Cactus #23 - #2?

These cacti take me to #24 or #29 depending on how we count them.  After all, there are seven on this page.  Yes, I'm counting those brown sticks over on the left side because they are a desert plant of some kind and are new to me!  I think it is an Ocotillo plant, which goes dormant in winter.

Cactus #22 - En Plein Aire

The other day I hopped on my bike with my journal and watercolor paints to paint "en plein aire".  I found a rather interesting small garden by the side of the road, near an autobody shop where cacti and old metal found a home together.

I learned a couple of things about "en plein aire" which seem obvious in retrospect:  It is hard to paint on your lap, even if you are lucky enough to find a place to sit down.  Sketching is easier and I can add colour back at home.  Without an easel, painting isn't practical for me, but I enjoyed sketching outdoors.  I've done this a few times here while walking around our condominium complex which is nicely landscaped with cacti.

From Our Window

This is the view from the 2nd bedroom of the condominium we are renting in Palm Springs.  I've painted it for Janice, who asked for mountains.

Cactus #21

Yes, there are blue and purple cacti at Canyon Sands!

Cactus #19 and #20

If Picasso did Cacti, this might be what they looked like:

In my dreams.  LOL

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you.  My wish for you this day and in 2014 is that you are happy, healthy, and at peace.

This photo of me and my husband was taken at the Southwest Church photo booth last Sunday.  I'm shy about this kind of thing but it seems to be the thing to do.

Cactus #18 - What's in a Name?

Today's cactus is actually a succulent.  There are a lot of succulents planted amongst the cactus here at Canyon Sands.

What's the difference?  All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti.  What makes a cactus a cactus is not the spines, as you might think, but something called areoles.  An areole is the little fluffly part that the spine grows from.

So perhaps I need to rename my series "29 Succulents".  "29 Cactus" sounds much better although I now realize that this isn't grammatically correct and should have been "29 Cacti".

Oh well.  What's in a name, anyway?

Cacti #16 & 17

Two for the price of one today:

Watercolor and watercolor pencils

Guest Artist

Today I have a special treat for you.  I'd like to introduce you to the art of my dear friend Mimi.  (Mimi is the one to blame for all those cacti!)

This is one of Mimi's first journal pages, done for Christmas.  Isn't it beautiful?

Mimi and I are linking this to Drawing Practice The Inner World.  That's where we found the drawing that she colored.  Mimi doesn't have a printer so she copied it.  Well done, Mimi!

Cactus #15

Here's a closer look at the cactus by the pool:

gouache, watercolor pencils, gel pen

Cactus #15 - I'm half way to my goal of 29 cacti!  And my vacation is about half over, so I'm right on track. :)

Cactus #14 - Feliz Navidad!

Gouache and Gel Pen

Cactus #13 Appeared in Another Resist

This background is a brushed rubber cement resist, with watercolor.  The prickly pear is painted with gouache.  Here he is with his partner on a drizzled rubber cement resist:

And they lived happily ever after.. 

Cactus #12

I can't get enough of those prickly pear cactus.  And now I'm seeing them everywhere:

I found this one in a drizzled rubber cement and watercolor resist.

Cactus #11

I can't get enough of that prickly pear....

And here he is with his friend across the way:

Cactus #10

Cactus #10 is a loose watercolor of my favorite cactus seen from the swimming pool.

Cactus #7, #8, and #9!

A few small sketches get me to #9.  

I'm starting to get tired of green.  Be warned:  the cactus may get abstract.  Or weird, whichever word you prefer.

Cactus #6

"That's a bird.", you say?  Look carefully, he's sitting on a cactus.  

Cactus #5

Facsiated Sagura

Here you've caught me trying out my new gouache.  Even though it is a Reeves starter set it is reasonably well pigmented.  I'm looking forward to trying it out with a dip pen as well.  That will have to wait until I'm home again with my calligraphy supplies.

Cactus #4 - "In the Meadow You Can Build a Snowman"

For some reason I want to put a carrot nose on this one.  They're starting to look alive!

It's finally warming up in the desert.  The pool felt less like a bathtub when I got in this morning.  Yay!!  I hope the rest of you are coming out of your deep freeze too.

Cactus # 3

This Madagascar Palm is actually a succulent.  It's "trunk" looks is a cactus, the leaves look like palm leaves. DH bought it as our Christmas tree, but "don't expect me to string lights on it."  LOL

Cactus #2

Watercolor pencil on acrylic background

Detail done with white gel pen

Moorten's Botanical Gardens

The 29 Cactus Project is off to a slow start.  We arrived in Palm Springs on Tuesday, but I haven't drawn a single cactus!  Instead, I've been finishing up a bit of volunteer work - preparing the presbytery budget for next year.

We've been settling in and seeing a few sights, though, and we visited Moorten's Botanical Gardens where I took 112 photos of cactii!  .  Now that the budget is done I should have some time to draw some soon.  

My friend Janice also wants me to tackle those lovely mountains surrounding Palm Springs.  We have the San Bernadino Mountains to the north, the Santa Rosa ountains on the south, and the San Jacinto Mountains to the west.  I'll have to narrow down the assignment first.......

Silly Scraps Saturday and Journal Update

This is a simple collage made of scraps, done in my Scrap Journal.  I made my Scrap Journal with my Bind-It-All, especially to hold these "warm-up" collages.  When I want to make something but I'm not inspired to do anything specific, I make one of these.  One usually leads to two (or more).  I got the idea from iHanna's "Every Artist Needs a Scrap Notebook" post.

