Mount Dora, FL Art Festival

5.5 x 7" accordion folding sketch pad (2 page spread)

Near the ice cream stand and the ATM machine!

A really lovely Saturday afternoon spent in Mt. Dora, FL at their well-organized art festival.  Don't know the count this year...but normally over 10,000 people attend.  They have a good shuttle bus system.  Everyone was having a grand time and the weather both days was perfect...sunny and in the upper 70s.  

This was our one time to sit down all afternoon (with ice cream).  I did a 5 minute sketch while Greg finished his.  Added color at home.

Here's what it looked like out in the main walking areas! 

ps. Those of you who sent little notes about our granddaughter Abby and her heart ablation...I wanted you to know things went fairly well.  She came through with flying colors but unfortunately they did not find exactly what was causing her arrhythmia so they did not do the ablation as planned.  She may have to go on some medication for her tachycardia which does not seem to have a straightforward cause.  So that part was a disappointment.

Zentangle® on Marbled Paper

4 x 6 notecards

Tangles on shaving cream marbling. 

I've mentioned doing this marbling in previous posts.  You can get the instructions online or if you look through my "labels" on the side bar for marbling I think I may have it there.

The "black and blue" series however seemed a little mysterious and it called to me to do something a little different with it.  It felt "outside the box" to me.  It was a bit time consuming mostly because I spent quite a bit of time searching out the tangles I wanted to use on it.  

They reminded me of reflected oil slicks on puddles.

I stuck with the black and blue theme.  Although looking back it might have been cool to tangle one space with red...give it a bright center of interest.  

Both of these are on the front of cards and un-tangled marbling on the back of the card.  I found some great buys on colored card stock at Michaels a few weeks ago and I stocked up.  Also bought nice stock envelopes.  No reason to ever buy another Hallmark card!  

Valentines for the grandchildren

This is what happens when you have 12 grandchildren!!!

I love using home made washi tape on envelopes.

The Valentines themselves are made from "shaving cream prints" that come out looking a lot like marbling.  Very fun.  You can do it with watercolor, food coloring, or fluid acrylics.  I used mostly pinks, purples, and red.  I added some stencil work with acrylic paint, some glitter,  and some cute plastic stickers from Michaels.  
Inside I embossed "Happy Valentines Day". 

My grands range from 11 to 26 and so there's quite a range.  
Miss them all.  Abby (17) is having heart ablation surgery on Feb 2.  Everyone is holding her close to our hearts in a whole new way right now.  She has sinus ventricular tachycardia.  This is her second ablation.  Tough for someone so young!!!  But she has fantastic doctors.  We are trying not to worry.

Lollywimple Birthday card

4 x 6 card stock with 03 Micron and Prismacolor pencils

Lollywimple is my current "Mac and cheese" tangle...you may have noticed.  Here it is on my grandson's birthday card.

Kitchen Table Tangles and more

3.5" tiles

It's been awhile since I've been "organized" enough to get back to some of my challenges.  This one (The Diva's Challenge) is a weekly challenge that Laura now says has been going on for 300 weeks.  THAT is a lot of challenges.  She does now and then use a guest challenger on her blog but she still has to plan and organize it.  So she's been committed to this for like forever!  

The first tile is about a new feature that the founders of Zentangle® have started called "Kitchen Table Tangles" where they demonstrate some new technique or idea on a video.  A weaving of Diva Dance and Paradox is the result.  That is this week's challenge...to do our own weaving.  The link will show you the the entire video.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee and plan to relax.  

The second tangle, which should have been posted for last week's challenge, is a tribute to Laura's son.  Laura tells her very emotional story about how Zentangle kept her from falling "off the edge" after the birth of her second son, a premie who was diagnosed with a rare abnormal condition called Moebius Syndrome.  I was able to hear Laura tell about this in person at my own CZT training (CZT 15) in Providence a few years ago.  Each year she asks us to do a challenge using the symbols and colors of the condition.  (Thus I've added a little purple which is color attached to it.) 

