Portrait of Wilf
Here is the pet portrait I was teaching at a class at the Coast to Coast Creative Arts Convention on May 5th. I was debating putting in the scratch on Wilf’s nose and the crooked whiskers, but that’s what gives him character. With this portrait, there was a lot of wild fur on the outside, so I cropped it tight to focus on the face.
I will be teaching this design as an online class this fall.
Here is a mixed media piece I created for our Creative Art Journaling journal swap. The theme was “surprise party” and I wanted to make something with materials that I really enjoy working with and that’s black, white and metallic acrylics, the industrial look and of course….texture! There is is a full video below with a complete supply list at the end and I really hope you give it a try.
Mia
On April 27, 2013, it was 7 years ago that we adopted Harley, who has been gone for just over a year now. On Saturday (the 27th), we went to the Brantford SPCA and came home with this sweety.
She’s 7 months old and we named her Mia in memory of Harrison’s military friend that was lost in 911.
So you know there’s a pet portrait to be done and I’ll share that lesson when I start it after the Coast to Coast convention is finished next week.
Well it’s official.. as of last Saturday, we are all finished moving in. Taking one last trip to the old house today to take all the hazard waste material (old paint cans etc) to the hazard waste centre and then we turn over the keys to the real estate agent. I’m so glad it’s all over, except now, it’s unpacking the rest of the house. Took me about an hour today to clear a path to my laptop… studio was used as a storage area while the guys brought in the furniture. By 11, I’ll have the studio back to normal so I can work in it, but it will take a few days to get a feel for where I want things. The rest of April will be a mish mash of the groups art, finishing up the written lessons and assembling the supplies for the classes I’m teaching at the convention and oh yeah.. and unpacking and moving stuff around. That’s the part I hate.. setting up, after a bit, it doesn’t work for you, move it again..blah, blah, blah.
Wayne, one of Joe’s friends that helped move told us about a co-worker of his who has a 2 year old German Sheppard (not sure if it’s pure or a mix). His kids bugged him for the dog and after the excitement has passed, they are ignoring the poor thing. So Wayne’s going to get some more information about the dog and we’ll see where that takes us. With where we are living now, walking distance to a waterfall (there are over 140 in Hamilton), many, many walking and biking trails, walking path along the mountain brow, 95% of the people all have dogs… I want to fit in LOL!!! so we’ll see how this goes. With all the momentum of the move and exercising, other than needing to replace my shoes, I think Joe and I lost about 20lbs each and have to buy some new jeans. Will keep this momentum going with daily clean air walks.
I can’t wait to load up my backpack and go back to my plein air days (painting outdoors) and hike to the bottom of Mount Albion falls, get my journal and travel watercolours and go from boulder to boulder, sit and create. This is where I will be starting my May themed 8×10 page (are you challenging me), will bring it back to the studio to finish and then immediately work in the ATC sized journal page (do not disturb)… I can’t wait!!!!! today it’s going to be 19 celcius which is nice, considering the wind, freezing rain, hail and tree damage last Thursday. This afternoon, all the windows are going to be opened so I can hear the birds. That’s what will take alot of getting used to… the quiet. Saturday night being the first night sleeping here… I didn’t fall asleep until after 3am because it was so quiet. But is this normal… birds were chirping… do they normally chirp in the middle of the night?
we’ll, I’d better finish moving the boxes out of my studio and put them into their proper room and will start working on some art today… will be nice to get off the Art Withdrawl and start getting my daily fix of creating again 
Time to get inspired!
This is always a fun theme to journal about. A reminder that there are no rules, but I will post some ideas to get the creative juices going and to help beginners. If you don’t have an art journal, you can do this on canvas, mixed media paper or anything that is not oil primed.
There you go, that will get you started, but please feel free to change up the ideas posted or use your own ideas. If you have your own blog or image site, please post a link to your journal page or canvas, I’d love to see it.
What is the one thing that you will accomplish today?
Remember, be truthful to yourself. Nobody has to see your journal or canvas unless you want them too.
