New BLOG!!!

All you dedicated blog readers, hear me now! My new blog is journeyforart.blogspot.com
See you soon!

horse mane study and a sculpy dragon

Here's an update on my "horse mane" study, and yes, indeed, you heard what I said. A sculpy dragon. I had the impulse to do one after reading a new young adult novel called "The Fire Within".
Have you ever read a book, feeling rather different afterwards? Did it make the rest of the day, or evening feel like that book? Perhaps you listened to a particular CD at random to listen to while you read it, or maybe you chose one exactly for that purpose, like, say, The Best Of Enya?
I have.
Many people, including my Dad and brother-in-law will just give me one of those funny looks, kinda like "Has she gone crazy?" "Yes, I'm afraid she has."
But I really do think so. I think particular movies or books, or even old memories, will have particular feelings about them. Again, here's the thing. These feelings won't necessarily be one simple emotion, like anger, happiness, joy, fear. It's the way you feel about something, and the combination of things that were going on at the time the memory was being made, when you watched that favorite Star Wars movie (chuckle, chuckle), or read an engrossing book. As for me, what do I think of when I recall past childhood memories? Mmm, playing particular games, drawing with pen and coloring it in with colored pencils, eating warm applesauce (and I mean room temperature, my red haired sister was not the best cook/ meal preparing , har, har, just kidding, kidding, she's better now!) box macaroni, and warm apple juice. Playing outside a lot is a big part of my memories, too. I still remember, (even now in still brisk March) the warm, green, fresh smell of newly cut grass (have you ever noticed how watermelon tastes remarkably like grass cuttings? Think about it next time you take a bite of it) yellow dried straw/hay from older grass clippings, trees (I think oaks and pines have particularly pleasing smells), freshly turned dirt (yes, believe it or not, good soil smells nice ), Enya, Billy Joel, the Beatles, Ah-Ha, and Manheim Steamroller Christmas.
Many more things roll into my childhood memories, but for the sake of my patient reader's attention, I will not list them all.
Am I the only one who feels this way? Or are there, gasp, other who think this way, too?
Do you agree? Disagree? Whatever you think, post a comment; I'm eager to hear what you have to say. ;)

Horse with Hair and pizza

"Horse study" 9x9 inches on green colourfix
Preliminary sketch for "horse study"

It's been a while, I know. I've been busy taking yet another cat to the vet. Oh well, life's little responsibilities. ;)
I've always loved making pizzas. The other day, my brother and I got to make pizzas together. It's a fun and delicious recipe to to make. Why buy those pizzas that burn a hole in your wallet-and your pocket?
Want the recipe? It's agonizingly simple, she says temptingly.
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 (1/4 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey (or sugar if you don't have it, no sweat, ;) )
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
optional: yellow cornmeal to sprinkle on the pan for texture


In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, stirring to combine.

Let sit until mixture is foamy (you'll definately know, it gets a foamy, spongey light brown texture to it with little bubbles); about 5 minutes (and don't you dare touch it!)

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour
and the salt, mixing it until it is fully combined. Continue adding flour (you may have to add more or less, depending on how moist it is where you are) until it's not goopy anymore (keep in mind the finished dough will be soft and droopy, just not wet or sticky).

Knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes until it's nice and smooth and stretchy ( make your dough relatively flat with a few thumps of the heels of your hands, and then fold it over and sort of close the "bag" you've made without punching the middle. Do this over and over again until time's up.) Make sure your hands are well floured and don't be shy to keep adding flour to the dough (it gets sticky as you work it, so you have to add more flour as you go.)

Oil a much larger bowl and turn your dough (which you've formed into a loose ball) inside the bowl to get it well coated (this is what the other bit of the olive oil is for). Feel free to add more oil to get it moist-you don't want it to dry out while it rises.

Cover with plastic wrap or a damp wash cloth. Let rise in a draft-free, warm place for 1 1/2 hours. My secret to impressive rising? Place a casserole dish into the bottom rack of your oven. Heat between two cups to a quart of water for between 2 1/2 to 5 minutes (it should be hot!) and pour into the casserole dish. Your bowl with the dough should be on the second rack above it. Close the door quickly (but gently-the yeast is easily disturbed!) and set your timer. I have found that this is the best way to ensure a good rise. One raised, you can flatten this out to one 15 inch pizza, and bake it in a 425 F oven for 10 minutes bare, and then 10 minutes with a little heated tomato sauce and your favorite toppings. Bake for the other 10 minutes and voila! Your homemade pizza is done!
Then you ask, what if I want to do this for guests, or for when I come home, but I don't have time to let it rise? Make it on a weeked or free day, let it rise, and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or put it in a zip-lock bag, and pull it out whenever you want. These make great dinner rolls, and bread sticks too.

