Scribbles and Bandages . . .

As I write this post I am hoping that all of you are having a better weekend than I am.  Most of you know already about my arm cyst debacle and that I had surgery 4 weeks ago.  I had my stitches removed 2 weeks ago and yesterday I ended up at the doctors office for an emergency visit. I am so thankful that she was home for the holiday weekend.  Long story short my incision became abscessed.   So she needed to clean it out (OUCH!!)  pack it and bandage it.  Today I was able to remove the bandage and packing.  I am so exhausted tonite from complete anxiety.  I was shaking as I was removing it and was freaked out at the open hole in my arm.  I have begun 10 days of a super duper antibiotic different than the one I took 3 months ago when this BS first began.  I go back to see her Tuesday find out where we are at.  

So, now that I got that out of the way, I wanted to share this scribbled page I did for Alisa Burke's abstract class.  I found a face in this one as you can see and went back in with my markers to bring it out.  Looks pretty weird and I hesitated sharing it.  Maybe I am not crazy about this one because it feels like my state of mind lately!  lol

xo

Can I Just Scribble My Way Out of It ??

I started yet another new class. Big surprise I know! Anyway, I am a big fan of Alisa Burke so when she recently announced her new class was about abstract art I couldn't resist. I did this piece in my 5x7 sketchbook using a black pen and sharpie marker.

I have to say I really enjoyed scribbling and scratching on the paper. It feels good. I was not trying to be perfect or trying to create much of anything. I was curious to how it would turn out. I feel like scribbles represent the state of my mind lately.

If you have been following my blog than you know I have not been feeling up to snuff and just not been myself. Today I started to realize that the loss of my dog back in September has affected me so much more than I care to admit. Actually I am afraid to admit how much because I don't think I can handle it. I feel lost, sad, frustrated, and seem to cry at the drop of a hat. Yesterday I was out in the backyard and looked out to the place where Bosco and I would play and I broke down. Never even saw it coming. Hit me like a ton of bricks. It was like I could see him running around . . . I am crying now just typing this.

I have not been creating much lately. I feel like I have lost my muse. I am glad I was able to take pen to paper today and get some angst out. Sometimes I wish it were that simple . . . I wish I could just scribble my way back to happy . . .

Sharing today over at Sunday Sketches.

More Graffiti Fun!

First I wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented on my first graffiti post last week. I am really enjoying this style (for now lol) and it makes me smile to hear how much you are all liking where I have been going with it!

For this piece I decided to continue with bold colors using the same blue shade from the last piece but this time I added a violet color. I never use these types of color palettes. I am not so afraid of bold colors much anymore. I had a butterfly theme in my head this time and whenever I think of butterfly I see the word "Free". Maybe cause they can fly and sometimes I wish I could too! lol

I took pictures once again during the process. Here is how the messiness began . . .

Once I had laid down most of the color I went for my stamps

and sharpie to write some words. At this point I truly had no idea where to go with it so I stepped away from it for quite a few days. As you can see from the finished piece above I even turned the paper around. Once I did that it felt better to me. Isn't that weird how you can just "feel" that sort of thing?

I am sharing this over at Paint Party Friday this week. Looking forward to seeing all the great work being shared! Hope you will join us too!

xo

Graffiti Fun!

As you may already know I am a big fan of Alisa Burke. I have taken many of her online classes. Most recently I signed up for her Graffiti Chic class. This is my first piece created for that class. If you haven't taken a class with her I highly recommend it! She is fun to watch. Her classes are affordable and you always have unlimited access to them.

I took pictures as I was working. Here is the first layer. Being messy is not always easy for me. I often have difficulty with abstract layers and just letting go when I create. Well, this time I did not. I actually enjoyed this process and loved the result! I used the blue and red having been inspired by this color palette from my textured heart painting. I used 9x12 hot press watercolor paper. I like the smoothness of it.

Being messy is not always easy for me. I often have difficulty with abstract layers and just letting go when I create. Well, this time I did not. I actually enjoyed this process and loved the result! I used the blue and red having been inspired by this color palette from my textured heart painting. I used 9x12 hot press watercolor paper. I like the smoothness of it.

Once I got that first layer down it was a bit easier for me to start adding some

fun stuff to the next one . . .

And as you can see from the very first image how much I changed things up in the end! I actually want to have this image put on a t-shirt. I think it would look cool!

I have already started my next graffiti piece this time using blue and violet. Hoping to share it with you soon!

I am sharing this today at Paint Party Friday. Click Here to join us!

Messy Watercolor Play

Being the online class junkie that I am I recently signed up for another class with Alisa Burke. I have been enjoying her "Sketchbook Delight" which sparked an interest in watercolor so much so that when I found out she had a class focused solely on watercolors I knew I was in! Its called "Watercolor Bliss".

Yesterday I tried some of the lessons and here are the results. I got messy with my cheapie pan of crayola watercolors in my journal. In the above image I was playing with some neutral colors and added some stamping which as you know I LOVE!

On this next page I went pretty bold with the colors, fought that intially but in the end the colors won! Its a bit bright for me but I do like how it all came together. It helped me to begin to get over my fear of bright color!

As you can see I am enjoying learning watercolors with Alisa. Watercolors are really fun, loose, and alot more immediate than acrylic for me. Now I am anticipating difficulty when I attempt something more structured as I am finding that its harder to cover up mistakes in this medium but just being free and loose is great for now!

I am sharing these today over at Paint Party Friday.

If you want to join us just Click HERE!

You Never Know . . . New Journal Page

I was up late last night working on this page and am really happy how it turned out. I saw this image a few nights ago in my head. Weird how that happens.

I am taking Sketchbook Delight with Alisa Burke. Its a great class! So fun and Alisa is a great instructor! I am really having fun with watercolors which I used on this page along with pitt pens and a bit of graphite. For the words I debated on using more fancy lettering like I am learning in letterLab with Lori Vliegen but as you can see I just ended up quickly writing the words in script. Actually I didn't think I had enough room. But I felt the sky needed something so I thought the words would be a good fit there.

I am sharing this page today over at Paint Party Friday. Click HERE to join us!

Wishing you all a great weekend!!

xo