The Steampunk Festival January 28

Stillman and Birns  Beta Sketchbook

It's rather hard to describe "steampunk" if you are not familiar with it.  Words like "retro", time-travel, industrial, come to mind.

The photos inserted into my journal are taken at the festival yesterday in hopes that, like my clever friend Susan, I'll do some figure sketches from the photos later.  

These are not performers.  These are "attendees" at the festival.  About one out of every 20 people there was in some sort of "costume" peculiar to what "steampunk" followers like to wear.  A combination of "back to the future" and "Mad Max" would be my description with a slightly darker element wearing gas masks and plague masks and weapons that looks like they have been made from odds and ends and might shoot ping pong balls.  I enjoyed the fact that this was not a particular to any age group.  Folks anywhere from 16 to 90 came dressed up and enjoying themselves. Some children were there too.  

Top hats and goggles were the main costume.  Which is why I chose to sit and sketch them.  These were $75!   Booths were selling retro items...mainly rusty bits and pieces you might use in some way.  Hubby bought a retro glass lampshade for his train room. Or costumes were available you could buy.  You also found time machines (pictured in the top right) made VERY cleverly with old satellite dishes and gorgeous designs painted on them...imaginary bicycles and train engines...almost life size, tables and chairs made of wrenches and tools soldered together, etc.

So I am of a mind of people who like to do Civil War re-enactiments or Renaissance festivals where people come with gowns and swords.  This is somewhat like that only these are actually more creative.  

"Cog is Dead" was one of the bands that played and I interviewed the lead singer who was selling his CDs before the band went on and he explained the name is due to the fact that timepieces no longer have mechanical parts...they are all digital now.  No cogs anymore.  And the band mourned this loss of cogs.  Also I think "Cog is Dead" is a play on the old "God is Dead" movement of the past.  We didn't get into that.  Actually the band was pretty good.

The weather could have been better...mostly overcast all day with a few peeks of sunshine...temps hung around 60 with a slight breeze that kept everyone in jackets. No one complained (except whiner-me who likes 80.)  And the festival was supposed to continue on today but it is raining steadily at 8 am Sunday morning so it will surely depend on how that plays out.  I am so glad went yesterday! 

A re-do on the Mote Morris House

wc and ink on Multi Media paper: Strathmore

Here is a little re-do of the Mote Morris house drawn from the photo I took.

I still have a lot to practice on architecture...but the thing is to keep trying.  Took an online class from Craftsy this fall and I like going back to that.  Jim Richards I think is his name.  He has a lot of interesting tips like how to keep your buildings from leaning in one direction (which often happens to me).  Uh oh.  

Also trying lots of pens.  This sketch was done with Faber-Castell Pitt pens...a fine and a brush.  So many pens are not waterproof ink. These are.  

Hoping to get out again next week although it seems a VERY busy one and the pollen is beginning to float around which is going to make me sneezy and stuffed.  We are in a string of unbelievably lovely weather for January!  Close to 80 every day.

Hope you are no where near the ice storms!

Urban Sketching in Leesburg, FL: Mote Morris House

8 x 10 watercolor on Multi Media paper

Sketch before color

Enjoying a gorgeous 78 degree morning.

We had 12 artists show up today to paint in Leesburg.  

Wonderful to see so many talented folks.  We started around 10 and had lunch at 12:30 at Blooms.  Some folks stayed on to paint on the streets of the town in the afternoon.  

My Palette

My palette colors follow Brenda Swenson's palette...mostly. Most of them are Daniel Smith brand.  Leaf Green, Hansa Yellow, Raw Sienna, Quin Gold, Winsor Orange (Winsor Newston), Scarlet Lake, Aliziran Crimson, Permanent Rose, Cobalt Violet, Ultra Marine Blue, Cobalt, Antwerp, Cerelean, Bamboo, Viridian, Quinn Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Magnetite (a granular black).  

You can follow Brenda' blog here.

Poster Child

large poster 4' by 4' on foam core painted with black Gesso

4' x 4' foam core poster

I found a really nice use for some of my gelli prints this week.  I got asked to make two posters for the Lake County Florida Fundraiser being put on by the Women for Hospice.  They put on a luncheon here at our park in late January each year.

