Animal Wednesday

Happy Animal Wednesday to all that participate whether by drawing, painting or just commenting. This is the last Animal Wednesday of 2008. Can you believe that 2008 is about to depart? There are still so many things I wanted to do this year. I guess I will have to scratch off the 2008 and put 2009 at the top of the list of things to do...
Below is one of the thank you cards I did for a friend that has a black cat. This isn't her cat but my Dearly Beloved took a picture of this cat sitting on one of our yard ornaments the other day and I thought it would please her to receive it. With thinking of all the little projects I wanted to do in December alone I sort of fell off the wagon so to speak on my ornament painting. I will take the advantage of being able to blame my dilatory ways on my cold. I thought these last painted ornaments sort of go along with my train of thought this time of year. I actually have time to think about what I want to do in the garden. This Lady Beetle and Garden Gnome are just the things to set me to thinking about the garden too. I have my new garden journal ready for action. I am already thinking of spring.

Alright gang, lets have some fun this new year. Happy and Healthy New Year to you all....

Many Thanks

This time of year we all have so many things to be thankful for, like wonderful family and friends that treat us to delicious dinners and gifts. I want to share with you the card that I made to send to friends that treated us to a delicious dinner at their home not too long ago. The front of their house set the stage for a wonderful evening.
Sorry about the blurry photo. I didn't realize it was blurry until I uploaded the photo after the card was sent. That is about how my holiday has gone the past few days. I am fighting a terrible cold. Worse one I have had in some time. But I am happy to say I am getting better...I think. Happy Cactus Monday to all of you Cacuteers too. Hopefully next week a cactus will appear here.

Doggie Thursday

Since this is doggie Thursday I thought I would post the picture I painted on a card of thanks for a friend. She turned 81 the other day. She and her Sister had a big cocktail party to celebrate and asked people to bring a donation for the local Pet Shelter instead of gifts for them. You can imagine howdelighted the shelter must have been when they walked in with an envelope containing nearly $900. Whooooo hoooo... and we had such a good time.
This little doggie is hers. I forget the specific breed but his name is Moochie. Most of you dog owners know the reason why.

December Xmas Ornament 25

On this Christmas Day I want to wish all of my blogging buddies Peace. This simple little beaded ornament is one of my favorites because it conveys the very heart of what I have been wishing for the world to be gifted with since a very young child. I should have one that says HOPE because I always have hope that peace will come to be. So Dear Friends, I wish you Peace and the Merriest Of Christmases.

December Xmas Ornament 24

The day before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even me. We are all ready for the big day tomorrow. I hope you all are well and happy.

Christmas Doodle

I figured you all were getting sick of seeing my Christmas ornaments so I thought I would gift you with this poinsetta doodle. What got me started was that I realized that I don't have a poinsetta to torture, I mean enjoy, this holiday. I usually have a few around. Not this year. I guess now I do.... at least this one won't die and drop all its leaves everywhere.

December Xmas Ornament 23

Another oldie but goodie. I can't get enough of these silver sparkles. They just brighten up the holiday so.

December Xmas Ornament 22 Joy

Back during the 80's I went through several Christmas seasons doing ceramic ornaments for everyone in the family. This is one of the several that have survived the years. I love the word Joy. It really makes me happy just reading the word. It describes the feeling I have when gathered with my family any time of the year. I hope you have a Joyous time with your family this year.

December Xmas Ornament 21

This is one of a series of glass balls that are decorated with glitter. They are some of my first purchases years ago. It is a wonder that they have survived all the moves, children and cats over the years.

December Xmas Ornament 20

This is one of the few Nutcrackers we have on the tree. They are special because I was never a Nutcracker fan until a friend started giving us one occasionally. I appreciate the Nutcrackers much more now for they remind me of my dear friend.

December Xmas Ornament 19

Does it feel like I have gone to the dark side?? tee hee...

December Xmas Ornament 18

I found some good (?) black paper to try. I have several white ornaments so I thought this would be a good firest try. It is easy towork with but the colored pencil sluffs stick to the paper. If I was doing something I wanted to have for long or give away, I would have to be much more careful.

This ornament is a carved Santa. It has a few sparkles on it too that I didn't portray. I hope you are all well and happy.

