Paint Party Friday - Week 42 - Word of the Year for 2012 = CONNECT

I have been thinking about the New Year, 2012, arriving imminently. I usually like to take time between Christmas and New Years to think and plan - though this year I am WAY behind! 

A few years ago I discovered the idea of the "Word of the Year" through a post by Christine Kane and the idea resonated with me. Instead of resolutions, the idea  is to choose a word to guide your year.

My first try was FLOURISH. Not sure that that one worked well. My second try was CREATE in 2010 and Wow! I created more that year than I ever have in my life. I joined Creative Every Day and I did create every day - filling 4+ blank books with drawing and paintings. 

2011 was PROPEL and I did take actions that helped to propel me, and in some cases other people, forward. In many ways, it was business related but not in all ways. Paint Party Friday arose partly because of this word. We hoped it would propel us forward in our painting efforts and it sure has helped me (and I hope others, too)!

For 2012 I have chosen CONNECT. I want to connect with people, my city*, my work, my passions and myself. As with last year, I wanted to paint an image that in some way reflected my WotY (Word of the Year). This was one of the ideas that came to mind...

CONNECT 2012

It makes me think of how all the circles in my life connect to me and to each other... 

I didn't expect to have anything painted for PPF this week but now I do! 

I will try and visit everyone over the weekend but it is still busy so maybe I will see you "Next Year"! Have a great New Year's celebration and all the best to you in 2012!

* more about this project later...

Paint Party Friday - Week 41 - WIP - Nutcracker

Sigh. (Do you ever do that? Say "sigh" when you are sighing? Or am I as tired and weird as I think I am?) Christmas is almost here and I feel totally out of control. I'm probably not but I need to write a few lists to see what is left undone - and do it! Then I may feel like it is Christmas. A little snow would help too.... very unlike us to be almost snowless.

No more painting got done this week, sigh (lol). I was hoping to show you a finished painting but can't.  :(   Instead I am going to show you my WIP! This is my nutcracker painting where I left off...

Nutcracker Work In Progress

He needs another coat of paint in most places and needs his body widened and his hat narrowed. I'm not sure what to do about the background. He will probably hang against a cream coloured wall in a room with lots of browns and blacks so I was trying to match that somewhat. Any suggestions?

I also did a little bit on painting #2...

the beginning stages...

I want to wish all of my friends at Paint Party Friday a very Merry Christmas!! Happy Hanukkah - if that's what you celebrate! Or a happy holiday season if it is neither of these. 

However you celebrate, I hope you have a great time this week. Please help yourself to some eggnog while I am in the kitchen. I will stop by to visit you when I can!

After Christmas, I will have more time to visit. I hope to stay in my pjs for a few days, see all your artwork, do a puzzle, paint and read. Hope your post Xmas week is happy and relaxing!!

Missing PPF Week 40....

I made good progress on my nutcracker painting (though it still needs work). I am out of town this weekend and decided it was too much to get it posted on time. I will see you all either during the week or for Week 41!

Hope you have a great time at Paint Party Friday!

Paint Party Friday - Week 39 - Gingerbread Man!

I think I am slowly getting into the Xmas spirit - at least painting-wise that is! I had so much fun with last week's snowman that I am continuing with paintings to complement my decorations. First the snowman to hang out with my snowman collection in the dining room - which is slowly starting to gather.

This week, the gingerbread decorations that live in the kitchen said they need a painted companion too! 

With friends!

Bottom view...

Top view...

We all liked (Thank You!) the wraparound effect so much, I continued it here. These thick canvases are great for that!

The nutcrackers will come but the models that want to pose are still in storage - this weekend they should join in the decorating fun. I gessoed some canvasses (4) so it will be interesting to see which model poses first! (Ambitious project ahead!)

I also painted a photocopy of my Three Blind Jazz Mice header (see way above!) to make it more Christmasy. I discovered I can reverse images on my scanner and thought this one was especially fun!

Hope you have a great time at Paint Party Friday! I look forward to visiting you - though with everything going on at this time of year, it may take me awhile...  :)

Creative Tuesdays - Mistletoe

The theme at Creative Tuesdays is MISTLETOE and of course mistletoe goes with Kissing! But feeling silly I decided to go for a slightly non-traditional version...

Hope you have a great day and that it continues to be creative! I will visit everyone when I can.

(Oh and I decided to start decorating for Xmas - with a nutcracker background, of course!)

