Memories of Winters in Palm Springs

 

We're not in Palm Springs this year, but during Vancouver's current cold snap, I have been fondly remembering our Christmases there. 

Silver Boughs

 

I've never had a silver Christmas tree, but some people do enjoy them!

Christmas Cards

 

I've been playing around with Christmas cards lately.  I say "playing around" because I've been experimenting with designs.

These two  in pots came from a Cee Cee Creations YouTube video.

This next one is my favorite so far; I made a few of these.

Watercolour Sketchbooks Made Simple BOTANICALS

 

I started a new class with Life I Design called Watercolour Sketchbooks Made Simple BOTANICALS. I'm using my Paul Rubens landscape watercolour sketchbook - 8" x 5.5". 

Lesson One was Payne's Grey Florals.  A monochrome spread is perfect for days when I don't want to think too much but want to slop paint around.

Lesson Two was Loose Dried Florals.   I added some Neocolor crayons to the watercolour.  I often pick up things on my walk to capture in my sketchbook.

Next we painted leaves, mixing our own greens, some of them right on the page.  This time we sketched our leaves first; I used some watercolour pencils here too.

I'm having fun so far, and that's the main thing, right?

Painting With Joy

 

After a brief summer hiatus, Painting With Joy is back.  It proved to be what I needed to end my own hiatus!

We painted Van Gogh's sunflowers yesterday, and I really enjoyed it.  I used watercolor, Neocolor crayons and watercolor pencils in my 9 x 9 Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook.

Sketching in the Garden

I did this sketch back in June and found it today.  Much of the summer was too hot for me and I didn't do much drawing or painting at all.  Reading was my summertime pastime this year.

The Art of the Travel Journal - Book Review

 

Now that COVID travel restrictions are lifted, people are enthusiastically embracing travel once again..  Although travel isn't in my near future, I love any books about journaling, so I jumped at the offer from NetGalley to review an electronic version of this book.

The test with any art-related book for me is:  Does this book inspire me to get out the supplies and dive in?  This book certainly passed the test, and as the author Abbey Sy promised, this kind of journaling is easily transferable to my life at home.  It has given my journaling habit a much-needed kick start.  The guest artist section soon had me discovering new artists to follow on social media. 

If you are new to journaling,  this book has everything you need no matter what format/style you want to try. The book covers art heavy, text heavy, photo heavy, and collage heavy formats, and if you can't decide, try the author's favorite, the ultimate combination! 

The end of the book still needs a few edits to be ready for final publication, in my opinion.  Although promised in the introduction to Chapter 6 Honing Your Habit, I couldn't find the tips on storing journals.  (I was really looking forward to those tips, too!)  Chapter 7 The Guest Artist features some terrific journalers, but the section on Resources is disappointing, and two of three website links are wrong or no longer in service. 

All in all, this is a terrific book despite the weak ending - 4 out of 5 stars!