Just posted this (framed original mixed media) in my online JaneVille Etsy shop. Also I relisted two of my needlefelted pieces (after their TV appearance)
Opposites is the theme for February's Sketchbook Challenge. I can't believe February is nearly over, and I'm just getting this done! well, it is a short month. Do go over the The Sketchbook Challenge blog and read up on all the wonderful posts, fabulous prize give aways, interviews. All kinds of stuff is happening over there!
Husb and I went to Wild Animal Park. It was really fun to sketch and paint quickly some of my favorite animals. We'll definitely go back soon, sketchbooks in hand!
I got a new paint set. It was a gift, and I'm liking it! I had to try out the new colors.
I teach kids to draw, just like I teach adults in my "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" workshops.
I want them to draw from real life objects (not photos.) I encourage them to really look and draw what they see. First to draw in pencil, then redraw and refine again in pen, then add watercolor. It's about the experience of being in the moment and really slowing down and focusing. And keeping a visual record of your life.
My online Sketching & Watercolor Class starts up on March 3rd! (it's for adults and kids too!) And if you're in the San Diego area, I've got a one day workshop, in a gorgeous garden in Encintas on Saturday, March 19, with registration form here.
My good friend, Helen Shafer Garcia, took me to her favorite hiking area yesterday, the Santa Rosa Plateau in Murrietta. (about an hour north of where I live.)
The Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve is 8,000 acres of gorgeous California country. The kind I remember as a child, growing up in Northern California. (I am a native Californian.) We spotted some wildflowers, it's just the beginning of the season. It had been a huge ranch in the mid 1800s, and you can see the farmhouse, and image life at the time. Just a wonderful way to spend the morning!
I'm very excited to be teaching at Art & Soul in Portland, Oregon for the first time. It's a mixed media art retreat running September 26- October 2. Just look at this, to see all the fabulous art being taught.
Join me on this blog hop, to get to know a few of my fellow instructors:
One of my new year's words was 'coffee.' I wanted to make the time to have coffee dates with my husb. Here's the little journal I carry with me, to sketch, paint and record, those dates.
A permanent ink pen, Waterbrush, pencil and a Tombow water soluble pen, & my tiny journal. (supply sources are on my 'products I use' page.)
I spent Wednesday, Feb 16 in a TV studio in Cleveland, Ohio. That's me with Pokey Bolton, friend and host of QA TV (and she does a million other things, like Quilting Arts & Cloth Paper Scissors magazines.) I started at 8am in make up, and filmed 3 segments for Quilting Arts TV, Series 800. (You'll be able to start pre-ordering in July, and shipping starts around the 3rd week of July) Pokey makes the segments relatively easy, as she asks great questions and is loads of fun. That's me listening intently to the Producer. I did a needle-felting segment too. You can see Suzanne Morgan's Everthing Kit on the left, that's what I used to create my Venice pieces. Jeannie Cook-Delpit, Bernina's director of national events was in the green room to teach me to use the Bernina machine and the needle punch attachment for my segments. This is what the set looks like. That's Lindsey Murray on the right. My work, spread out for one of the segments.
After filming the 3 TV segments, we started the filming of my hour long DVD around 3pm. Here I am. Ready! Pokey was a special guest in my DVD. I taught her to draw and paint! Here at I about 5pm, ready to start filming the final chapter of my DVD. You can tell I'm starting to tire. I don't know the title yet of the DVD, but it is based on my "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" and will also show ways to use your original artwork in mixed media. I'll keep you posted!