Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Lost and Found

I added the above photo, so you can see
how adding names to small post its
and then folding them worked out..


This is what I keep my watercolor pencils



in and grab colors from



when doing a Artist's Journal page



. It came from Pier One a long time



ago and is a thick transparent



deep mylar type bowl



sectioned into four areas for an



assortment of dippers for salsa



that would be in the center part, where



I had inserted a jar that fits with a



dab of that blue tack it to keep



it stable......



.....and I bought two--the other for



the regular colored pencils. What



a surprise bonus for me to find



the "................" I had bought



months ago and lost it right off



quick---a frustrating hunt brought forth



no results. I guess if you



hang around long enough,



things turn up. Do you see it?



Tuesday, April 28, 2009

"I Remember Mama"




The French words say:

"This is a test page " in a journal I found up

in the studio that appeared to be like a

Moleskine with lines, which I had been

wanting to try, liking what I had seen

Katherin Jebsen-Marwedel do . So I did

testing on a full back door page and

this I Remember Mama on an 'up front' spread.

I found the Pitt pens did not bleed through,

and the waterpencils and water brush worked

ok, if you are sparing with the water

amount....but the page is a bit thinner

than the Moleskine and probably would

not bother a pencil or pen artist. Or

straight text journaler. I did have to go back

and add the lines that got lost in the colors.

So since I know I won't use this, I am offering it

as a freebee---leave a comment and when

the name is drawn after there's enough

interest, I will email the winner for the

address to mail it to...


Monday, April 27, 2009

Self Portrait EDM Challenge 56






I found this unposted challenge


done in pencil, when I decided I


better make a record


of what Challenges I have done..and where


they are located etc. It was tricky to


do this flipping through


4 different journals..but I'm glad


I didn't wait any longer. I am


accentuating the positives if possible--


for the negatives will wear you down.


The little Auburn Maine bottle


(where I grew up) I did on a seperate


piece of moleskine paper and


glued it where it would hide something


and improve the page. I did use a mirror and


a photo I had taken in a mirror while drawing


--even if I have


a photo, if I can see the thing or hold


it, helps me draw it the way I want to.




Saturday, April 25, 2009

Maid Marian's Moons



I'm posting an Alphabet "M' page

let's see there's a faux Marble wall, Maple trees,

Mistletoe, Medallion, a memo, The Maid herself and

her Man and two Moons. Let's say the feather

came from a pheasant named Mortimer.


Thursday, April 23, 2009

"V IS FOR VINTAGE" Part of the Process





Part of the Process

***************
At the top, you see the final scan below it,

and the first scan
of the Alphabet Journal Page "V is for Vintage"
I don't always do this, but just feel like it
sometimes. Here I have scanned
a first look at the colored with watercolor
pencils and applied with waterbrushes
journal page to "study" and
make decisions about how I will
finish it and liven it up with my watercolor
pncils and waterbrush.......
You may agree that the original scan
looks weak in color and values..
well, that's what I think
because I like the final
to have more punch...
Buying this old scrapbook in
my old home town was so
exciting to me--who made it and
what her life was like will remain a
mystery that I can imagine what
I like about.....

So far. in my Alphabet book.I have

done C, B, and S---now the V

....me thinks this'll take awhile.

It's cool not to have someone breathing

down my neck to hurry up :-) and

of all horrible things, trying to edit what I do.

At my age I can enjoy more I think.







Wednesday, April 22, 2009

EDM CHALLENGE DRAW A WINDOW

I'll leave it to you to put your own
interpretation on this spread--I had
several ideas and so this developed
.....right click to read better--the pages
are in a small Moleskine
where I had cut two consecutive
pages out---and then glued the
cut edges left,
in the center---I needed some
Moleskine paper and still
have some left in the journal's
back pocket for future use. I'm using
pencil, ink, watercolor pencils
and waterbrushes.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Spring mate hunt is on!


A Robin photo from my brother came today
and I could not resist taking it
to PSP8 and playing with it---
the bird guy looks so bursting
with song and it shouldn't
take long for him to
attract a mate--above you see
a photo I took of one of the nests
they built last year on
my front porch amongst
a small collection of
bells...some visitors
like to ring them all
one after another---which
really gets my attention...




Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Moody Mugs

click on photo to read pillow talk
****************
I love the collection of coffee cups over the stove and
usually pick out the one that I'm in the mood for,
to drink my coffee in. The framed motto has been there
for eons it seems and always makes me smile to
spray on the glass cleaner and polish it,
about once a month. The tea cup puppy did
come to visit me and did sit in my cup....I recall
being afraid of one that would
ticky ticky run to the edge of her porch and
bark at me till I was well past her territory
--- when I was about 7.


Monday, April 13, 2009

Draw A Fish Challenge 165

( left click on photo to read words better)

Well, here's Wilson posing for me again..This time
he has his Halloween teeth on and a red glass
bottle in his lap. The verse I made up is
a take off on "People who live in glass houses
shouldn't throw stones"...
He comes a day late for an
Easter page--never the less..
he's here now...

Saturday, April 11, 2009

What time is dinner?

see photo above, for the Easter dinner I will be
having...the St Edward's Island
mussels I steamed last night and
have flash frozen for some
later meal..I saved a few shells as
they add coastal ambiance to any sea
food repast.....it surprised me that
I hadn't noticed the shells resemble
hearts when opened---it'll include
the Alaskan King crab meat, I just
shelled, (using some great strong
scissors that worked best, plus getting
two pot holders sopping wet with
crab juices) nestled next to a melted
butter shell cup--a dollop of mashed
sweet potato, a wedge of Jarlsberg cheese
with hot Maine blueberry tea to aid in
the digestion.....burp!
from The Palette Inn---on the coast of Maine
...Jill Mordasky, Keeper
************************************
(this is an email sent out to some
family and friends as a joke---
I do not own any place on the
coast of Maine---and the flowery
meal discription seems to be how
I might have to do a menu , if
I did...:-)

Friday, April 10, 2009

TRAVEL BOX PALETTE of 11

I decided to take only the watercolor pencils I could fit into a new neat slide top wooden box..when I go to Eastport---and limit myself to a fixed palette---I am used to just about every color pencil there is and this will get
me back to more "mix thoughts" which can only be a good
thing. The first color in the rows is the start color and' then the rest of them are are added to it.--using the waterbrush that wipes off to clean easily on a paper towel make this type of exercise non messy and fun. I will take a white pencil too, just in case.
It's the teacher in me that thinks maybe some newcomers might benefit from
this spread. I hope so...

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Homage to Jan Brett et al.

Left click on photo to
read words better
******
This spread started with the #191 Challenge

of drawing paper money---then

I decided the spread should go up

to the top page too--I purposefully

did a Jan Brett "how to" video Dutch

Bunny to get something up

there. Then did the


Polish Chicks from pausing live ones

moving around in her video...

the dark background with the chicks

told me to add two other dark areas

to balance this---the Chinese symbol

is for Properity .....the black bird becomes a

"money is the root of all evil" symbol---

the running ribbon was added to

enhance page flow...the pencil, sketcher's

homemade bombsite and the tack

and hanging tags were fill in


design additions......the writing up

top, was planned to be there ....

that's how it all came to be.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bus Stop Welcome

Quite a few times I have been on this road
in town and had to stop behind a school bus.....
it seems odd to me that this would happen in this
same spot, but it has a few times. The big ole dog
always waits for her to get off the bus, in an
anticipating, tail waging stance .
She has a bag in her hand which demands
a good sniffing--it might be a treat!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Table Pigeons

Every Day Matters Challenge #208

Draw something out of place

*********************

After the incident with the Grackle

bird running amok upstairs

recently, I hoped the pigeons

over on the neighbors' roof

wouldn't try to visit in the

kitchen. I'd had this #208 challenge

in mind and Sumner sent a photo

better than mine, to look at.

I do a light pencil ' positioning search sketch' and

then use a fine pen to get as
serious as I feel like....



















Wednesday, April 1, 2009

"Dedication"

Left click to see larger
*************
Here is the dedication page in the front of
my second, almost completed,
can hardly believe it, small
Moleskine journal.
I have managed to catch quite a few
strong memories of my mother,
before she was my mother.
You can see the drawing from the photo in the
blog just before this one.
I'll just mention what an ordeal it
was to pick the blackberries even if
there was quite a large tangled patch---
I had to wear long sleeved
flannel shirt and big buckle boots to survive
something resembling no mans land...
which was a killer in the hot
days the berries were ripe to pick.