The theme this year is "Empty Your Purse for Hospice".  The co-chair have asked people to donate flat bottom purses in order to put a vase of flowers in each one as centerpieces for the tables.

The posters continue the theme.  

In these photos I have not yet glued the papers to the foam core.

Actually they look a lot more professional once glued down.  I added a few tweaks with white opaque pens.  The purses have some "bling" on them with buttons, ribbons, fake rhinestones, and lace.  The toy money is "spilling out" as donations.  So they are ready for pick up on Monday.  

I painted both sides of the foam core with black gesso.  I had hoped to do just one side but the whole thing warped pretty badly.

So I had to do both sides to get it to flatten out. I probably spent a good 6 hours all told putting these two together.  Not counting the dry time between things.  

But it is for a good cause.

Boy we are getting a cold spell here in central FL tonight.  A direct result of the horrible midwest cold and storms up north.

And the Chicago area will have bitter cold the next two days...tomorrow night they will be zero.  So that means we will plunge for two nights too...we'll be 44 tonight and 33 tomorrow night.  Whew...have to bring my hanging plants in tomorrow night.  My sister has snow in South Carolina!  But then we make a huge swing back up almost immediately with 80 for a high on Thursday.  Whew...that is better.  

Homes down here are not geared for bitter cold. We don't have insulation and thermo pane windows or serious central heat.  What is killing us tonight is the bitter cold north wind.  Bringing wind chills way down.  I've even pulled the drapes on the windows on that side of the house.  

A Little Tangling

8.5 x 11

A little tangle fun...using some new tangles and a few more that just seemed right.  Felt they looked better in black and white this time.  

Urban Sketching on a Gorgeous FL afternoon

The Tropic in Leesburg
10 x 12 Moleskin

A beautiful afternoon...just snuck downtown to meet Lee Kline and another friend to do a little sketch.  This is the old Tropic Theater.  Fun.  

Tangle holders

Tangle Keepers

I make these up in groups to give away at my Zentangle workshops.  Top and bottom are just reinforced "tags" from an office supply store.  I use my gelli plate to decorate them in acrylic paint, adding embellishments with stencils, oil based markers, stamps and stencils.  I do both sides.  Then I cover them with a final coat of gloss medium and varnish.  They are quite durable and have a nice shine to them.  

I add about 20 small white pages (cut on a paper cutter) and hole punch them to match the tag, holding them all together with a ring (see finished one in blue).  These are popular with my classes and I use them as door prizes...giving one or two away at each class depending on the # of students.  This is where they can keep their tangle patterns.  

We had a cool day here in central FL...only got to 60 and partly cloudy with gusty winds.   We have company arriving any time.  So I thought a short project was in order.  Weather man promises that we'll be back to 80 by Sunday.  

Happy New Year!

Do not disappoint the squirrel of judgement

Someone posted this on Facebook and I am sorry I don't have a reference for where it came from.

But it hit both my funny bone AND my "uh oh" bone.

You wouldn't want to disappoint the "squirrel of judgment"!!!  Hahaha.

Having TWO new computer devices arrive for Christmas has "sucked" a LOT of time over the last two weeks...getting things "migrated" from one computer to the other, getting used to a new format for my Apple (Sierra) and then also a new format on my new iPad.  How nuts with THAT decision.  Hahaha.  Whew...how is that for a confession!  

Back to art...I have a huge array of ideas on my studio table...no problem about what ideas to create...more a problem of where to start.  I usually start with clean up and organization.  This NEEDS to get done.  I want to throw open the studio windows this morning (it's 85 again here in central FL...no complaints there).  

When perplexed, I always start with re-organization.  I finished up the paper clay projects (for now) and I'd like to move back to wc painting and sketching for part of January. Some new ideas on the back burner there.  And I'd like to work a bit on the ZenAgain workshop I am planning for later in January here in the park (for folks who had basic course already). 

