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!