Sunday Sketches and back finally to my FACES Sketchbook

It's been awhile since I have sketched anything much - I have missed Sophia and Sunday Sketches at Blue Chair Diary so often (and much) this year - nothing to show, to participate with.... I am also hopelessly behind on my book of faces that I started work on earlier this year. Saturday night however, I sat down with a newspaper for inspiration and started to sketch. 

from an advertisement...

 maybe recognizable...

Looking forward to visiting everyone and seeing your sketching efforts!

Paint Party Friday - Week 38 - A Snowman is Created!

Which came first - the chicken or the egg? As one of the hosts of Paint Party Friday, I know what the post and poll will be about in advance - though I rarely integrate what I do here with PPF. This week was different. But I'm unsure if the idea for the post came first or the idea for this little painting did!

After seeing the fabulous Christmas art that many of you are creating, and thinking about my wonderful nutcracker painting that Kristin created.... I wondered - could I do something like that now that I have been painting a bit longer?

Not quite brave enough to start with a nutcracker, I decided on a snowman painting to add to my collections of snowmen soon to escape from their long storage sleep... 

A Friendly Snowman!

Straight on

Right Side continues...

Left side...

"Top" Hat...

  

 

Bottom scarf...

8x8

As the nutcrackers and snowmen come out for Christmas, I think some will serve as models for new paintings. Yes - I think a nutcracker WILL be next!

Hope you have a great time at the party! I'm looking forward to seeing what you've been painting this week.

Paint Party Friday - Week 37 - New Header! And W.I.P.

Hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving Thursday and have a great long weekend! 

I was working on two things this week - a watercolour pencil and paint play on the word THREE for Creative Tuesday and a notebook cover. I had so much fun creating this silly piece that I have decided to use it as a new blog header. My little robin has been wanting to fly south and seemed sadly out of season at the moment.  I'm not sure how long my jazzy blind mice will last until they are replaced by something Christmasy. (Hmm - I just gave myself an idea - I love it when that happens! Maybe by next week we'll see if it works!)

New Header (and above)

Old Header (You may see him back again in Spring!)

I bought a new notebook. I really like this brand as they have a hard cover, better than usual quality of paper, and a folding magnetic edge to keep things from falling out (Cambridge Business Notebooks). I wasn't paying close attention though when I bought it (them). I started writing in it as soon as I brought it home and then peeled off the label. I was very disappointed to discover the cover was faded everywhere except where the label was. Ugh. What to do? 

Why not paint it?! So first a coat of black gesso. Then my wonderful friend the Moon. And a dark sky. I know there will be stars... should there be something else?

Work-in-Progress

Have a great time at Paint Party Friday! Looking forward to seeing what you have painted!

Creative Tuesdays - Three Blind (Jazz-Playing) Mice

THREE - 3. 

Word association games go wild in my head... Three - Three Blind Mice. BLIND - musicians ...Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles - very cool jazzy piano players. And if there were three - what other instruments (that I could draw) might be in a jazz trio?

Et voila! My silly fun piece for Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays.

I'm thinking of making this my new header as winter is almost here and my little robin no longer feels timely... 

Looking forward to seeing everyone's CT efforts! Thanks Mmm - I had fun thinking about this one and working on it!

Paint Party Friday - Week 36 - An experiment - unsure if successful though

I've been working away at a fun little sketch/painting for Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday * and didn't get much painting done this week. But I still wanted to come to the party and have been wanting to try painting abstracts and also to try using a limited pallette.

Well.... not so sure I was successful but here it is! Not quite the abstract look I was going for but it might be an abstract landscape....

It's only on a heavy paper so instead of trying to fix it, I think I will move on to another experiment. (My  paper is too big for my scanner - I think I need a bigger scan-bed!)

Hope you have a great time at the Paint Party Friday and have a great week with some experimentation in it!

* Come back Tuesday to see my fun and silly little piece!

Paint Party Friday - Week 35 - I've looked at clouds....

from both sides now...
From up and down, and still somehow,
It's cloud illusions I recall,
I really don't know clouds, at all.
(Joni Mitchell)

I've been thinking about clouds. And painting skies. Some of you PPFers paint the most amazing skies! I think this is a skill I want to learn. So here is my attempt at painting clouds...doesn't make for a very exciting journal page/painting but it takes practice, right? I tried these in my Walking in my World journal, using watercolours and some acrylic white paint for the clouds.

Clear sky with a few clouds (poor scan...)

Unusual cloud in Orlando (which always seems to have the most amazing clouds...)

Do you have any tricks for painting clouds? Want to share your secrets? 