December Xmas Ornament 17

I like ornaments that hang down. I have quite a few of what I call "drop", for lack of a better word, ornaments.
This one is glass. This is one of the first times I have tried to paint glass. Yew, my work table looks gross. Sorry about that.

December Xmas Ornament - 16

Merry Christmas in Bloggyland

At our house Christmas celebrations are often centered in the dining room. To me it is always fun to break bread with friends and family in the dining room where we can seat several around the table and chat until we are replete.

We have the main chritsmas tree in here too.

Of course the livingroom isn't ignored. The bookcases are decked out with garlands filled with all of our bird ornaments.I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.
To see all sorts of Christmas Merriment go here for participating Bloggers.

December Xmas Ornament 15

Sitting on the pine cone is a sweet bunny that has a holly necklace on. I just realized that there are only 10 days until christmas.

Cactus Monday

While driving down a street I drive on often I noticed on an old building that has a travel agency there were musrals painted in all of the windows at the top of the building. One had this scene, with a cactus and hot air baloons. Happy cacuts Monday my fellow Cacuteers.

December Xmas Ornament 14

As Sunday has always been my Dearly Beloveds and my "date day" I thought the ornament I'm using for this sunday would be most appropriate. It is the ornament we bought when we got married in Yosemite National Park. It has a picture of Half Dome hand painted on it. It was one of the few items one could purchase during the time of year we were there. We were there during the lull in the masses of people that go there. The gift shops were nearly empty as was the park. We felt that we had the park to ourselves most of the time. Especially when we were hiking and birding in the not so used portions of the park.

We stayed in the park at a B&B called The Peregrine. It was so romantic. It had a fireplace in our room... One night that we were there Bailey, the Mastiff that lived there, started barking his head off. There was a bear on the balcony off the dining room. The bear took off not wanting to tangle with the dog that probably looked like a bear to it only he definitely didn't sound like a bear... We also had our own private balcony overlooking the side of the mountain that the B&B was perched on. We often buy ornaments on our trips. Sorry I dragged you down memory lane with me. Did I mention that this trip was so romantic???

December Xmas Ornament 13

I have quite a few santas on the tree too. I guess I like them because I was Santa for so many years. This guy is sort of a modern madcap fellow.

December Xmas Ornament 12

For a little change of pace I got out the colored pencils and drew this squirrel. I couldn't get the glass reflections. I made it look more like a real squirrel than the ornament that it is.

December Xmas Ornament - 11 Snail

As much as I dislike snails in my garden I just adore this little ornament. For all of you Thursday doggie people, this is Luna's reaction to all of the christmas ornaments.

December Xmas Ornament 10

This being Animal Wednesday gave me the opportunity to do one of my frog ornaments. I have several animals on ornaments. December has three wednesdays left so I will try to do an animal for each. HAW to all.

December Xmas Ornament 9

This ornament is dedicated to Deb at Beam Me Up Scotty. I offer this parrot as a token of sympathy and concern. Namaste.

December Xmas Ornaments - 8

OOps. As you can see I didn't get this guy centered in the paper. I started drawing it from the bottom up. WRONG thing to do. I get so engrossed in what I am doing I don't see the end before it is too late. Well, being the lazy person I am I didn't do the drawing over. So here is the little snowman in his sleigh with his hoop left off. He is a happy little fellow despite not having a loop to hang from. Have a good week everyone.

December Xmas Ornaments - 7

A lovely little watering can that reminds me that I need a new one. The watering can I use in the house during winter developed a hole in it. Not a good thing ya know.

December Xmas Ornaments 6

I have a collection of ornaments with a garden theme. This one is a trowel. I will probably do a few of these now. I just love to garden which is why I paint more during winter than summer.

December Xmas Ornaments 5

Now this is just a couple of a set of purple ornaments. I just love purple and like a lot of bower birds I like shiny things, so these ornaments fit the bill. I sort of messed up the sparkles I put on these ornaments. I am not the most patient thing and they don't call me the bull in the china shop for nothing. It was fun trying to capture the color of these bulbs. Although they started out the same color they for some reason turned a different color this year. Maybe it was the heat in the attic that caused the paint to discolor. I still like them, the actual ornaments that is.

