a year in review

This will be my last post for this year. My grandson is here for a visit, so I’m not spending much time in the studio.

I think this happened to me last year. I get to a point where I can’t think of what to draw next. The Muse is out of town, I guess.

Does this happen to you?

Last year, I found a video that got me started on 30-Day Challenges. It was fun to pick a new topic each month. I was always pleased at the end of the month to see what I’d produced, you know?

I did spend a while today and reviewed 2013.

In January, I worked on some thumbnails for a short story I had kicking around in my head. (Which I STILL haven’t finished!!)

February was 29 Faces challenge. I do think I’ll do that again!!

March was fun. I did a month of flowers!!

In April, I worked on a few short stories and illustrated them.

For May…I drew “stuff I ate.” Always one of my fAvoRite things to draw!

In June and July, I participated in Index-Card-A-Day. Very fun!

In June, I lost my dear cat, Abby. I still miss her. Such a sweetheart.

August was filled with doodles of stuff around the house. It was too hot to draw anything outdoors.

September was a slow month…I just concentrated on my journal but didn’t post much. That was the month we adopted a new kitten and a dog. The house just got too lonely without a pet around.

October was full of cat doodles.

November was Art Every Day Month. This was the first time I’d participated in that. I did 30 drawings of Stuff About Me. It either bored you or helped you to get to know me better. A toss up.

December was full of dog doodles. As I sit and type this, I hear the constant squeak, squeak, squeak of her favorite toy. I hate that toy. Why did I buy it?? What was I thinking?

So that was 2013. I have a day or so to figure out what to concentrate on in 2014. Any ideas??

happy friday

odd pets

We had a quiet Christmas here. I got some art supplies from my husband. What a surprise!! (Actually art supplies was the ONLY thing on my list…which is not really a surprise, is it?)

Our big family Christmas celebration is on Saturday. I still have a few days of quiet before the chaos. The sweet, joyous, crazy chaos that is my family!

For now a drawing of Dobby dog. Is this normal?

And one of Luna.

from me to you

I saw this brownie idea on Pinterest and just had to make them!! My contribution to the family table is ALWAYS something sweet ☺

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

doodles

I love these last few days before Christmas when the only pressure I have now is to wrap up the gifts that I bought. We aren’t having “family” Christmas until Saturday, 28 December, so I have some time.

I’m working today and tomorrow and it’s really nice because nearly EVERYONE else is off and there’s no phone calls or emails or last minute rush requests. I can actually get work done!!!

I might even find time tomorrow to clean my office.

Maybe not.

Over the weekend, I watched a few of my favorite Christmas movies and just did some mindless doodling. These doodles are ideas I found in an old book by Claudia Nice. She makes line drawing look so easy.

tea party for tracey

Today at Paint Party Friday it's a special day!! A surprise tea party for Tracey Fletcher King…a wonderful artist whose work I’ve admired for some time now.

This is my contribution for this week’s theme. It’s a birds-eye view of my tea party with Tracey.

So…cheers, Tracey!! Thanks for sharing your art and life with us!! Happy PPF!

magic word

I can wake Dobby up from a deep, deep sleep with one word…

She will fetch her favorite squeaky toy for me to throw and throw and throw…until my arm falls off.

Game over.

ice

This dog LOVES ice cubes. She follows me to the refrigerator every time just in case I’m getting ice water. She wants to be there if there is an ice cube that goes flying off the cup to the floor.

She has dibs on those that hit the floor.

Dobby was in heaven when I dumped out the HUGE ice cube from her outdoor water dish!! It provided hours of entertainment over the course of a few days.

Sadly, we had a warm up and the snow and ice are gone. For now!

scary bags

Where I live, people rake their leaves and put them in bags by the curb. They are picked up by a compost truck.

My husband told me that the first time the dog saw a pile of bags, she went into a barking frenzy not knowing what they were.

Poor Dobby. So many frightening new things to this pup!

treats

Over the weekend, I baked Doggie Treats for Dobby and other furry friends. I bought a dog treat cookbook about a month ago and have been wanting to try out some recipes.

We made peanut butter flavored “bones” and heart-shaped ginger snaps.

