. There's a whole new line of art for a whole new 'thing' that's gestating in various stages around the studio. I've been doing a good deal of purging of old stuff that's been taking up space in file drawers for too long, and it feels really good! The tax people are never going to audit me for 2006, so good-bye old receipts; and no one must ever find the art for those old projects - the ones you do for the money but never admit to or show the art from. Every now and then I watch an Episode of
Hoarders, just to keep myself from 'going there' (don't worry, I'm nowhere even on the same planet as that, but when I get even a little bit of clutter starting on a desktop or drawer, I think, "this is how it starts . . . ").
I'm also knitting, getting stuff ready for my little
etsy knitting shop for Fall and Winter. Every evening my kitties come out on the porch with me and hang out while I knit a bit, after a day of coloring and cleaning. The rest of the day they do this. If they're not hunting. The one on the left caught a huge lizard yesterday - omg - but I was able to rescue it and put it back outside. Never a dull moment . . .
I want you all to know that I really appreciate your visits and comments on my little blog. Thank you!!!
If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my #HoHoDooDa sketches. Here are a few of them for your viewing pleasure.
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