Every Saturday I have been posting one of these simple collages.  And now the Scrap Journal is finished.  I'm leaning towards including these warm-ups in my regular journal  rather than starting a new journal for them.  I feel like I have too many journals and I'd like a bit more of a chronological record of my art journey.  I'd also like to include more writing in my journals.  I'll pause for a bit and decide my journalling future for 2014.

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Welcome To Palm Springs!

This 26 foot statue by Seward Johnson, "Forever Marilyn", says it all about Palm Springs.  As it says on the official Palm Springs web site,:

The sculptor, Seward Johnson, age 80 says, “I am very pleased that Marilyn will be on view in Palm Springs. It was, after all, a location of her own choosing, and I assume that she was drawn to the beauty and stillness of the landscape. There is something about her pose; the exuberance for life without inhibition, which is quintessentially American. It expresses an uninhibited sense of our own vibrancy.”

Get Ready and Be Patient

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, when Christians all over the world revisit the idea of getting ready and being patient all at the same time.  Sort of like getting ready to go on a trip:

I'm anticipating a trip to Palm Springs here.  This drawing in my journal was done with new Gelatos (thanks Dianne!) and watercolour pencils to add the details.  It was inspired by my friend Mimi who suggested I might do 29 cactus drawings while I'm away.  Sort of like 29 Faces, only a different subject.  What a great idea - I am so excited I couldn't wait to get started!

Silly Scraps Saturday

 

This is a simple collage made of scraps, done in my Scrap Journal.  I made my Scrap Journal with my Bind-It-All, especially to hold these "warm-up" collages.  When I want to make something but I'm not inspired to do anything specific, I make one of these.  One usually leads to two (or more).  I got the idea from iHanna's "Every Artist Needs a Scrap Notebook" post.

I've also tried out "Found Poetry" here.  I cut phrases out of a magazine at random and then arranged them to make a poem.

 

Every Saturday I post one of these simple collages.  Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying the weekend!



Strata Composition

This collage is an example of a "strata" composition.  As you can see, I continue to be fascinated and inspired by design.

Does This Count?

I'm trying to create every day for Art Every Day Month, but I'm so busy this week all I could manage was to cut some organic shapes from a gelli plate print. LOL  Does this count?

Anenomes

This is another journal page done with Portfolio Pastels.  And another photo from Paint My Photo.  If you are looking for sources without worrying about copyright issues, do check out this site.

Fingerpainting

 

Playing with my Portfolio Pastels today, and a photo from Paint My Photo.  I love the pastels because they go on soft (like an oil pastel) and are water soluble.  I like to use my fingers to apply the water and smoosh the paint around; it reminds me of fingerpainting in kindergarten. LOL



Silly Scraps Saturday

This is a simple collage made of scraps, done in my Scrap Journal.  I made my Scrap Journal with my Bind-It-All, especially to hold these "warm-up" collages.  When I want to make something but I'm not inspired to do anything specific, I make one of these.  One usually leads to two (or more).  I got the idea from iHanna's "Every Artist Needs a Scrap Notebook" post.

I've also tried out "Found Poetry" here.  I cut phrases out of a magazine at random and then arranged them to make a poem.

 

Every Saturday I post one of these simple collages.  Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying the weekend!



Dialoguing with my Inner Critic

 

This journal page is a watercolor resist done with rubber cement.  I wasn't sure whether to post this, so instead I've blurred out the readable parts of my dialogue with my Inner Critic.  But I am still creating for

Happy Creating!



Playing Around With Composition

 

Today I'm playing around with composition in my Scrap Journal.  This is an example of the "cruciform" composition.



Sketches on Black Paper

 

A still life from Paint my Photo

 

 

An abstract landscape

 

A black and white photo from Paint My Photo

 

 

My husband on his motorbike

 

The urge to draw has struck again.  This time in pencil crayon on black paper.



Choices

 

Sometimes I feel that the hardest part of making art for me is the number of choices I have to make to get started - subject, message, medium, etc., etc., etc.  If I can make the first choice I can usually proceed.

 

This journal page started with a bright acrylic background.  Weeks later I added the stencil with watercolour pencil crayon and then the words entered the picture the next day.

Silly Scraps Saturday

 

This is a simple collage made of scraps, done in my Scrap Journal.  I made my Scrap Journal with my Bind-It-All, especially to hold these "warm-up" collages.  When I want to make something but I'm not inspired to do anything specific, I make one of these.  One usually leads to two (or more).  I got the idea from iHanna's "Every Artist Needs a Scrap Notebook" post.

Every Saturday I post one of these simple collages.  Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying the weekend!





Everyone Smiles In The Same Language

 

I made just a few artist trading cards. Well, more than a few.

 

It all started with these two birds, which I stamped on a variety of text paper.  Many times, it seems.  Sixteen to be exact.  I had no idea what I was going to do with them.  I thought I'd make a few ATC's, and by the time I got through the Sizzix Rainbow pad, I was out of birds!  The greeting is by Hero Arts.



Playing with Paisley

These stamps are a big set of "build it yourself" paisleys by Autumn Leaves.  I stamped them all in pigment ink, including the solid ones that colour the inside.  I decided to have a good session with them as part of my "Use Every Stamp" challenge.

Thanks for all your wonderful comments on "My Home" Artist Trading Cards,  They are very encouraging.