Like.

Scary Fun.

Scary because while I'm drawn to more spontaneous watercolors, I feel like I struggle with the execution myself.

Fun because ... well ... it was. I've been enjoying the "playing" I've been doing in Life Book 2013. I've been wanting to see if I can incorporate what I've learned into my style. I think this is a pretty good first attempt.

Now if I could just decide if I like it.

I'm also wondering if I'll ruin it if I go back in with colored pencil to define the shadows. I really, really want to because the petals don't separate in space the way I'd like - it looks kind of flat to me. But it's a more spontaneous piece. You see my dilemma?

Inspiration In My Backyard

Well, now it's in my kitchen, but it started out in my backyard. We have a perennial garden on the north side of our house, along with a narrow strip of grass we don't visit very often. The last few years I've tried to cut the flowers and bring them inside to be enjoyed. This is the first iris for 2013.

Gorgeous!

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

I had my final chemo cycle last wednesday and after a crappy weekend, am on my way to feeling better. I am VERY happy to be two thirds of the way done with this journey - with hopefully, the really tough stuff behind me.

I'll start radiation treatments in about a month and finish that up the end of July. I think this will be the first time in my life that I will be looking forward to August. I don't do hot well.

Anyway, thanks for all of the encouraging words and support. You have definitely helped me navigate these last few months and it is much appreciated.

Bee Girl Challenge

I've been putting off the LB2013 exercise for this week - it's a little artsy fartsy - in favor of this Bee Girl Challenge Tam posted a while ago. It immediately made me think of my favorite picture of my daughter. 

This was her brother's first day of kindergarten and the day before she started preschool. She picked me dandelions and purple flowers so I would be able to remember her when she was gone.

All together now ... Aww. Still brings a tear to my eye every time I see it.

Skipped A Few

Catching Up for Every Day In May

Patches & Stamps

Have I mentioned I don't like to sew? My mom, who used to make my dad's suits and now quilts like a fiend, tried to teach me. I can handle a straight hem if I have to, but more than that drives me slightly nuts.

Have I mentioned both punks joined Scouts a few years ago? The patches that both of them come home with say they're iron-on. Doesn't work for me, so I've tried every alternative except stapling the darn things on. I'm left with hand sewing and I spent two hours yesterday catching up with Punkette's patches. She bridges on Saturday from Brownie to Junior and will never wear the vest again. BUT, unlike her Daisy vest, her Brownie vest won't go into her keepsake box with a ziplock bag of unattached patches safety-pinned to it.

So I didn't feel like drawing again. I got a little more ambitious on the first two stamps and have to say I'm slightly amazed at how well they turned out. Carving stamps is similar to making lines for my shadows. It's kind of mindless - you have to be paying attention a little bit or everything goes wonky - and I can just zone out. 

Now I'm out of carving material, though, so it's time to move on to one of the other 476 random ideas floating around in my head. 

I'm An Artist Who Can't Doodle.

One of the reasons I wanted to take the Life Book 2013 course is most of the artists seem to draw from their imaginations. After so many years of drawing what I see, it's a struggle for me to draw something I'm not looking at.

In fact, Punk continually makes fun of me for not being able to doodle. Really, I seriously can't seem to do it. I thought maybe making Zentangles would help, but then I spent weeks at the library going through books so I could make them correctly. So not the point!

Anyway, I feel like I'm relaxing a little with each project, which is what I was hoping. I enjoyed doing the layers again for the background on this one and when it started getting a little muddy, I didn't panic. I just worked until I brought it back to something I liked. Yay me!

The girls, on the other hand? Yeah ... they still look like Humpty Dumpty wannabes to me.

Sigh.

Again With The Stamps.

I didn't feel much like drawing today, so I broke out the carving tools and went to work. It kept me busy and out of trouble for most of the afternoon.