Sketches from Colorado

As I said in my last post, my husband and I spent last week in Colorado. We always enjoy our time there, and this year was no exception. We stayed in a cabin on Spring Creek, between Gunnison and Crested Butte. I took photos and sketched while my husband fished, we hiked, played games, read, did some site seeing, went to a play in Gunnison, and shopped at an art festival in Crested Butte. We've been going to this area for 31 years now, so we obviously love the area. Here are my sketches from the week:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Imaginary Visit to a Tulip Festival

Even though I haven't posted much, I did keep up pretty well with my lessons in Laure Ferlita's class. At least until the bonus lesson Laure provided because of some computer glitches she had. I still plan to do that bonus lesson at some point; it just won't be for the class. Anyway, I wanted to post the remainder of the lessons that I did complete:

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

I always enjoy Laure's classes, and this one was no exception. The only reason I didn't get the bonus lesson completed was that we spent last week in Colorado, staying in a cabin with no internet access. I did do some sketching, which I'll share in my next post. And we had a really good time, so it's all good.

Imaginary Visit to a Tulip Festival

It's been a long time since I've gone on an Imaginary Trip or Visit with Laure Ferlita, but that's exactly what I'm doing now. This time it's an Imaginary Visit to a Tulip Festival, and we're in the Skagit Valley in Washington state. Here is my first sketch:

Lesson 1

In case you don't know about Imaginary Trips, you can read more about them here.  Laure is the guide on quite a number of Imaginary Trips; she provides photos and video lessons on sketching with watercolor in your travel journal. She is a great teacher and good friend and I highly recommend her classes.

Documented Life Project - Week 13

Here is the second page I forgot to post awhile back:

March Theme
Making Your Mark (Doodles & Mark Making)
March 28
Art Challenge:  Make a Custom Element
Journal Prompt:  "Ride the energy of your own unique spirit." - Gabrielle Roth

Documented Life Project - Week 12

I'm not really working on this project much anymore, but I did finish a couple of pages awhile back and forgot to post them, so here is the first one.

March Theme
Making Your Mark (Doodles & Mark Making)
March 21
Art Challenge:  As a Focal Point
Journal Prompt:  Coming into Focus

I added a little something to the second one, so I'll post it as soon as it's dry.

Documented Life Project - Weeks 10 & 11

March Theme
Making Your Mark (Doodles & Mark Making)
March 7
Art Challenge:  As A Layer Element
Journal Prompt:  Surviving the Elements

I was actually able to finish TWO page spreads yesterday, because I had forgotten that I had worked on a background several weeks ago that was almost done. All I had to do to complete it was to add a few more marks and figure out a focal point. An advertisement in a magazine provided what I was looking for.

March Theme
Making Your Mark (Doodles & Mark Making)
March 14
Art Challenge:  Borders
Journal Prompt:  "Borderline feels like I'm going to lose my mind."

One of the nice things about an acrylic paint background is that if you don't like it you can always cover it up. This page started with dark red and blue paints that were applied with an old credit card; it was very dark and quite ugly. I decided to cover it with gesso, which ended up covering more than I intended. I applied the yellows and pinks with a brush and a brayer. I added marks, the images from a catalog, the writing and the borders and am quite satisfied with the result. The borders are from a couple of sheets that I gelli printed, tore down to size and sewed together on my sewing machine.

Art Walk Greece 2015 - Part 3

Monday, May 4, started early again. Our ferry to Naxos left Amorgos at 6:00 am, and we had to have our luggage outside our door by 4:30 am; it was about a 45 minute drive to the port and our hotel had a light snack for us before we left. Carlo arranged for us to be picked up in Naxos by the Naxos Resort Beach Hotel. They served us breakfast and kept track of our luggage for us so that we could relax and/or explore the town.

Then back to the port in the early afternoon for our second ferry of the day to Mykonos. This time it was a "Master Jet," which was much faster than our earlier ferries. After we'd had time to settle in, Carlo took anyone who was interested on a walking tour of the area.

Tuesday morning, May 5, several of us took a bus to Platis Gialos Beach with Carlo and then walked to Paranga Beach. In the afternoon we had our sketching class on the veranda of our hotel, overlooking the windmills of Mykonos.

Most of us took a boat to Delos on Wednesday, May 6, where we had an English-speaking guide. Delos is one of the most important mythological, historical and archeological cites in Greece. The excavations in the island are among the most extensive in the Mediterranean. In ancient times, Delos was believed to be the birthplace of the god Apollo and his twin sister, the goddess Artemis, making the island sacred. After the tour, we had some time to visit the Archaeological Museum of Delos.