I haven't done any gelli printing this fall at all.  

That studio table is mess.  Sigh.  A catch all.  

I am trying to work up a group here in the park for a "drawing a day" challenge until Feb 6 (about 4 weeks).  I think I need the support for that challenge too.  I am always inspired by Danny Gregory.  That link by the way takes you to a little video about drawing every day.  There is a new course on Sketchbook Skool if you want to get serious about it.  

Okay...am off to that organization excitement.  Hahaha.  Photos of neat and tidy studio to follow.  I hope.

The Luminaries

Luminaries for Christmas Eve

So I was watching a recent video about gel-printing luminaries.  One of the most recent ones.  Very nice by the way.  The luminaries in the video were, I expect, meant to be in your home rather than outside but I think they could also be outside.  These above are outside ones.  

When she finished with the demo I realized that mostly what people would see is the dark outline (silhouette) of the snowflake against the candle light inside.  So I went and got some dark paper...this happens to be blue Christmas wrapping paper which is fairly thin.  And I cut myself 8 fun snowflakes and glued them down with gel medium. 

The candles sitting in front of them show the size of the candle in the kits.  Our park sells kits of 8 bags, candles, and sand to raise some funds for other projects.  $6/kit.  We bought two kits or 16 this year but I only decorate half.  So on Christmas Eve our park of about 1,200 homes has their 9 miles of streets totally lined with candles.  It is magical.

Most of us have discovered over the years that it's not enough sand to really support that large a candle and so folks improvise all sorts of "holders" inside the bags.  A friend made us some wooden candle sticks that work slick.  Small bathroom paper cups slit on the bottom and used upside down also work pretty well.

Sometimes if it is not windy or rainy the candles are still burning in the morning!  Amazing!  Gorgeous weather in central FL right now with 85 today and right through Christmas.  

It will be a lovely Christmas Eve...we plan to attend the candlelight service at our church at 6 pm.  Then have some friends back later for "grasshoppers".  

Monday is my hubby's birthday and we'll have a nice little party for him on Monday night.  Tuesday is my daughter Julie's birthday.  She is far away in Madison, WI.  Boo hoo. Only 27 on her birthday there!  

Sketchcrawl in the Villages

Moleskin journal 5 x 10

Ink with wc

We got lucky with the weather yesterday up at The Villages, Florida.  We met at Spanish Springs town square in the afternoon with the skies sunny but lots of interesting clouds.  

I put some of those in the second painting but it didn't come through the scan very well.  The temp was about 85 and the humidity high with the feeling of rain or storms hanging in the air.

 But they held off all afternoon and didn't hit us until about 5 at which time we were safely in the Gator Dockside restaurant being interviewed by a reporter from the Villages Sun newspaper.

I think there were 6-8 of us there but not everyone came in for show and tell/drinks.  It was fun to meet some new artist friends who like to paint out of doors.  

Cloudy again on Tuesday and we may get a little more rain...temps dropped into mid 70s today but then back up to mid 80s for Christmas next weekend.  Nothing to complain about.  And we REALLY need the rain.  

9 x 11 Mixed Media Sketchbook 90#

Discovered when I updated to my new MacBook Air last week the   scanner did not migrate over to the new computer.  I read on line that people updating in Apple sometimes have this problem.  Sigh.

My old iMac is still working and the scanner works on that computer so I scan in and then email myself the scan.  That will get old soon, right?

I have a feeling this is going to be complicated.

So will save for Apple Care to walk me through it later.

Otherwise the data migration seems to have gone pretty smoothly and I did the back up for the first time a few days ago and that went pretty okay.  New computers and updates are stressful, are they not?

I even have Siri on this new computer.  Weird to talk to your computer and have her answer back.  I asked for Madison, WI weather this morning and she said, "weather is not looking good in Madison."  Ha.  But she was right.  BLAH weather there in the minus digits.  Gosh. 

