Oil Pastel Landscape Painting Class

I took an oil pastel class last night. This is my first attempt at cray-pas and we worked on an unusual surface, ultra suede mat board. I felt like I was making a velvet Elvis painting but the instructor loves this surface.

She likes how the nap pokes out; I don't care for it. The gray splotches are from the nap standing in clumps.

I've ordered some books from the library and I'll give the medium another shot with a different canvas.

Crikey It's A Backpack Ink and Marker Drawing of Reptiles, Insects and Fish

This backpack was inspired by a very famous naturalist who died tragically. He would never have worn crocodile skin so this croc died naturally, of old age.

Hurricane Zelda Struck

My favorite color is a vivid aqua blue and while shopping for shirts at Kohls my husband spotted these shoes. They didn't have my size so he went to several stores to find a pair for me.

Zelda, my lhasa poo, liked them even more.

EDM Everyday matters challenge #1 draw a shoe

I Felt The Need To Watercolor

I have been spending too much time on a computer so I needed to do something that smelled and felt like art.

Some More Drawings From My Blog 365 Drawings of Food

I've noticed that the viewers for the 2 blogs are very different so I thought I'd share some the sketches in my ongoing food journal.

























This is a crayola marker and pitt pen drawing of a pineapple. I like how the quick sketch captured the essence and texture.

























I like the whimsy of the flower centers being the menu items. Markers and Pitt pen.

























A Sonic Cheeseburger with a Diet Cherry Limeade is just tasty.

Markers and Pitt pen drawing

























Martian Carrot invaders, my brain is not always a pretty place to be.

Micron pen and watercolors

























 I was listening to the song Walk Like an Egyptian and drew a wall painting of an Egyptian lady holding a hot dog and hamburger.

Pitt pen and crayola markers drawing

























Heading to the cabin. My DH looks a little like a character from Scooby Doo but the Zelda and Marilyn cartoon are fairly accurate.






















I forgot my lunch, again.

Hamster Wheel

Some days it's tough to slow down. I was working until 2:30 last night and started again at 6:00 am (fortunately I work from home so no one notices the pajamas), this is not the holiday weekend I had in mind.

EDM everday matters challenge #98 draw busy over the holidays

Zentangle Butterfly

The artistic meditation portion of zentangles works. I was having problems with a program yesterday and after drawing this, followed by hitting my daughter's kick boxing dummy, I figured out that some presets were changed. Meditation and violence, very zen...

I did the butterfly and clematis blossom with a Pitt pen. The word zentangle is in the flower petals and the leaf vein says clematis leaf.

EDM Everyday Matters Challenge #235 draw a butterfly

Life Lesson #47 Violet Is Not The New Red

Don't let a hair stylist with purple hair choose your highlight colors.

I've always had blonde highlights. The stylist said "Lets add some red along with blond, it will look pretty", I wasn't expecting violet.

It's fine now and I'm happy with the new colors.

EDM Every Day Matters Challenge #56 draw a self portrait

Places I Still Want To Visit

I did an ink drawing with travel icons on a journal page with places I still want to visit, then scanned it and colored it in Illustrator. All the icons are things that you might find in a suitcase.

suitcase - Key Largo
suitcase - New Zealand
snorkle - Great Barrier Reef
suntan lotion - Tahiti
hat - Day of the Dead
camera - Burning Man
ear muffs - Alaska

Oak Leaf Zentangle

Zentangle is a form of artistic meditation that uses repetitive patterns to create images.

We used to call these designs phone book doodles but I prefer zentangles.

I used a Pitt pen to draw this one but it would be a good use for all the Sharpie markers that breed on my desk.

The words in the leaf vane are "The burr oak in the front yard signifies strength but it's also delightfully spooky for Halloween."

EDM Every Day Matters Challenge #147 – Draw or paint something made of wood

Ya Man - Bob Marley Inspired Playing Cards

Jamaica is my favorite Caribbean Island and Bob Marley is a huge icon there.

I did this sketch of Bob Marley in Illustrator. The back of the card is the Jamaican Flag and the suit of clubs is depicted by ganja (not only does spell-check know most junk food names, it also recognizes slang for marijuana).