Now go make that pizza dough! ;)

update on little dog and after dark

Today I did what I think may be the last step to my little dog portrait (gasssp, finaallly. ;) ), and here's an update on my my after dark picture, too.

Check back to see more updates on my after dark picture, so far dubbed "twinkle".

update on little dog and a new piece

Hello folks! I have another update on my little dog. I layered goldenrod on top of the violet blue bits in the background.
I also started a new after dark piece today, 9x13 inches on black art spectrum colourfix paper (that's a mouthful, ain't it?) , done with Prismacolor pencils.




I decided that I had enjoyed doing "Lovers Lane" (see here and here) so much that I just had to do another after dark piece. Warning: colored pencils are indeed addictive. ;)

pensive and little dog update

Hi everyone!
I have an update on the little dog today. Also, I have a new piece I did this afternoon, 4x4 inches on Bristol Smooth, done with Prismacolor pencils, called "Pensive", which I have below as a work in progress. The colors I used for it are, sand, black, light umber, sepia, dark purple, rosy beige, white, salmon pink, hot pink, blush pink, violet blue, tuscan red, goldenrod, crismson red, pale vermillian, process pink, beige.
...and that's it for this evening!
Happy blogging!

Coming in for the home stretch

Hi everyone! :)
I'm coming in for the home stretch of my little black and tan terrier portrait. I've finished his body, and so I'll probably begin on the back ground this evening.

..and here are the two updates on the Van Gogh piece. I decided to paint over the grass and try again. I also smoothed out the tree to try the Van Gogh-esque specks again.

Oh yeah, and yesterday I knit a little more on my scarf....
...and baked some calzones and a loaf of white bread. Mmmmm!
Before.....
...and after...

...and my big beautiful loaf that weighed 500 hundred pounds...

Oh, and have you heard of my two lovely rescued kittens? Check previous post to hear the whole story. Here are a couple of the photos I've taken of them.



Aren't they cute? Ahh, if only they stayed that cute and that small.......;)

More of black and tan

Hello! ;)
Here are some updates on the little dog portrait. I've been using the same colors (see previous post) adding Lemon yellow as well. I will show an update on my Van Gogh painting in my next post. You can also see more detailed posts on the wetcanvas colored pencil forum.






















Van Gogh tomorrow!

little dog again and Van Gogh

Hi there!
Here's the Van Gogh update that I promised, and a few updates on my little dog portrait.
What have I learned about Van Gogh? With his particular style, you either make it look good, or really, really, ugly....







...and here's the updates on the little dog...

















.....and one more....






















Have any comments? Questions? Let me know! Post a comment!

More little dog

Sorry folks, I got preoccupied with taking three of our cats, Tamlin, Vinegar, and Mousie to the vet, so I didn't get around to Van Gogh today.
But I did get to do a little more on my Irish black and tan terrier portrait this afternoon. The colors I've been using are black grape, black cherry, tuscan red, black, white, violet-blue, light umber, sepia, beige, non-photo blue, and goldenrod. I've been very careful with this particular portrait-encouraging myself to work more slowly, more carefully, and most important with this portrait-treat the hair as bits and pieces instead of overhairing it by doing thousands of messy single hair strands.



It was a late night for me last night, so that's it for this evening-more sleep=more art. ;)

Van Gogh and a little dog

Hello everyone!
I started on the Van Gogh project yesterday, with acrylics on a canvas board a little bigger than 11x14 inches.

Here are the steps which I've done so far, which I so patiently and diligently took pictures of for you, (okay, okay, maybe for me, too, ;) ).

Here is the first step. The underpainting. What this does is make the colors you put on top look fuller and more saturated. Red for green, green for red, blue for yellow, and orange for blue. This is what we call the ugly stage.

Now I've slathered on lots of green, blue for sky*, and I've made basic values on my focal point, the cedar tree.
* I'll add more layers of sky as I go, which takes the muddiness away.
Ahhh, now the fun part. I took yellow paint while the green of the grass was still tacky and I splotched it all over it. It's starting to look vaguely Van Goghish.



Now I've added artsy blotchiness to the tree as well.



Here's the beginning setup.



Here is the latest update. I've begun forming the clouds, I dotted white everywhere, which I think I'll probably take out again (ah, the wonders of paint!) because the effect of the that color is too cold.

And here is my other project. It's 10x10 inches on bristol smooth paper, done with prismacolor pencils. I decided to do it all over again, because the hair wasn't right, the layering, I just decided that I could render it better then that.
So here is my friend's dog- again.
To hear more details about how I did this, check out wetcanvas colored pencil forums.
Check my blog out tomorrow for more of this little dog and my Van Gogh project, and don't forget to check up on the Van Gogh project started by Maggie Stiefvater at greywarenart.blogspot.com ( this is the link to her starting Van Gogh post, click here to get her latest to date post.
Thanks for reading!