Our last full day in Greece, Thursday, May 7, we visited the Mykonos Folklore Museum (according to Wikipedia: "the oldest house on the island houses a collection of 19th-century furniture, jewellery, ceramics, embroideries, marble sculptures, tombstones and a variety of other trinkets. The museum also pays tribute to Mykonos' traditional nautical roots with models of 19th-century Mykonian ships, maps and an anchor and canons used during the Greek War of Independence.") and Panagia Paraportiani (the Church of Our Lady) (again, according to Wikipedia: "The building of this church started in 1425 and was not completed until the 17th century. This impressive, whitewashed church actually consists of five separate churches attached all together: the four churches (dedicated to Saint Eustathios, Saint Sozon, Saint Anargyroi and Saint Anastasia) are all on the ground and constitute the base of the fifth church that has been built on top of them."). I sat in the hot sun to get the view of the church I wanted for my sketch (I usually try to avoid the sun, but sometimes one must sacrifice oneself for one's art).

Here is my map of all of the places I visited (except for Delos, which I didn't know I was going to visit when I made the map).

Early Friday morning, May 8, I flew from Mykonos to Athens to Philadelphia to Dallas/Fort Worth to Tulsa. I was supposed to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago to Oklahoma City, but my flight to Chicago was delayed and I was very likely going to miss my connection to Oklahoma City, so I was re-routed. Luckily, my husband was picking me up, and I was able to call him before he left for the airport (since it's about an hour and a half drive from either airport to our home). There were still delays, so I arrived home at about 3:00 Saturday morning. My luggage, however, didn't arrive until Monday, May 11. I've been lucky in my travels; this is the first time my luggage has been delayed. I was VERY glad to get it back!!

Art Walk Greece 2015 - Part 2

Even though I upgraded to a cabin, I wasn't able to sleep much on the ferry ride to Amorgos. We arrived at the Aegialis Hotel & Spa around 4:30 am on Wednesday, April 29, and fortunately I was able to get some sleep in my room. The hotel was nice enough to keep their breakfast up for us until 11:30 (it's usually put away by 10:30). We had a tour of the spa after breakfast, and many of us (including me) booked spa appointments for later in the week. We went into the nearby town of Aegialis for some shopping (where I bought a Pashmina shawl and some postcards) and lunch. Jane picked some poppies on our way back to the hotel for our painting class in the afternoon. None of us realized how delicate the poppies would be once they were picked. Even though we put them in water, they didn't last very long at all.

I also took pictures of designs that were painted into the concrete in the town and included some of those on my page.

On Thursday, April 30, we went to the monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa, which is situated on the side of a cliff northeast of Chora. It was built early in the second millennium to protect a religious icon, dating from the year 812, from intruders. I counted 275 steps coming down from outside the monastery, and that didn't include the steps inside! We had planned on painting on location, but it was hot with little shade, and everyone was tired after climbing all those steps, so we changed our plans and had our lesson at the hotel after we returned. The lesson was on sketching a landscape, which was the view from the terrace of our hotel.

I had my spa treatment after the lesson, so I had to finish my sketch a couple of days later. It's the first time I've ever had a spa treatment, and I loved it. I had what they called the Detox Deluxe, which included the Hydro Therapy Spa Jet (which several people nicknamed the car wash), facial, scalp massage, full body exfoliation, and full body massage. It was quite wonderful.

On Friday, May 1, we toured an Herb Distillery in Lagada. The man who ran the distillery was very knowledgeable about all the local herbs and he seemed to be a very kind and gentle soul. We ate lunch in Lagada and had a lesson on quick sketching a long narrow landscape. The idea was to set your rectangle first, then sketch only as much as would fit into the space. I didn't have time to sketch from the restaurant, so I sketched the view from my balcony later in the afternoon instead. I added the design and journaling at the bottom later. I also had a pedicure in the afternoon, which was very nice as well.

Saturday, May 2 found us in Katapola, the harbor town in which our ferry arrived (and from which it would depart on Monday May 4). We had lunch near the harbor and then painted a church on location.

Everyone approached the sketching differently, and it was fascinating to see all the differences. Some sketched the whole church, some did parts, some included trees and/or other shrubbery, some used watercolor, one used pencil only, but all were wonderful.

On Sunday, May 3, some of us went back to Aegialis for more shopping (I bought a hat). The town is close enough to the hotel to walk, but the walk back to the hotel is all uphill. In the afternoon, we made our portfolios to hold all of our pages (most of us were working on a watercolor block, so after we finished a page and removed it from the block, it was loose). I haven't finished decorating mine, so I haven't taken a photo of it yet.

Monday, May 4 we headed to Mykonos. More in my next post.

Art Walk Greece 2015 - Part 1

I just returned (at 3am Saturday, thank you very much) from a wonderful 2 weeks in Greece with terrific art teacher Jane LaFazio, Carlo Roberts of The Blue Walk, and 14 other intrepid travelers and journal artists. I will be sharing some of my experiences (and journal pages) with you over the next couple of weeks.

You may have already seen this sketch I did of my new suitcase before I left, but I'm including it again here for a more complete record.

