Scribbles, Doodles, Gardens, and Junk

 Well, I completed my "Jots and Tittles" handmade sketchbook/journal a few days ago. Some I did in one sitting, others in two or three, a little at a time, as they showed me what else they needed. I'm just having fun doing whatever calls to me each day!

I sketched these three "besties" from imagination, but based on me and my two besties. Of course, they look nothing like us...

A "wild garden" double spread, created from leftover watercolor paints on my palette with marks from several other pens, pencils, ink, etc. I like it!

Another "wild garden" single spread with various pens, pencils, markers, charcoal, ink with bubble wrap, etc. I'm so glad I took the class in Sketchbook Revival from Karen Stamper last year. These are so much fun to do! She does most of hers in folded accordion books, which can stand alone and gives them a totally different look. I want to try one on a large scale when I get a chance...

Another square where I cleaned off my paint brush and saw the figure on a windy spring day, so I sketched her in and glued her into my book with my glue stick, added a piece of paper I had written on, a strip of dotted washi tape, a blue jay feather that my husband found in the yard and brought me that day, and some dots made from bubble wrap and ink. I added the word "blue jay" when I edited the photo, because the feather looked almost black in the photo. It looks more recognizable here, but I still like the words.

This day, I was in the mood for charcoal, so I found my soft charcoal pencil and this lady emerged from it, an eraser, and my imagination. 

Another day with the charcoal pencil and eraser and these trees emerged, partly from imagination and partly from memory of a scene I had seen on TV a few days before, only the tree in back was much taller than the one in front. As usual, I ran out of room, but they were great practice.

A collage with a hometown newspaper clipping and some more papers where I cleaned off my brush. I added some bird washi tape and a bit more paint and marks. Since the clipping is about the upcoming festival, with live music, I added a couple of music notes to make it more fun, I think.

I sketched the containers from imagination with a soft charcoal pencil, then added leftover watercolor from my palette, then added the lines on the wall and table with charcoal. I know, I need to add some white highlights and maybe something else, but this is how it is for now. It's a little muted for me...

This is the last page, and it's just random junk that got put there. The blue paint is where I tried out a stencil I cut from paper, and I glued the cut out part down. The top corner is a note from when we stayed with our brother-in-law in the hospital overnight in Nashville, and I wrote down directions to get back to our car in the underground parking garage, maybe 2018. There's a post it note about the tall mixed media lady in a previous post and the artist who inspired her, two random banana stickers, because I can not throw them away, some fun washi tape, and a peacock with flowers from the bottom of a notepad sheet. It's junk, but it's fun stuff!

It's kind of sad to finish this book, but I've already started working in another Winsor Newton 7" x 10" mixed media book with heavier paper. The first pages with the teabag critters are a couple of posts previous to this post. The last couple of days I've been playing with acrylic ink and have done two abstracts, but I'm wanting to do some more teabag stains, as well. We'll see how that goes!

I haven't done my art yet today, but I  have added a lot of pictures, which I edited yesterday, and saved them to two different files and this blog. I made them last week when we rode around the farm and river checking on damage from the ice storm. Plus, I've written this post, so I guess that counts as creative practice if I don't get any drawing/painting done! 😊

Always lots going on to distract me! We are so excited to have found out yesterday that our great-nephew (the baby of the family) and his wife are expecting their first baby in September, a little boy. We have two little gr-gr-nieces, so now we will have a little gr-gr-nephew to go with them!

The 100 day stitch meditation challenge for this year, with Liz Kettle, started a few days ago, and I am just having to fight myself to keep from joining in again. I enjoyed it so much! But, I have too much else going on, and the days are gone in a blink anymore. I can't keep track of anything, and neither can hubby! 😕

I could write all evening, but I have to go for now, as we have company coming soon. So, thank you for visiting! Keep creating, and I'll see you in the next post, hopefully!