I even tried them…pretty “blah” since they don’t have sugar. But Dobby sure loved them. She was my taste tester!!

another painting finished

I started this painting shortly after the Roses. It sat in various stages of undone for a while, too.

But now…it’s done. Now on to some other project I’ve not completed!! I have so many.

It’s not that I procrastinate, it’s just that I have to look at them for a while to decide “what’s next.”

Fortunately, I don’t belabor every painting. Otherwise, I would never get anything done!

I’m glad today is Friday. The snow is starting to melt. I can finally get out of the house and SHOP for Christmas. I have done some online shopping but want to shop at some smaller shops around town for specialty things.

Anyway…

Happy Paint Party Friday!! Have a great weekend!

more “cleaning out the studio” stuff

I started this painting a few months ago. It’s on 300 lb paper and measures 11”x15” or thereabouts. I don’t usually work that large or on heavy paper so it was a challenge all around.

I like 300 lb paper because it takes TONS of water. However, it seems like I have to go over everything several times to get the bright colors I want.

Once I finished painting the roses…it just sort of sat there while I decided whether or not to ink it.

Then I inked it. I liked it. So then…because it’s so large and I couldn’t scan it…I had to wait for a sunny day to photograph it.

You can’t rush art!

let sleeping dobby lie

Over the past few months, I’ve been doing doodles of Dobby dog and collecting them in a small book.

Here is a cover I made for the book.

I didn’t like the painted background I had, so I cut her out and glued her to some scraps (junk mail, old book page, grocery bag).

This is her position about 80% of the day!! I have lots of sketches just like this!

happy birthday

Today is my husband’s birthday. I painted a birthday card for him yesterday afternoon.

We got 8 inches of snow over the last few days. I know to some of you 8 inches of snow is nothing! But here where I live, they don’t get snow very often. None of the roads get cleared for days. School is canceled. Businesses are closed. Everything is shut down until we get a good melt!

So anyway, I’ll be hibernating for a few days. And painting.

Unfortunately, since I work at home, I don’t get any snow days. Bummer.

beer (bottle) garden

I’m still cleaning the studio and finding all kinds of goodies. This is a leftover from, oh…April or May of this year…started and never finished…until now.

I drew it because I wanted to document my garden “border.” It’s something I had seen on Pinterest where the pinner used wine bottles to form a garden edge. I used beer bottles on a small garden to see if it would work. I used a bulb planter to dig the holes.

I like how it came out. The problem I run into here in Arkansas is that about 2 inches down, you reach rock. Solid boulders! So…this is the only garden I got done before abandoning that idea. Short of using dynamite, there’s no way to get past the rocks!

linking to Paint Party Friday

hey Dobby

The dog and the cats still don’t get along. It’s getting a little discouraging but I’m not giving up yet.

It is fun to watch them when they meet at the back door. It’s almost as if the cat is saying...”Ha ha, I’m in here and you can’t catch me!”

alarmcat news

So, there I was, minding my own business, when I got a call from our vet. “Hey, someone dumped a kitten at our door this morning and she looks a lot like your Luna. Would you be interested in another kitty?”

What could I say? Who could say no to this little face??

Fast forward a week or so…

After getting her spayed and tested and all that good stuff, we brought home the new kitty. She is a cuddler, loves to sit on my lap while I work and loves to sleep ON MY HEAD at night. (We’re working on fixing this problem!!)

She is a little bag of bones, literally. There is a deep cut on her left hind leg. No one knows how she got it but it’s healing up nicely. She caught up on her sleep the first day or so.

Kitten looks like a Siamese/Tortoiseshell mix. Her voice is definitely Siamese. It’s amazing how loud such a tiny thing can be!!

We started calling her Bella, but that just didn’t feel right. We try a new name every day. Today we are calling her Lily to see if that works any better.

She doesn’t really answer to anything. She is a cat after all.

So…you’ll be seeing more of this little kitty. I can promise you that!

what’s in your wallet?

One last sketch (for now) of doodles Stuff About Me.

During December, I will probably not be posting as often as I have been. Need to recharge myself a bit.

That and CLEAN UP my studio.

I have so many half done drawings and paintings and projects (OH MY). I plan to finish them up and post them as I go. It will be sort of like leftovers in the fridge…a bit of everything this month ☺