I touched a whale!

Yes, I did from a zodiac in the Sea of Cortez. Two of my sisters, Lynette and Nancy and I just returned from a week  with Lindblad National Geography.  What an adventure!  This is my hand rubbing the belly of a mama whale who is half under the zodiac.

Here we are on one of many, many zodiac rides.  We saw a blue whale, humpback whales, dolphins, snorkeled with the sea lions and had many encounters with mother grey whales and their calves.

Looking for grey whales!

Of course there was time for some sketching.  The landscape was beautiful and so serene.  Sketched the blue whale from a photo and the mask and snorkel is for our time in the water with the sea lions.

All of the islands were protected so beach combing for sea shells for sketching or photographing was the order of the day.  The doctor on the ship was carving a beautiful chess set during down times on the ship.

This gridded page is strolling Boca de Soledad island in Bahia Magdalena.  Mangroves, red alga sea shells, interesting plants, and bits and pieces.  The island also has beautiful flowing sand dunes of the finest sand blowing and blowing.  Magical.

Chalk paint and the Little Red Chair

So a long time ago I bought this little rickety chair with the intention of painting it.  So finally this weekend I took a furniture painting workshop using Chalk Paint at Peinture Studios in Costa Mesa.  Chalk Paint was developed by Annie Sloan in England 20 years ago and has only been in the states for about 2 years.  It is an amazing product and lots of fun.

What's the big deal you ask?  How about no and I mean no priming, sanding or prepping is involved.  Just start painting.  Even on a glossy finish, the paints will stick.  Crazy huh? Here is my little chair in progress, see no primer.  I decided to leave the iron braces rustic.  Being raw wood and very weathered it took the paint with no problem but others in the class had finished pieces of furniture and they also just started painting.

When finished you use a wax to finish and seal the piece but because I was putting mine back out in the garden I just used a very, very fine sandpaper all over to burnish it  and wiped it down with a damp cloth.  The sanding also removed the paint from the round head nails which I liked as well.  I have already bought the paint to do another large old wooden chair I have had for years.  It too will find a home in the garden….and then there's the narrow table upstairs or maybe that old nightstand in the garage…………

Botanicals or Marine Creatures?

The last post from 2013....started out playing with more botanicals but I think it kind of looks more like underwater creatures.  Happy New Year!

5"square Handbook

 Pen and Pencil

Happy Holidays

 Every December my art critique group has a holiday gathering instead of our regular critique meeting.  Good food, friends and an original hand made card exchange.

Being the only tangler in the group I did some Zentangle trees.  Looks a little greyed out in the photo…maybe it's going to snow!

This is the card I received from Annie!  A beautiful and very fun water color.  All the cards were great, not a bad one in the bunch which makes us all winners!

Happy Holidays to all!

Art Day with Jessica

Last time Jessica was here I proposed a color blocking project of sorts and had her draw this butterfly.  I enlarged it and got the images onto a pieces of white Bristol board.  Then thinking about contrast she picked her colors for each of the butterflies.  We trimmed them to 6" squares and mounted them on black Bristol board.  Not bad for a 2 hours class with a yummy cookie break.

15" x 15" finished

Tuscany May 2014

My friend Marj and I have planned an artist trip to Tuscany for May 17-31 2014.  We have a few spots left and I thought I would throw it out there to any of my followers who are feeling adventurous.  We will be staying at this lovely villa for 14 days, 20 km from Lucca.   The cost of the workshop is 2500 euros or approx. $3,400.00 US. Airfare not included.
If our workshop does not work for you check out the others.  I have not been here but it comes highly recommended from multiple artist.  You can check the trip schedule through the link.  Email me for availability.

http://www.abbondanzatoscana.com/gathering_of_artists.htm

The End of Everyday in November….

well sort of.  The last five days were busy, fun, exciting and almost artless.  Spend four days coming, going and enjoying Palm Springs for Thanksgiving.  I did try to go to the botanical gardens with my sketchbook but they were closed.  I did manage a few minutes here and there to do this one 3.5" Zentangle.  I had my brown and a black 01 micron so played a little with them both.

The 30 days were a real challenge at times but it kept me thinking of art even if I didn't have the time.  All in all I am pretty proud of my efforts even though I didn't quite make it through every day.

Days 23-25 Everyday in November?

Oh my goodness, what was I thinking taking up this challenge??  Very little art the last three days.
Day 23 I thought I would get a start on a few Christmas cards which turned out to be one.
On Day 24 I spend many hours with my daughter looking at color, texture and prints…unfortunately for art's sake we were shopping!


4" x 5.5" Blank card and Pen

With even less time Day 25 produced another Christmas card which is very simple.  I may have to go back into this one with some shading at a later time but I kind of like this little modern looking tree.

4" x 5.5" Blank card and Pen

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, see you after the turkey!