Morning Meditation

This is my entry for the Different Strokes for Different Folks weekly blog by Karin Jurick. Once again this week's challenge was something really different for me and I really enjoyed the loose painting of the flowers set against the more detailed statue.

Celebrate Good Times

I got to paint at Stoney Beach Studio today - yay!! As always - we had a great time painting the afternoon away. This was the first of two paintings I did. I'm a big fan of illustrative style artwork and that is what this feels like to me. The title comes from the song of the same name. A woman, a dog, a glass of champagne - sounds like a celebration to me:)

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Our Finest Gift We Bring

Dusty and Rainey bring their finest gift to set before the King...pa-rum-pa-pum-pum:) This might be my Christmas card for 2008...

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Rainey and me

I started this by doing a pretty detailed graphite sketch then tried out my new Graphitint pencils to add some color but I just have a small set and not the colors I really needed so I got out my mondo set of Derwent watercolor pencils and had a blast painting Rainey and me sitting on the couch. I love how one half of her face looks like it's sound asleep and the other side her eye is wide open:) My husband took the reference photo and I've been wanting to paint it for a few weeks so it was fun to finally have a few hours to do it. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I think I might have to try another watercolor pencil painting... Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

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November's Nibblefest contest

"Noel"

This will be my entry for November's Nibblefest contest. The theme is Christmas trees. The listing will start at 5:30 tomorrow night and run for a week. The rules are that each listing starts at only 99 cents and the winner is the item with the most individual bids from different bidders "nibbles". I really enjoy the creative challenge each month.

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I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by My Different Strokes buddies Dominique http://artbydominiqueeichi.blogspot.com/
and Irit http://www.iritbourla.blogspot.com/ whose tagged factoids I enjoyed reading very much - thanks you two!! Yikes - and my A4C buddy Akiko tagged me too http://artbyakiko.blogspot.com/ - thanks Akiko - I can't wait to go and read your 7 facts:)

Ok - here are my (hopefully) interesting or unusual facts:
1. I've always loved playing the piano - at the age of 17 I passed all the tests to earn my Washington Piano Teachers Certification and taught lessons until I went away to college.

2. I worked for 10 years as a licensing director for a poster company - for one of our poster projects I got to meet with Jean Claude Van Damme at his house. After our meeting he kissed my hand good-bye - swoon...he's much shorter in person but still extremely good looking:)

3. I LOVE animals and share my life with 2 Australian Cattledogs, a Maine coon cat, 2 goldfish and the many wild critters I feed. I'm honored to be a juried member of two groups of artists that donate part of our ebay sales to animal charity organizations - A4C (Art For Critters) and AUAR (Artists United for Animal Rescue).

4. My husband and I were married on my birthday 15 years ago. He claims it's easier to only have to remember one date :)

5. I've lived in some unusual places - we lived on a boat for a year and we lived in and drove a semi-truck for 3 years.

6. One of my other favorite things is singing - I've sung in many choirs including our jazz choir in high school, then the BYU Women's Choir and more recently our local women's barbershop choir.

7. If I had been born a boy my mom was planning to name me Wilfred - just one of many reasons I thank goodness I'm a girl!!

I'm going to have to give some thought to who my 7 people to tag will be:)

Thanks for the fun Irit & Dominique and Akiko too!!

Skagit valley pastel

I took a reference photo awhile ago that I really loved - I have a feeling that I'm going to have to paint it several times before I really do it justice - here's my first study.

Off to take the dogs for a walk... then I'm working on some watercolor bookmarks to give as gifts for the annual Christmas tea.

Finished lighthouse painting

Here is the San Juan island lighthouse all finished and in the light of day:)

Ok, now what...

On the table - a work in progress

5"X7" watercolor


Here's what I'm working on this morning while sipping my coffee. I try to spend about 10 or 15 minutes each morning here in my studio before I get ready for work. I'm going out for dinner tonight but I hope to finish this lighthouse painting up tomorrow morning - yay Saturday's almost here:)

Driving

This is a self portrait of me driving through the Skagit Valley. It was a beautiful Fall afternoon and I was enjoying every minute of it - driving and taking pictures along the way! I was originally drawing this as a sketch to paint over with watercolors but really enjoyed just drawing away with my graphite pencils and decided to leave it as it is.

Breakthrough

This one is just for fun. I've had this concept in my head for awhile and finally decided to put pencil and paint to it this afternoon. I wish I'd made the grey horse breaking free a little smaller...oh well - it's done now.

Me and My Shadow

This is my Different Strokes From Different Folks attempt for this week. The reference photo was from Karin Jurick's blog - thank you Karin for giving us a new challenge each week!

Commission portrait

I should have taken the picture before I put the painting in the plastic holder but this is the watercolor portrait I just finished for a friend at work. These are her sister's two yorkie's - so cute:)

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Hand painted pottery

Last weekend I went with my friend Heather and her two kids to paint some pottery. They painted ornaments and I painted this plate and a big salad bowl. You never know when you paint with the glazes exactly what they're going to turn out like once they're fired in the kiln but I was happy with both things I painted this time. This one is listed on ebay this week under my seller ID Hissnhowl and I think the other one is going to be a gift.

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DSFDF painting for this week

Here is my attempt at this week's Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge. I'm really enjoying getting to know some of the amazing artists that participate in this weekly blog by Karin Jurick. And many of the subjects, including this week's photo are subjects I would never otherwise paint - I really like the challenge of finding a way to put my own spin on each week's topic. My initial reaction is usually - "No way - I can't paint that" - then by about Saturday it changes to "How can I paint that?" And then - usually on Sunday I just start trying it...

Interupted Sleep

Rainey and Marley were sleeping quite comfortably on the dog bed until I came by and tried to take a picture... You'll just have to take my word for it - they really do sleep here together all the time - sorry Rainey & Marley I know it's embarrassing for both of you but it's true:) One of these days I'll sneek up on them so quietly they won't notice and capture the moment.

Morning Sunshine

I used to paint a lot of these little "roomscapes"in colored pencil but haven't done one for awhile and had the urge to try another - this time in watercolor. I originally had painted the walls a real violet purple but it seemd out of place with the warm colors in the bedding so I toned it down quite a bit and was much happier with it.