Summertime...

and our yearly gathering with friends at the beach is ever so near. With lots of planning, packing, grocery shopping (for home and the beach) I will be pretty busy so my next two posts will be short and sweet.

 

Poppies Landscape 

 This is a 9" x 12" page in my mixed media journal. It was inspired by a simple technique as described by Chris Cozen in the book Acrylic Color Explorations. I used only one flat brush , the same stroke, and various mixing of a few paint colors to vary the hues and tones. I've been seeing lots of beautiful poppy art on the blogs lately so I had to make one of my own. This is definitely something different for me. A fairly quick and fun lesson definitely worth trying again:) Because it's always fun to learn something new don't you think?

 4" x 4" canvas boards using napkins, gesso, vintage images from Retro Café Art, words from ARTchix Studio, bits of recycled dryer sheet, paper flowers, pearls, Baker's twine, shells found on the beach, and glitter glue.

 Joining Art Journal Journey ( one last time for the theme this month of "in my garden there is";  Moo Mania and More (theme is summer); Paint Party Friday; the Simon Monday Challenge blog (add some texture); and the Simon Wednesday Challenge blog (anything goes).

 Hopefully my link works correctly this week:) if you wish to see my watercolor art just scroll down to my previous posts:)

    "It's a smile, it's a kiss, it's a sip of wine...it's summertime!"       Kenny Chesney

Doodling About

 Are you northern hemisphere peeps staying cool? Wow! Another heat wave hit us and it reached a feel-like temperature of 110 degrees F!! Until some thunderstorms rolled in-several times :)

 Thought I'd start by sharing a photo of the Bastille Day celebration we had at my Mom's (this was early in the day long before we were to hear of the tragedy in Nice).

 There was all kinds of French food from a cherry clafoutis, French cheeses, paté de campagne, baguette, croissants, Napoleons and of course Bordeaux wine all accompanied by French music!

 I was thinking of that day as the Tour De France has just ended and what a fabulous 3 week tour it was!!!! I prayed that all would go well and there would be no further incidents or tragedies especially when you think about the huge numbers of people that attended the various segments along the tour, not to mention the end in Paris.

 With this heat the garden is growing beautifully, and oh joy I have finally gotten a few pics of our frequent visiting hummingbirds:

 Not the best pics and I only have a dinky basic camera but nonetheless I get such a kick when I can get something of these speedy birds!

 Playing around in the watercolor journal:

                                                      wet on wet technique

and in my mixed media journal:

                                         acrylic paints, stencils, paint pens


 Joining in with T Stands For Tuesday and Art Journal Journey for the theme of "In my garden there is..." hosted by Yvonne (Meggy May),   Moo Mania for "anything goes", and Try It On Tuesday for "make us smile" - well don't flowers make you smile?

 "Learn the craft of knowing how to open your heart and turn to your creativity. There's a light inside of you."         Judith Jamison

 

A Twinkling Tuesday

 Oh where is summer going? It's already near the end of July! Good news is that we are beginning to make plans for meals and such with our usual group of friends for our beach vacation the beginning of August-yay! Are you doing anything special in the coming weeks?

 There is a big celebration happening over at Altered Book Lover today...

   Elizabeth is celebrating three years of hosting T Stands For Tuesday on her blog!! Please do come celebrate with Elizabeth and friends and take a few moments to visit everyone as it is always such an interesting and diverse blog hop! Thank you dear Elizabeth (and helpers Bleubeard and Squiggles) for giving us a great spot to sit with a cuppa and enjoy.

 If the page above looks familiar it is because I made a VERY similar one for last year's anniversary. Only thing was-I made this one first because I misread the post and thought it was three years last year! So I was way ahead of the game this time around:):)

 I've been watching some You Tube videos on painting watercolor flowers and it inspired me to get out my Peerless watercolors and  twinkling H2O's and paint in my watercolor journal.

 The sentiment is a stamp. This one was done with the Peerless colors.

  And this page was done using my "twinks". Here is a better shot which shows the lovely shimmers:

 I created the frame of flowers using a technique shared by Tammy Northrup some years ago on her blog. I fell in love with this style but haven't used it in awhile so it was time. Sentiment is a stamp and butterfly is a sticker. I hope you will visit Tammy where there is lots of beautiful watercolor art and techniques to be found!

 Joining in at Art Journal Journey for the lovely theme of "In My Garden There Is...", Moo Mania and More- "anything goes",  and Paint Party Friday.

 Have a wonderful day and week. See you soon!

"Make something every day. Make a song, make a move, make a friend, make a difference." 
                                                                                               Pat Collelo

Muddling Through

 First of all I want to thank all of you who have sent love, prayers and hugs regarding our recent loss. It's hard to put in words the gratitude for your kindness and understanding.

 I finally decided to go back into my art room and create a bit. I chose to do another lesson in the Radiant Faces class. This one was taught by Dina Wakley and actually turned out to be a very appropriate lesson for me at this time.

 This is a page of quick simple sketches done with Stabilo pencils to get started on "The Stranger".

And this is my finished journal page:

 It ended up being a self portrait exposing my heart.

  Still in "Dina" mode I created this journal page:

 Paris is on my mind especially since I've been following the Tour de France, and of course Patty's magnificent posts of her trip around France have me wandering. I used a French napkin and the colors of the French flag along with white and black gesso. The Eiffel tower is a rubber stamp I stamped and fussy cut. A recycled French stamp at the top. Silhouette was cut from Gelli Plate printed paper. This is also to celebrate the French Independence day  (Bastille Day) on Thursday.

 Linking the above to Art It Friday- Show Your Face; Moo Mania (theme is Paris); Try It On Tuesday (theme is Happy Holidays); and Paint Party Friday.

 For T Stands for Tuesday:

  A light petit dejeuner (breakfast) outdoors on a warm summer morning. Just perfect.

 We celebrated my Mom's birthday over the weekend with French food, wine and music of course:) This is the card I made for her:

 Linking to the Simon Monday Challenge (theme is flora and fauna).

 Looking forward to catching up with everyone this week!

   "The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love."      Hubert Humphrey

In Loving Memory

 of our beloved Annie (BooBoo) whom we have had to send to eternal rest.

Annie 2001 - 2016

        with her best and only doggie friend Isabel who is now watching over her

the last photo I took of her a few days ago sleeping peacefully in her favorite bed which used to belong to Isabel, our friends'  lab.

 I will leave you with this poem Bill (dh) had come upon very recently in an autobiography he is reading about Jackie Stewart. Jackie was so devastated by the loss of his beloved pet that a friend wrote this for him.

If it should be that I grow weak

And pain should keep me from my sleep

Then you must do what must be done

For this last battle cannot be won.

You will be sad, I understand

Don't let your grief then stay your hand

For this day more than all the rest

Your love for me must stand the test.

We've had so many happy years

What is to come can hold no fears 

You'd not want me to suffer so

The time has come, please let me go.

Take me where my need they'll tend

And please stay with me till the end.

Hold me firm and speak to me

Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time that you will see

The kindness that you did for me.

Although my tail its last has waved

From pain and suffering, I've been saved.

Please do not grieve, it must be you

Who has the painful thing to do.

We've been so close, we these years,

Don't let your heart hold back its tears.