O*P*I Doodle

I just started a new job, and some days are super quiet, so during those slow times, i'm trying to doodle. This little polish was sitting on the register, so I sketched it and colored it at home.

Washbucket

This was an example in the book "Painting Weathered Buildings in Pen, Ink & Watercolor" by Claudia Nice. The book is really great...especially since I love all things rusty and crusty! ; ) I would liked to have a little bit more value range, but I didn't want to keep putting more layers and make it muddy.

Geronimo

This is for one of my groups on flickr. They post a photo to use as a reference and everybody posts their versions of it. Love it! They post some really random pics so far! LOL!

Mixed Media in one of my hand*book journals.....

Flowers....

...would brighten the day of your close friend. That was the fortune in my cookie yesterday, so i just had to put it on this postcard. This is on the way to friend.....

Strawberries and Crawfish

Spring in NOLA....the absolute best time for local food....crawfish, shrimp, oysters, strawberries. yummmmm! I couldn't resist trying to paint part of my dinner tonight....the colors were absolutely amazing and vibrant! I definitely feel like I could use a lot more practice capturing the colors in watercolor, but hey, who could complain? Extra practice means more seafood and strawberries to use for reference...LOL! I could eat this stuff every day! and definitely, the hotter, the better! I can't wait to draw some more tomorrow! ; ) perhaps some hot sauce?.....

The Aldige Angels

I used a photograph of one of my favorite statuary pieces for this journal page. It memorializes a mother and daughter that drowned in a steamboat accident back in 1848. The base of the sculpture is a boat. I especially love the emotion on the faces in the sculpture. Eventually I'll do a large painting using this sculpture.

a new journal page....

another page using a photo i took in one of the NOLA cemeteries.....I LOVE how this one turned out! I don't know about mixing the Derwent watersoluble pencils with the watercolors....it may be making the drawings look too dirty, which is totally weird for me to say, since i love grungy looking pages...this combo may just be grungy in a not so good way. but good at least for this page! i love the colors...... this is sure to become a bigger painting......

Angel journal page

So I have been working on some larger pieces, and also doing a little more photography lately, and my posts have fallen by the wayside. I did this spread just to start messing with my watercolors..... the colors didn't scan very well. But i like the grunginess of how it turned out....i just like grungy things...and i keep doodling this angel(it's one of my photographs, but i keep grabbing this particular photo out of the pile every time...i must reallllllly like it! LOL) This is in my square hand*book journal....

Hershey's Miniatures

So, if you start one moley, why not start 2? ; ) I had a small watercolor one, and i had some hershey's miniatures, so i painted them. I am not an experienced watercolorist, but i had ordered a ridiculously large amount of Daniel Smith watercolors, and there's no time like the present to try them out. I actually like how this turned out. My Special Dark bar is a little rough, but, that's ok. I played, i learned, and that's what counts. I need to focus some attention on learning more about mixing colors, because generally I just paint straight out of the tube...I know! The Horror!! but, hey, sometimes i just like the color that's in the tube. what can i say. the other thing i might need to pay a little more attention to is light sources and shadows...but i have an excuse for this piece...i ate them before i actually painted the sketch...LOL

Some new art journal pages

I've been trying to make it a habit to draw every day. MUCH harder than one thinks, if you are a perfectionist like me! I joined the yahoo group Everyday Matters, and they provide so much inspiration and helpful advice. That's where I got the idea to use gouache for my pages instead of acrylics. Oh, man! Does that totally change things! Now my pages don't stick together, and my pages are soooo bright! Next on the to try list is watercolors, and my Daniel Smith order should be here any day (another recommendation from the EDM group)! So I am totally inspired to keep creating!