Have a great time at Paint Party Friday!

Away for another PPF...

Sorry I can't make the party! Miss you. Have fun without me!

Paint Party Friday - Finishing my Sea Star!

It was a satisfying week as I finally made some progress and actually finished another painting!! Yay!!

A bit over a month ago I started to paint a sea star/starfish to hang in my bathroom. And after the initial spurt of focus....there it sat, on my desk. This week I picked it up again and finished it off. I just put it on the hook in the wall....

Is this the right way up?

The view from the "throne" (in the evening with all the lights on... weird shadows)

Scanned close-up (I need a bigger scanner bed!)

Trying to decide which way it should go? This way? ( A)

 Or this? (B)

Or? (C)

 (D)?

 

This is another photo in the room where it will be hanging (not this location - the power outlet was just a convenient spot to hang it!) I think it coordinates well...

I hope everyone has a great time at Paint Party Friday! Please have one of my favourite Hallowe'en treats while you're here!

(image from fanpop.com)

xo

Happy Hallowe'en!

Texture

Kat Eye View is talking texture in photography in this week's Exploring with a Camera: Found Texture. It made me think of my journal/sketchbook painting I did recently from a photograph of a curious squirrel. The tree trunk bark was very textured  and held hints of moss as well. The squirrel itself had contrasting textures - glossy eyes, wisps of whiskers and sleek fur with individual hair (is a single piece of fur a hair?) strands visible.

Here is my little textured friend...

I LOVE texture!

Autumn at Creative Tuesdays

At Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday, the theme this week is Autumn. Walking on a cool Autumn day, I thought the best image for me was a single beautiful fallen leaf. The colour and variegation in this one fascinated me and I thought it would be perfect for the theme and to do in my Walking in my World journal.

It's been a while since I've been able to play along on Creative Tuesdays and today is another busy work day. I look forward to visiting you all when I have chance but it may be later rather than earlier... See you soon!

Paint Party Friday - Week 32 - More "Walking in my World" Sketchbook

Thank you all SO much for the lovely healing comments last week - you brought tears to my eyes! THANK YOU! I am now more my normal self - back to work AND (more importantly?) back to painting! (At least in my Walking in my World sketchbook.)

A few months ago I made ( and then painted in my sketchbook) an inukshuk that I made off Bate Island in the middle of the Ottawa River. I set a little goal for myself to take photos in all seasons from the same spot and this little island is perfect. It has parking and great scenic views! I went down to the water to see if my inukshuk still stood. No. While it was gone there were numerous others - some much more elaborate so I photographed many and so far have tried to paint one for you (and my sketchbook)...

This inukshuk looks almost like he's surfing!

Last week Sophia was showing and telling us about a beaver who was staring her in the eye, no beavers for me this visit - just a big bold black squirrel at eye height on a tree!

What's up?

Here are more photos of inukshuks from the river - don't be surprised if you see more painted versions here at some point! Have a great time at Paint Party Friday!!

Closest to shore...

Six here!

Quite a balancing act!

Great backdrop for this one...

Non-traditional...

An inukshuk family!

Another six!

How did the builder get out there without getting his/her shoes soaked? Wow!

And last - the one that started them all! My simple inukshuk from the summer when it stood alone. Now long gone or re-used...

Hope you enjoy walking in your world.

Hugs!

EVA

Missing PPF again....

:(

No real excuse - just fighting a bug and not good at concentrating. Overwhelmed with to dos. And when painting becomes one of them instead of a joy, perhaps it's best not to try.

I will try to visit all the PPFers and see your efforts even if I'm not joining the party this week. Hope you all have fun at Paint Party Friday!

(Hmm - Wonder why Blogger doesn't convert ascii happy/sad faces to cartoons - wordpress does...)

Paint Party Friday - Week 30 - Autumn Leaves

I missed you all you PPF partyers last week! (Though I did have a great time at my conference.) Do you ever find that after you are away for some reason, that it is especially hard to get back to painting and creating? I sure do! I almost thought I'd miss two weeks in a row...

On a quick walk though I found some pretty leaves and thought I'd paint them in my Walking in my World sketchbook. Great colours here at the moment! 

I painted this vertically but...

I might prefer it horizontally. What do you think? 

And should I add some pen work to the watercolour, I wonder?

I'm hoping to get more work done on my starfish and would love to have it done by next week - it's Thanksgiving (long) weekend here in Canada so there is a chance (if all the chores don't overwhelm me).

I look forward to visiting everyone and seeing all your painting efforts. I've missed you!