A huge stumbling block

This page was a real pain for me.
Page 3: Pick an object in your house.  Looking only at the object, draw it without lifting the pen.

Of course, I had to choose a plant. And the above is the result. I struggled with painting this, struggled with colour, and then realized it doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be realistic!  I think I would have enjoyed this page a lot more if I had used a whole whack of colours and really livened it up.  So, although it was a difficult page to do, because I like things to be realistic, it was a great page for learning to let go. After all, isn't that what art is all about?

Art journal page 2

Instructions: Doodle until you fill an entire page.

Whoa Nelly!  I learned a lot doing this page.  Firstly, be prepared to spend HOURS doodling if you are using a fine point marker on a large page.  This is about 2 hours of fiddling. I couldn't bring myself to leave the page with doodling only, since my art journal is 140 lb watercolour paper.  I decided to use the opportunity to practice laying down colour using wet and dry techniques. Another thing I learned was that I need to buy another shade of red, something a bit more transparent to enable me to create brighter reds and oranges. 

A closeup of one small section, I definitely need a clearer red...

Mixed Media

Kathy came for a play date today and we had a ball! Kathy did some stunning work, and I did my first mixed media piece.
Winnie joined us, and little Miss Daisy was very naughty and shredded paper - I still don't know how to stop her doing that :(

Happy First Day of Spring!

In spite of a forecast of horrific rain, we were blessed with sunshine!