Iguana Make Art!

Here is a fun journal page that I just finished.  I am still working on the Fabulous and Free Art Challenge on Facebook.  Challenge 24 was the prompt "Sublime Stencils."

I had already made a cool background by putting either gesso or gel medium through a stencil for a dimensional effect.  Then I painted a watercolor wash over that in rainbow shades.

I loved the look, but was stumped on what to do with it until I got my inspiration here in Florida.  As I mentioned in a previous post, there are lizards everywhere here...including iguanas.  

I painted a piece of paper in dark colors with watercolor, drew an iguana shape on the back, and cut out the shape.  Then I just glued it over the background to create a negative shape.  I did not try to use specific parts of the stencil design, but am pleased with how the stencil designs help form the iguana.

Today after Charlie's radiation, I surprised him with breakfast at a French Cafe and Bakery in Sarasota called C'est La Vie.  His appetite is off, and he does not eat much except in the morning.  We enjoyed crepes and potatoes and baguette.  It is a nice place with a warm atmosphere, nice art, and great waitresses.

And here is today's sunrise.  The day started out just beautiful, but rained this afternoon.  That's okay...we're still getting over the visit with our kids and granddaughter last weekend! A good afternoon to stay inside and veg.

Here's Something I Made

It has been a very busy time since Memorial Weekend!  We just got back from a week at the beach with our family.  Our granddaughter Lily had a birthday, and I finished the patchwork bag that we started together when she was on spring break.

The lovely posy was made by my friend Tama Brooks as a remembrance after my father died.  Lily selected the rest of the fabrics to make up the front and sewed them together.  I then added enough patchwork to fold over and make into a tote bag.  

The way I have been making sturdy tote bags is to make a regular quilt complete with binding, then hand-sew up the sides.  The back of the quilt becomes the lining of the bag.  I also make handles that are quilted, and securely sew them to the bag.

Unfortunately, we left the bag of birthday gifts at home, (along with all our towels and the paints and papers I meant to bring) so she will have to wait until we see them in a couple weeks to get her finished bag.

She will also be getting tho framed print of pears on a windowsill.  She was going through my stack of finished paintings and expressed an interest in this one, which surprised me.  I thought she would want one of my more vibrant paintings.  I think it turned out very nice matted and framed.

I have continued with the Fabulous and Free Journaling Challenge with Irresistibly Moi on Facebook.


The "Stamp It Out" prompt produced this ocean scene, just before we left for the beach.  I used a commercial stamp for the ship and also for the little shore bids in the foreground.  I tried some home-made stamps from a carved Styrofoam food package for the clouds, sun, and waves.  Then I brushed on some more paint to make it look more artistic.

Another prompt, "Numbers," happened to fall on my anniversary.  So, I had fun with the 44 years we have been married, and the wedding date.  Watercolor, markers, and white dimensional paint.

I did this quick watercolor painting in response to the "Monochrome Mania" prompt.  It is of course inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Here is our family group at the beach.  We had a wonderful time, great weather, good food.

And I will leave you with one of our glorious Sunset Beach sunsets.

May Days

 Last weekend we took a trip to South Carolina to see our beautiful older granddaughter, Lily, perform in her dance recital.  We were so proud of her!  She will be nine next month.

Our other son and his wife went to St. Croix for a destination wedding the next week.  We kept their 2-year old daughter Charlotte for a few days.  It was hot, and we enjoyed playing outside with the water hose!

I have gotten a couple more journal pages done for the Facebook journal project.  This prompt was "Name", and I chose to devote my page to my married last name.  The tartan plaid is an approximation of the McBrayer plaid.  It is very hard to draw a complicated plaid.  I found a Celtic-looking font and a knot border that I printed out.  The mandala is one that I drew recently and has nothing to do with the McBrayer clan!

Here is another one for the challenge "Calendar."  I tried to paint my granddaughter Charlotte playing with bubbles out in my yard on one of my babysitting days.  I used watercolor paints and markers along with some tissue collage for the flowers.

This weekend we are back in the mountains for a long Memorial Day weekend.  We have ordered a storage shed built by the Amish to put alongside our driveway.  It will be for the lawn mower, a four-wheeler and Gator, and for lots of the stuff currently in our garage.  I want to clear out the garage so we can actually park our cars in there!

There is a big group of family and friends up here this weekend.  Charlie and I spent the day building a flower bed along our driveway, and planting a rose garden.  Exhausting work, but I anticipate years of pleasure from the beautiful red roses.  Pictures next time!

Fabulous and Free Art Journal Challenge

Here is a link to sign up for the Fabulous and Free Art Journal Challenge.

The leader of the challenge is Susan Lazar Wojtkowski.  She has a web page called Irreversibly Moi.  Here is the information from Susan:

"The first challenge will arrive, via email, on May 4th (Monday).  You will receive a new challenge twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays.

• We will keep the same Facebook Group for this challenge as we had for the last one.  There will be a few new features added, though.

• The challenges will be posted in the Facebook Group files section at the end of each week.

• There will be an album for each challenge for you to upload your work to.

• I will have random giveaways during the course of the challenge

• There will be 30 challenges, in all.  With two challenges per week, this will take 15 weeks.

• We just may have a few guest artists participating in some of the challenges :)"

I hope that some of you will participate in the challenge.  The last one really encouraged me to start making some beautiful pages in my journal.  I have tried some new lettering, drawing, and painting techniques, and found some that I really like.