December Xmas Ornaments 4

I think the reason why I like Christmas ornaments so much is because they almost all have a story behind them. I don't have a Designer type of tree. I have a tree that has a mish mash of bulbs and most of them have a story behind them. Like the one pictured here. It is my oldest ornament. This is the one I hold most dear. It is the only thing I have left of my childhood other than a few photos. I don't remember how I came to have this bulb but it is one of my earliest memories of christmas. I delight unwrapping it each year and placing it on the tree.
Do any of you have favorite ornaments? Do any of your ornaments have stories to tell?

December Xmas Ornaments 3

This ornament is made of metal. I always am amazed at the artists that use metal. Metal is so unforgiving. The paint on this ornament seems to be an enamel. It is shiny and lively looking. Of course the subject matter is of my favorite things. Oh Yes, you did notice the little bird on the ornament didn't you?? Happy Animal Wednesday to all.

December Xmas Ornaments - 2

This is one of my favorite Christmas ornaments. I hate to say that right off because they are all my favorites. Ha.. This bee hive with a bee is one of my favorites to put on an ornament turner. It reminds me in this cold dark time of year about how it won't be long until the bees are buzzing around again. I will have to dig through my ornaments to find flowers to paint. I am sure I have them. Of course I could do a whole month of "bird" ornaments. I have a one track mind ya know. Good day...

Cactus Monday

Lest Senita and Joe forget their love since the honeymoon is over I thought I would kick-off my December project with a special ornament for them to hang on their Christmas tree. I am planning to paint one of my ornaments every day and post it this month. Sort of an advent exercise. If anyone would like to join me I would be delighted. Happy Cactus Monday to all of you Cacuteers.

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish all my Artsy blogging friends a Happy Thanksgiving. I don't know what I would do without all your encouragement...nothing no doubt.
And for all of the Thursday doggie peoples... Luna would like to say Happy Thanksgiving too. After all a girl has to be happy when there are so many "drops" in the kitchen and her humans can't finish all the turkey on their plate. MMMmmmmm Makes me drool just thinking about it.
I can't help it if when Mom gets the camera out I start moving toward her. She says it is better than what I used to do when the camera came out... I would run and hide.
Most of my best pictures are when I am napping. I do that best anyway.

Animal Wednesday-Eight-Spotted Forester

My dear Animal Wedensday friends. You might be delighted to know that this is about the last of my bug sketches, that is unless I dig back into some old sketchbooks. I guess this means I will have to get my lazy self busy drawing some more animals. One of my favorite subjects yet I don't seem to draw them often.

This Eight-spotted Forester Moth was on our patio doors this past summer. I thougth it was so colorful. It would never open its wings for me to see but it sat there for quite some time folded like this. HAW to all.

Cactus Monday - Matucana haynei

Here it is another Monday and I got a cactus drawn this weekend. It is Matucana haynei done with Prismacolor pencils. I was trying to figure out how to make the green of the cactus with all those spines when I remembered Teri's black paper. I thought I would use green paper instead. It worked for me. I didn't have a very good grade of green paper this is construction paper. The waxy pencils didn't like to adhere to the paper very good but it was fun trying it. I started to put a bunch of the gravel around the cactus but whew, it is a lot of work to do that. I wore out after just a few rocks were done. I must purchase a better color paper. I would like lots of different colors. I might be inspired to various projects. Happy Cactus monday to all...

Animal Wednesday

This sketch covers Bloomin Tuesday and Animal Wednesday. Bee on a bloom done with colored pencils. I miss the bees already. Next spring they will return, hopefully. HAW to all.

Zentangle Debut

When I did my first zentangle I realized I liked fillingin some of the spaces.


So I did another and filled in lots of space. Then I kept looking at this thinking it didin't look quite right and went back to the web site that Teri told us about and read up a little on them.


I realized that they didn't go edge to edge on their paper. It was more of a free hand drawing.

Although they suggest that you use black ink and fine papers I have used what I have on hand. My sketchbook was here just waiting for some attention and since I like color I have done a few small ones with my colored Sharpies. The one below sort of looks like Broom Hilda came out of her dress as she flew by.

I also reverted back to the full square with the blue. I don't know why that happened.

All I know is that once I started I had a difficult time stopping. It may not be the true zentangle but it is something I enjoyed doing...obviously.

I just wish I had some different colors of markers to use. I also was reminded that I am not a perfectionist which I think would help if you were a true zentanglist. Is that a word or a being?