I arrived at my hotel in Athens (The Electra) at about 8:30 pm on Saturday 4/25. Sunday morning, I met Carlo (our tour director) and a few others at breakfast. Pene and I decided to do some shopping that morning and then we took the Athens Open Tour bus tour in the afternoon, which gave us a good overview of the city. We all met back at the hotel at 4:00 to introduce ourselves and hear a bit about our "agenda" for the trip. Then we walked to our restaurant for drinks and dinner, where I did a quick sketch of our view and my drink.

On Monday, I discovered that several others were going to the Acropolis, so I joined them. Pene, Ellen and I walked there, while Mary, Helen, and Louise took the bus. It is such an amazing site, and so hard to comprehend how old it is. We climbed LOTS of steps. Pene, Ellen, Louise and I walked back while Mary and Helen took a taxi. We met everyone back at the hotel at 11:00 and then we all walked to the National Garden, where we had our first lesson.

I did some shopping in the afternoon and then we had our fabulous welcome dinner.

Tuesday morning I went to the Acropolis Museum, which is a beautiful new building with so much information that really helped me to understand more about the Acropolis. I returned back to the hotel by 11:00. We all walked to the Church of Panagia Kapnikarea, which is a Greek Orthodox church and one of the oldest churches in Athens. I used a Tombow marker (with water soluble ink) for my sketches.

Tuesday evening, we took a ferry from Piraeus (the port city near Athens) to the island of Amorgos. It was a long ferry ride (from 5:30 pm to about 3:30 am). More in my next post.

Packed and Ready

I'm leaving for Greece in the morning! I can hardly believe it; I'm meeting up with Jane LaFazio and several other artists for Art Walk. I'll be sure to post pictures when I can.

Documented Life Project - Week 9

February Theme
Layers You Will Love!
February 28
Art Challenge: Using at Least Five Layers
Journal Prompt: Give Me a High Five
Layer 1 - book pages
Layer 2 - gesso
Layer 3 - modeling paste
Layer 4 - acrylic paint
Layer 5 - rubber stamps, collage, marks
Layer 5 could also be layers 5, 6, and 7. Layers 1, 2, and 4 cover the whole spread, while layers 3 and 5 are over parts.

Documented Life Project - Week 8

February Theme
Layers You Will Love!
February 21
Art Challenge:  Repeating Elements
Journal Prompt:  It's Worth Repeating
I used a round gelli plate repeatedly for my background. I also repeated several elements on the page: the flower image, dictionary definitions, outlines, and writing.

Documented Life Project - Week 5

January Theme
The Blank Page and How to Face It!
January 31
Art Challenge:  Under Paper (paper on your work table that gets all inky while you work)
Journal Prompt:  What Lies Beneath?
I'm still behind - counting today's prompt, I have 2 more page spreads to be caught up.
I started by gluing a number of pieces of under paper to my background. It looked pretty chaotic, so I covered it with a light coat of gesso, hoping to knock back the colors a bit and make it more cohesive.  But it covered more than I intended, so I added some acrylic paints to make my background.  The under paper ended up only providing texture to the background, but at least I liked it.  I searched for quotes using "beneath" as my search term, and this is what I ended up with.  The bird and branches are made from under paper as well.  I had no idea where I was going with it when I started the page, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Documented Life Project - Week 4

January Theme
The Blank Page and How to Face It!
January 24
Art Challenge:  Writing
Journal Prompt:  Words with Friends
I'm trying to get caught up. I just have week 5 to do, but week 7's prompt will be issued tomorrow!

Documented Life Project - Week 6

February Theme - Layers You Will Love!
February 7
Art Challenge: When Not To Stop
Journal Prompt: "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough!" (Ooh)

I am a few weeks behind. This page started out to be my Words with Friends page (week 4), but as I worked on it, I found that I kept adding more and more layers and realized that it would work better for the Don't Stop Til You Get Enough page (I guess that's one of the advantages to being behind!).

Preparation for Winter Interrupted

This is the palette I'm taking to Florida TOMORROW!

And this is the pencil case with supplies I'm taking.

I am SO looking forward to this trip!

Start Where You Are . . .

Gelli plate printed background.  Washi tape accents. Hand lettered quote.  In one of my hand made journals.

Use Your Words - Color

Another page for the free class I'm taking from Carolyn Dube, called Use Your Words.  This page also uses a technique from her Play Dates video, using gesso over Dylusions spray ink. The pink strip along the bottom is painted canvas, and the green patterned strip down the left side is gelli printed deli paper.  It's fun combining a variety of techniques on a page.

Use Your Words - Play

For some reason, I see that I haven't been sharing much of my art here lately.  I have posted some things on Facebook, but I seem to have forgotten about posting to my blog.  So here is a journal page I did recently:

It was done for a free online class from Carolyn Dube, called Use Your Words.

Lollapalooza One: A New Journal

When my brother and I were going through my mother's desk after her death, I found what might have been every card I'd ever made for her. I was so touched by the fact that she'd saved them that I decided to put them all in a book. This is the book I made for them.

Here is the front cover.

And here is the first page.