Missing my first Paint Party Friday

Away at a conference and didn't get anything painted before leaving....

Hope all my Paint Party Friday friends have a fun PPF and a great weekend!

Paint Party Friday - Week 28 - Starting a Sea Star

I have been wanting to paint a painting of a sea star to hang in my bathroom for ages and have procrastinated like nobody's business! (Isn't that a bizarre expression.) I finally convinced myself to start this week. Do you ever do that?

It is still very much a work-in-progress but there is a canvas and it has paint on it! Here are a few shots so far:

The background - which resembles my floor tiles a bit.

 

The shadows 

(What colour do you paint shadows?)

A first coat - not quite right

 A second coat and start of texture but it needs to dry more...

Silly, quick, playing-around-with-leftover-paint-in-sketchbook Sea Star

Well, lots more work to do! How was your week? Hope it was productive for painting!

Have a great time at Paint Party Friday!

Paint Party Friday - Week 27 - Travelling Sketchbook for August

This week I received the August travelling sketchbook belonging to Jennifer and started right in on painting it! (Later today I will be sending it on to its next stop, to Nicola in Australia. Mailing the last one from the West Coast was amazingly quick. Now I'm back East and no doubt it will be slower again this time.)

This spread is for August. Some of the things that say August for me are Sunflowers and the Perseid Meteor Shower. There is a field of sunflowers that I pass daily on my way to work and they always make me smile. I even try to visit them, up close and personal, when I get the chance.

The quote reads:

"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
    Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
    Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn."
-  Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown 

The Perseid meteor shower occurs each August and I usually invite myself up to my friends' house who live on the beach. They are far enough out of the city to have amazing skies and starscapes. In the city, the light pollution makes star (and shooting star) gazing impossible. We bring our sleeping bags out to the beach and spend at least some of the night watching for meteors. It is a highlight of my Augusts.

This page will have writing all over it about what August means to me before it continues on its travels to the rest of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Sketchbook. 

I am really enjoying this sketchbook round robin and am definitely painting things I'd be unlikely to choose to paint otherwise. It is so awesome to see what everyone else has done in the books before they arrive. Wow!

I hope everyone has a fun time at Paint Party Friday! I will be visiting you over the weekend when I can!

Paint Party Friday - Week 26 Who lives here? WimW Journal

I'm back from Victoria, leaving my daughter behind to start 2nd year university. (Sob - bittersweet.) Where do the years go? While we were there I didn't have much time to paint, so this week I thought I'd show you another page from my Walking in my World journal. 

This year I have seen 2 fascinating hollow trees on my walks - still alive and prospering. This is one...

Who lives here?

I wonder. It looks like it would make some fairies a great home! Do chipmunks reside within? Or maybe this is the tree that Alice fell into?  So magical to see such a hollow tree.

Hope you all have a great time at Paint Party Friday. I will try to be more timely visiting this week (though I am writing a paper so I may be focused on that... then again, I may need distractions because of that...)

Paint Party Friday - Week 25 - Travelling Sketchbook for July

Hi PPFers!

I'm away in Victoria, B.C. getting my daughter settled for her 2nd year of university. I'll visit everyone when I have time and internet access but it may not be until next week...

I still wanted to play and party at Paint Party Friday and I finally received the July Travelling Sketchbook! Yay! (Canada Post may not technically still be on strike but their service is atrociously inconsistent and Stephanie's Sketchbook has been in limbo for far too long. Thankfully it is here and about to go on it's way to Nicola in Australia soon - I'll mail it from the West Coast - maybe that will speed things up a bit!) I had just enough time to paint my entry and will write the explanation page on route.

My Julys usually include a fun, al fresco Lobsterfest party with close friends, and fireworks on Canada Day. (My journal paintings last week were based on this year's Canada Day party on the beach.) Those are what I chose to (try and) capture in my pages.

July spread

Right hand page with words/quote

"Live in each season as it passes: breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit." *

Left hand close-up

Background spread for writing about July - simple to make me think of a clear summer day. 

Have a great time at the party, a super long weekend (if you have one) and I will visit you as soon as I can!

*Yikes!! I just discovered I attributed that quote to wrong writer/philosopher!!! It wasn't Emerson it was Thoreau.  :(  D'uh! So sorry Stephanie. I think if I try to fix it I will make a huge mess. :(  

(Note to self - do not hurry, you can mistakes that way!)