An Unexpected Snow Day!

A surprise morning off brings out

the art journal

the creative juices

the loong coffee breaks

and the joy of a grateful heart.

I doodled roses with a fine point black Sharpie pen

and had so much fun playing with watercolors.

What a wonderful gift today is!

~k

The Winds of This November

 Autumn is really pretty today.

The leaves have fallen  in colorful piles,

but just enough remain on the branches

to play games with the bluest of skies.

Today.

 

 I am trying to balance the 50-hour work week of an elementary teacher

with the loving time of family.

I babysat my 9 month old granddaughter, Andi,

overnight and got in lots and lots of cuddle

snuggly time.

I am truly amazed at the power of love

and yet, I'm not surprised at all.

♥

~k

Breathe :: Journaling

I find myself deep in thought

a lot.

I need my quiet, alone time,

but yet I take great comfort in knowing that I am never truly alone

in this.

When you just quietly think,

where do your thoughts wander?

~k

Learning Watercolors...

I think better in pencil's darks and lights,

so I started with a sketch.

Then I set everything outside on the back deck

as the sun went down and it got cooler out.

This is my new Koi Watercolor set. I hadn't used it yet!

♥

I began with one pink color, varying its strength...

I learned that I really disliked my paintbrush.

Honestly, I'm not even sure what to get...

If you have favorites and tips for me, please tell me!

I added green...

Here's my Tropical inspiration, on the deck:

I know I am not finished with it.

I need more depth, more contrast...

Not sure if I will paint anymore on it,

but maybe I'll use colored pencils or ink...

Hmmm.

The best part was just doing it!

I have been waiting for my summer vacation

so I could focus on learning watercolors a bit.

Not easy,

much to practice and learn

but I needed to just start.

Thank you for looking,

and for any paintbrush pointers..

much appreciated.

~k

Watercolor Learning

I have wanted, for the longest time, to learn how to paint with watercolors. I finally took the scary-for-me leap. I bought a really inexpensive set, a couple of brushes, and now a course!

I have only begun to practice with supplies, but have learned a bit about what I don't like, for instance, this paper, with or without gesso. I won't experiment in this journal anymore, but will use the watercolor paper pad that I got for my birthday. I also learned that I think I will like watercolor painting and it may not be as scary as I thought...maybe.

Thanks for visiting and putting up with my frightening experiments. I love your comments.  ~k