Busy, Busy, Busy!

When someone calls you and offers you a temporary, side job for the summer, of course you take it!  But that means there's very little sketching, or drawing, or inking, or painting going on.  I did, however, enjoy one delightful afternoon at a friend's cabin, sitting by the stream, drawing his leaning bird house.

This is in my travel sketchbook, and you can even see the seam in the page.  It was a bit of a rush job, because those clouds were growing dark.  But it was a FABULOUS way to spend an afternoon!

COLOR!!!

This morning it was drippy, rainy, gray, cloudy, dismal....ech.  So I added COLOR, and it was a fabulous way to spend the morning!!

Playing

I went for a brief hike with a friend last week, and we sat down on the edge of this small... pond... lake... collection of water.  The sun couldn't figure out if it wanted to shine, and the wind couldn't figure out if it wanted to blow.  Despite the confusion in the weather, it was a delightful morning!!

This started off just pencil.  But a couple of days later I added the ink and watercolor from memory.  Which is why it says it's "my interpretation!"  Not going for accuracy here!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DELORIS!!!

I worked up this card this morning for a delightful lady in Minnesota who's TURNING 80!!  What a fabulous number!  The Lord has blessed her days.  Happy Birthday, Deloris!!

So Teach Us To Number Our Days

This started out as a request for a crow.  Actually, let me back that up:  it started out as a request for an owl.  "Why an owl?"  Because the recipient loves them because they're so smart.  They also love crows.  I'd much rather paint a crow!

But wait.... that sketch is of a raven.  Or is it?  I went hunting, and frankly, I'm still not sure.  But in the process I found an image that I like better!

Along with this, there will be a verse (done in calligraphy by my sister-in-law) from Psalm 90.  "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."  Funny how the details of life play themselves out (ahem.... insert here a grateful bowing to the sovereignty of God!):  I've loved that verse for years!

What better way to ponder the passing of our days, than to have this so-wise bird perched on a clock face?

The finished painting, leaving space for the calligraphy on the left.  I haven't worked with watercolors in YEARS.  It was definitely a challenge!  You HAVE to wait for the previous layers to dry!  I was reminded of that the hard way.  This thing got painted twice, partially for that reason!

Beginning Again

For some reason the human spirit needs a starting point.  We can't seem to just ooze into change.  We have this need to make it poignant.  At least I do.  I have a few built-in starting points: every spring, every year when school starts, and every year on January 1st.  I love this particular starting point.  I get to start a new calendar.  The Christmas decorations come down and the house gets REALLY cleaned.  I have a whole new wondering about what  God will accomplish in the new year. 

And I look back at God's faithfulness.   This morning I can review what He has taught me to paint this year, and I am thankful.  His kindness is obvious!  He will be faithful and kind in 2014 also.

I painted this in 2007 (really?!  That long ago?!).  It's a combination of watercolor and colored pencil, and I love it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Well, not to me personally, but to my blog!!

Can you believe it?  Two whopping years, and still moving along.  So what was the point?  I went back and looked at my VERY FIRST post.  Way back then I said (among other things) that my hope was that I'd be encouraged to paint (or draw!) daily!  Well, "daily" hasn't happened.  But having this blog going has been a tool to keep me plugging away, and (to quote Winston Churchill) "never, never, never give up".

To all of you who have bothered to look...to read...to comment...THANK YOU!

On another note, I did this watercolor way back in 2006 (I think!).  I still love it.  It's tiny...3" x  5"...and it now belongs to my sister-in-law.  I don't know what I like more: the seed pods in the background, or the blue blades of grass cutting right across the face of the poppy.  Both are evidence that God FREQUENTLY takes ahold of my hand and brush, and the results are beautiful!

(ok....those aren't seed pods....I think they're poppy buds!)

Merry Day One!

On this, the most insane shopping day of the entire year, I wanted to remind you all of God's generosity in His gift to us.  Don't forget!  Without the gift of Jesus Christ to redeem us, there'd be no point to anything!

And, yes, the Christmas season is delightful, and heart-warming, and memory filled...and angst filled, and frustration filled, and opportunity filled!  This is day ONE....practice today being still before God.  Practice today calming your heart while you wait in line.  Practice today not losing your cool in traffic.  And tomorrow, get up and do it all over again.  You've got 4 weeks (I think).  Practice copying the character of God!

God's Fingerprints

I'm in the midst of a commission for Christmas (what a great thing to be able to say!), and I have no pics yet, so I'm going to go down memory lane a bit on this blog.  It's a curious thing to do.  I see areas where I've stagnated and haven't improved AT ALL...but then I see great growth!  It's a delightful thing!

I painted this YEARS ago...maybe in 2003?  2004?  I really have no idea.  I called it "God's Fingerprints".  That seemed fitting for a  peacock's feathers!

From the Archives

Oh my word!!  This is so old!  I think I painted it all the way back in 2004.  That feels like eons ago.  I have no idea why I painted a ginormous pot of spaghetti sauce.  The colors are fantastic, though, aren't they?