So these were a few little random sketches from the concert this afternoon.  I used ink and watercolor pencil.  Supposed to go on a sketch crawl up in Spanish Springs tomorrow afternoon.  Temps look good but 40% chance of thundershowers.  Boy, we DO need rain in central Florida!  Not taking too much to carry...small notebook, pens, a small wc set, wc pencils, pencil/eraser, and my folding chair. Idea is to try some "urban sketching".  Kinds of new for me. 

Finishing up the paper clay sunflower...

During this step, the paper clay has been coated with white gesso (let dry) and
two coats of gloss varnish (dry between each). Then I applied a thin glaze of acrylic paint (burnt umber) and let that dry.
Directions are not to let this glaze stay on for longer than 24 hours.

So then using rubber gloves I removed the burnt umber acrylic with rubbing alcohol.
This process sort of antiques the clay...leaving dark residue in all the crevices.  

In this step I applied acrylic (thinned with acrylic glaze).
This photo also shows that I did apply a thin coat of gesso on the canvas as well in the earlier step.

This is the point where I have to give some serious thought to how the piece will be finished.  I am tentatively thinking of painting some dark green leaves (small) around the behind the petals.  Possibly I might paint on some soft background flowers...not sure yet.  The whole thing will have a gloss varnish when it is done.  

This may be a "wait time" while I ponder this.

Zentangle® on Glass Vase

Zentangle Vase: Oil based marker-8" high

second view

So the co-chair of the Art Show at Hawthorne Park has requested that 15 of the members each take a vase and decorate it any way they choose.  They might just fill it with something interesting.

They will decorate our "tea tables" at the very nice show we have on March 12, 2017 (1-4) in Leesburg, FL (open to the public).

Naturally I thought of Zentangle!  I have filled mine with cotton balls only to show off the designs a little better for the camera.  But I do think I'll need to find something white and interesting for the actual show.  It need not be edible but it could be.  Suggestions?

I thought of mini-marshmallows.  Or white mints.  

I also thought of using some skewers I might have some little flags (in black and white) with "welcome" on them or something.

If anyone has a good suggestion about how to finish this off in a clever fashion put them in the comments.  I think the vases will be saved to use another year but I am not sure.  

Paper Clay 2nd project

10 x 10 on gallery wrapped canvas

My second paper clay project is for a scholarship giveaway up in WI this summer.  Nothing like getting it done early!  But I can show it the Hawthorne Park show IF I deem it worthy.

Okay so in this one, with a photo reference, I decided on a wild bright yellow/orange/green background.  The I drew the flower on heavy tracy paper and cut out the pieces to assemble.  Whew.  

This took hours.  But I am pleased with the result.  But it's hard to imagine the finished piece yet.

So now it dried overnight and still isn't completely dry.  So now it is in the sun on my desk by the window (good hot FL sun) and it should be dry today.  

I think the steps I'll follow will be slightly different for this piece.

I will cover the WHOLE piece with a wash of white gesso.  While wet, I'll wipe off most of the gesso from the background leaving some wispy glazes.  Or that is the plan anyway.  Let dry.

Then I'll add two coats of clear gloss acrylic over just the clay.  Letting dry between each coat.  Then…this I am not sure yet…then I think I cover the clay with a thin glaze of burnt umber and black acrylic and let dry.  (Scary, huh?)

Then comes the antiquing step with rubbing alcohol.  I'll rub off most of the dark paint leaving just dark in the textures.  Let dry.  I may hard some dark around the outside of the clay edges as well.  THEN, I can finally add color to the flowers and leaves.  

If everything is as I wish (hmmm) then I have two coats of gloss acrylic medium/varnish.  Wish me luck.

Finishing the paper clay project

I've completed the paper clay/acrylic project.  See previous post for information on how I put it together.  The final two coats of gloss/varnish have been put on.  

If you wanted to frame this you would have use kind of a shadow box format.  Or it could most likely be displayed on a little easel of some sort.  

Now what I "should" do is complete a second one right away so I remember the steps but try a little different technique.  This one is an "appliqué" type where I glued the clay on canvas board at the end.

Many of the projects in the book just have you put the wet clay onto the board or the canvas and let it dry there.

Happy holidays.