Happy New Year!!

   I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and are ready for a fresh and exciting new year! I ended up taking a blogging break but I am back in full force with many things to share. Last year ended on a high note and the new year has begun on one too.

  I have a page of art in the soon to be released Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Somerset Studio!!

 It's a thrill to be amongst at least several blogging friends who's art I've really come to admire-this is a FAB issue!

 Other excitement included a strange weather occurrence on New Year's eve day. We had sunshine,then very suddenly the wind kicked up like mad, the sky got very dark and we were in the midst of a fast and furious snow squall!!  I just had to go out and take pics-you should have seen all the blackbirds flying overhead and making lots of noise while the snow blew every which way. Fascinating. I went back inside to put the camera away-and as quickly as the snow came-it left. The sun came out and the skies cleared immediately-so back outside I went for another two pics:

 And the latest thing I'm super excited about is that I signed up for and am taking JoAnne Sharpe's "Draw Your Awesome Life". I have been sketching and illustrating-yes, me-and having a great time! I initially signed up for JoAnne's new class "Draw Your Awesome Year" which begins Jan 6th. Then I read about the prior class. Both were offered at a special and VERY reasonable discount price so I dove in. In only a few lessons so far I am amazed at the excellent videos and teaching- so full of content! Here's my cover page for the "awesome life" course:

  First I drew a rough pencil sketch of what I wanted on the page- class title, a few supplies I'll be using, and things I love-hearts, flowers, music. Then went over it with a permanent pen. I used a combination of Reeves watercolors, Silks and twinkling H2Os. The colors aren't quite as intense as I'd like so I'm waiting for my Peerless Watercolor Sheets to arrive :):). The only other purchases I made for both classes are  a new set of Pitt Pens and a large Strathmore Mixed Media Journal (for the Jan. class)-both 1/2 price with coupons.  Look what you have gotten me into Tracey - LOL!  I'll be sharing many more pages as I go along.

  One more journal page to share, along with something cool that happened by accident.

  This pg was done in my 9" x 12" art journal. The background was created with Dylusions ink sprays. I then took a stencil  (that had leftover dried paint and sprays on it-I don't clean off my stencils) and rubbed a baby wipe thru areas and look what I got on the pages:

 How cool is that??? Some of the previous paints came off the stencil and added depth and color to the rubbed areas. I did play a little more and discovered that this only works over light colors of the background.


 We're expecting yet another snow storm and frigid temps so I'll have a nice warm few days inside taking my class, sketching, and visiting YOU!

 Linking to Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day, Paint Party Friday, Mandarin Orange Monday.




" We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential." Ellen Goodman