More recently, I've painted three small oils, but they're still wet so getting a good pic of them is sketchy.  It'll have to wait another couple of days.

Oh, and remember me saying that I was going to fill that sketch book before the end of the year?  Well, I forgot.  Chop!  Chop!  I'd better get crackin' if I expect to finish!

Plein Air Painting

For some reason the french phrase "plein air" has stuck...nobody says they went out to paint in the wide open spaces.  I guess because it takes too long to spit out that phrase!  That's what I did today, though.

Murphy and I and two artist friends hiked half way to the Crags and then settled down on a broad rock to paint.  There are definitely some challenges about painting out there...where the sun dries your watercolors before you want them to be dry...where the wind blows over your water bottle and flips your pages (wet or not!)...where the flies decide you make a lovely landing spot...Of course, what am I complaining about?  I live in the mountains of Colorado where the air is DRY, and there are NO MOSQUITO'S, and there aren't any creepy crawlies making themselves at home in your shoes.

It was a lovely day.  As the afternoon wore on the clouds began to build, and build, and build.  I was looking at the tops of these dead aspen trees and realized that we might need to call this painting trip to an end.  Thunderstorms are a regular thing around here in the afternoons, and you don't want to be high up, near the top of Pikes Peak when they hit!  Time to go home!

From My Sketchbook

I was at Chatfield Reservoir this past weekend with two artist friends.  It would almost be a crime to be in such a beautiful place and leave the sketchbook closed!  These were QUICK.  The feather I did while my friends were standing there waiting for me.  The path took a little longer...

I have this lovely small Moleskine watercolor book, a small watercolor palette, and these fantastic water brushes: where the water is in the handle of the brush and you can squeeze out a drop at a time onto the paint.  Very cool.

It was a lovely day.  The meadowlarks were rejoicing.  The air smelled wonderful.  It was the perfect temperature.  God's generosity on parade!

From the Archives

I painted this way back in 2005!

The tree was on my grandpa's property.  In the reference pic you could see the gates of the neighbors property just along the crest of the hill.  I thought it was beautiful how the tree was obviously alive, even though it had a dead section.  God does something more amazing in our lives.  We have dead sections all over, but he BRINGS THEM BACK TO LIFE!  Amazing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas is about more than our winter decorations, and fun family gatherings.  It's the celebration of the birth of the Savior of all mankind.  The coming of Jesus changed everything.

"For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  (Colossians 1:13,14)

Beautiful.

God becoming man is something I don't think I'll ever fully understand while I'm still alive on this earth.  But even though I can't quite wrap my brain around it, I am THANKFUL.  Speechless sometimes, and thankful.

Stormy Highway

I painted this 2 years ago.  Don't you just love a stormy sky?  The blues completely alter, turning into something almost midnight looking, and then the bright spots really, really stand out.  Yellow is stunning against a dark blue or purple!  I'm not sure how I did it, but I love how the stripes on the highway stand out.  I think this road might belong in Kansas.

Coffee Cup Rings

I  painted this a long time ago.  Mostly I was just playing with watercolors, but by the time I was finished it was a poignant picture (to me) of how our lives touch each other.

We get together.  Maybe over coffee.  And we talk and laugh.  We share stories, and speak courage.  And our coffee cups leave a ring behind on the table.  Just like we leave a mark on each others lives.  Sometimes our stories blend, making a whole new color.  Sometimes brilliant spots stand out.  It can be a little bit messy, but always beautiful.  All orchestrated and mixed by the loving sovereignty of God.  He is the consummate artist.

A Day at the Beach

Living in  Colorado, beaches are a mite rare.

However, we do have a fantastic combination of sand, and dunes, and snow-capped mountains in the background!  A few years ago we went camping at the Great Sand Dunes, where we played in the sand, mucked about in the water (from the snow melt coming down from the nearby mountains), and generally had a great time.  That's where I got the reference pic for this painting.

I think we need to go back!

Gnarled Watercolor

There's something about a gnarly old tree that just begs to be sketched...or painted...or sketched again.  I'm not sure how many times I've done a similar subject, but I love it every time.

And don't you just wonder what's over the hill?

Rachel's Dragon

Many years ago my niece wrote a stunning poem using her vocab words.  It was all about a knight and his lady who took pity on a poor wounded dragon, and how the knight's squire was grumpy about it.  I kept a copy of that poem, simply because it was so beautifully written.

And, as you can see, I was inspired to paint the dragon!  If my niece ever publishes the poem, I'll ask to her if I can illustrate it.

From the Archives

Summer!  FULL summer!  Not that hesitant, iffy, still-snowing-sometimes kind of summer that we seem get in the mountains.   Full-blown, hot, baking-sun summer.  That's what we've finally got, with a fantastic thunder storm thrown in every other day, just for entertainment.  I love variety in weather!  It's just evidence that God is amazing.

This watercolor is little, measuring only 6" square.  I gave it to a friend of mine.  And for the record...we ATE the vegetables.  Shocking, but true.